Any comments on a Champion 3500W/4000 Watt Generator Weekender Package. If you have one tell me what you know about it.

I have one I bought on sail at Cabelas about a year ago for $299 less a $20 off coupon and paid for it with cabelas points I earned on my card. I really like it, good on fuel economy, puts out plenty of power for our 30' 5th wheel with the air running. It is relatively quiet, but if we are around others I like to move it back in the woods about 100' then it is great. Starts very easy. Well worth the money.

ksbowman wrote:I have one I bought on sail at Cabelas about a year ago for $299 less a $20 off coupon and paid for it with cabelas points I earned on my card. I really like it, good on fuel economy, puts out plenty of power for our 30' 5th wheel with the air running. It is relatively quiet, but if we are around others I like to move it back in the woods about 100' then it is great. Starts very easy. Well worth the money.My thoughts too; it is very quiet, not a honda, but a lot quieter than the construction grade generators; It runs my Rockwood 2703 and burns only 4 gallons of gas in 12 hours, and has the RV receptacle on it.well worth the $300 you can find on sale.

It will not run A/C or microwave at 8000' plus. You will need a bigger generator for that due to the elevation. But it will run everything else up there for us. At that high and beyond you will not be running A/C anyway. We are very pleased with our unit otherwise.

With you being in FL you should have zero issues. Well worth the money

I have owned one for a few years. Performed flawless. We used it during the hurricane when we had no power, luckily I had our trailer in the back yard. Had it hooked up to the 30 amp, ran the frig and a.c. We did have water for hot showers. It ran almost all the 2 weeks. Just added fuel and did change the oil once. I bought it at Cabelas, had coupons at the time, also a free wheel set. Yes a Honda would have been nice, but the Champion was great! Best bang for the buck.

Champion 3500W/4000 Watt Generator Weekender Package

laknox
Nomad
Jan 06, 2016
I saw a guy who built a 3-sided plywood box, lined with egg crate foam, that covered his standard generator. Just faced it away from his rig... It was about 12" bigger than his gen in all directions, and he had installed a custom muffler and exhaust pipe that ran outside the box, through the front. Used bolts and wing nuts to put it together so it would take down easy. Worked for him...

Lyle
markandkim
Explorer II
Jan 06, 2016
NC Hauler wrote:
W5CI wrote:
Yes it would run the AC until it Cycled then it would Kill the Gen when the AC tried to restart that is with everything turned off except the AC.

Never did that with mine:h

Same here!
rdemore
Explorer
Jan 04, 2016
We have used one for about three years and it works great. We take care when starting the AC and then turn on the refrigerator, etc.
NC_Hauler
Explorer
Dec 31, 2015
W5CI wrote:
Yes it would run the AC until it Cycled then it would Kill the Gen when the AC tried to restart that is with everything turned off except the AC.

Never did that with mine:h
W5CI
Explorer
Dec 31, 2015
Yes it would run the AC until it Cycled then it would Kill the Gen when the AC tried to restart that is with everything turned off except the AC.
markandkim
Explorer II
Dec 30, 2015
W5CI wrote:
I had that gen set, It started easily but was noisy and would not run the 13.5 AC. so I got rid of it. but for $299 it is a good buy

Runs my 15k ac just fine.
Brain411
Explorer
Dec 29, 2015
I have one been using it for a few years camping in the deserts of Southern California works great like others have said its not as quiet as a Honda but not as expensive either. It runs my 13.5K AC unit without problem or my microwave (which would not work with Honda 2000) make sure your fridge is set to gas and not on "auto". I've used it from sea level to about 4000 feet in 30 degree weather to low 100s.
Trackrig
Explorer II
Dec 29, 2015
For only $9 more ($309 total) you can buy the next size larger generator - the 4750 / 3800. The only two downsides to the larger one is slightly higher fuel consumption and it weighs 119.5# instead of 100#. Noise rating for both are the same at 68dBA I just put one order with free shipping.

Bill
JiminDenver
Explorer II
Dec 29, 2015
morphrider wrote:
JiminDenver wrote:
morphrider wrote:
It will not run A/C or microwave at 8000' plus. You will need a bigger generator for that due to the elevation. But it will run everything else up there for us. At that high and beyond you will not be running A/C anyway. We are very pleased with our unit otherwise.

The reason I have a Champion 3500/4000 is because it is what it takes to run the A/C at 10,000 ft. Even then it is best to have the converter off. Those cute little "quieter" 2800 watt inverter units run out of stuff around 8000 ft.

We don't use ours much having the solar and batteries. They handle everything including the A/C duties up there but it's peace of mind knowing the Champ is waiting and ready to go with one pull.

Are you running it without the high altitude jet they will send out? It would not fire up our AC unit up in Walden. I have not tried it otherwise. When we did try out the AC up there it just bogged it down and would not kick in. Might have to try again to see what the deal was with it...

I don't have the jet, It seems to run fine without it and it's only rated for 3000 ft anyways.

The biggest thing is to turn off the converter or at least let the batteries get the bulk charging out of the way. The converter at full power can take quite a chunk out of the generator that is already limited due to the altitude.
W5CI
Explorer
Dec 29, 2015
I had that gen set, It started easily but was noisy and would not run the 13.5 AC. so I got rid of it. but for $299 it is a good buy