Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Half a jar in the 5 odd gallons of hydraulic oil in my old L3200 made the oil look look like ATF. A few drops in a gallon or so of engine oil will get it pink enough to see.

Chuckling over d's comment..... aside from the marketing, might have been a bit more distinctive in Green !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

started on fourth pull. Considering it doesn't have a primer bulb, that seemed fair for something that had sat several months.

Changed the oil, though it only had about five hours on it, but it had been two years.
Surprised and not impressed that Champion runs this gen 200 rpm faster than others to make rated power.
3800 rpm? Since when?.....
runs smooth as can be but clearly this is for intermittent use only.
Pretty quiet too.
Once again mud wasps had got into a receptacle, this time the big rv one. Cleaned that out, checked to make sure there
weren't any other critters inside the case, which is a sound shield, and it was totally clean. Ran unit for ten minutes and put it away after
topping off gas.
Might get loaned out in this hurricane.

I don't expect the rpm issue will be a problem for you, in terms of lifespan. Champions seem decent reliability-wise, and you take excellent care of your generators.

Marketing-wise, smart move for them - you understand the trade-off they made, but realistically all many people look at is rated watts, and perhaps tank capacity.

Rgds, D.

 

[kevinwak]

I don't expect the rpm issue will be a problem for you, lifespan wise. Champions seem decent reliability-wise, and you take excellent care of your generators.

Marketing-wise, smart move for them - you understand the trade-off they made, but realistically all many people look at is rated watts, and perhaps tank capacity.

Rgds, D.

I’m considering buying a champion from Costco for larger home backup for during the days and meal times when the Honda eu2000 isn’t enough. I really want the eu7000 but finances are tight lately. I then Want to make an extended run tank for the Honda for overnight times.

 

[LittleBill21]

started on fourth pull. Considering it doesn't have a primer bulb, that seemed fair for something that had sat several months.

Changed the oil, though it only had about five hours on it, but it had been two years.
Surprised and not impressed that Champion runs this gen 200 rpm faster than others to make rated power.
3800 rpm? Since when?.....
runs smooth as can be but clearly this is for intermittent use only.
Pretty quiet too.
Once again mud wasps had got into a receptacle, this time the big rv one. Cleaned that out, checked to make sure there
weren't any other critters inside the case, which is a sound shield, and it was totally clean. Ran unit for ten minutes and put it away after
topping off gas.
Might get loaned out in this hurricane.

considering its an inverter based generator not sure why you care about RPM? 3600 is for a non inverter based generator, you will be shocked then to find out it will drop below 3600 as well and make power

 

[nikdfish]

I’m considering buying a champion from Costco for larger home backup for during the days and meal times when the Honda eu2000 isn’t enough. I really want the eu7000 but finances are tight lately. I then Want to make an extended run tank for the Honda for overnight times.

We ran the Costco 7K/9K dual fuel Champion for a while prior to installing the whole house unit. Was lucky & got it on sale for $599 the same day the old Porter Cable 5500 watt unit blew its guts out during an outage. I still use the Champion out in the tractor shed when I need to run the welder or some other power equipment. Strictly running it off propane there. No complaints, it put out a clean power that the various house UPS units liked fine. Never failed to start.

 

[3930dave]

considering its an inverter based generator not sure why you care about RPM? 3600 is for a non inverter based generator, you will be shocked then to find out it will drop below 3600 as well and make power

IIRC, d's owned big marine diesels...... once you've been around that world, you get a bit spoiled in terms of low-rpm performance.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I知 considering buying a champion from Costco for larger home backup for during the days and meal times when the Honda eu2000 isn稚 enough. I really want the eu7000 but finances are tight lately. I then Want to make an extended run tank for the Honda for overnight times.

The only Champion issue I know of isn't the generators fault, as it was an ethanol/storage problem.... something all makes can struggle with.

IMO, the only thing you may want to address on a larger Champion running extended near a house is an add-on muffler - might drop peak output power slightly, but can be made to run a lot quieter using a low cost automotive or bike muffler.

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

considering its an inverter based generator not sure why you care about RPM? 3600 is for a non inverter based generator, you will be shocked then to find out it will drop below 3600 as well and make power

higher rpm, higher piston wear, lower life, same old same old, but with current tech, who knows. Any splash lube engine run at 3800 rpm
is a concern to me, but that's why I only use the best synthetic oil in these gens.

I would think any gen that has an idle down feature would have to be electronic, right? This little champion will run on low speed at light load, but kicks up when heater plugged in. But it's still making correct voltage at lower speed, which has to be electronically managed.
Am wondering how all those older Hondas did that, they always had an economy speed, but my memory was almost any load would "excite" the gen enough to kick up the rpm. Clearly no need for that in an inverter.

This little gen was bought to run my rv and never got used, like so many...so now it's my backup, and my loaner.
Am expecting someone to come for it, and I expect to be out with my tractor and grapple cleaning up the neighborhood too.
Can't get fireman genes out...
Now if only my roof stays on. This hurricane is going right over my head, worse, the windy/right side of it.

 

[3930dave]

Thinking strong thoughts for your roof d....... you'll be busy with cleanup, and helping out, but when you can take a break, drop us a note here and let us know how you came through the storm.

Rgds, D.

 

[zmountaineer]

Oh geeze! My brother who lives in Apex, NC (outside Raleigh) texts me yesterday and said that he needs a generator and everywhere is sold out. He ended up ordering one online with a projected delivery of Thursday. He ordered a $1200 6500 watt inverter generator. I told him he could have saved money by not buying the inverter one but he generally tries to buy the best of anything out there. Anyway, he asks me how he’s going to hook it up to the house and wants me to walk him through it. I have my doubts about this going smoothly. Haha. I sent him a list of everything to buy. He’ll call me when he gets the generator. At least his breaker box is in the garage.