APU's VS. Do It Yourself

I actually wanted to go diesel. I've seen those go down here for $800-$1200. Granted, the $800 ones are out of the back of a truck at the Sunrise Swap Shop (a flea market near Fort Lauderdale) and are made in China, but they are an option.

 

Good, never thought anything like that would be possible...but hey if you can do it. run with it...

 

A 100hp +/- generator is slightly overkill and additional to that for it to be CARB legal you would have to have all of the factory emissions equipment installed on that Honda motor that came factory on the car it came out of. Wrong engine for this sort of application.

 

Yeah,it might be a little overkill on the hp but the engines are cheap and quiet also those engine's really do not have that much for emmissions and who is really going to check that?
Is carb going to have all the emmissions spec's for car engine on hand at the time....I think not.
Also the fact that you can get the parts anywhere is appealing to me.

88-91HF
88-91CRX-HFD15B6

• 1493cc
• 4 cyl, 8 valve
• SOHC
• 9.1:1 c.r.
• PGM -FI (DPFI 88-89)
• PGM-FI (MPFI 90+)

88-89
62 bhp # 4500 70 bhp # 4500
Redline: 6800 rpm
83 lb-ft # 3000

Engine weight 208lbs dry.

 

I still think there are much better suited engines than a 4 clyinder honda car motor. To keep the engine happy you'll have to turn 2500+ rpm or it will carbon up. It also won't be that quiet at those kind of RPMs when trying to sleep in a parked truck once you take away wind and tire noise.

 

The max HP on most APU's is around 13hp. Some use as little as 6.5hp depending on the set-up.

 

i think the honda gen idea is the best. as for a $1000 price tag, go to a pawn shop, i seen one today for $380 like new! almost bought it myself and i dont even need one...

 

I wasn't trying to show retail prices like I was selling the stuff. I was using generic MSRP pricing. The reason I came up with a $1000 for a generator is that a current Honda EU2000 CARB compliant generator has an MSRP of $1099 and can be had at a dealer for around $1000. I also used this model since it is CARB compliant and therefore even the California Environmental Gestapo would have no problem. Now, if you can find a CARB compliant 2000 watt generator than provides a true sine wave that weighs in at 48 lb and will run an entire 10 hr break period on less than 1 gallon of fuel, then by all means, buy it! It was never my intention to turn this into a discussion on brands of generators, but since you were not sure how I came up with the $1000 amount, I answered. I am sure most will be able to come up with cheaper costs to the entire setup I listed, but wanted to keep my figures very realistic so as to show that anyone could have an entire climate control setup without having to resort to shelling out 2 - 3 times as much for a full blown APU. Of course those that are getting $5 a mile freight rates and it only cost .50 a mile to operate their truck will not have a problem with buying the full blown APU.

 

Have seen those as well. Considering going that route. Like I answered previously, was sure that cheaper prices could be found. But, I wanted to keep my discussion of prices on the high side just to make a point that their are very cost effective routes instead of going with a APU if someone is trying to keep costs down. Of course, a full blown APU is the Rolls Royce of climate control, but some of us are on a Chevy budget. All that aside, good post, L.B., that will help someone out!

 

There are plenty of small diesel engines in the 10 HP range from $300 - $800 available on eBay. Personally I will wait till the APU's come down in price before I purchase.