BORoarke wrote:
What a great generator! So glad I found this thread when I did, I was about to spend a few grand on two Honda 2000EU's units so I could run my A/C. Yes, the Honda's are quieter when they are in eco-mode but eco-mode aint going to run the a/c and microwave and that was the sole purpose of us buying a generator, to run our a/c and MW. So for all the EU owners that knock us for buying a "loud" generator, please stop harassing us to make yourselves feel better about spending 7x the money on your generators than us Chinese gen owners spent. I am very happy and would recommend anyone looking for a generator to run their RV a/c to consider the C46540 before spending thousands on the Hondas and Yamahas.
That about sums it up.
After reading all the wonderful, informative info on this thread I went out and confidently bought a 2800/4000W Champion from my local Costco Canada; having researched it carefully on this form. It seams to be the same one as I see in all of your pictures.
I was excited about re-wiring for maximum output on 120VAC but I think I have run into a major stumbling block. I don't think this unit can be re-wired. I will start from the beginning, hopefully someone has run in to this and has a work around. If not, then the Canadian versions are defiantly different and not possible to re-wire.
I took the cover off the generator head. The first thing I noticed was that neutral was bonded to ground inside the head with a short jumper wire โ this was expected from the other posts and the sicker on the frame โie. Warning: neutral bonded to frameโ. I removed it, an ohm meter test confirmed no more link to ground.
Now, the coloring of the wires is a bit different from most of the posts. I have a red, black, and white wire going to the panel. That makes sense. My coil wires are as follows: red; blue; blue; black. The red coil wire is on a binding post with the red wire going to the panel, both blue coil wires are on the same binding post along with the white which goes to the panel, and the black coil wire on a post with the black to the panel. I also noted the red and black wire go together into one sleeve, and the two blues go together into another sleeve as they go into the windings. Because my wiring colors are different than the posts I have seen, I decided to do some careful testing to make sure I knew what was what.
I separated out (isolated) all four coil wires, one on each of the four binding posts and disconnected the panel wires completely for testing. I then measured resistance with a high quality digital multi meter. I got the following: Red to blue: 1 ohm, blue to blue: Zero ohm, blue to red: 1 ohm, red to black: 2 ohm. Iโm already worried. From every post and schematic I have seen there should be no connection between the two coils. But I have very low resistance measured between each and every coil wire! Not good.
Well, hoping this could not be true I decided to start the gen up and place a moderate load on the various wires while measuring the voltage. If the coils where indeed separate, there shouldnโt be any way to support a load by connecting to only one pole of each coil and no way to get 220 without the coils linked. So I hooked up a 3A 120VAC sander (my test load) along with my DMM to measure voltage with two test leads. I can support the 3A load from red to *either* blue, and black to *either* blue. Meter shows 120V, sander starts strong and runs strong, the gen engine makes the same small grunt on each connection. I also briefly tested the sander from black to red, 220V, sander runs way too fast, gen makes a much bigger grunt. I get no sander operation on blue to blue. All of this was done with each of the four coil wires isolated from one-another.
This is not good, blue and blue seam obviously wired together โinsideโ the coil windings. Both my resistance test and load tests support this. This seams to indicate either a single coil with a center tap or the coils are connected in series somewhere *in* the windings. I looked very closely and I can see no way to change this with out splitting the gen open and re-wiring the actual windings โ probably not a worth while project if even possible. I decided I should post on here and see if anyone has any ideas before I get too depressed about it; and if this all ends up being true to warn others about the Canadian version that Costco sells or maybe the Canadian verion peroid.
Here are some pics:
The gen:
Before re-wiring (note, ignore the loose brown wire, I was adding this wire to link up the panel, it is not stock):
The way it was when I was conducting my tests. Pannel wires are removed for testing, each of the four coil wires are issolated, that is they are each sitting alone on each of the four binding posts.
If you need any more info, please ask.
Hopefully someone has a work around or idea on this. If anyone else has a Canadian verision and wouldn't mind checking this; it could be usefull.
Thank you to all the tireless people that read and post on this thread.
I was excited about re-wiring for maximum output on 120VAC but I think I have run into a major stumbling block. I don't think this unit can be re-wired. I will start from the beginning, hopefully someone has run in to this and has a work around. If not, then the Canadian versions are defiantly different and not possible to re-wire.
I took the cover off the generator head. The first thing I noticed was that neutral was bonded to ground inside the head with a short jumper wire โ this was expected from the other posts and the sicker on the frame โie. Warning: neutral bonded to frameโ. I removed it, an ohm meter test confirmed no more link to ground.
