I boughr the champion 3500 and it has been a very good buy. I havent had any problems except that the fuel gauge is not very accurate. I just open the fuel cap and take a look for the amount of fuel. I've been pleased with it.
I have a Champion 4500 and a Honda eu20001. The Champion served it's purpose for a year until I found a used eu2000 for $600. The Champion is a little quieter that some other generators that size but not much. It's still loud and obnoxious. I have seen prople through a thick blanket or put a baffle around a generator with some success. Mechanically there were 2 minor problems with the Champion: the circuit breakers were to small in amperage and the starter recoil mechanism self destructed after a year but the whole recoil assembly was only $18. I had good tech support with the Champion. You know, I assume, the Champion is Chinese.
what I think I'll do is pick up the Champ and try it out. Costco here have an awesome return policy so if it doesn't work out I'll just take it back.
I've read a lot of great things about Champion and especially their service. The nice thing about the Champ is it also comes with the rv adapter, wheels and handle, plus if the power does go out I can use it at home. If it dies within a year it's warranty, if it lasts longer bonus.
CSA40015. CSA approved for the Great White North eh!..hehe also $299CAD at Costco right now.
Well... The price is right. If it doesn't work out for you, you aren't out that much money. I had a 4.5Kw generator, it would run everything in the airstream, but you couldn't sleep because of the noise.
At the earliest opportunity I got a lightly used Honda eu2000i for $250, ditched the contractor genny, and have been happy.
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Terry You repair things with tools. You fix things with a hammer.
AIR#2611
The db level is 68 db for the champion. Each 10 db is roughly twice the amount of noise. 53 vs 68 is about 3 times as loud.
Have you ever camped near someone with a loud generator[/quote]
Actually I think its worse than that unfortunately. From Wikipedia...and back in the cobwebs of my brain "
The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit of measurement that expresses the magnitude of a physical quantity (usually power or intensity) relative to a specified or implied reference level. Specifically, an increase of 3 dB corresponds to an approximate doubling of power. (In exact terms, the factor is 103/10, or 1.9953, about 0.24% different from exactly 2.) Since in many electrical applications power is proportional to the square of voltage, an increase of 3 dB implies an increase in voltage by a factor of approximately √2, or about 1.41. Similarly, an increase of 6 dB corresponds to approximately four times the power and twice the voltage, and so on. (In exact terms the power factor is 106/10, or about 3.9811, a relative error of about 0.5%.)
I too have struggled with this question. And plan to purchase an inverter based generator while building up my solar capacity. Has any had any experience with the Magna or other "lower cost" inverter generators?
gowyn
Check SMALL ENGINE WAREHOUSE They have a web site, they are in Indiana so the shipping wouldn't break U up. Or U can go by there and pick it up.
I do business with them. Have had no problems.
Just a thought.
Good Luck!
Roger
champion 4000 is 299 dollars at Shucks auto....LOUD....and in camp grounds when used they have a tendency to fail due to spark plug ejection. Small engine people won't work on them either.
You can get a Honda eu3000i NEW for $1700. My local dealer has em for that price and Trailer life magazine has em for that price in the classifiied sections.
Again....If you want to remain friends in camp it will be hard to do with a cheapo genny. And like I said...their spark plugs and Other important parts tend to dissapear without warning.
Again....If you want to remain friends in camp it will be hard to do with a cheapo genny. And like I said...their spark plugs and Other important parts tend to dissapear without warning.
From what I understand, a single tap on the side of one of those spark plugs with a hammer will render the generator very quiet.
For unknown reasons this phenom occurs more often after about 10PM.
That's what I've been told.....
IMHO, you should olny use a contractor generator when you are by yourself. Otherwise you are a nuisance to everyone within shouting distance.
And I don't have words to describe the folks who use them and then retreat into their rigs to enjoy their AC and TV while leaving the rest of us to listen to their noise.
In my case, I have the 15k BTU A/C unit. Outside of 2 3000 watts units or one larger one, it's pretty much out of the question.
So in my case, I bought a 1000 watt based on these needs:
Battery charging
Running fantastic vents most of the day
Cutting wood with a small electric chain saw
Propane fuel so I didn't have to lug extra gas or carry it in the TV or Safari
I bought the Yamaha 1000. Honda makes one too, but you have to have it converted to LP. Noise is very modest at full load and it sips the LP. I have had many hours of runtime on it at 3/4 to full load and have yet to empty a 20lb tank.
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