I bought a poorly-running Subaru 3200 inverter generator last week as my next project:
Subaru 3200 Inverter
The little Mikuni carb was stuffed up with gunk. Built-in hour meter showed 0.1hr of runtime, so it must have been assembled, fueled, tested, and stored with gas in it. It would start, but only run at ~1/2 choke.
Comparing against my neighbor's Honda EU3000is, I'd say they are in the same ball park. I broke out various evaluation criteria below:
1.) Exhaust Noise
The Subaru is slightly louder at the exhaust at idle and under load, but still much quieter than the other neighbor's Generac. The Honda has an impressively large muffler and baffled outlet which dampens the noise well, whereas the Subaru's smaller muffler directly outputs the exhaust out the rear.
2.) Engine Design
Honda engine is OHV type with gear-driven camshaft and lifter-pushrod actuation. Subaru is OHC with a hardened steel chain according to the specs. Hard for me to say if either design has an advantage or weakness in this application, but they are very different.
3.) Electrical Quality
Using my Kill-A-Watt, the Honda makes 127VAC at the outlet whereas the Subaru makes 123VAC. AC freq on the Honda varies from 59.9Hz to 60.0Hz, whereas the Subaru was 60.0Hz constant. I can't say a 0.1Hz variation is problematic. My little Honda EU2000i has the same variation.
4.) Serviceability
Dropping the two side panels from the Subaru reveals the entire inner workings down to the little metal cooling fan at the rear. Very easy to see everything except the inverter box itself, which is up front behind the control panel. The Honda has a single hinged service door and things are very "busy" inside, but the key component most likely requiring access...the carburetor...is right there. The Subaru is built like a conventional alternator-type generator, on a steel cage, but with a floor and removable side panels to deaden the noise. Oil changes are a piece of cake on both models compared to the Honda EU2000i, but with Honda 3000 a tad easier as the oil fill and drain are more easily accessible via a plastic hatch on the rear below the exhaust. Subaru has a metal chute under the oil drain to direct oil out of the case and avoid messes.
The Subaru got some break-in time with a pair of space heaters for load, 1800W for one and 600W for the other totaling 2400W load. I put 2hrs on it with only one issue...the built-in GFCI outlet would occasionally trip when switching one heater to the OFF position. It's a cheapo heater and the switch may be arcing, who knows.
More to come. I'll put another 2-3 hours on it for break-in, change the oil (Valvoline VR1 10W-30 again) and post an observation on the drained oil appearance.
Subaru 3200 Inverter
The little Mikuni carb was stuffed up with gunk. Built-in hour meter showed 0.1hr of runtime, so it must have been assembled, fueled, tested, and stored with gas in it. It would start, but only run at ~1/2 choke.
Comparing against my neighbor's Honda EU3000is, I'd say they are in the same ball park. I broke out various evaluation criteria below:
1.) Exhaust Noise
The Subaru is slightly louder at the exhaust at idle and under load, but still much quieter than the other neighbor's Generac. The Honda has an impressively large muffler and baffled outlet which dampens the noise well, whereas the Subaru's smaller muffler directly outputs the exhaust out the rear.
2.) Engine Design
Honda engine is OHV type with gear-driven camshaft and lifter-pushrod actuation. Subaru is OHC with a hardened steel chain according to the specs. Hard for me to say if either design has an advantage or weakness in this application, but they are very different.
3.) Electrical Quality
Using my Kill-A-Watt, the Honda makes 127VAC at the outlet whereas the Subaru makes 123VAC. AC freq on the Honda varies from 59.9Hz to 60.0Hz, whereas the Subaru was 60.0Hz constant. I can't say a 0.1Hz variation is problematic. My little Honda EU2000i has the same variation.
4.) Serviceability
Dropping the two side panels from the Subaru reveals the entire inner workings down to the little metal cooling fan at the rear. Very easy to see everything except the inverter box itself, which is up front behind the control panel. The Honda has a single hinged service door and things are very "busy" inside, but the key component most likely requiring access...the carburetor...is right there. The Subaru is built like a conventional alternator-type generator, on a steel cage, but with a floor and removable side panels to deaden the noise. Oil changes are a piece of cake on both models compared to the Honda EU2000i, but with Honda 3000 a tad easier as the oil fill and drain are more easily accessible via a plastic hatch on the rear below the exhaust. Subaru has a metal chute under the oil drain to direct oil out of the case and avoid messes.
The Subaru got some break-in time with a pair of space heaters for load, 1800W for one and 600W for the other totaling 2400W load. I put 2hrs on it with only one issue...the built-in GFCI outlet would occasionally trip when switching one heater to the OFF position. It's a cheapo heater and the switch may be arcing, who knows.
More to come. I'll put another 2-3 hours on it for break-in, change the oil (Valvoline VR1 10W-30 again) and post an observation on the drained oil appearance.