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...

[77charger]

04dutchman wrote:
The price of these Chinese generators seems to be very attractive. So much so that I bought one myself. I did n buy the 3,000 watt but the $699.00 2,000 watt Chinese "knock off." I brought it home, put gas and oil in it, started it up and proceeded to see what it would do with my RV. Prior to testing this inverter generator, I had utilized a Coleman Sportsman 1850 watt generator. It was able to power my camper and run my air conditioning. The Coleman generator itself was extremely loud (72 decibels). The power from this generator is extremely "dirty" power. I would not reccommend anyone running a camper for very long in this generator. After plugging in the Chinese 2000 watt inverter generator, it would only start the air conditioning half of the time and trip the other half. Being that this was unacceptable, I was not too happy. After giving up on this generator I brought it back into my garage, making plans to take it back to Pep Boys the next day. After going back into my garage, and noticing an extreme odor of gasoline, I realized that the generator had lost all of its gas and could have caused a fire. Great "quality" assurrance from the Chinese. I took it back to Pep Boys and told them to ship it back to China. I have since bought a HONDA 3000 inverter and can not say enough GOOD things about it. It's true, it takes a lot of money to run your RV, but would you be willing to buy an RV made in China? If you are thinking about going to Pep Boys and buying one of the Chinese generators, you are better off burning your money instead. Then, you'll still end up buying the Honda.

You buy a 2k gen for an a/c unit.LOL try fishing elsewhere

[presp]

04dutchman wrote:
.... Then, you'll still end up buying the Honda.

It's good to know that a 3kw Honda generator will work better than what an inexpensive Chinese 2kw one can do.

I'll bet "dutchman" will become somewhat upset when he finds out most of the Honda parts in his generator are made at one of the Chinese Honda factories.

While it's fashionable to bad mouth Chinese products I'm constantly amazed that they can produce so much, with so much quality (in both materials & labor) and sell it for so little.
i.e. EVEN I can afford some of it! 🙂

(similar opinion that the Japanese products had in the 1950s-60s)

[JConatser]

04dutchman wrote:
...I bought...the $699.00 2,000 watt Chinese "knock off."...

What was the name of the generator?

[ol_Bombero-JC]

"04Dutchman" has one post (the above).

He's either a:
Troll,
Honda dealer,
or a Really, really, REALLY - BIG fish!

Dutchman: I have several shares in the Brooklin Bridge I
will sell you . . . .cheap.

BTW - Pep Boys doesn't sell Champion, nor did they ever!

[ChaosAgent]

04dutchman wrote:
The price of these Chinese generators seems to be very attractive. So much so that I bought one myself. I did n buy the 3,000 watt but the $699.00 2,000 watt Chinese "knock off." I brought it home, put gas and oil in it, started it up and proceeded to see what it would do with my RV. Prior to testing this inverter generator, I had utilized a Coleman Sportsman 1850 watt generator. It was able to power my camper and run my air conditioning. The Coleman generator itself was extremely loud (72 decibels). The power from this generator is extremely "dirty" power. I would not reccommend anyone running a camper for very long in this generator. After plugging in the Chinese 2000 watt inverter generator, it would only start the air conditioning half of the time and trip the other half. Being that this was unacceptable, I was not too happy. After giving up on this generator I brought it back into my garage, making plans to take it back to Pep Boys the next day. After going back into my garage, and noticing an extreme odor of gasoline, I realized that the generator had lost all of its gas and could have caused a fire. Great "quality" assurrance from the Chinese. I took it back to Pep Boys and told them to ship it back to China. I have since bought a HONDA 3000 inverter and can not say enough GOOD things about it. It's true, it takes a lot of money to run your RV, but would you be willing to buy an RV made in China? If you are thinking about going to Pep Boys and buying one of the Chinese generators, you are better off burning your money instead. Then, you'll still end up buying the Honda.

You paid $700 for a 2000 Watt generator?

I paid $300 for a 3500 Watt generator which is the one everyone is talking about here.

If this is what you really bought, you may have been taken.

[04dutchman]

The price of these Chinese generators seems to be very attractive. So much so that I bought one myself. I did n buy the 3,000 watt but the $699.00 2,000 watt Chinese "knock off." I brought it home, put gas and oil in it, started it up and proceeded to see what it would do with my RV. Prior to testing this inverter generator, I had utilized a Coleman Sportsman 1850 watt generator. It was able to power my camper and run my air conditioning. The Coleman generator itself was extremely loud (72 decibels). The power from this generator is extremely "dirty" power. I would not reccommend anyone running a camper for very long in this generator. After plugging in the Chinese 2000 watt inverter generator, it would only start the air conditioning half of the time and trip the other half. Being that this was unacceptable, I was not too happy. After giving up on this generator I brought it back into my garage, making plans to take it back to Pep Boys the next day. After going back into my garage, and noticing an extreme odor of gasoline, I realized that the generator had lost all of its gas and could have caused a fire. Great "quality" assurrance from the Chinese. I took it back to Pep Boys and told them to ship it back to China. I have since bought a HONDA 3000 inverter and can not say enough GOOD things about it. It's true, it takes a lot of money to run your RV, but would you be willing to buy an RV made in China? If you are thinking about going to Pep Boys and buying one of the Chinese generators, you are better off burning your money instead. Then, you'll still end up buying the Honda.

