# Champion Generator



## Jewellfamily (Sep 25, 2010)

Was in Sams club this weekend and saw a champion 2000W inverter generator (53 dba, with a parallel connection port to tie 2 generators together, aprox. 70 lbs). 53 dba is really quiet and has the parallel port. Could get 2 of these for the price of a similar Honda. Anyone have any experience with these?


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

I have the bigger 3500/4000 and like it. It's got a 30 amp plug right on it and was only $300.

http://hasbeenthere.com/2010/12/04/champion-35004000-watt-generator/


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

It looks like an interesting alternative to the two big guys in the inverter generator market. One thing that I did notice is that it is a 1600 watt continuous run with 2000 watt surge rating. Although I was able to locate the parallel kit on Sam's Club website, I was unable to locate the generator. What is Sam's asking for the generator? I found some specs on it --> here


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Traveling Tek said:


> I have the bigger 3500/4000 and like it. It's got a 30 amp plug right on it and was only $300.
> 
> http://hasbeenthere.com/2010/12/04/champion-35004000-watt-generator/


That is not an inverter model and is not near as quite.


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> I have the bigger 3500/4000 and like it. It's got a 30 amp plug right on it and was only $300.
> 
> http://hasbeenthere....watt-generator/


That is not an inverter model and is not near as quite.
[/quote]

Oh. Guess I never paid attention to the fact that there was a difference and this one is just about the same noise level as all the truckers around us at rest stops, so I figured it was decent. Opps.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Traveling Tek said:


> I have the bigger 3500/4000 and like it. It's got a 30 amp plug right on it and was only $300.
> 
> http://hasbeenthere....watt-generator/


That is not an inverter model and is not near as quite.
[/quote]

Oh. Guess I never paid attention to the fact that there was a difference and this one is just about the same noise level as all the truckers around us at rest stops, so I figured it was decent. Opps.








[/quote]

For the price the Champion you have is great for beach camping, a NASCAR race or even a truck stop but I have not been too happy to have one next to me in a forest service campground.


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> I have the bigger 3500/4000 and like it. It's got a 30 amp plug right on it and was only $300.
> 
> http://hasbeenthere....watt-generator/


That is not an inverter model and is not near as quite.
[/quote]

Oh. Guess I never paid attention to the fact that there was a difference and this one is just about the same noise level as all the truckers around us at rest stops, so I figured it was decent. Opps.








[/quote]

For the price the Champion you have is great for beach camping, a NASCAR race or even a truck stop but I have not been too happy to have one next to me in a forest service campground.
[/quote]

Good thing I don't go to those.  I have enough batteries to last about 4 days. The genny was only for running heat or a/c at night in truck stops. We usually goto real campgrounds with electric when we park so. I don't know of many free places to park where I would even need a genny. Also, it's under the DB rating of places where I have seen them say the limits, so I would be a jerk and run it if I had to. :-D







But I don't think that will happen any time soon so no worries. I also plan to put some solar up on this trailer at some point and be even more self contained.


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## ORvagabond (Apr 17, 2009)

I purchased one recently from Costco. Used it this past weekend and was very pleased. Fairly quiet...a tad noiser than a Yamaha 2000 that my son was using next to us. Started very easily and charged the batteries well.
I think for the money it is a good buy.


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## Jewellfamily (Sep 25, 2010)

H2oSprayer said:


> It looks like an interesting alternative to the two big guys in the inverter generator market. One thing that I did notice is that it is a 1600 watt continuous run with 2000 watt surge rating. Although I was able to locate the parallel kit on Sam's Club website, I was unable to locate the generator. What is Sam's asking for the generator? I found some specs on it --> here


It was $499.


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## Boomer (Jun 10, 2009)

I have seen a very in-depth testing of these generators on a different site and they seemed to have held up pretty well compared to the Hondas and Yamahas. I believe they are relatively new, so longevity of the unit may not match up? I definitely would have went out and bought a pair with the connector kit for under $1000 if I did not already own a Subaru 3200.

Boomer


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

That Champion does not have electronic circuitry to control rpm to meet power requirement like the Honda and Yamaha true inverter generators. It also does not seem to have the circuitry to cut electrical spikes in order to provide "clean" power for sensitive electronic equipment such as TV, computer, DVD players you may use while boondocking. It does not specify clearly its dB rating either.

Its $300 price is right there with several other "contractor grade" generators of same output range. It appears to be a contractor grade generator with smart advertisement.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Tangooutback said:


> That Champion does not have electronic circuitry to control rpm to meet power requirement like the Honda and Yamaha true inverter generators. It also does not seem to have the circuitry to cut electrical spikes in order to provide "clean" power for sensitive electronic equipment such as TV, computer, DVD players you may use while boondocking. It does not specify clearly its dB rating either.
> 
> Its $300 price is right there with several other "contractor grade" generators of same output range. It appears to be a contractor grade generator with smart advertisement.


