champion 100263 3400 watt inverter/generator question

[sgfrye]

i pulled the trigger on a new champion 100263 3400 watt inverter/generator this week. got it yesterday. i plan on doing the 5 hour engine breakin tomorrow. i prefer to use propane more than gas but before i decide on buying 2 20 gallon propane tanks my question is does anyone have experience with this unit starting a 15,000 btu a/c off propane and or gas? i have a new 2018 wildwood tt. i don't plan on doing alot of off grid camping but do plan on doing that on our back property this weekend for a dry run. i wouldn't be running anything else in the tt other than maybe tv and dvd player, fresh water tank pump, and some lights.

[Timeking]

I have a Champion 3400 dual fuel. I use propane because of the absence of stench you get from gas (I've brought it inside the house and no smell). It starts and runs a 15K AC with Eco-mode turned off. With Eco-mode off, with a SPL monitor at 50 ft, it measured 60db, i.e, it meets the USFS/Natl Park requirement.

On Eco, on propane, it will RUN the AC but it will not START the AC. A Supco hard start capacitor was a wasted $10. I ordered the Microair device which will hopefully allow me to run on Eco which is quieter.

[RoyBell]

Travel'n'Wrestle wrote:
We just got back from our first boondock where we were testing out our 3500w dual fuel champion inverter, water and gray/black tank management before we leave this Monday for a 4 day country music festival where we will be staying in a fair ground parking lot in 90 degree heat. Since we are newbie RV'ers we needed to see how far we could stretch our tanks and how much propane we would need to haul with us as a family of four.
Off a 30 lb propane tank the generator failed to start my 13.5 btu AC, the first time, 3 out of 6 times. Nothing else in the trailer was on. Each time it failed to start the AC, I shut down the generator, restarted and it fired the A/C no problem. I suspect I was trying to fire up the a/c to quickly after turning on the generator because when we shut down the AC to use the microwave or for my wife to blow dry her hair, the AC fired up no problem when she was done. We were camping at about 5400 feet and it was around 90-95 each day, but the generator was partially shaded so I can't see heat being a factor. Other than those three hiccups the generator performed well. I used about 3/4 of a 30 lb tank for 16 hours of run time ( I installed an engine timer on mine and yes it now reads 21.2 so I did my 5 hour break in ) Ran the a/c, a string of lights my wife made me put up, and the occasional light here and there. We ran the WH and fridge off gas. No other overloads no other problems.
As for noise I have nothing to compare it to. There was a lot of room behind us so I parked my truck across the front of my TT and chained ther genny to the aFrame to deflect sound away from my sister and brother in law whose camp ring was about 25-30 yards from the generator, and toward us. wife and I were very pleased with how quiet it was. Asked my SIL about it at her site (they were tent camping) and she said you can hear it, but barely. I did hear some very loud generators running in the campground, obviously not inverters so I wasn't the biggest DB on the block;)
I too read up a lot on the big boys versus the champion generators...though I don't know why, I couldn't afford one anyway! I feel like I would sleep better with the red or blue box sitting in my garage, but that will have to wait. Hopefully the yellow box treats us well.

Which fest? That elevation will suck a lot of energy out of any engine.

[Clockman]

I have the Costco Black Version 3100, gas only, and I was able to run my 13.5BTU a/c. Fridge, and Inverter no problem for one week straight in 100-110 degree temps 10 hours each day,,,ran like a Champ! No oil useage, and quiet enough.. Especially compared to my campground neibors with their ONAN's with holes in their mufflers and others in the campground with Harbor freight gen sets...

[Travel_n_Wrestl]

