Champion Power Equipment 100574 4000-Watt RV Ready Digital Hybrid Inverter Generator with Dual Fuel Technology

tl;dr: All the other positive reviews are spot-on. Great genset for the modern house full of sensitive electronics.However, here are some things you must know not all mentioned elsewhere:0. READ THE FULL MANUAL FRONT-TO-BACK BEFORE ANYTHING. DO NOT RELY ON THE QUICK-START GUIDE AS THE HURRICANE IS HITTING.1. The “12V” DC output: Keep in mind per the manual, the schematic, and in actuality, this is *totally* unregulated. Under no-load it measured 24V, 22V in Eco mode. Likely to come down under load, but might easily fry low-load sensitive 12V electronics. To its credit, the full manual warns about all this and states it should not be used other than with the supplied 12VPlug/BatteryClips cable, so effectively only to (carefully) charge up 12V automotive batteries. So why is it an automotive cigarette 12V connector likely to be (mis-)used with other things?One small peeve about the 12V cable: The clip ends should have been made unequal length, to avoid them touching. See the pic of how to avoid this.The other accessory, a nice auto/USB “2.4A” dual charger plug, should be used in a car, not on this generator since doing so would, well, contradict the instruction manual. Did not test it, but it features FCC and CE marks, so likely of decent quality.If you want to charge your USB cellphone/tablet/electronics, better to simply plug their AC chargers into the generator’s AC outputs.2. Much has been said about the ergonomic miss of having the oil filler blocked by the control panel. Fair enough, but the genset comes with a small funnel and hose, and I had no trouble with my initial oil fill. Pour very gradually from your partially-needed second quart bottle to avoid excess oil spillage when full. The permanently mounted oil drain hose is a welcome feature.3. You *will need* 2 quart bottles of conventional (not synthetic) 10W-30 motor oil. This is your 5-hour break-in oil. After that, Synthetic or conventional oil of specified grades are acceptable per the manual. Note the engine has no oil filter, so do hew to the manual's change intervals at the very least.4. You’ll also *want* a ratchet handle, small extension and 8mm, 10mm and 13mm sockets to remove your droid’s restraining bolts and to fasten its feet and handle.5. Yes, the Quick-Start guide neglects to mention the necessary removal of the shipping restraining hardware, or any mention of a break-in period, or the 12V issues.6. Now for the AC output: Intelligauge display shows a constant 246V regardless of (fairly low) load or Eco setting. Actual measurement with a DMM was 244VAC and 122VAC on each leg. So within an acceptable 2%. Shows a constant 60Hz, and DMM-measured a perfect 60Hz spot-on, again without regard for load or Eco. Nice!7. Impressive AC output quality. Had a look at the AC output waveform distortion on an analog oscilloscope through a transformer. See the three pics. The one that looks like a near-perfect sinewave is the Champion’s. The one with slightly flattened (“clipped”) tops is actually my utility’s supplied AC, for those who think utility AC must be perfection. Finally, the one with the “jaggies” is from my 20-year-old Generac XL4000 non-inverter generator, and was better than I though it would be, but not good enough for all my UPSs, instrumentation, electronics, etc. This is why I chose this Champion.8. Noise: I had reasonable expectations. This unit is not whisper-quiet, but, then, there’s not much choice in the 240V + inverter + >4000W space. If you want really quiet, fuel-injection, soundproof enclosure, well it’ll cost you 4x the price.9. Overall very satisfied. One pull on full choke, starts on next one on no choke. Nice! Remember, ground your generator, only run it outdoors, and never backfeed your house!In the event Champion Power Equipment actually reads these reviews, here’re some suggestions:a. Fix the Quick-Start Guide.b. Consider some kind of 12V regulation, or at least a different 12V output connector.c. Wishlist item: Have the Intelligauge show the load on each AC leg, to help one in balancing the load between the two.——

