3000W Chinese Gensets Info.

[professor95]

professor95 wrote:
EDIT ADDED 45/5/2013- When this thread started in March of 2005, I never expected to see it survive this long or amass the quantity of information that has been shared here.

In the eight year run of this thread we have amassed almost 10,000 postings and surpassed a million views. This creates somewhat of a dilemma for anyone who has just discovered the forum.

Since the amount of information is virtually overwhelming, I suggest you set your preferences for this thread to read "newest first" and then begin to page backwards.

What you will find in these pages is a wealth of info on virtually any make or model of Chinese manufactured synchronous (non-inverter) generator in the 3,000 watt performance class. Info will include how to rewire series coils to parallel to obtain maximum wattage from a single 120 volt outlet. Tips on further reducing sound levels, how to care for these generators, which ones are "RV ready" and provide the best overall performance for the dollar invested. Which companies NOT to deal with, where the best prices are, how to safely wire the generator into a home or RV, how to check your RV for electrical faults, sources for generator accessories, which 20/30 adapters are safe to use and which are not. How to convert a gasoline generator to propane or NG. This is only the beginning. The forum has a life of its own with the focus sub-topic switching frequently. Still, the main topic of utilizing the amazing, inexpensive Chinese gensets is always there. The amount of creativity and innovation presented in these pages is indicative of the talents shared in the diverse backgrounds of the folks who make up our combined RV community.

Many of the original brands and models of Chinese gensets mentioned in the introduction and early pages of the thread have since disappeared. New EPA and CARB emissions requirements, company bonds assuring the emissions warranty will be honored even if the company goes out of business, and fierce competition in the industry have changed the playing field. Champion Power Equipment has become the apparent "trophy team" providing an ever expanding retail outlet, an ample parts supply, a strong warranty and excellent customer service. CPE has continued to improve their product and now offers a new model (#46538) with exclusive convenience, safety and performance features aimed at the RV market. Big names like Cummins/Onan, Honda and Generac all now have Chinese built open frame synchronous gensets available. Ironically, the prices often found on these gensets has not significantly changed during the past eight years - even with the devaluation of the American Dollar and new EPA/CARB requirements.

I also encourage you to use the search function and even the advanced search options to find information. Key works such as "rewiring", "PowerPro", "Champion", "Onan Homesite", "Duropower", "ETQ", "Jiung Dong or JD", "Tractor Supply", "Costco", "Lowe's" and "Home Depot" are all examples of keywords that will give you specific information on different models being sold by retailers today.

Or, you can fill your glass with your favorite beverage (keep more close by - maybe some munchies as well :D, sit back at your computer, tell your wife (or significant other) that you will see her in the morning and spend the next 10 or so hours reading through the postings.

No one on the forum gets mad if you ask a question that is a repeat. Please do not hesitate to post to the forum. All questions are considered important and those active on the forum will do their best to respond with a valid answer.

Also note we are not out to knock the Honda, Yamaha, Kipor or other brands of high end digital gensets. We recognize the quality of these products and their suitability for quite, efficient RV use. But, there is a flood of reliable, inexpensive and comparatively lower cost gensets coming out of China that are excellent alternative choices for the RVer wanting power to run an air conditioner, microwave, etc. without excessive noise or breaking the budget.

Oh, one last thing. The folks on this forum are true gentlemen. We do not flame one another or the product discussed - period. Ugly contributors usually have their comments and remarks ignored by our masses. It is not a forum to start arguments to obtain a clear win. We do disagree on many issues, but we have all agreed to do that in a respectable manner.

We now have the introduction of more and more inverter gensets. There is a rather extensive thread named "The Official Unofficial Champion 2000i Generator" on this forum. Today, I added info on the new Champion 3100i inverter genset. Discussion on this product may get moved to its own thread at a later date.

Many have looked upon this thread with distain saying Chinese is cheap and doomed to failure. I remember saying exactly the same thing about Japanese products a few decades back. But, over the past eight years the track record for Chinese built generators has shown otherwise.

Please, join us in a fascinating journey down the Chinese built genset road of knowledge.

This is the question I posted that got it all started back in March 2005.......

Randy

For a little over a month now, I have been somewhat intrigued by the availability of a 3000 watt, 6.5 HP generator at Pep Boys and Northern Tool for under $300.00. The engine on this generator looks identical to a Honda 6.5 HP OHV engine. Knowing that the Chinese have become very adept at “cloning” reputable technologies from other manufacturers, I was not surprised at the similarities. Neither store could give me any information on the generator nor did they have a “running” display model.

I have done a little research. This is what I have discovered:

Many of these generators are imported by ELIM International (www.eliminternational.com) out of Buffalo, New York from Jiung Manufacturing in China. (The unit at Northern is identical but carries the JIUNG name.)

The engines are indeed a Chinese knockoff of the popular 6.5 HP 196cc Honda Engine. “Supposedly” Honda has licensed the engine technology to the Chinese manufacturer of the product.

The Chinese company that makes the ELM3000 generators is a rather large, diverse, long-standing company with a reputation for “above average quality” Chinese made products (Jiung Manufacturing). There are many more Chinese companies making almost identical gensets.

The generators at PepBoys do have a six month limited warranty. But, it is only on the engine (not the generator) and requires paying for shipping to and from Buffalo. Probably not a very practical thing to do if you have warranty issues.

ELIM does supply replacement parts (a PDF parts manual is available on the ELIM web site). No prices are given for replacement parts nor is there an “availability listing”.

The generator head itself is a brushless design. The only really significant wear parts in the generator are the bearings – most likely universally available.