Again this is not the generator that the OP is talking about. There are Inverter and NON-inverter generators that Champion makes. The NON-Inverter Champion generators are very inexpensive and are quieter then many similar sized NON-inverter generators. The OP is posting about the Inverter model that they now sell which is directly comparable to the the Honda, Yamaha, Kipor and other low noise inverter generators.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

This is the generator the OP is talking about.

Inverter Generator by Champion

This is the other cheaper non inverter generator.

NON Inverter generator by Champion


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## Jewellfamily (Sep 25, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> This is the generator the OP is talking about.
> 
> Inverter Generator by Champion
> 
> ...


Yeah, the inverter generator pictured is the correct one. They were $499 at Sams though. Physically it looked like a nice solid unit.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Not to go off topic or anything, but one of the reasons I haven't bought solar panels yet is because I'm waiting on fuel cells. They are no longer pie in the sky. A complete distribution system has been set up in Europe and Canada and will be in the US this year (so I'm told). I don't want a fuel cell that will power all my needs in the RV, but rather just charge my batteries and deliver a little excess power at the same time to run the stuff that requires more power than I want to run through the inverter. Anyway, this is worth taking a look at.... EFOY fuel cells


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> This is the generator the OP is talking about.
> 
> Inverter Generator by Champion
> 
> ...


Thanks for the correction.


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> For the price the Champion you have is great for beach camping, a NASCAR race or even a truck stop but I have not been too happy to have one next to me in a forest service campground.












This maybe off topic a touch, but......

Just for comparison.


Near total silence - 0 dB
A whisper - 15 dB
Champion 2000 Inverter generator - 53dB
Honda eU2000i - 53 dB to 59 db
Normal conversation - 60 dB
Honda EU3000i - 57 dB to 65 dB
Champion 3500/4000 Generator - 68 dB
Inside a car - 70 dB
A lawnmower - 90 dB
Diesel truck (30 ft) - 100 dB
A car horn - 110 dB
A rock concert or a jet engine - 120 dB
A gunshot or firecracker - 140 dB
So really for the huge amount of money being saved your aren't really losing any noise. And I can run my big champion and not really affect people. I probably wouldn't run it at night as a courtesy, but it's no louder then driving down the road. Right now I am running it and I can barely hear it over my air conditioner. The people in the house where I am boon docking said they can't even hear it all (approx 100ft away).

Also, wouldn't running two generator be louder? You have twice the noise right beside each other and that would make the sound waves larger (theoretically). Just some thoughts for noise.

I understand the difference now between inverter and regular. Thanks for pointing that out (always learning). Probably still not worth the extra coin to me.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

> So really for the huge amount of money being saved your aren't really losing any noise


Well, that might be true if you are the one making the noise and benefiting from it. But, if you're a benefactor of the noise without any benefit, then you might feel differently. Personally, I like to hear nothing but the wind in the trees. Just saying....


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Traveling Tek said:


> Also, wouldn't running two generator be louder? You have twice the noise right beside each other and that would make the sound waves larger (theoretically). Just some thoughts for noise.


They actually have little impact on each other unless they were perfectly synced. Only then would the sound appear to double in level and that would only be a 3 db increase in sound over the sound generated by one of them.


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

vdub said:


> Also, wouldn't running two generator be louder? You have twice the noise right beside each other and that would make the sound waves larger (theoretically). Just some thoughts for noise.


They actually have little impact on each other unless they were perfectly synced. Only then would the sound appear to double in level and that would only be a 3 db increase in sound over the sound generated by one of them.
[/quote]

Good to know. It would still bring them up near my cheap crap.


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## 2011 210RS (May 27, 2010)

If you are using "shore power", whatever it may be, wouldn't the power converter do the same as the inverter?


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

> wouldn't the power converter do the same as the inverter?


No, the converter in your rv is converting 120v shore power to 12v power primarily to charge you batteries and to power all your 120v things.

The invertor (that you want to install), is to take power from your batteries, convert the power to 120v and power some of your things from the battery pack. The batteries are "stored power". The more batteries you have, the more stored power you have.

Scotty's Castle in Death Valley had a couple hundred lead-acid bats to store power to provide normal energy to the house. During the day the bats were charged from a flowing stream. Same thing I plan to do. I have enough bats to power the stuff I want to do during evening. During the morning, I'll run my gen to recharge my bats. Eventually, I'd like to get away from the gen and go with solar or fuel cells......


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

vdub said:


> > wouldn't the power converter do the same as the inverter?
> 
> 
> No, the converter in your rv is converting 120v shore power to 12v power primarily to charge you batteries and to power all your 120v things.
> ...


I think the question was more about an inverter generator.

The low noise, clean inverter type generators, make high frequency AC voltage that is close to a DC signal (to simplify things) this output is typically about 40 to 60 volts. The inverter changes this generator output to a clean AC at 110 volts and 60 hertz. This is why this type of generator can idle down and be very quiet when the load is low.

If that was not the question then VDUB covered it, Inverter is DC to AC and Converter is AC to DC voltage.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I should have quoted what I was answering. The one on shore power is what I was thinking about....



> If you are using "shore power", whatever it may be, wouldn't the power converter do the same as the inverter?


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