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justALnow's avatar
justALnow
Explorer
Aug 03, 2020

Onan 4500 watt portable generator ...Anyone tried one yet?

We've just started carrying the Cummins/Onan portable generators (2500 watt and 4500 watt) here at Camping World and they look like great units. Comparable noise levels to the Hondas, with more features and quite a price differential.

My question is ... The 4500 sports a 3.4 gallon fuel tank and I'm wondering if anyone has real world experience as to actual run time on a tank of gas powering an A/C unit?

Thanks,

Al
  • A while back I was looking for a new portable generator and the two new Onan's caught my eye only to find out,there a rebranded Westinghouse generator..The difference in price led me to buy the Westinghouse instead..

    I found this also!
    There is pretty much no difference between the Westinghouse iGen4500 and the Cummins Onan P4500i. The Cummins Onan P4500i is just a rebranded Westinghouse iGen4500.

    Here is a test on the Igen 4500 run time..16 Hours to run it out of fuel.

    Igen 4500 run time test
  • So here are my results:

    Running my camper with fridge on LP and water heater on LP, I fired up this generator about 9pm. Running the A/C (Atwood Air Command with a MicroAir soft start kit) Overnight lows in the upper 70's with the thermostat set at 75, so it was a pretty good test. Ran the generator about 10 hours... until about 7 o'clock the next morning. I stopped for fuel that day and topped off the gennie tank ... it took 1.5 gallons. Fuel capacity is 3.4 gallons, so it easily could have run 20 hours on a tank of gas.
  • bobsallyh wrote:
    A dealer had them at Quartzite, AZ. last winter at the "RV Show'. Look at the box, memory serves me correctly it said "engineered and designed by Onan/Cummins in Indiana. Made in China. The 2500 was sitting there just purring away until somebody plugged something into it, then you could hear it on up the outside aisle.


    Now they say Made in Vietnam ... Same as Honda.
  • It looks like a cummins rebranding with a few mods to the cintrol panel to the Pulsar brand inverter generator.
    Both look a lot alike, both use the 224cc Ducar engine. The Pulsar claims a 15 hr run time at half load which running an ac and charging batteries would get a little less.
    Pulsar genny
  • Chum lee wrote:
    I'm sure it's printed in the owners manual. For the 4500 watt model I would expect it to be similar to the 4000 watt permanent installation gas powered model.

    +-.33 gal/hr. @ no load
    +-.75 gal/hr. @ full load

    maybe a little more since its slightly larger capacity.

    Chum lee


    ya, I read the manual, which is always vague. I was looking for real world experience.
  • A dealer had them at Quartzite, AZ. last winter at the "RV Show'. Look at the box, memory serves me correctly it said "engineered and designed by Onan/Cummins in Indiana. Made in China. The 2500 was sitting there just purring away until somebody plugged something into it, then you could hear it on up the outside aisle.
  • I'm sure it's printed in the owners manual. For the 4500 watt model I would expect it to be similar to the 4000 watt permanent installation gas powered model.

    +-.33 gal/hr. @ no load
    +-.75 gal/hr. @ full load

    maybe a little more since its slightly larger capacity.

    Chum lee