[Wgeorge11]

Walla, no leaks!
Got a short hunk of 5/16" ID x 5/8" OD fuel line from Auto Zone (for free) and sliced off a 3mm segment for my gasket. That, with a lot of teflon and a dab of gasket sealent seems to have made the fix. If it stays that way I'll be one happy camper.
Anyone out there in need of a bright yellow fuel tank contact me. Champion sent me a replacement tank. They don't want it returned, and I don't need it.
Thanks for the tips and encouragement. At my age I appreciate any supportive help available ... without resorting to viagra!

[JConatser]

Wgeorge11 wrote:
... I still need ideas on how to stop the fuel leak...

How about buying one of those multi-paks of gasket material at the auto parts store and making your own gasket/O-ring?... I've had good luck doing that..

[MrWizard]

I'm sure someone makes a 3mm round fuel resistant gasket with a 9mm ID and 13mm OD, but I can't find it.
Any suggestions for a fix?

have you tried buying an 'O' ring kit, at the local 'tools only' store, or auto parts supply house ?

[fireguy60]

Not to get off the subject.... but about the UPS issue...

I had a powerglide 2 speed tranny delivered to me broken once. This was right after they raised the weight limit to over 70 lbs. When I called UPS they told me that "items over 70 lbs must be packaged to withstand a 4 foot drop." Apparantly, they don't want their drivers trying to lift the heavy ones, they can just push 'em out the back of the truck....

[Wgeorge11]

jconatser wrote:

Wgeorge11 wrote:
... I closed the 2" hole with duct tape...

I wonder if the duct tape will work very good, being that close to the motor... how about muffler tape?...reckon that'd work?...

I don't see a heat problem, and the tape will help keep the trash out of the electronics. If it fails it's easy enough to redo. Champion offered a replacement control box, but I declined after considering the time and trouble involved in pulling and rewiring the harness.
It's the stupid stuff that's frustrating; stuff like broken plastic parts and inferior O rings that leak fuel. My plumbing doesn't leak, so why should theirs? The unit runs well, powers the AC and MW, and is light enough that this 1932 model can still heft it into The Beast (think '99 2500 Suburban).
But, I still need ideas on how to stop the fuel leak without breaking off another fuelcock in the tank.

[JConatser]

Wgeorge11 wrote:
... I closed the 2" hole with duct tape...

I wonder if the duct tape will work very good, being that close to the motor... how about muffler tape?...reckon that'd work?...

[Wgeorge11]

I've had three (3) Champions damaged in shipment. The problem is obvious mishandling by the shipper, AND the lack of a rigid tie down to prevent the motor/Gen unit from moving on its mounts during shipment. Parts America double boxes the units and adds ten pounds of packing for protection, but it can't eliminate the power head from shifting. Damaged units included broken fuel cock, bent muffler/generator mount, broken air intake cover; all 3 units had broken control panels where the motor impacted the back of the box. I'll bet there are a lot of broken boxes out there. Champion sent me a replacement tank/fuelcock although I was able to exchange the units at Parts America (the best customer service I've ever had).
The last unit arrived mostly intact except for the broken control box (I closed the 2" hole with duct tape), a cut fuel line, and a LEAKY FUELCOCK/TANK CONNECTION which has been my biggest frustration. All three units leaked fuel. I broke off one fuelcock in the tank trying to seal it, and have used Teflon tape, permatex sealant without success. It still weeps fuel. Another problem is finding replacement fuel line and small clamps. I went to Advanced Auto, Auto Zone, tractor repair shops, Lowe's and HomeDepot, but no one could match the original fuel line, little clamps, or tank gasket which is the cause of the leak. I'm sure someone makes a 3mm round fuel resistant gasket with a 9mm ID and 13mm OD, but I can't find it.
Any suggestions for a fix?

[MFinCA]

Walrus127 wrote:
Just wanted to tell everyone how pleased I am with my new Champion. Well we used this past weekend at the NASCAR race in Darlington. It worked great 90 plus degrees and it ran the AC and the microwave without a problem. Also I am very impressed with how long it will run on a tank of gas. Thanks Champion.

Thanks for the report. We're going to be using ours at the NASCAR race at Infineon in late June.

I've tested my Champion with the trailer and it ran the AC, Microwave, and a hair dryer at the same time with no problems. I exercise by taking it into my backyard and plugging in my hedge trimmer and running the electric lawnmower.

This weekend we are celebrating my daughter's birthday at a local park. The Champion is going to power the crock pot and probably a stereo for some music.

Otherwise, it sits in the garage waiting for the big earthquake to roll through here. :E

[coachk34]

The only part that concerns me now with buying a champion is the shipping problems. In no way could I repair (even with the new parts) the problems stated above. It is however good to know that Champion is taking care of their customers with a no questions asked policy.

On another note I just saw the new champion electric start model advertised in our local newspaper by a local RV seller for $569. Are any showing up at Home Depot yet?