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...

[blkfe]

vmckague wrote:
No it's not hunting, as a matter of fact I can't ""hear" any difference. He just wanted to check as I had just received my tach and he's to much of a tight butt to buy his own. LOL I checked my new Powermax and it is doing about the same thing. Thanks for the quick reply.

And I thought to myself, "just as I thought"

Brad

[vmckague]

No it's not hunting, as a matter of fact I can't ""hear" any difference. He just wanted to check as I had just received my tach and he's to much of a tight butt to buy his own. LOL I checked my new Powermax and it is doing about the same thing. Thanks for the quick reply.

[blkfe]

vmckague wrote:
Hello guys, I have a question, A friend of mine bought a Champion after me telling him about the good luck everyone is having. 300 dollars + tax. Only thing is it will not run at exactly 3600. With or without load it goes from 3580 to 3610 RPM's. I put my tiny tach on it. This is used mostly to run some appliances such as TV, DVR, and a few lights in his house during power failure. Will this hurt anything? I told him I didn't think so but to be on the safe side I thought I'd ask. Thanks in advance

Someone check my math but I think thats less than 1 Hz deviation in frequency. Will be fine. Actually, when I think about it more, Thats AWESOME.

On Edit: does the unit seem like it is "hunting" for a stable rpm or did you have to hook up the tachometer before you noticed it?

[vmckague]

Hello guys, I have a question, A friend of mine bought a Champion after me telling him about the good luck everyone is having. 300 dollars + tax. Only thing is it will not run at exactly 3600. With or without load it goes from 3580 to 3610 RPM's. I put my tiny tach on it. This is used mostly to run some appliances such as TV, DVR, and a few lights in his house during power failure. Will this hurt anything? I told him I didn't think so but to be on the safe side I thought I'd ask. Thanks in advance

[bobojay5]

mitt wrote:

bobojay5 wrote:


Yes it is TSC. Will they give you a rain check??

maybe - I called out there, and they are getting a truck tomorrow, so maybe there will be more.

I also noticed, that my coupon doesn't START until the 7th - do you know how long the 289 sale goes on? Also, what is the normal price?

mitt

Not 100% sure but I think the $289.00 is their regular price.....

[Todd_Barney]

RoadTrekker2002 wrote:
I'm more used to intelligent discussion with nice folks on forums.

:R

So are we, friend. So are we.

[beardedone]

I have been following this thread off and on for quite a while now. I want a gen set for my RV and in a pinch for my furnace if we have a black out. I live in Canada and so the Canadian Standards come into play. Dealers in the U.S. will not ship to Canada (probably something to do with the different electrical standards). In Canada Champion sells several models for us only. By visiting there site at championpowserequipment.com/generator.php I was able to compare the US model C46540 (RV ready) and the closest Canadian model, CSA40015 which is RV ready, but uses an adapter plug, and doesn't have 220. The CSA version is 3500/3000 vs the US one which is 4000/3500. They do appear somewhat similar except for their ratings. Can anyone tell me how they compare or if the CSA40015 will power a 15,000 btu A/C unit. Your help is greatly appreciated.

[mitt]

bobojay5 wrote:


Yes it is TSC. Will they give you a rain check??

maybe - I called out there, and they are getting a truck tomorrow, so maybe there will be more.

I also noticed, that my coupon doesn't START until the 7th - do you know how long the 289 sale goes on? Also, what is the normal price?

mitt

[vmckague]

Professor95 That's the first thing I noticed about mine. The position of the recoil rope. Thought it kind of odd. But one thing I got with my Powermax that the Champions don't have is a "free racing knife" LOL. Thanks for the replies I only wish I'd have found this thread before I ordered my Powermax. Oh well....

[bobojay5]

mitt wrote:

bobojay5 wrote:
A local farm supply store has a 3500 Champion on sale this week for $289.95 plus a 10% off coupon. It would be $260.95 plus tax. Is that a good price?

