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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 07:09am
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Wow they jump all over with those diesel generstor reviews. A 50kw to a 120v RV. People shopping for one wont be looking for the other. Kinds of looks like a paid review to me.
The choke function could be a bit tricky but it can be done with the door lock feature on the remote and a small 12v actuator.
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mj1angier
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 07:22am
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SCS,
It's not very loud at all. We are using it with our camper till we get our sheds delivered. Had it about 25 ft from the slide-out bed and started it with remote. It never woke wife up in the morning. Once shed are in place I am building a covered genny shed with 3 walls. I think putting sound batts on the 3 wall and leaving opening facing away, will not be able to hear at all in sheds
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SCSJeff
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 08:38am
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mj1..
Good to know. Thanks!
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 08:39am
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generatron sure has been spamming the heck out of these forums. Generatrons are cheap chinese junk with no service or parts available, yeah, I know spammer said her RV center was a dealer, she is lying, get a Honda EU series and get more than a few years of use out of it. My old EU2000i is about 20+ years old, have a second with 150 hours waiting in the wings and run my house on an EU6500is.
Never missed a beat.
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SCSJeff
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 10:41am
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Hey Toyota,
Not sure about the OPs status for his cabin...
I completely agree with you regarding the quality of Honda (or Yamaha for that matter) and the long term savings being a potential. If I needed a generator daily (or even weekly) for my full time residence, it would be a no brainer.
However, for a remote recreational cabin (in my case), where I only get there about once a month on average, I couldn't stomach the risk of theft of a $4500+ EU6500/7000 
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 12:22pm
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This is why i prob will never buy a honda and for the price of a eu6500 you can buy a hardly used mep802. 1800rpm diesel, your not going to be walking away with this 800lb pig.
My remote property has a $50 3500w briggs generator. I wont feel so bad if it goes missing.
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Aklogcabin
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 01:06pm
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Hello all. Interesting discussion on the generators. I have had to depend on a generator / battery power situation for a few years now. In a remote Ak situation. We use our cabin year round and can be there months at a time.While building our cabin I used a 23 year old 3500 w Generac. I have had to replace the carburetor, cost 20 bucks and 20 minutes. Still runs and is used as a backup. I bought a 2300 w from HD ,green one , it ran well but I got into the habit of wanting to warm our cabin up fast for my beautiful wife and would cold start it. Our woodstove has a blower fan in it and in just a hour or so I could get cabin warm .Like below zero cold start . It was on wheels so I could pull it in to the cabin and warm it up next to the woodstove. And I like to spoil my beautiful wife. But after a couple winters of this, the bearings finally went. But I think I only paid 300 bucks for it on sale.
Happened to be in HD again, probably spending more money on cabin stuff, and they had 7500 w , duel fuel propane or gas , for 500 bucks. On wheels and looks like it’s going a hundred miles an hour sitting still. Gotta say she looks pretty good in the generator shed. So does the generator. I like the option of propane fuel because I won’t have to replace the carburetor because of crappy corn gasoline. Even Honda n Yamaha have carburetor that clog up just like any other. Even though as carma may have its way and I thought that I was out of propane , even though I was sure I had another 20 lb bottle somewhere, I put gas in it. Then I found my 20 lb bottle of propane.
Hopefully all the fuel treatment products I use will work and I won’t have to buy a carburetor for it. I plan to run only propane and only run the 7500 w when needed . I now think a better option would be to buy 2 smaller generators and you can buy a plug in that has 3 ends. 2 male ends that can be plugged into the 2 smaller generators and a female end that acts as the coupler. That joins the 2 together to double your power. For about 80 bucks .
I usually just run one small generator to charge phone or computer, 12 v batteries also run led lights when not using lanterns . And can recharge other battery like computer. If you need more power fire up both and plug them in together.
My suggestion after all this is . You can buy cheap, I paid 500 bucks for a 7500 duel fuel that I am confident will last a long time. A 2300 w for 300 or so bucks that I am confident would have lasted a long time if I hadn’t been the problem and if I had 2 of them I could hook them together for 80 bucks. Starting small and cheap and seeing exactly what you’re needs are. BTW I do remember a time I broke the receptacle. It was cold enough that after I cold starting the generator, I went to plug in an extension cord and it broke from being cold. I called the company and they sent me 2 for free back. I don’t have any loyalty to any brand. Just sharing my experience
Its great to see folks moving forward on their dreams. That is the most important. Don’t let others influence those dreams in negative ways. No one has the perfect answer, even if they know they do. And there are some folks who seem to be very demanding that they know all the answers. They know because they read about it on the internet.
Enjoy your cabin,always, everyone, and remember, take one make one.
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AKfisher
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 01:57pm
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AKlogcabin - We don't have corn fuel up here, never have. So if you are gumming up your carbs, I would suggest filtering the gas first. You could have crud in your fuel jugs or the generator tank itself.
I for one have only used/bought the inexpensive gennys as well. First genny was the BlackMax from Sams Club, 4500w that I used for running power tools and work lights. Ran good but had a sputter, bought a carb for $8 on amazon, didn't arrive in time so I gave it a snort of Seafoam and that cleared it up. She had some sort of a problem one night last year in the winter when I was working, just up and quite on me, went outside and looked and oil all over the place, head gasket? Took it home and checked it over, compression feels low but she still runs and is my backup genny that runs tools now.
My new genny is the Energizer 3200w inverter, auto start on/off. I like it, runs tools and cabin lights and is inverted. Quite, burns clean, and does what I need it to. Hope it last a long time.
