Any Predator Generator reviews?

[Kayteg1]

Now when my build-in Generac died and even new $350 board is not fixing it, I am researching more reasonable option.
$500 inverter generator have excelent reviews and some say it runs smaller AC just fine, but forum search shows 0 topicks.
Hard to believe nobody from the forum tried it?

[Kayteg1]

Click For Full-Size Image.
I had spare on front bumper on my F250 when I was picking up the camper.
Even I prepaired my F250 for the trip all I could and bought new, the best I could find tires, with empty camper the rear tires were overloaded by like 20%.
Sure gave me cold back this winter.
Still spare wheel obstructed the headlight, obstructed the radiator and was too much of redneck for my taste.
Small generator with diamond plate as wind breaker should be different story.

[SidecarFlip]

Being a retired over the road trucker, I despise winter driving. Something about pulling a 45 foot wagon on icy roads that imparts sweaty palms. Now, I try not to go anywhere in the winter (besides hunting) that entails driving on bad roads.

After driving a couple million miles in all sorts of weather, a long drive to me now is about 300 miles (a day). Back in the day, I ran from Texas to New York City hauling boxed meat (I had a contract) in a weekend. I'd roll out of MBP in Texas on Friday afternoon and get in NYC on Canal Street Monday morning about 4am. Get jerked off, go pick up a load of whatever off the Jersey Piers for the Midwest, like KC, dump that and back to Texas for another round.

I made a ton of money, wore out a few trucks, took a lot of pills and never had a log book. Things are different today and thats not all bad.

I'm moving my spare to the front of the truck from underneath. Had a flat on the side of the e-way last year and there is nothing better than yanking the spare out from under the truck on a pea gravel berm, wrestling out from under there and mounting it (happened to be the drivers side front) with inconsiderate 4 wheelers whizzing by scant inches from my butt at 70 per. Not fun at all. I had bloody elbows, skinned knees, tore my pants.. wasn't in a good mood afterwards at all. Was on my way home from a nice weekend camp up north. Told my wife to stay in the truck. I didn't want her to become a traffic victim.

Flats are inevitable. Just want to make it as easy as possible should it happen again.

I figure a front mount will be easier, maybe not the actual change but the getting it out from under the back can be eliminated. I have to custom fabricate a receiver for the front and build a carrier. I don't care for the comercially available ones, I'll fab my own. I want to have a receiver extension in front of the spare carrier so I can mount my winch if I need it.

How my Yamaha 2800I was with my Lance, ran everything just fine. I don't have the need for that much wattage anymore. The Champion 2000 watt peak 1700 running is fine for my use and I bought it with Cabelas points anyway. If, at some point I did buy an ac unit for my TC, I'd just buy a second one and a parallel kit. Up here, heat is more important than ac. I run my heater when I get up in the morning to take the chill off, even in the summer.

Have fun on the fourth and don't blow your fingers off, firecrackers are dangerous.

Out of curiosity, what make of camper is it?

[Kayteg1]

I drove for my camper to north Michigan from San Francisco, so the "long drive" is subject to personal perception. That was in -20F winter BTW.
Yes the Generac is build-in and it takes 2 compartment.
2nd is for huge inverter box with 2 huge fans on the sides, but the compartment has no ventilation.
I guess I never figure why anybody in his good mind would put such propane-guzzling, breaking twice a season, extremely expensive ornament in camper, where space and weight is at high premium.
Once I build front rack for Honda, not only I will have reliable, cheap, fuel saving and easy to replace unit, but my Center of Gravity will take whole meaning.
Now I might put my spare wheel back under the truck.
I used that Honda in my bus years ago and one fill up (2.4 gal) was running 15k AC for solid 12 hr.

[SidecarFlip]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I am the thread starter and after getting the message that cheap generator will not solve the problem on the road, considering the heat wave still going strong in NV. AZ, TX I decided to go back 300 miles home, wait for the heat to cool down and load my portable Honda 3000EU instead of $4500 Generac junk to continue long vacation (from retirement) in JULY.
Anybody in Las Vegas want nice spot to watch fireworks, I have rooftop deck with unobstructed view and I drink European beers.

Thats a bummer. I'd come out and tip one with you but it's a long drive from Michigan.

I've been retired for 5 years and have yet to take a trip anywhere. Maybe next year.

I take it the Generac is built in?

[Kayteg1]

I am the thread starter and after getting the message that cheap generator will not solve the problem on the road, considering the heat wave still going strong in NV. AZ, TX I decided to go back 300 miles home, wait for the heat to cool down and load my portable Honda 3000EU instead of $4500 Generac junk to continue long vacation (from retirement) in JULY.
Anybody in Las Vegas want nice spot to watch fireworks, I have rooftop deck with unobstructed view and I drink European beers.

[SidecarFlip]

hotrodfords wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:


...I don't have an ac in / on my RV. I'm a purist.