Now, the coloring of the wires is a bit different from most of the posts. I have a red, black, and white wire going to the panel. That makes sense. My coil wires are as follows: red; blue; blue; black. The red coil wire is on a binding post with the red wire going to the panel, both blue coil wires are on the same binding post along with the white which goes to the panel, and the black coil wire on a post with the black to the panel. I also noted the red and black wire go together into one sleeve, and the two blues go together into another sleeve as they go into the windings. Because my wiring colors are different than the posts I have seen, I decided to do some careful testing to make sure I knew what was what.
I separated out (isolated) all four coil wires, one on each of the four binding posts and disconnected the panel wires completely for testing. I then measured resistance with a high quality digital multi meter. I got the following: Red to blue: 1 ohm, blue to blue: Zero ohm, blue to red: 1 ohm, red to black: 2 ohm. Iโm already worried. From every post and schematic I have seen there should be no connection between the two coils. But I have very low resistance measured between each and every coil wire! Not good.
Well, hoping this could not be true I decided to start the gen up and place a moderate load on the various wires while measuring the voltage. If the coils where indeed separate, there shouldnโt be any way to support a load by connecting to only one pole of each coil and no way to get 220 without the coils linked. So I hooked up a 3A 120VAC sander (my test load) along with my DMM to measure voltage with two test leads. I can support the 3A load from red to *either* blue, and black to *either* blue. Meter shows 120V, sander starts strong and runs strong, the gen engine makes the same small grunt on each connection. I also briefly tested the sander from black to red, 220V, sander runs way too fast, gen makes a much bigger grunt. I get no sander operation on blue to blue. All of this was done with each of the four coil wires isolated from one-another.
This is not good, blue and blue seam obviously wired together โinsideโ the coil windings. Both my resistance test and load tests support this. This seams to indicate either a single coil with a center tap or the coils are connected in series somewhere *in* the windings. I looked very closely and I can see no way to change this with out splitting the gen open and re-wiring the actual windings โ probably not a worth while project if even possible. I decided I should post on here and see if anyone has any ideas before I get too depressed about it; and if this all ends up being true to warn others about the Canadian version that Costco sells or maybe the Canadian verion peroid.
Here are some pics:
The gen:
Before re-wiring (note, ignore the loose brown wire, I was adding this wire to link up the panel, it is not stock):
The way it was when I was conducting my tests. Pannel wires are removed for testing, each of the four coil wires are issolated, that is they are each sitting alone on each of the four binding posts.
If you need any more info, please ask.
Hopefully someone has a work around or idea on this. If anyone else has a Canadian verision and wouldn't mind checking this; it could be usefull.
Thank you to all the tireless people that read and post on this thread.
CCTAU wrote:MrWizard wrote:
OK. New scenario. Say I just wanted to install a 30 amp plug in a box onto the side of my generator. As long as I use big enough wires, can I just use the following diagram and hook up a new outlet? this way the genny stays the same and I get a new outlet. I know that I will need to run the genny in 240 mode, but I'll only be using 120.
NO don't do it that way, don't run in 220 mode, that will split the windings and give you have POWER/amps on the outlet because you will only be using ONE winding
jumper the wires from the duplex connections to the new RV outlet and leave it in the 120 mode, you will get the full 25 amps.
you can remove the 220 outlet, capp the wires( do not use them ) replace with the RV outlet, and jumper the wires from the duplex to the new outlet
I have a metal bolt on box and receptacle. now when you say jump from the duplex, do you mean( according to the photo) the red wire to one plug. The blue to the other. Then ground to ground. Does this mean that one of the hot wires act as a neutral?
Almost. There is only one 'hot' wire on the 120-volt duplex socket and the RV socket. Here is an image of a sketch of how I think the wiring should go (no guarantees):
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jpkiljan/detail_hires?.dir=8319re2&.dnm=e860re2.jpg
Another worrying oddity with the PP3500D is that the 'hot' connector may not be hot at all. There appears to be no connection between the neutral and the generator's ground. Neither my ohm-meter nor the schematic show a connection. Perhaps all portable generators sold in the US are this way--I really don't know.
I guess I'm okay with that as long as the neutral and ground are connected somewhere inside the RV--preferably near the ground rod. But how many RV'ers actually drive a ground rod outside their setup when camping without hookups? In other words, your 'hot' may not be hot with respect to an earth ground, or perhaps not even to your vehicle's chassis. The bottom line is that there may be no current available to open a circuit breaker if a short develops somewhere on the hot lead. The neutral and ground are supposed to be connected at the main circuit box when using shore power, and at least that setup seems safe enough to me.
My PowerPro's instruction manual stresses how important it is to hook a ground lead to the generator's grounding terminal. The importers probably paid their attorneys a lot to write all that safety stuff for them and I do try to pay attention. But, I really can't see how a generator ground does a bit of good without a connection between the neutral and the generator's chassis ground at least somewhere in the circuit.
--John (who is most definitely NOT an electrician)