We just got back from our first boondock where we were testing out our 3500w dual fuel champion inverter, water and gray/black tank management before we leave this Monday for a 4 day country music festival where we will be staying in a fair ground parking lot in 90 degree heat. Since we are newbie RV'ers we needed to see how far we could stretch our tanks and how much propane we would need to haul with us as a family of four.
Off a 30 lb propane tank the generator failed to start my 13.5 btu AC, the first time, 3 out of 6 times. Nothing else in the trailer was on. Each time it failed to start the AC, I shut down the generator, restarted and it fired the A/C no problem. I suspect I was trying to fire up the a/c to quickly after turning on the generator because when we shut down the AC to use the microwave or for my wife to blow dry her hair, the AC fired up no problem when she was done. We were camping at about 5400 feet and it was around 90-95 each day, but the generator was partially shaded so I can't see heat being a factor. Other than those three hiccups the generator performed well. I used about 3/4 of a 30 lb tank for 16 hours of run time ( I installed an engine timer on mine and yes it now reads 21.2 so I did my 5 hour break in ) Ran the a/c, a string of lights my wife made me put up, and the occasional light here and there. We ran the WH and fridge off gas. No other overloads no other problems.
As for noise I have nothing to compare it to. There was a lot of room behind us so I parked my truck across the front of my TT and chained ther genny to the aFrame to deflect sound away from my sister and brother in law whose camp ring was about 25-30 yards from the generator, and toward us. wife and I were very pleased with how quiet it was. Asked my SIL about it at her site (they were tent camping) and she said you can hear it, but barely. I did hear some very loud generators running in the campground, obviously not inverters so I wasn't the biggest DB on the block;)
I too read up a lot on the big boys versus the champion generators...though I don't know why, I couldn't afford one anyway! I feel like I would sleep better with the red or blue box sitting in my garage, but that will have to wait. Hopefully the yellow box treats us well.

[Bigdogboogie]

johndeerefarmer wrote:
Only time will tell.
A generator tech on one of the forums (I don't remember which) had a good thread on the Chinese clones. He knew exactly how many hours of operation they were designed for as well as the differences in design between Champion and Honda. They are not an exact duplicate of the Honda just similar.
If I wasn't worried about longevity or sound level and was on a budget would buy one.
I learned years ago that in most cases you get what you pay for. Go buy a Harbor Freight tool. They copy many tools out there. They look similar and do a similar job but they fail in short order. HF makes them cheap so they can sell them cheap. The only time I will buy a HF power tool is if I need it for only one job- a sheet metal shear for example. If I think I will ever need it more than once or twice I buy the Makita, Dewalt or Milwaukee.
Now if Honda made their gensets in China to their standards and sold them a little cheaper we would have something.

Good luck

Well, Honda is moving generator manufacturing out of Japan but they don't seem to be interested in lowering the price to reflect the cheaper production costs.

Who knows, Maybe the Chinese engineers can show them how to put a fuel shut off on the EU2000 watt model finally.

[daka320]

Been using the Champion 3100 inverter generator for 3 years now. Average between 60-80 hours per year. Change oil every 50 hours. Have had absolutely no problems and starts on the first or second pull everytime. No complaints about noise from anyone. It has handled 100+ heat in the shade and also elevations up to 9000 ft or so. Rides in the back of my truck.

Not downing the red, blue, or any other colored generators. Just my experience with the yellow one.

[RSD559]

TomG2 wrote:
RSD559, don't confuse us with facts. "Everybody" knows that Champion generators are foreign made and are therefore junk. We have all heard about someone's cousin whose yellow generator made a lot of noise and blew up after less than one hundred hours. It happened somewhere a few years ago. I think that's what I heard. It might have been green.

People, including me, purchased Honda and Yamaha generators because they had real advantages over the run of the mill B & S powered contractor generators of the 80's and 90's. Champion is prospering by selling good products at good prices. Progress. Success comes from selling something better at a premium price or a comparable product for less. No big secret there. The consumer benefits.

Thank you. I agree. I've never stated that the Champion is a better generator. Only that it's a good generator at a very good price. It uses less expensive materials, thus the difference in sound and weight. Many of it's components may very well come from the same factories as the red and blue generators. Who knows. I bought my Honda lots of years ago when we did a lot of dry camping. I sold it because I couldn't justify paying that much for something to run an A/C. We dry camp very little now, but I can justify the price of the Champion for the few times a year when we need it. I take care of it and am looking forward to using it a few times a year for many years.

[TomG2]

RSD559, don't confuse us with facts. "Everybody" knows that Champion generators are foreign made and are therefore junk. We have all heard about someone's cousin whose yellow generator made a lot of noise and blew up after less than one hundred hours. It happened somewhere a few years ago. I think that's what I heard. It might have been green.