Haha...you can get away with that in Michigan. You can always add layers to survive in the cold, but there's only so much you can take off to stay cool if it's hot. Last week the high temps here in the Mojave were never lower than 116 over a 5 day stretch, overnight "lows" in the high 80s. Today I was out loading my TC on the truck. Inside the TC it's 125, outside its 109. To provision the TC here you got to cool it down and keep it that way the minute you load your foodstuffs in. If you want to do anything consistently in the desert SW over the summer, you'll have an a/c, even if you plan to camp at 8,000 msl or above.

Just food for thought.

And my "3600 rpm screamer" is insurance against losing the house contents in the refrigerator/freezer and can simultaneously power a 5000 watt window shaker for the small room in the basement if a catastrophe were to occur here in the summer (i.e major power outage). We don't camp with it, nor would I recommend it for the reasons you describe.

I've contemplated getting a roof ac unit. my camper is already wired for one... if I went out west in the summer probably would be a must have. Certainly a high efficiency unit and that would give me an excuse to buy another 2000 watt Champion and parallel kit.

I confess, I paid nothing for my current Champion 2000 watt unit. I bought it entirely with Cabelas points. I use my Cabelas card for all my business purchases. At a point per buck spent, I can crank up some serious points in no time. I have my eye on a bass boat right now.

Now, if Cabelas had rooftop ac's for RV's, I'd be tempted.

Maybe Marcus should have bought Cabelas instead of Gander Mountain.:S

[hotrodfords]

SidecarFlip wrote:


...I don't have an ac in / on my RV. I'm a purist.

Haha...you can get away with that in Michigan. You can always add layers to survive in the cold, but there's only so much you can take off to stay cool if it's hot. Last week the high temps here in the Mojave were never lower than 116 over a 5 day stretch, overnight "lows" in the high 80s. Today I was out loading my TC on the truck. Inside the TC it's 125, outside its 109. To provision the TC here you got to cool it down and keep it that way the minute you load your foodstuffs in. If you want to do anything consistently in the desert SW over the summer, you'll have an a/c, even if you plan to camp at 8,000 msl or above.

Just food for thought.

And my "3600 rpm screamer" is insurance against losing the house contents in the refrigerator/freezer and can simultaneously power a 5000 watt window shaker for the small room in the basement if a catastrophe were to occur here in the summer (i.e major power outage). We don't camp with it, nor would I recommend it for the reasons you describe.

[SidecarFlip]

hotrodfords wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
Now when my build-in Generac died and even new $350 board is not fixing it, I am researching more reasonable option.
$500 inverter generator have excelent reviews and some say it runs smaller AC just fine, but forum search shows 0 topicks.
Hard to believe nobody from the forum tried it?

I own both the 2000 watt HF gennie you reference here, and a 4000 watt HF gennie.

I'll live dangerously and make a blanket statement; the 2000watt HF inverter generator won't power your a/c. It won't power my Dometic a/c even, when it was direct plugged into the a/c unit (testing it before I mounted the Dometic a/c on my TC)

Further, the 4000 watt HF gennie is a red herring WRT being "4000 watts". The way the 4000 gennie works with it's voltage regulator to regulate power, it splits the armature into 2 halves of power - i.e. 2 separate 2000 watt circuits that the ARE OUT OF PHASE with each other so you can't easily combine circuits to make that power an a/c either.

You could buy 2 of those 2000 watt gennies and do this: Predator Parallel Circuit
Good luck in your pursuit.

The 2000 watt unit is an inverter (7 pole DC head).

The 4000 watt is an open frame 3600 rpm noise maker, 2 pole head, hence 3600 rpm = 60hz.

2 different animals. If I was in a campground, I'd never have a 3600 rpm screamer, just too noisy.

My take is, you could buy 2 Preds and the parallel kit just like you could buy 2 Champs and the parallel kit. Difference being, the Champ's you can get parts for. The Preds? Crapshoot at best.

Price, about equal. Don't take a lot of contemplation on my part to see the better value.No, I don't run an AC on my 2000 watt Champ either. I don't have an ac in / on my RV. I'm a purist.

I did a ton of research before I bought the Champion. Checked reviews, incident reports, anything I could lay my hands on prior to.

[Kayteg1]

Did you run your AC on Champion 2000 ?
Thanks for the feedback hotrodfords. That was the answer I was waiting for.

[theoldwizard1]

In that price range, I would go with a Champion 2000W inverter. Not as small, but it has a proven track record.

[hotrodfords]

Kayteg1 wrote:
Now when my build-in Generac died and even new $350 board is not fixing it, I am researching more reasonable option.
$500 inverter generator have excelent reviews and some say it runs smaller AC just fine, but forum search shows 0 topicks.
Hard to believe nobody from the forum tried it?

I own both the 2000 watt HF gennie you reference here, and a 4000 watt HF gennie.

I'll live dangerously and make a blanket statement; the 2000watt HF inverter generator won't power your a/c. It won't power my Dometic a/c even, when it was direct plugged into the a/c unit (testing it before I mounted the Dometic a/c on my TC)

Further, the 4000 watt HF gennie is a red herring WRT being "4000 watts". The way the 4000 gennie works with it's voltage regulator to regulate power, it splits the armature into 2 halves of power - i.e. 2 separate 2000 watt circuits that the ARE OUT OF PHASE with each other so you can't easily combine circuits to make that power an a/c either.

