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...

[tvman44]

If you find out please post here for others that may want to convert to electric start.

[MrRchitty]

DrBaker wrote:

MrRchitty wrote:
Has anyone tried to retrofit a starter on the Champion 46515 3500-4000 watt generator? It has the 196cc engine. I took the guards (air cooling covers) off to see if there were threaded holes to accommodate the starter.

The Champion 46555 has the same engine and comes with a starter. The pdf manual has a detailed diagram and the components which make up the charging and starting components are in purple.

What I noticed on my engine is there are holes present which are piloted, however, not drilled and tapped.

I've been wondering the same thing. Can we buy the parts from the electric start version and adapt them to our manual start genny?

From the picture, the best that I can tell, it looks like the charging system is under the flywheel. Those parts are bolted to the 4 bolt pattern beneath. The starter bolts pass from the flywheel side into the motor. Like I mentioned, the evidence of undrilled, untapped molds are there. Question, would be, how far to drill into the motor. The tapping would be easy and could just select a tap of the same size as existing bolt threads.

I suppose, you (or I) could call Champion and reference those specific parts and obtain a price. I wonder if anyone would tell us how far to drill into the starter mount as that one goes into the block. The 4 under the flywheel are kind of obvious as those are raised.

[DrBaker]

MrRchitty wrote:
Has anyone tried to retrofit a starter on the Champion 46515 3500-4000 watt generator? It has the 196cc engine. I took the guards (air cooling covers) off to see if there were threaded holes to accommodate the starter.

The Champion 46555 has the same engine and comes with a starter. The pdf manual has a detailed diagram and the components which make up the charging and starting components are in purple.

What I noticed on my engine is there are holes present which are piloted, however, not drilled and tapped.

I've been wondering the same thing. Can we buy the parts from the electric start version and adapt them to our manual start genny?

[MrRchitty]

Has anyone tried to retrofit a starter on the Champion 46515 3500-4000 watt generator? It has the 196cc engine. I took the guards (air cooling covers) off to see if there were threaded holes to accommodate the starter.

The Champion 46555 has the same engine and comes with a starter. The pdf manual has a detailed diagram and the components which make up the charging and starting components are in purple.

What I noticed on my engine is there are holes present which are piloted, however, not drilled and tapped.

[professor95]

jerb wrote:
professor95.....or anybody else that has done the propane conversions on the champion gen set, how about a part number and a place to order the demand regulator? found it once on here, now i cant find it, too many pages...lol

This is the specific page for the Garretson KN at US Carb. They are offering the BEAM regulator as a substitute on another page, but I have no experience with that model.

Here is another Garretson KN supplier.

[Beach-Rat]

professor95 wrote:


Joe,

did anyone complain?

I know you did a lot of engineering to make the front mount for the Champion. While it is a great location and saves you space, it also gets the genny up in the air and allows its noise to travel easier than a bed or ground mount. You are open on all sides with no dirt underneath to act as a sound absorber. I would imaging the front cap of the fiver might act as a sound reflector.

Rather than give up on all your hard work I would suggest brainstorming how you can set up some portable sound baffles around the genny. It doesn't take much - even some cardboard panels or a wire rack to hang some old carpet on can do a lot to lower the mechanical noise!

Changing oil isn't going to reduce the noise.

Don't give up.

I had one guy move.. We left Key West and drove to the Miccosukee Casino in Holmstead.. when we arrived at the casino parking lot the inside of the 5er was 95* so I fired up the Champion and turned on the A/C.. guy next to us mumbled that he needed some sleep and moved to the other end of the lot..

One issue is that the bottom was open and I can't figure how to shield the ends without blocking airflow..

Still working on it.. genny is down & in the garage.. will change the oil this week and but the summer blend in.. also need to redirect the exhaust..

[HedoTravelers]

US Carb

I use this for inspiration 🙂

[jerb]

professor95.....or anybody else that has done the propane conversions on the champion gen set, how about a part number and a place to order the demand regulator? found it once on here, now i cant find it, too many pages...lol

[HedoTravelers]

You can make a quick sound deadener out of that pink insulation board that folds in thirds. It can be had at most big box stores and folds away for storage. I have also used a moving blanket folded up to deaden the sound from the genny head end.

[professor95]

Beach-Rat wrote:
Doom and gloom..

Just got back from a month in Florida escaping the winter weather that wasn't so bad at home.. Dry camped for the first time in an RV park setting (vs a truck stop). I was the only Champion 3500/4000 in a sea of red and blue..

Cheese & Crackers! was our Champion ever loud! No practical way to quiet it down so I guess I'll be shopping for a super quiet before I go back..

From across the campground you can hear the Champion's mechanical noise.
Maybe draining the Mobile-1 and use 30w for starters.. Will quiet it down a little..

Joe,

did anyone complain?

I know you did a lot of engineering to make the front mount for the Champion. While it is a great location and saves you space, it also gets the genny up in the air and allows its noise to travel easier than a bed or ground mount. You are open on all sides with no dirt underneath to act as a sound absorber. I would imaging the front cap of the fiver might act as a sound reflector.

Rather than give up on all your hard work I would suggest brainstorming how you can set up some portable sound baffles around the genny. It doesn't take much - even some cardboard panels or a wire rack to hang some old carpet on can do a lot to lower the mechanical noise!

Changing oil isn't going to reduce the noise.

Don't give up.

[camperpaul]

Bernadette Shoe wrote:

camperpaul wrote:
Does anyone know anything about this one?

--- snip ---

KingCraft 6,000-Watt Electric Generator $348.99

Take a look here about Kingcraft generators. Make sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page...

Thanks. I read the whole page.

[Bernadette_Shoe]

camperpaul wrote:
Does anyone know anything about this one?



Link

KingCraft 6,000-Watt Electric Generator $348.99

Take a look here about Kingcraft generators. Make sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page...

[camperpaul]

Does anyone know anything about this one?



Link

KingCraft 6,000-Watt Electric Generator $348.99

[Bernadette_Shoe]

Beach-Rat wrote:
Doom and gloom..

Just got back from a month in Florida escaping the winter weather that wasn't so bad at home.. Dry camped for the first time in an RV park setting (vs a truck stop). I was the only Champion 3500/4000 in a sea of red and blue..

Cheese & Crackers! was our Champion ever loud! No practical way to quiet it down so I guess I'll be shopping for a super quiet before I go back..

From across the campground you can hear the Champion's mechanical noise.
Maybe draining the Mobile-1 and use 30w for starters.. Will quiet it down a little..

Are you comparing the Champion 3500/4000 to the Honda and Yamaha inverters?

I believe the 3500/4000 is rated at 68dBA @ 23 feet. Versus 53 dBA for the Champion 2000i. So an additional 15 dBA is considerably louder. I think a Champion 2000i (or two) would have been a great deal more discreet. Just my 2 cents.

[Beach-Rat]

Doom and gloom..

Just got back from a month in Florida escaping the winter weather that wasn't so bad at home.. Dry camped for the first time in an RV park setting (vs a truck stop). I was the only Champion 3500/4000 in a sea of red and blue..

Cheese & Crackers! was our Champion ever loud! No practical way to quiet it down so I guess I'll be shopping for a super quiet before I go back..

From across the campground you can hear the Champion's mechanical noise.
Maybe draining the Mobile-1 and use 30w for starters.. Will quiet it down a little..