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...

[professor95]

MrWizard wrote:
102 degrees yesterday

the RV ready & the A/C, are working nicely togethere

I am glad you are pleased with your new generator. Some interesting trivia...... After some on-line research I discovered Champion OWNS the Chinese plant where their generators are built. This plant does NOT make generators for other vendors. My reaction to this is that in all likelyhood, this would increase quality control. I have not found any other North American vendor that owns their own manufacturing facility in China.

As an "old motor man" I am sure you know to reduce the run wattage on your generator by about 200 watts for every 5 degrees F above 85 degrees ambient temperature to lessen the chance of getting the core over 195 degrees F. It is a good precaution to take to assure a long life for your unit.

[MrWizard]

102 degrees yesterday

the RV ready & the A/C, are working nicely togethere

weather forecast possible high today 112

extreme heat alert has been issued

and i have to go to the VZW phone store, after I get the scooter running correctly

YIKES

[nsbat7]

I dont know why my last message has so many question marks. By the way there are no question marks on my last message.

ns

[nsbat7]

I got my ProForce 3500 and so far I'm a happy camper. I got it from Pep Boys for $229 ??(after $20 mail in rebate). I run it for 5 hours and then change the oil. I went to home ?depot and got some heavy duty (and small) ball bearing wheels ($2.49 ea) and is almost weightless to ?move around. Now I just have to sit and wait for the first hurricane to hit us (Miami). By ?the way, this is a very quiet generator compare with the other ones I seen around. I turn it on in front of my garage and there was no noise at all in my kitchen (with the doors open). I'm still ?looking for owners that can give me some more feedback or advise about this generator. ?This web site and this tread make my decision quick and painless.
Thanks.?

ns

[Mr__Tommy]

I love that story, gottahunt. My email experience with their customer service was just as unbelievable. I'd written a question to them on the 4th of July, expecting to see something the next day (if I was lucky). Imagine my surprise when I found an email from them later in the day - ON THE 4TH!!!

They may not be Honda, but they sure do have a good start (with customer support second to none).

I've got the "RV Ready" C45540.

[MrWizard]

I think the chapmion manual says first oil change 5hrs ( 4OK )

and every 100 hrs or season,

clean or replace sparkplug at each oil change

that's the way I do it.

[Toyota_Camper]

Gave my Homier 3,500 watt generator its first real world test this weekend and it passed with flying colors. It ran our 13.5 AC on our motorhome for about 3 hours on Saturday. The campground we were staying at had no electric sites, and our site didn't have afternoon shade. So it was nice to relax in the AC when it was about 85-90 outside! 😉

I have about 4 hours total on my genny, when should I do the first oil change? How often should I change spark plug?

Thanks,
Nate

[MrWizard]

I love my C46540 'RV ready'

[gottahunt]

First off, this is a great forum and I thank you all for all the good info. I received my Champion 'RV Ready' 46540 last week and serviced it as required, it started on the first pull, and I let it run 10 minutes before switching the power on. When I did switch the power on, I got nothing out of it. Zero volts in the 120 or 240 switch position. I double checked all the breakers and gave it the once-over “twice” but found no problems. I then called the 1-800 number (it was after hours) and got the help desk. The gentleman could only tell me to take it to my nearest service center 80 miles away. I decided to wait until the next morning and call the tech support number and I got the surprise of my life.

I got a gentleman in California that was the best support person I have ever talked to. Very patient, helpful and clear as to what he wanted me to do. After about 45 minutes and 3 different tests, he determined the voltage regulator was bad. I had a new one in 2 days. Upon replacing the VR I had voltage but found it was only 98 VAC instead of 120 and 186 VAC instead of 240. There is a trim pot on the back of the VR that adjusted the voltage to the correct level and now all works great. This is my first generator so I can not compare it to anything else but it works great, starts easy, and doesn’t seem too loud to me. Runs the AC without a hiccup.

I just thought I would share my experience with Champion’s Tech Support. It is the best I have ever seen.

