Microwave won't work with gens @ high alt. - Montana Owners Club

Navigator · 07-01-2011, 08:37 AM

We will be camping up in Mammoth Lakes, Ca. (altitude:7800') in a few weeks.

Last year when we camped there our half time oven wouldn't work using our fairly new 2 x 2000 Honda generators. Drove down to the Honda store in Bishop and they said generators lose ~30% of their power at high altitudes. Re-jetting wouldn't help so we did without the microwave.

We mentioned the problem with another Montana owner and they said to switch off the converter and the microwave should work. Have any of you ever heard of that solution and is the converter switch located with the rest of the breaker switches?

Hate to be without the microwave again. Thanks for any advise you can give us.

Kathy

bigmurf · 07-01-2011, 08:57 AM

The rule we lived by in Colorado was 3% for every 1000'. Turning things off will allow a few more amps to run things.
BTW:it is the engine that looses power.

Ozz · 07-01-2011, 09:02 AM

Great pictures.
I am very surprised that the twinned generators would not power the microwave, even with the Converter on, I would like to put a amp meter on them to check them. The high altitude just may be a deal-killer, I don't know, the honda dealers should know. Just try shutting every breaker off but the microwave next time and test it, you may have many loads you are not thinking of.
Yes the breaker should be marked in the panel.

Navigator · 07-01-2011, 11:04 AM

Thanks, both of you, for the advice. Looks like we'll be flipping breaker switches off to see if we can get more power to the microwave.

We never had this problem on our entire trip to and from Alaska... guess we just weren't at a high enough elevation to cause a problem.

Kathy

HamRad · 07-01-2011, 11:21 AM

Ozz I'm with you. I'm surprised that the Hondas were in their 'twinned' setup and still were not enough to power the microwave. But anything is possible.

Jim and Kathy I hope you get your problem figured out so you can have your micro. I think I'd check out your cable to make sure it is working as it should. Good luck. Dennis

snfexpress · 07-01-2011, 11:23 AM

In our tests, the converter can suck up an additional 5.6 amps. With the two Hondas, you get 26.6 amps. When we use just one Honda, we also turn off the converter at the breaker.

Gorgeguy · 07-01-2011, 12:08 PM

What exactly does the converter do and what do you lose when you turn it off??? May be a dumb question but you got me wondering.

Ozz · 07-01-2011, 12:21 PM

It replaces the low (12 Volts) voltage in your batteries when you are using the various 12 volt loads: fans, lights, so on.
It depends on your battery bank on how long you can leave it off, and how charged it is. Some have 1 battery, some 6 or more.
Just using the half-time oven to cook something I would think you should be fine.

mhs4771 · 07-01-2011, 03:24 PM

Is sure sounds like only one gen was putting juice into the rig. Now if you were trying to run the AC or maybe the electric element in the HW heater at the same time, then you probably would have a problem. As mentioned above, to Honda 2000s will put out 26.6 amps contineous and should run any one major appliance and several small draws without a problem.

CATCRAW · 07-01-2011, 04:21 PM

We have a Honda 3000 and have never had an issue using it to power anything at high alltitudes, AC or Microwave but not at the same time.

2Wanderers · 07-01-2011, 06:17 PM

Try turning off the hot water heater element. That will put a drain on the Honda.

bigmurf · 07-01-2011, 06:46 PM

Google "honda generator at altitude" Lots info on this.

Phil P · 07-02-2011, 01:14 AM

Hi

We carry a pair of the Honda 2,000’s as well. We have not found any difference when using them than when we us a 30 Amp. service. You just have to manage you electrical load. Fortunately most of our appliances are gas / electric so this isn’t hard to do.

Phil P

Navigator · 07-02-2011, 03:10 AM

Now I can see why we're having problems running the microwave with both the Honda generators at high altitude!

If the dual Hondas supply 26.6 amps and we lose 3% of power/1000 ft. (3% x 8) of elevation that leaves us with 20.2 amps from the generators. If the converter takes 5.6 amps that leaves 14.6 amp available to run the microwave which needs 15 amps to run! And there we have it! The frig. & water heater are on gas only when we're dry camping. Our only hope is to turn off the converter when we use the microwave.

Thanks again for all of your input.

Kathy

mlh · 07-04-2011, 04:15 AM

With every 1000 feet of elevation you lose 3.6% of power. That would be 28% at 7800 feet. 26.6 amps times 78% mow we are down to 19.4 amps subtract from that 5.6 amps to run the converter and we have 13.5 amps. Add a little extra draw and we are at the limit.
With all of this said I have camped at 9500 feet a lot and used the microwave without ever tripping the breaker on my 3000 watt Honda.
Lynwood

mhs4771 · 07-04-2011, 12:11 PM

Okay, I think it was stated before, but I'll do it again. The power loss is in the Gasoline Engine not the AC output of the Inverter (Honda uses Inverter Tech). Even with a little power loss, I doubt that the AC output of the Gen would be affected. Still sounds like you are not getting the power from both Gens. On our previous TT with a 13.5 AC unit, we could run it with one Honda 2000 as long as everything else in the unit was turned off, including the units converter. Just my thoughts

Navigator · 07-05-2011, 03:07 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by mhs4771

On our previous TT with a 13.5 AC unit, we could run it with one Honda 2000 as long as everything else in the unit was turned off, including the units converter. Just my thoughts

This is the second set of Honda 2000i's that we've owned. The first set was stolen while we were broken down on the way to Quartzsite a few years ago. At no time have we ever been able to run the microwave or air conditioning with only one 2000i. We never tried turning off the converter though. This upcoming trip will be our first attempt of trying that suggestion.

Kathy

helmick · 07-05-2011, 06:03 AM

We run our microwave all the time with our Honda 2000.
Spent 18 days at the circle this year and ran it all the time.

Hooker · 07-06-2011, 12:43 PM

When operating at a higher altitude, the mixture is too rich, so you have to do what you do in an airplane with a nonturbo reciprocating engine...lean the mixture. That can be done by installing a smaller diameter fuel jet.

snfexpress · 07-06-2011, 04:39 PM

What mhs4771 said. The Hondas will surge above 13.3 amps for a few minutes without tripping. We can operate our microwave on 1 Honda, but turn off the converter.

Again, I cannot stress enough that having meters to display real-time amperage is essential in my opinion. Why run two when one will get the job done?

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