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[Mike Sokol]

I'm finally getting a Honda EU3000iS to experiment with long term, and one of my live sound buddies already has one for his small/medium festival gigs. He's offered to let me his genny and link them together to try on a few larger sound gig. I've seen a number of parallel kits for the EU3000iS gennys, some with a Cali50 or NEMA 14-50 receptacle, but I know that a few of you are already doing this. So what are you using to parallel your EU3000iS gennys?

[Frank DeWitt]

A kit can be made from good quality shielded banana plugs (A plastic shield over the plug as you often see on meter probes)  Polarity is not important.

[Scott Wagner]

The Honda Parallel Cords work fine, but if you need/want the full power of both in a single receptacle, get the more expensive Parallel Kit (which includes a 50A receptacle for the EU3000iS). Either works great, it's just a matter of your particular needs.

[Mike Sokol]

A kit can be made from good quality shielded banana plugs (A plastic shield over the plug as you often see on meter probes)  Polarity is not important.

So does it use a standard shielded banana plug? If so, I could build a parallel box with both Cali-50 and NEMA-14-50 receptacles for easy hookup to either RVs or sound systems. I can also build in a G-N bonding switch and ground lug right in the parallel box. That would be pretty slick.   

Genny should be ready for pickup this weekend so I can actually play with one to see how it works.

[Mike Sokol]

The Honda Parallel Cords work fine, but if you need/want the full power of both in a single receptacle, get the more expensive Parallel Kit (which includes a 50A receptacle for the EU3000iS). Either works great, it's just a matter of your particular needs.

Apparently, Honda has discontinued the 50-amp parallel kit for the EU3000iS generators. I've not discussed this with Honda directly, but the tech at generatorsite.com says that Honda had problems with the EU3000iS parallel kits since they would only output 45 amps rather than 50 amps from the receptacle, and that somehow shorted out the gear they were powering, and Honda didn't want to get in trouble with local codes. Of course, that's help desk double-speak because when I pressed him for more information I got the same explanation again and again.

Can anyone post a pic of an existing EU3000iS parallel kit? I know how these things work, I'm just trying to get an idea of a manufactured product. 

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Mike...

Guy Holt has posted some pretty thorough and extensive info on this.  I've tried the available stuff with the 50 amp outlet and I can't recommend any.

[Steve M Smith]

The Honda Parallel Cords work fine, but if you need/want the full power of both in a single receptacle, get the more expensive Parallel Kit

If you don't, what is the advantage of parallel running?


Steve.

[Frank DeWitt]

So does it use a standard shielded banana plug? If so, I could build a parallel box with both Cali-50 and NEMA-14-50 receptacles for easy hookup to either RVs or sound systems. I can also build in a G-N bonding switch and ground lug right in the parallel box. That would be pretty slick.   

Genny should be ready for pickup this weekend so I can actually play with one to see how it works.

Yes,  Standard plugs.  The Banana jacks are in parallel with the AC receptacles They are used because you don't have a lot of exposed metal that would be hot once one generator is running.  BTW The first generator started controls both inverters.

People who are evil wicked mean bad and nasty have used normal AC plugs but of course it is dangerous and shouldn't be done.

http://cdn.powerequipment.honda.com/pe/pdf/manuals/31ZT7601.pdf

Do a image search for  Honda Parallel and you will find your way to a lot of info.
Example,
http://www.wisesales.com/triple-parallel-kit.html

Note,  The AC plugs in this example do not carry any AC.  They are only to connect the grounds.   

[Frank DeWitt]

If you don't, what is the advantage of parallel running?

Steve.

The load is still shared, and all your power is tied together.  The only limitation is that you have 4 20 amp outlets (2 duplex) and two 30 amp outlets.  You don't have a 50 amp outlet.

[Mike Sokol]

If you don't, what is the advantage of parallel running?

A Honda EU3000is parallel kit will deliver 50-ish amperes (maybe 40 to 45 amps really) into an existing power distro with a Cali-50 connector. Of course, it will only be in-phase 120 volts on both legs, but all of our gear here is only 120 volts anyways. The neutral current will be additive rather than subtractive, but the neutral wires and contacts are rated for 50 amps, so it shouldn't be possible to over-amp the neutral with a pair of EU3000is generators.  I'm not interested in buying or lugging around a big transformer to step it up to 240 volts then split it for a pair of 25-amp feeds even though I know that's the gold standard way to do this.

Yes, this would be much easier to do in the UK with 240 volts being the local potential, but I'm here in the USA and working the half the volts at twice the amps. 

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