[MrWizard]

well the genny and the A/C are happy together

untill I try to use the microwave, then the A/C starts to bog

so I fipped the temp control to warm, for cooking with the MW, then turned it back on cold when done

of course this is a big old MW, but i didn't think it used that much juice, I'll have to check and see if their both on the same circuit..

because there should be power to spare and i amped the A/C and the unit draw is less than 15 amps

of course the converter was on but it was in absorption mode

[MrWizard]

I remember that, nicely done

gives you the same thing as the RV ready c46540, only you did it first ( i think you were champion's insperation for bringing out the RV model

also it appears that your model also has the good 'electronic' voltage regulator

making for nice clean power

[Sonic1954]

Several of you have asked for the picts that I put up a long time ago in this thead where I did my original Champion re-wire.

Instead of putting the pictures up, I am putting the photos so you can download them and blow them up.

Head re-wire
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/sonic1954/DSCN0389.jpg

Wiring
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/sonic1954/DSCN0394.jpg

Fuses
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/sonic1954/DSCN0395.jpg

[flamingoland]

nsbat7 wrote:
I'm trying to make a decision here between the Coleman Powermate Proforce 3125 and the Power pro 3500. After reading all the post about the power pro is not to hart to decide who's the winner but one of my biggest concerns is thet Pep Boys price for the Powermate is $229 (on sale) and the Pro Force is $329 (regular Price) and I do not know if the Power Force is going to be on sale soon. Bottom-line... The questions are...


2. I can not find to many treads about the Powermate 3125, Does anybody has any inputs (good or bad). I kind of like this one better because is smaller (I can use it camping), it has a voltimeter, and I really do not need the 220 outlet.

3. I'm trying to run my kitchen refrigerator, 32" TV, DirecTV, 2 floor fans, coffee pot, about 300 watts of lights, Laptop and modem (with battery), and microwave (probably not at the same time as the refrigerator)

4. What about the noise level, both are rated at 67 dB, is that true?

Thanks.
ns

i bought the 3125 last year, have run it here and there, including the A/C and it's been fine, about to take it dry camping to NASCAR this weekend, so this will be the test, will post back next week....the only thing i so far can complain about is the manual is really bad.....and when i first got it and started it up, it ran for a few minutes then it wouldn't run, turned out had put WAY too much oil into it (no way of telling just how much to put in)

it doesn't seem any noisier than the VERY old 2125 we had borrowed last year

[MrWizard]

while working on the A/c unit to day i made a couple of measurements

I read 14.7 amps on the line ( blk ) into the control at 120 volts

this with the A/C running full out on what should be HIGH

that still leaves 14 amps for powering other things

I didnot read the full load on the generator ( so the converter is not factored in )

I donot know what the total amps were or what the reserve left was/is

the converter was on and the batteries were charging, but NOT heavily

that reading was just what the A/C unti was using

temps where close to 100 and evrything worked great

[nsbat7]

I'm trying to make a decision here between the Coleman Powermate Proforce 3125 and the Power pro 3500. After reading all the post about the power pro is not to hart to decide who's the winner but one of my biggest concerns is thet Pep Boys price for the Powermate is $229 (on sale) and the Pro Force is $329 (regular Price) and I do not know if the Power Force is going to be on sale soon. Bottom-line... The questions are...

1. Has somebody seeing the Power pro in a better price in Pep Boys before? If yes I will wait a few weeks to see if the price goes down.

2. I can not find to many treads about the Powermate 3125, Does anybody has any inputs (good or bad). I kind of like this one better because is smaller (I can use it camping), it has a voltimeter, and I really do not need the 220 outlet.

3. I'm trying to run my kitchen refrigerator, 32" TV, DirecTV, 2 floor fans, coffee pot, about 300 watts of lights, Laptop and modem (with battery), and microwave (probably not at the same time as the refrigerator)

4. What about the noise level, both are rated at 67 dB, is that true?

Thanks.
ns