The media could not be loaded.  Having moved from being downtown in a big city to being on a lake in a very rural area without many full-time residents, power outages were something that took me a while to get used to. The electric company out here only has a few linemen, and I work from home, so extended outages really became an annoyance. Because of this, I bought this generator with the intention of powering my entire house during an outage. 240v was a must for powering things like my well pump and AC (2 ton Trane), and a pure sine wave inverter generator was necessary due to TVs and laptops not being particularly fond of the dirty power that comes out of most traditional generators. Lastly, I have one of those Tesla Cybertrucks on order, and I’d like to be able to juice it up while camping.Unboxing wasn’t too difficult. The instructions dictate that you cut the box apart, so keep this in mind if you want to return it. Assembly took about an hour and a half and wasn’t particularly difficult, but note that the manual’s pictures show you screwing on several nuts which are actually already welded to the frame – this was confusing. There’s also a small R-pin for attaching the handle that the manual doesn’t mention. Additionally, attaching the negative battery terminal (the positive was already connected) was not that easy because it was hard to access, and I had to undo the battery strap to do it (which was a pain to re-attach the strap). Oiling wasn’t difficult thanks to the included funnel, but putting in the 37.2oz specified in the manual led to dribbling out the filler hole, so you may want to consider adding slightly less so you’re not removing oil like I did. I used 5W-30 Conventional as specified in the manual for cold weather (it’s winter here), but I’ll be switching to full synthetic as allowed in the manual after break-in. I may eventually choose to run 0W-30 as the winters often stay -20°F to 0°F for weeks on end and can drop as cold as -40°F.Powering it up was easy using the electric start but difficult for me (an athletic 30-year-old woman) using the recoil. It sounds much closer to traditional generator than a nice closed-frame inverter gen, but the only option for something like that in this wattage range is the Honda for around $5k, so I can live with the noise.Speaking of noise, I happened to have a decibel meter on hand, so I thought I’d check to see if it really lived up to the claimed spec of 72dBa @ 23 feet. Sadly, IT DIDN’T (except for one instance).Measured at 23 feet (note the tape measure), rounded to nearest whole number:Front Side (side with the outlets):70dBa – No load, Eco on77dBa – No load, Eco off78dBa – 3200w load, Eco on79dBa – 3200w load, Eco offMuffler Side:73dBa – No load, Eco on78dBa – No load, Eco off77dBa – 3200w load, Eco on81dBa – 3200w load, Eco offRecoil Side:73dBa – No load, Eco on78dBa – No load, Eco off78dBa – 3200w load, Eco on79dBa – 3200w load, Eco offRear Side:75dBa – No load, Eco on78dBa – No load, Eco off80dBa – 3200w load, Eco on81dBa – 3200w load, Eco offWhile it never met the advertised 72dBa @ 23ft (except once), I wouldn’t say it was overly loud, either. Inside my house, I could hear that it was running, but it wasn’t bothersome – sounded like a neighbor lawnmowing. Depending on how you look at it, that might be a feature as you’d know if someone was stealing it – a real possibility during an extended outage. Right up next to the generator, it’s obviously much louder – 91dBa on the muffler side standing a couple feet away, 83dBa in front, etc.Overall, I’ll be keeping the generator. I do wish it was fuel injected, but that’s not realistic in this price range. It started well with the electric start, and it wasn’t terribly hard to move with the handle. It’d be nice if the Intelligauge thing showed RPMs, but a girl can dream I guess...I’LL UPDATE THIS REVIEW COME SPRINGTIME when I’ll have a chance to plug it into my house’s power inlet. I’ll be interested in seeing if it can successfully start either my well pump (140ft) or AC (2-ton Trane), and I’ll be able to test both the full starting wattage (8750w) and running wattage (7000w). Additionally, I’ll be able to test fuel consumption. And, several years down the road, I’ll test charging the Tesla, too.UPDATE - 8/21/2020:Time for a bit of an update. Haven't had any extended power outages so far this year, but I have run the house off off it now and again for hours on end to try it out and see how it responds to load. A few observations:-This IS able to start both my 2-ton central AC (without any hard start kit) and my 240v deep well pump, and both ran well. I didn't have to turn off other things to get them to start - it had the power to spare. HOWEVER, I will note that it was NOT able to start my well pump when in ECO Mode. After seeing that it wouldn't start my well pump in Eco Mode, I only tried the AC with Eco Mode off for fear of potentially damaging the compressor motor. Both started easily without any issue when Eco Mode was turned off. The generator does have power to spare, and I was able to run all of my other usual appliances (laptop, dishwasher, toaster, TV, etc) when the AC was running.-It seems a bit louder inside the house than during my initial testing. Perhaps it was the snow that dampened the noise indoors, but now that warmer weather is upon us, I can definitely hear the generator inside my house. It isn't so loud as to be overly annoying, but I do notice it. My house is way over-insulated compared to most houses, so this may be something to consider if you are very sensitive to noise.-I use an Iron Box 8/4 SOOW 100ft extension cord with great results. Many of the 30-amp generator cords out there are 10-gauge, but for 100ft runs, an 8-gauge cable cut down on voltage loss. I get 117v indoors on my outlets when running under load. The 100ft cord allows me to run the generator in my backyard while having it connected to my power inlet in the front yard. If you're looking to use a 100ft cord for the 30a outlet under high load, strongly consider using an 8-gauge cord instead of a typical 10-gauge.-The first oil change was very easy! The drain hose makes it very easy to drain out the old oil, so oil changes are a breeze!-Lastly, I noticed that some of my lights flicker when running off of generator power. All of the lights in my house are the filament-style LED bulbs, and while most run without any flickering, my bathroom lights do have a slight but noticeable flicker when the house is on generator power. I didn't expect this with a pure sine wave inverter generator, so this was...unusual. Other lights, however, didn't have this issue, and I wouldn't expect this to happen with most bulbs. None of my electronics are complaining about dirty power, so this is just a minor annoyance.

