Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Honda EX-1000

Category: Emergency/Portable Power: generators, solar, wind, thermal, etc

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Honda EX-1000
Reviews: 3MSRP: $750 when New.
Description:
Honda Portable Generator. 1000-watts output. This is one of the finest portables From the Honda line of super quiet generators. Perfect for Emergency Power for Ham Radio.
Product is not in production
More Info: https://powerequipment.honda.com/generators
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0033.7
N6CC Rating: 2022-01-22
Electrical noise problems Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Good general purpose generator, starts pretty reliably, moderately quiet acoustically. However, extremely noisy with radiated and conducted ignition noise when used with HF radios in the field. I tried to quiet the conducted noise into the power line by plugging an SL-Waber Wave Tracker RFI filtered outlet strip (a well-made, expensive filter rated at 120db) into the output outlets. The filter caused the 120 VAC output voltage to drop to zero but engine ran fine. Huh? What? Putting that filter on a different model generator, it works fine. The filter works fine otherwise. Tried different filter/generator grounding schemes. No good. The Honda generator apparently does not like reactive loads at its harmonic frequencies although they should be very small. Weird. To attack the problem in a different way, I had to disassemble the generator to add large value toroidal choke filters on the hot and neutral wiring to the outlets, that helped a bit with the conducted noise - about 2 S unit drop on 75 and 40 meters. Still too noisy so I further disassembled it to add a shielding braid around the HV ignition wire, grounded at both ends. Helped a bit more, about 2 more S units reduction. Upon reassembly, I noticed that Honda did not bother to use any lock washers on the screws holding the sheet metal covers in place. I scraped a lot of paint and added many external tooth lock washers to try to properly "ground" the sheet metal parts to each other and the chassis. Now it is reasonably quiet but I still have to be careful to keep the extension cable at right angles to the dipoles to reduce coupling. This thing is designed for the average homeowner - would work OK for him but takes a lot of work to make it usable on HF radio at quiet sites. Great marketing, not so great engineering for my application. They didn't want to spend the extra few bucks to design it for radio operation purposes..Otherwise a decent generator but radio Ops beware.
K2GW Rating: 2009-06-23
OK, Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Having used both an EX-1000 and an EU-2000i in the field for HF work, I take great exception to the comment:

"Not So with the New Honda portables. They produce so much noise that working DX is almost impossible when using them for AC power. They are simply "No Good" for amateur radio."

I suspect the reviewer never used an EU-2000i in the field and is confusing the noise caused by cheap $40 battery inverters with the exceptionally clean and quiet power produced by the Honda inverter line.

But don't take my word alone on it. Look at the output power oscilloscope traces and the dozens of reviews here for the Hondas EU-2000i.

Try an EU-2000i in the field before posting opinions about it. The Eu-2000i also produces twice as much power.
N4KR Rating: 2006-10-27
Best Portable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Shortly after I purchased my EX-1000, Honda discontinued manufacturing this unit and replaced it with a "Cheaper" (made) generator of the "Inverter Technology" design. The EX-1000 is not only mechancally quiet, it is also electrically quiet. Not So with the New Honda portables. They produce so much noise that working DX is almost impossible when using them for AC power. They are simply "No Good" for amateur radio. Having worked with many Generators over the years, the EX-Series of portables were (In my opinion) the very best ever made. The EX-1000 will run almost six hours under load with only 3/4 of a gallon of gas. While the Newer Inverter Generators will run a little longer, they are simply not the quality of the Pre-Inverter line. If you can find one, grab it.