champion 3500 Watt Remote Start Generator

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I have the model in discussion the 3500/4000 champion, it will not run my air compressor unless I use an adaptor for the 30a twistlock. The 20a just isn't enough juice. As far as noise, I remove my hearing aids - no problem.

campermike1 wrote:
looking for feed back on this genset, reliability and noise level. Specs say 68dbs noise level vs honda at 58 dbs. Is this to loud for a camp site?

The "Tech Issues" forum (here) will have everything you ever wanted to know about any/every brand of generator that's available - including the long(est) running thread on the boards about the synchronous Champion gens (what you're asking about) - and another on the Champion inverter gens.

The inverter gens - whether Yams, Hondas, or Champion will be quiter, as the synchronous gens are *always* running at higher RPMs (usually 3600).

There are many ways to quiet the (inexpensive) Champion gens.
Even an inverter gen -under load- will usually produce db levels higher than their advertised db.

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Don't forget that the decibel scale is NOT a straight-line scale. Given 0db as absolute silence, 10db is 10x louder, 20db is 100x louder, 30db is 1,000x louder, and so on. One thing that I've seen people do is to build a box, lined with egg crate foam, that they put over their genny to help quiet it down. One I saw, was a simple 3-sided box, foam lined, that killed a goodly portion of the sound. Others I've seen use baffles so air-flow is still available but sound is greatly reduced. If you're boondocking, with few, or no, neighbors, just the simple 3-sided box, aimed away from you, helps a lot.

Lyle

I have the Champion 3100 generator/inverter. Amazon $749, free ship. 58db at 23ft in ecomode. Sounds like 60db in full mode running my 15 AC. Haul, store and run from the rear receiver mounted GearDeck 17. I am satisfied. Inside the trailer, the AC drowns out the Genny.

Wow exc comparison video. You know it's not only campground neighbors that will get annoyed with the 68db style but the owner themselves have to listen to it even closer.
I've only heard one 68db style gen running in a CG. Wife and I were riding our bikes thru the CG and the guy had it sitting out near the road. You could hear it 3-4 sites away. I felt sorry for his neighbors.

It would really suck to have reservations for a week somewhere, show up and find out your neighbor has a loud 68+db gen. I just don't understand people anymore. No consideration for others.

I had a commercial 6500 watt Honda generator for a short time. It was rated at 65db full load. When I started it up in campgrounds the campers in two sites over in all directions would go inside their RVs. Got rid of it and went to two Honda 2000Is with parallel kit...very quiet in comparison.

3500 Champion running
This video should give you an idea of the volume.

honda generators
This video shows different honda generators and their sound outputs. He shows, later in the video, the difference between different decibel levels. This one is very eye opening in that you can immediately compare decibel levels in the same setting.

Yes that is loud for a campsite with neighbors. While they are quieter than others of the same type they are louder than inverter types which would be the best, albeit more costly solutions. The Champion generators have been very reliable units and cost only a fraction of the inverter types.

Thing is, for every increase in db rating the actual volume of noise doubles. Anything over 50 can be quite loud if you are close to it. I've seen some 'ratings' that claim like 52 db, but at 20 feet or more - those are flat misleading since you'll easily be within that distance.

As an example, the 3000 Honda heavy one is down to 47 db and extremely quiet, but also over 100 lbs. There's a local hand-made ice cream company that vends at events and has one on the front of their trailer. You can't hardly hear it only six feet away. We've two 2400 Yamaha's that are slightly louder (52 db I think), but still aren't much at the same distance although you can definitely hear them.

In order to really find out how loud a given make/model is, you've got to have it running with a load and listen to it yourself. Also, some make much more noise with a heavy load than a light one.