The published dB rating is 67 at 23 feet. This is “reasonably” quite for a generator of this size as most comparabl.... The 67 dB rating is the same as Honda gives their 3000 watt CycloInverter with a “look alike” eng...

[Accurate]

Re: CamperDave & C46535

I just received one of these yesterday. I'm Non-RV but plan to use it hunting camp & to "back-feed" my home panel during our numerous power outages here in Fernandina Beach.
A friend told me that one of his small engine experts insists that these small engines will run much cleaner on premium fuel. I'm wondering if that would make the unit run hotter. I really do not have an accurate way to measure engine temp on this unit.
So if anyone has any input on this issue I'd appreciate it.
OK, so I'm off to Advance to get some supplies to get me going on the break-in for this new little unit...

"If it doesn't work, fix it. If it does work, tweak it!"

KenS

[camperdave]

My older Champion came with one 15amp, and one 20amp breaker... I've personally rewired all power through the single 20amp breaker, and it runs everything I need in the RV no problem.

The manual for mine (the older champion without the RV plug) stated you should oil the filter. It is reasonable to assume that you should on the C46540 as well, it is common practice to oil foam air filters. Just put a bit of motor oil on it, and squeeze it thouroughly to moisten the entire filter. Just moist, not dripping wet or anything. This is what catches the fine dust particles.

[sleepywheel]

MrWizard wrote:
the book on my other champion ( 1200 watt ) said to moisten the filter with oil

I did not see that statement in the book for my C46540

BTW it has (2) 15 amp CB's

My book doesn't say anything about that either.

My generator definitely has two 20 amp breakers, it's marked right on the breakers themselves and the parts page lists them as 20 amp CB's. Maybe that's why they can advertise the unit as putting out 4000 peak watts. The CSA version on the Champion webpage lists two 20 amp duplex plugs while the 46540 is only listed with one 20 amp duplex plug. The numbers just don't add up................

[MrWizard]

the book on my other champion ( 1200 watt ) said to moisten the filter with oil

I did not see that statement in the book for my C46540

BTW it has (2) 15 amp CB's

[sleepywheel]

I just bought the Canadian version of the C46535 for $299cdn at Costco. It has two 20 amp breakers instead of the US version with the 15 and 20 amp breakers. I read somewhere in the last 200 or so pages that someone oiled their intake air filter. There's nothing in the manual about that so I'm wondering if I should do that with mine. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of doing that?

[MrWizard]

yes they idle at 3600

but the noise level is lower than when it is running under a major load

the inverter generator can reduce engine speed when under a NO load condition and increase engine speed to match the load

that is why they have such load noise ratings

the rating samples are taken at IDLE / no load condition

not when under a full load running somebodies A/C unit

somebody needs to take some readings of a pair of 2000i's running under the load of a 5ver's A/C and post them

[professor95]

professor95 does the champion gen idle when not loaded or does it run wide open all the time?

Unlike "inverter models" that can idle down and still electronically regulate frequency, the line frequency on the Champ (and other similar models) is determined by engine speed. Therefore, it must run at 3,600 RPM all the time - light load or heavy load.

[dieselmec]

professor95 does the champion gen idle when not loaded or does it run wide open all the time?

[MrWizard]

here are 2 pictures of the Champion 'RV ready' installed in the genset slideout tray of our Pace Arrow



Pushed in



with the tray extened for warm weather running

the wires in the background are the battery cables and control wires for the old genset

the pictures take before I finshed tyding up

[NE_MT]

C46540 was $379 at my local Checker and online price was $329 so I emailed Checker and they said just print out the page with the online price, take it to the store and get it for $329. Did it last week and had no problem. Unit works great so far.

[AZDesertRat]

Its $329 in todays ad here in Phoenix.

[StaJs]

professor95 wrote:


This is the "official" word from Champion on that issue:

Currently our only sourcing for the RV model is through the 1300 store network of CSK Autogroup. Website ordering can also be done through Partsamerica.com or advanceauto.com. who are affiliated through the CSK Autogroup. (Checkers, Schucks, Kragen and Murray auto parts stores located in about 23 states) website is www.cskauto.com Ordering nationwide can be done at this site too.

Just checked the Checker weekly ad specials online. The C46540 is on sale until 06-24-06 for $379. It's still $329 at PartsAmerica.

[professor95]

alltenofus wrote:
I talked to PartsAmerica a couple of months ago and they could not provide the Champion to Advance Auto. The other three partners of the alliance can get them. If this has changed thats great.

This is the "official" word from Champion on that issue:

Currently our only sourcing for the RV model is through the 1300 store network of CSK Autogroup. Website ordering can also be done through Partsamerica.com or advanceauto.com. who are affiliated through the CSK Autogroup. (Checkers, Schucks, Kragen and Murray auto parts stores located in about 23 states) website is www.cskauto.com Ordering nationwide can be done at this site too.

[professor95]

durasmack wrote:
I was concerned that the power wasnt clean enough for a laptop. there was a warning about that in the book for mine. I use laptop off inverter if im going to use it.

Are you refering to the book for your labtop? Unless you are still running a Tandy 1000LT from the early 90's, there is no need for concern. Virtually all modern laptops use a "switching" type power supply to change 120 VAC into the low voltage 12-18 volts DC required for operation. Additional voltage regulators inside the laptop further filter and adjust DC voltages for appropriate circuits. There is absolutely no reason that your laptop should not perform as well off of your (Chinese?) generator as it does off of the power company grid.

[MrWizard]

today I used the generator to power my 90 amp lincoln weld pak wire feed welder

to do some bumper welding

worked like a champ ( pun intended )

i'm very pleased, now I just need to get that hard/soft start booster kit for the roof AC before that 98 degree weather comes back