Todd_Barney
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Re: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
unclev wrote: Can a generator like Champion 3500 be run while on the high way to power the A/C of a motor home? Say if the gen is mounted on the tray outside? I think so. I went from Georgia to Utah and back with mine mounted on the tongue of my trailer. Had a few hiccups, which are documented in this thread a few pages back. But for the most part it ran the A/C fine.449Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
AnneNTomAZ wrote: Todd wrote: As for the generator, I continued to have problems with the oil being pulled back through the air cleaner I have rebuilt a lot of small 4 cycle engines. Their intake air takes the "path of least resistance". If they can't get what they need through the air filter, then it has to come from the crank case breather tube. There are some dirty oily vapors in there which in a short time will foul your filter. Change your filter often. Paper filters clog with dust and cannot be cleaned well enough after a couple of cleanings. Cheap insurance, like the commercial said "You can pay me now (small amount for filters), or you can pay me later ( large amount for overhaul). Change the oil and filters often and if there isn't an inline fuel filter, put one in. Biggest cause of engine problem is dirty or old stale fuel. Good Luck, you are becoming an involuntary expert quickly. I hear ya. FWIW, it still seemed like "clean" oil. The filter is foam, so I would simply squeeze it out (wrap in a couple of paper towels and squeeze) to get the excess oil out, wipe down the inside of the air cleaner housing, and put it all back together. Since there wasn't a lot of strong airflow into the fresh air opening, it didn't seem to be sucking in a lot of dust, so the filter still looks pretty clean.382Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
I'm back from the road trip. After JB Welding the spark plug boot, I waited until Albuquerque to crank it up. It started and ran fine, and never missed a beat the rest of the way home to Georgia. It was running about 8-10 hours per day, constant, for four days. I had two hiccups with the air conditioner: One morning, I neglected to switch the fridge and water heater to Gas-only before hitting the road. At some point, that caused the 20amp breaker in the TT to trip. (The gen just kept on running.) Reset it, and didn't have that problem again. The last day of driving was in 97 to 104 degree heat. Everything ran fine most of the day. However, some time between 2pm-3pm, the last hour of my trip, the A/C "locked up." The fan was running, but just warm air coming out. Since I was home, I climbed up and pulled the shroud. The compressor was very hot, and the coolant lines were, too. Nothing was iced over, quite the opposite. But after letting things cool down, it started up and began cooling again just fine. The gen was running along fine the whole time. While it was running, even with 100 degree temps, the interior of the TT was being cooled to around 77-78. The thermostat was probably set around 78-80. Maybe I should have left it lower, so it didn't cycle, but I guess I was worried about it icing up. I didn't have the problem of drawing so much current that the gen died, but it sure acted as if it had a starting capacitor problem. (Same way my unit at home did when the starting cap died.) So, a hard-start kit is probably in the cards for me. As for the generator, I continued to have problems with the oil being pulled back through the air cleaner, but other than having to top off every other day, it didn't seem to cause any other problems. I'm beginning to think that my issues out in CO and UT had more to do with the broken spark plug boot...I wish I had fixed it sooner so that I could be sure. I did notice one other thing: When I first started the gen in the morning, it had a nice, mellow, not TOO loud sound. But after running for a while and getting thoroughly hot, it seemed louder, and definitely more harsh. Not a huge difference in sound, but enough to notice.252Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
Leaning the mixture seems to be the right way to go. It's sure running rich, now, based on the black soot all over the spark plug. I bought two more "extended, hot running" plugs and will swap them out as needed as they foul. Do wonder what its doing to the combustion chamber, though. The JB Weld is curing as I type this. Don't see why it won't work, as I was able to fit the three pieces of the boot back together perfectly. Agree that the tongue is a turbulent place. But I was concerned about the bouncing the gen would take (and inflict) on the rear of my 30+ft. TT. Perhaps I should have gone that way, though. I was also concerned about not being able to tell if the gen. was running with it way back there. My thinking was that I'd be able to roll down the window and listen, but the Champion is so quiet that unless I was at a dead stop, I couldn't hear it running directly behind the truck, either. :) It's very possible that the cracked boot was responsible for much of my problems. I don't know how long it was cracked, I only discovered it when I removed the plug. This was a day or two after I had to give up trying to run it at all. Is it possible the extra load was causing it to arc to the engine and kill it, where it otherwise would have handled the load? (The cracked pieces were still held in place by the rubber grommet.) I'll experiment tomorrow as we head out of Durango towards Albuquerque, and report in either that night, or the following night once I hit Dallas.341Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