Yes that is a good price. I imagine it is Tractor Supply (TSC)? They are having the 10% coupon sale here also, but the only Champion they have in stock is the 5500, and it is 549$, and it is bigger than I want. Plus for that money, I could buy a Briggs 5550W that in my opinion is build better, though it lacks AVR.

mitt

Yes it is TSC. Will they give you a rain check??

[professor95]

vmckague wrote:
Does anyone know who makes the genset for Maxpower? They go by the brand name Powermax. Maxpower claims these gens are made only for them but I find this hard to believe. I tried researching on the Internet but can't find any info and I tried looking on the block but haven't been able to see any markings. The only info was on the box and it said made in China. Thanks in advance.

Not a clue. I looked at the photos at this site. Here are some observations I made:

The recoil stareter is on the opposite side from all the other models I have looked at. The rope handle is close to the air filter, meaning you pull from the back of the genny.

The shape of the recoil starter is not round - which is the typical stamping.

There are no cross braces over the top of the fuel tank.

The stamping on the fuel tank is different than the "typical" design.

The 4,400 watts advertised from the 6.5 hp engine is a pipe dream.

Yes, it is most likely made exclusively for them. Many Chinese manufacturers do that for higher volume buyers. But, keep in mind the "exclusiveness" is almost always cosmetic.

[mitt]

bobojay5 wrote:
A local farm supply store has a 3500 Champion on sale this week for $289.95 plus a 10% off coupon. It would be $260.95 plus tax. Is that a good price?

Yes that is a good price. I imagine it is Tractor Supply (TSC)? They are having the 10% coupon sale here also, but the only Champion they have in stock is the 5500, and it is 549$, and it is bigger than I want. Plus for that money, I could buy a Briggs 5550W that in my opinion is build better, though it lacks AVR.

mitt

[vmckague]

Does anyone know who makes the genset for Maxpower? They go by the brand name Powermax. Maxpower claims these gens are made only for them but I find this hard to believe. I tried researching on the Internet but can't find any info and I tried looking on the block but haven't been able to see any markings. The only info was on the box and it said made in China. Thanks in advance.

[Old___Slow]

vmckague wrote:
I'm not saying I don't trust Chinese generators. If that was the case I wouldn't have bought it. All I wanted to know is about how long I could expect one to last. This is my FIRST genset so I just don't have any idea. Will they last a 100 hrs. or 1000 hrs or what? I have nothing to compare it with. Country of origin has nothing to do with it. Just about how long will a genset last with proper care?

How long will they last is a vary common question on this thread. It's a good question. I've have the good pleasure of traveling 100's of hours by what are called Pump Boats in the Far East powered by yes, these little engines. These little engines are know to operate 1000's of hours. Of course with a lot of fixin' here and there. Professor95 mentions hundreds of thousands are sold world wide and truer words were never spoken. Yes, hundreds of thousands. Generators are the number one most wanted luxury in all third world countries. The noise of there little gennys (without the nice mufflers we have in the US) drove my crazy. I had a home base on the Island of Boracay ( the world's most beautiful beach) in the Philippines. The noise of these little gennys helped make the decision to return to the good ole USA. Now here I am owning two Chinese gennys to supply back up power for the home and also power my MH. Go figure.:R

Floyd
O&S


PS: Almost finished building a 'Sound Suppression Box' designed by Brad. DbA will follow. I have ask Brad to post all pictures and explanations as this is not my field.

[MrWizard]

This is my FIRST genset so I just don't have any idea. Will they last a 100 hrs. or 1000 hrs or what? I have nothing to compare it with. Country of origin has nothing to do with it. Just about how long will a genset last with proper care?

if you read just a couple posts above your first question, or a few pages back, you would have your answer, as it was recently asked and offten repeated

I have almost 1000 hrs on my current champion genset, most of them will last hundreds of hours , as long as the oil is changed on time and they are maintained ( although any brand might fail, the first time you start it, the odds are good for having a very useful life )

I full time, i use my genny some almost every day,

I change the oil every 2 weeks,