You could buy 2 of those 2000 watt gennies and do this: Predator Parallel Circuit
Good luck in your pursuit.

[SidecarFlip]

Thats interesting Kayteg, I have a Generac 17KW standby unit for the house that has never had issue one. It's at least 10 years old and other than a new starting batter every couple years, it's been flawless.

I take it that an Onan wasn't an option at the time?

If I was in your shoes, I'd be pissed too.

One of my good friends has a Honda (like yours) and I tease him all the time about what it cost.

Personally, I believe before the competition got with it, Honda and Yamaha had the market cornered and could set their price point at whatever they wanted it to be. Thats all changed and I see Honda came out with a lower cost cradle type inverter just to stay competitive.

Lots of players now.

The only thing that I'm leery about with the HF Pred Inverter is parts. If you buy one and it pukes right away you can exchange it, however, down the road a bit, after the initial exchange period is done, because there are no parts or service centers available, you have a rock and even good priced rock is still a rock.

Being enviromentaly correct, I hate landfilling things like that and I'm pretty much electronically challenged. Mechanically, no problem.

[Kayteg1]

Thanks for the time to write your observation Flip.
I do have Honda3000ei at home, that I bought for motorhome 15 years ago so I know advantage of Honda, but the Generac I have right now was $4500 option that with 82 hr on the meter is leaving me stranded with no parts closer than 500 miles and no service that would be really qualified to fix it.
Point is that with today't technology the stuff we are using well exceeded the service we can get for it, so instead of buying expensive stuff, that will need several weeks to get fixed, I tend to like the idea of buying cheap, have it replaced under warranty if needed and after 2 years if it breaks - just buy another one without looking back.
Can't stand the fact that stupid (and outrageously expensive) Generac is messing my cross country trip that I planned for years.
Now not only I with no generator, but with 120 lb of junk mounted in compartment I could use for new stuff.

[SidecarFlip]

I have a couple comments, neither pro or con, just my personal experience...

The Pred and the Honda are look alike's but under the caninet. the Honda has a higher quality level of components. In the Pred's favor is the engine. It's a Lifan built for HF and Lifasn builds quality engines, I have 3, one on a pressure washer, one on my rear tine tiller that repaced a Honda that threw a rod and one in my gasoline powered Bobcat and they all run fine, start first or second pull (except the one in the Bobcat, it's electric start.

I owed a Yamaha 2800 I for 10 years and it's an excellent Inverter genny, but it's expensive. Yamaha holds the patent on the multi pole generator head that everyone uses (Inverter units produce DC and it's electronically rectified to AC and electronically excited to 60hz, why all the Inverter's have an 'economy' mode, you don't have to spin the head at 3600rpm like a conventional genny to make 60hz 120 volt power.

I sold the Yamaha last year for almost as much as I paid for it, Yamaha's really hold their value but at 10 years old, I was getting concerned about reliability.

After much looking around and comparing specifications, I purchased a Champion 2000 watt Inverter.

Couple reasons:
One: PRICE... You can get a Champ everyday for under 500 bucks and if you catch a sale, you can get one for close to 400 bucks.
Two: The Champ also has a Lifan motor
Three: Unlike the Honda or the Pred, the Champ is rectangular and it fits nicely in the corner of my TC. It has a double gas shutoff, one to the carb and one on the gas cap so no fumes in the TC. The Honda, the Pred and most of the other smaller inverters have a lunch box shape and it's not conducive to store it, the Champ is like a box, much easier to deal with.
Four: The Champ has parts availability here in the United States (even though it's Chinese built (so is the Honda and the Pred and all the other smaller ones built in China as well. Parts are a big thing with me, everything breaks eventually. Ever see any replacement parts for a Pred through Harbor Freight? Don't think so. It breaks, you are SOL. The Pred is a disposa-unit.
Five: The Champ can be paralleled for 4000 watts if necessaary, not a selling point with me but 4000 watts will run any RV ac.
Six: Weight. The Champ weighs about 60 pounds with fuel and oil, not exceedingly light, but it's shape and built in roll cage handles make it a breeze to handle.

I used my Champ all last year camping off grid and it performed without any issues. Always starts 1st or 2nd pull and it's stupid easy to turn over, even a child can start it. I only run it if the wife wants to use the microwave and a couple hours every day to keep my batteries charged. I can go 2 to 3 days on a tank (1 gallon), no issues.

It's extremely quiet. You cannot hear it inside the camper with it sitting next to the truck. Very happy with it.

Not dunning HF, I buy stuff there all the time but I don't buy complex stuff because they don't carry replacement parts.

The above are personal observations, take them as that.

[pianotuna]

Hi keytag1,

If the Microair Easy Start kit is added ($300) then at 95 f and low altitude a 13500 btu air conditioner can be reliably run.

At 120 F the 2k units don't have enough surge capacity to take care of the locked rotor amps.

You could add a hybrid inverter/charger to do the surge, but it would be cheaper to use the 3400 Champion.