I put Seafoam in all of my engines: Chainsaw, lawn mower, snowmachine, 4 wheeler, generators, log splitter, snowblower, and cars. Works well.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2019 03:27pm - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
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Quoting: SCSJeff However, for a remote recreational cabin (in my case), where I only get there about once a month on average, I couldn't stomach the risk of theft of a $4500+ EU6500/7000
Agreed, I'd certainly haul it back every time. I usually haul my 7X16 enclosed trailer every time and have loads of room for anything I may need. But it (genie) does come back with me.
I do have one of those EU6500is, I called a selling dealer and asked for a cash price, he said $3125,, killer price. The EU6500is has been replaced with the EU7000is, same genie, just fuel injected now.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 19 Jun 2019 12:15am
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Delco 12SI 94 amp alternator, Lester #7294 (this is the number parts stores use) , self exciting (no 2 pin plug) and the Anderson Power Pole connector, I assume it needs a battery hooked up before starting or you would get some large voltage spikes with no battery in the system acting as a cushion or a capacitor.
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Brettny
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# Posted: 19 Jun 2019 07:45am
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Aklogcabin. A 7500w generator is going to be way over kill for your needs. My all electric house runs on 5kw. Electric stove, heat pump water heater and 1/2hp well pump all at once.
I just tested my 3/4hp 240v jet pump wirh my 3500w generator. Works well
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SCSJeff
Member
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# Posted: 19 Jun 2019 09:40am
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Brett,
I wonder... Do jet pumps draw less than submersible?
My submersible pumps (home & cabin) just barely run on a 5000w gen. I think, however, they are also both 1HP...
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Aklogcabin
Member
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# Posted: 19 Jun 2019 11:48am
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Hello all. Akfisher, yes I know there is no corn gas for sale in Ak. I only use premium grade gasoline always use Sta-bil, red heet, I still get varnish build up. And I also would give Sea foam a shout out as a great product that will help your engine last longer. I use Power Service in diesel fuel .
Brettny, yeah I know it has more than I need but my primary purpose for it was to run our incinerator toilet. Needs 30 amps. The old generac has a 30 amp breaker but puts too much load on. The 7500 w has a 50 amp breaker. Believe that breakers should never have more than 80% draw on them.
My point was that all brands can get messed up with bad gasoline. Even ones that are overpriced. We don’t have a choice of packing it up and hauling it home. So theft and bears are always an issue. A generator riding around in a trailer has its own risks.
So many products are overpriced. I have a couple Honda engines around and they are good products. The 8000 w Ridgid brand generator for my house has a 4 stroke Subaru engine that I have a lot of confidence in. Got it for 800 bucks at HD .
There are a lot of competition out in today’s market. The OP was getting started. Lots of up front costs. I don’t know his , her , situation. Was for me . Kind of found out that I had to get by with what I could. That meant less costly generators so I could buy windows. Worked out ok for me because I was able to refine my needs more.
Just my experiences folks. I’m not pushing anything or any way. And am certainly not going to tell you that you have to buy this brand and that brand. Some seem to almost demand it.
Hope you all enjoy your cabins and get to spend as much time as you can their.
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AffordableDCGenerators
Member
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# Posted: 20 Jun 2019 08:15am
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Correct, you need to have my DC generator connected to a battery bank before starting. The alternator will not self excite without some power present.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 20 Jun 2019 08:44am
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I believe that a jet pump should have less amp draw. There will be next to no head pressure on a jet pump.
This was only s test but the highest starting draw i saw was 12a per leg then quickly dropped to 3.5a running. This is at 240v.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 20 Jun 2019 09:19am
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Quoting: AffordableDCGenerators Basically a kit to mate a Honda GC160 engine to an AC Delco alternator.
Interesting. I have contemplated a small fuel efficient engine DC generator myself. The Honda is 160cc I take it? I don't see it on the Harbor Freight web site as you mention. They do have a 79cc knockoff (for $100), is that powerful enough?
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AffordableDCGenerators
Member
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# Posted: 20 Jun 2019 03:52pm
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Not sure about Harbor Freight but this is what you are looking for:
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_296_296
You can probably get away with a smaller engine but not by much. Plus it would muscle pretty hard at full output. The GC160 is a great fit not only for output but also size and packaging. I wouldn't try to go skimpy here.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2021 08:43pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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Fwiw: My experience in diy 12dvc gen was a typical old, small Toyota car alt and reg/rec unit out of a junk yard.
Coupled it via belt to an old B&S small horizontal sgl cyl engine; sized the pulleys to get some pretty good spin rpms (forget just what) It worked to a fashion....spooled up good until I hooked to a drawn down battery then it bogged badly. In those days (30 some years ago) I didnt know about the 'keep the l/a wet dc battery above 70%soc' thing, I drew em down to way dim 12vdc rv bulbs in the cabin. Those batteries needed a LOT of charge! Running my little diy rig for 2 hrs a day (noisy little thing, bark-bark-bark) did little to recharge, I finally gave up and just took one home to rotate each trip. When the lights went too dim we went back to the kero lamps like in our old days. LEDs would have been, and are, GREAT.
Great would also have been the Honda EU or the clones like now, what a game changer!
Btw, we already have 12vdc chargers, there is one in each auto or truck. If you have a dual battery set up with isolator you can pull up to the cabin, clamp onto the utility battery and plug it into the cabin 12v wiring. Keep the wire gauge appropriate for the distance and load, and fused. When it is depleted to 70%soc start the car.
If I had an elec car Id wire the cabin for input off the car bank voltage and invert to 120 inside.
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