Just a quick "hit and run" post. Day 9 of our trip to the Four Corners area with the Champion on the tongue of the TT. Once we started to hit some altitude, say, above 6,000 ft., the Champion will no longer run the A/C. With everything off, and the fan running for a bit, as soon as the compressor tries to kick on, the generator bogs and dies. Also, oil is still being sucked out of the valve cover and into the air cleaner. I now suspect it may be the air currents around the tongue while going down the road. Gas tends to seep out of the area around the fuel gauge, too. But, obviously this gen wasn't built for this kind of abuse, so I'm not complaining. But the generator HAD still been running at altitude, and we were just running the A/C fan while underway. But then, the gen was still dying after a while. That may be because the spark plug boot broke. I'm having trouble finding a decent replacement. No auto parts or hardware stores in Cortez, CO had anything. ATV and small engine shops closed on Sunday. Maybe I'll be able to find something in Durango on Monday. Meantime, I'm going to try JB Welding it back together. It's starting to appear to me that the Champion is not necessarily a good "run while underway" solution. There's a reason those Onans cost so much, I guess. Still, if I'm able to fix the boot, and get the gen to run the A/C again once we hit the plains heading East, I'll be happy.484Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
On the road, posting from the Okla. City East KOA. Day 2 of running with the Champion on the tongue, powering the A/C to keep the cats comfy. Day 1: Ran great, but... seemed to use too much gas, and I was seeing LOTS of oil droplets that had come out of the bottom of the air cleaner housing. Turned out to be MY FAULT. I had removed the air cleaner cover before the trip, looking things over. I put it back on UPSIDE DOWN. The air intake was not lined up with the channel. The thing was sucking for air, creating a vacuum that was pulling oil out of the valve cover via the breather hose. It's a wonder the thing did as well as it did, but it ran the A/C all day long and kept things comfy. Day 2 - used less gas, and no more oil dripping out. (Yes, I did top off in the morning, it was at the bottom of the dipstick.) Ran fine all day, but the weather was sunny and HOT coming across AR and OK. The TT heated up before got more oil in the gen and got it started, so the A/C was playing catch-up all day. Twice, the 20 amp breaker in the TT tripped. I have a remote temp sensor in the TT, so when I noticed temps starting to climb, I'd pull over, reset the breaker, and we'd be fine for another couple of hours. We'll see if that happens again tomorrow, if I'm careful to start off with the TT nice and cool. We're heading through Amarillo and into NM. I'm a bit worried that the A/C isn't going to handle the CO and UT heat during the day, and trip the breaker while we're out exploring. But I've got some things to try with the thermostat and fan settings. So far, we've had the thermostat set on 78, and the fan on constant Hi. Already had one guy approach me at a gas station in AR and ask about it - where I got it and how much. May sell a couple of these for Champion before the trip is over. :)173Views0likes0CommentsRe: 3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
Oldfordman wrote: bugdude wrote: Oldfordman, This is the one that I bought. I assume it will work. Oldfordman wrote: There is absolutely no reason not to as long as the hour meter uses 12V DC. The current draw from the meter won't even be noticed by the generator. The 12V output is there regardless of the other choice of outputs (120 or 240volts). Unless you are hooked to a battery, the 12V output is only there when the set is running. Kevin. It should work great! The voltage range of 5-27 Volts DC puts the output voltage of the charging outlet right in the middle. Go for it. BTW, it looks like this company also offers the same type meters in other functions. A Digital Voltmeter would be nice too to go with the hour meter. Yesterday, I hooked up the hour meter mentioned in the above posts. Once I got the gen running, I noticed something odd. Several times per minute, the hour meter would go blank - turn off for a split second as if voltage had been removed - then come back on. I hooked up my Fluke multi-meter to the 12v output. It was reading ~14.85v. When the hour meter would flash off for a split second, the Fluke would show the reading drop to 14.77v, then come right back up to 14.85v. This was happening rather quickly, so I don't know if the voltage was actually dropping much more than that and the meter only had time to register a small drop before full voltage was once again applied. The hour meter appeared to be functioning fine, otherwise. After about 6 minutes, it went from 0.0 to 0.1. But it's as if the 12v output is dropping out a few times a minute, just for a split second each time. Think that's normal?637Views0likes0Comments
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