Our utility company PG&E, after burning down the town of Paradise, California decided to cut the power on Red Flag Days due to fire danger. They said it could be off as long as 5 days. We need air conditioning as it often exceeds 100 in the summer. Our water is supplied by private well. We needed a reliable source of power. The Champion 6250 was the answer. We've already used it for about 24 hours after our first "safety" outage. It easily started first pull and supplied power for everything except the water heater and clothes dryer. It ran both mini-split air conditioners and well pump without effort. We won't have to worry about our food in the freezer or refrigerator going bad. My neighbor came over and ordered one the next day. I suggest the inverter style as it a much more regulated power supply and will save money with improved economy. One gallon of gas was good for almost 3 hours. It was a good purchase.

Bought this for camping off the grid. Camper has 15k AC and wanted a generator to power it. Read about inverters and decided to go that style. This generator is perfect for what I do. Yeah yeah it's not as quiet as a fully enclosed inverter. But that's what champion themselves say. I can for a fact tell you it's quieter than a regular open frame generator even when ECO mode is off. I just camped with 4 other campers with regular generators with similar output and they were all impressed how quiet mine was. It was around 90 degrees this weekend and it powered everything I needed it to. I got about 12 plus hours runtime with eco off and running the AC, outdoor fridge, outdoor ice maker, and even a keurig during all of that. Very very impressed. I do recommend following the break in procedure. After my break in oil change the oil was filthy. Now it's all good. Highly recommend.

I have a Champion that is close to 10 years old.It has never failed me I service it regularly and record the hours.Unfortunately a friend inserted the spark plug on the wrong thread and the end result is I need a replacementwithout question I ordered a new Champion. Unfortunately I just assumed it would have a battery start.However I will soon find out one way or the other.

This unit is a little louder then I was anticipating but is still acceptable we only used it a few times this past summer when camping.

I was scared I wouldn’t get my package due to pandemic and closing of the border between US and Canada but I received my package in 6 days of my order date. Everything described in the ad was what I received. I’m happy with the purchase.

just a bit more maintenence, using it for power to my cabin