People, including me, purchased Honda and Yamaha generators because they had real advantages over the run of the mill B & S powered contractor generators of the 80's and 90's. Champion is prospering by selling good products at good prices. Progress. Success comes from selling something better at a premium price or a comparable product for less. No big secret there. The consumer benefits.

[RSD559]

JohnDeereFarmer, you're really hung up on the China thing. Quote from the Honda website:
"Honda produces approximately 48 thousand compact gasoline generators ranging in capacity from 0.6 – 80 kVA in Japan, China, France and India, and supplies them to North America, Europe and various other countries around the world."
I read somewhere else on the Honda website that the parts are actually made in Indonesia, and assembled at the previously listed places. Champions are built entirely in Indonesia, I believe. And you keep referring to them as a Chinese clone of a Honda. Not true. In fact, the Honda is basically the same design as when it came out about 20 years ago. The Champion is a much newer design. Of course, there probably haven't been many advances in digital technology over that time period. As I said before. Wait and see. We'll probably both be dead and gone before then, though.

[1stgenfarmboy]

I have a generator mounted to a bicycle that I make my wife ride when we need a charge, If the birds are singing I make her breath through her nose so it is quieter and I can hear nature sounds.

[TomG2]

Look up actual user reviews, which show thousands of hours of quality service from Champion generators. Some with hour meters and used in the rental business.

BTW, I have owned many generators, including Hondas, Homelites, Yamahas, and others.

[johndeerefarmer]

Only time will tell.
A generator tech on one of the forums (I don't remember which) had a good thread on the Chinese clones. He knew exactly how many hours of operation they were designed for as well as the differences in design between Champion and Honda. They are not an exact duplicate of the Honda just similar.
If I wasn't worried about longevity or sound level and was on a budget would buy one.
I learned years ago that in most cases you get what you pay for. Go buy a Harbor Freight tool. They copy many tools out there. They look similar and do a similar job but they fail in short order. HF makes them cheap so they can sell them cheap. The only time I will buy a HF power tool is if I need it for only one job- a sheet metal shear for example. If I think I will ever need it more than once or twice I buy the Makita, Dewalt or Milwaukee.
Now if Honda made their gensets in China to their standards and sold them a little cheaper we would have something.

Good luck

[RSD559]

johndeerefarmer wrote:

RSD559 wrote:
I don't have a sound meter, but I have owned and used both a Honda EU3000is and a Champion 2800/3100 inverter generator. The Champion is louder. But not twice as loud. It is a little louder. As I have said a ton of times on this board, if the situation dictates that the Champion is too loud, the Honda will be as well. Not that much of a difference between the two.

Depends how good your hearing is.

And not only is the sound level important but also the tone.

The facts are:
it's a inexpensive Chinese unit.
It' is designed to last about a 1/3 of the amount of time that a Honda will.
They are twice as noisy.
They cost about half of what a Honda does.

Saying a Champion is as good as a Honda or Yamaha is about the same as saying a Kubota or Mahindra is as good as a John Deere or Case-IH.

caveat emptor

My hearing is really good, actually. Maybe it is the tone that makes it sound closer to the Honda's sound level. Also, the Champion will power things at a lower RPM then the Honda, which will mean that it will be not be at full throttle. In fact, I haven't run anything on my RV that required anything more than half throttle on my Champion. Where my Honda wouldn't power my 13k A/C even at full throttle. Had to put a start kit in to get it to work. On what do you base your opinion of how long the Champion will last? I haven't read about one dying prematurely. There are, however, a ton of posts about how to fix red and blue generators with common problems. Time will tell if you're right or not. As for caveat emptor, that cuts both ways. Paying for something that's junk, as you are inferring, or paying too much for something that isn't.
The Champion in the post has several features that don't come on the Honda. Wheels, remote start, dual fuel, more power, with the ability to start a 13k A/C without a start kit. While the Honda has a larger gas tank and a gas guage and a Honda decal on it.

[sgfrye]

I don't have a decibel meter, nor have had a Honda generator but my experience with the champion is great so far. Using gas or propane it' starts and runs my 15k btu a/c, , fridge as well as LCD tv and DVD player. As for the noise with it running approx 15 foot from our camper we barely hear it over the sound of our ac