Champion 4500 watt remote start generator walk around and review 

Thanks for the comments! You know, that's a good question. I've always used the breaker and never tested the actual output at the outlets during startup to see if it will in fact delay power. I'll do some testing and report back.

I called Champion Support and they confirmed there is in fact a delay before the panel is engergized, so no need to throw the breakers in the camper. Even better! Thanks MikeF, I learned something new today as well!

Wow now that’s support thanks champion for chiming in. Ordering me one today, now hmmm yellow or black....

@Champion Power Equipment where can I buy this unit? I live in San Diego, California. Can’t seem to find one anywhere.

@@ccadetailing2793 Amazon has them

I didn't know that about the Predator. I just used this gen the other day for a quick job after it had been sitting for 3 months (91 non oxy gas with stabilizer) and it fired right up. Love this one!

You're welcome!

Rig? As an 18 wheel truck driver?

Thanks Dan, glad you found it helpful!

Me too, should be here July 7th.

@@rpe97 AWESOME!

Im trying to decide between the same gens. Have you chosen one yet?

fister91cam me as well ; I can’t afford honda

Caught the wen 3800 for 650 last week at wen's website. Had to pull the trigger. No remote. But I'll live.

I need mine for auto detailing this is why I wanna get something reliable and it’s taking forever to decide. Some customers don’t mind me using their electricity as well,so I’m debating on the eu3000is it’s just a lot of money: and they don’t last forever

@@fister91cam I am going with the Champion. Guaranteed three years and I`m told good customer service.

I think I've got four total generators, I know I have a problem, but this is by far my favorite. It's the perfect balance of power and function while still being fuel efficient and very quiet. I do use my big one for running the house if the power goes out but if I only had to run the fridges for a bit or the entire camper this is my go-to always. Yes this one for sure does have the parallel kit

I don't think champion offers one but there's usually some online places that offer universal fit options. I personally don't have one so I can't comment on that directly but yes I am very happy with this one.

I have 2 of these, neither take 15 seconds on remote start to make power. It's just a few seconds from starting to power with the remote. Maybe Champion changed the design?

I don't have the propane model, but I can say the auto choke hasn't failed me yet. I have gone through 3 start attempts once when it was really cold, but it would always fire with 91 non-oxy gasoline. The inverter does convert AC, to DC then back to clean AC. I like this for my camper and when I'm using my laptop with it. Most tools, heaters etc don't need the pure sine wave power.

@@upnorthmike6085 Thanks for additional good input. Modern world, delicate electronic circuitry, I cannot seem to get comfortable with a newish furnace’s electronic controls and non-inverter power, there could be sensitive IC’s there. Back when, I recall country place with a narrow 3 1/2” submersible well pump special ordered from Denmark?, to squeeze into a well casing just 4” diameter. I never forgot from 25 years ago, the pump instruction booklet said something about “sensitive electronic control circuitry inside the pump”, (not more easily accessible up top), “Never use an emergency generator to power pump”. That was long enough ago, I suspect was before DC inverters were around or big enough for 240V operation?? Too many words, I apologize, and thanks for your time. MN up north, beautiful. The woods, the much less winter winds due to the deep woods. Especially love North Shore Big Lake Superior, big waves crashing, ocean going ships cruising by, it’s like traveling to an ocean embedded at the very interior of USA/Canada. Driving from Duluth into Canada. A grand vacation!!

It's actually a lead acid battery. Lithium would likely not have started in that temperature. Most battery tenders don't have an automatic desulfate feature either, that is something a more advanced and feature packed unit would have.

@@upnorthmike6085Incorrect, It is lithium. I just removed one and am looking at it. "Skyrich hj01-16-gfp" The battery is lithium 12v 1.6ah 19.2 Wh. Weights about nothing, remove it and look for yourself. Do not use a lead acid tender charger like you recommend. It is not necessary (extremely low self discharge rate). Plus it Will damage the lithium battery, you might not see it immediately, but it will dramatically reduce its capacity and service life. After 8 months of storage in a seagoing container with no insulation at Granby Colorado, my champion 4500 started up last night at 0ﾟ. If this is not proof that you do not need a battery tender on your lithium battery, I don't know what will convince you. To properly charge these little batteries from depleted you need a balanced port which these do not have. Basically they're throw away if you overdischarge. Lithium does not like a deep discharge. Higher quality lithium powersports batteries have a balance port. I bet that there is a cheap low powered cell balancing board integrated into the skyrich hj01-16-gfp for this task. It might be able to cope with a slight amount of overcharging from a 12v 300mah trickle, but don't throw several amps at an over discharged one, slowly bring it up and cross your fingers and don't trust it again. Many $20-30 2 amp charger maintainers have a desulfate or similar mode now. Don't use a lead acid charger for lithium batteries. I can go into great detail why you shouldn't, but believe me there are special chargers for lithium batteries for a very good reason. Lithium starting batteries work just fine in cold temps. You wake upnthe battery with a few short cranks, but I have never found it necessary. A oem lithium battery also came in my 22 te50i dirtbike, starts cold soaked no problem. Oem lithium is becoming common, lead is dead technology. If lithium batteries don't work in the cold, you might want to tell that to huskavarna and your generator.

@@Dat_Sun I never said they don't work in the cold, they don't work as well in the cold. Which lithium type? LiFePO4 cannot be charged below freezing or you can damage the cells. My battery Tender brand supports SLA, gel and lithium where it auto senses and applies the appropriate charge. I don't leave mine plugged in 24/7 Instead, I rotate my chargers and top them off every month or so. As far as tech goes, I would argue lithium is great, but not for everything. LiFePO4 does in fact like deep discharge, which is why many folks use them for off grid energy storage. The safe charging temperatures though pose a challenge for many climates, including mine.

@@upnorthmike6085 You have an above avarage charger, but I bet it still doesn't balance the cells, so it's worthless for over discharged lithium. Life does discharge well under the correct conditions. But not these conditions, you Must be able to balance the cells. I know Shorai will not warranty over discharged "life" batteries. I over discharged one, charged it back, but it had extremely low capacity because the cells become out of balance, after these events the cells will under /over charge continually until failure. As for your comment on not working well in the cold, again you are incorrect. 8 months of sitting in storage and it fired right up after just 3 short cranks at zero degrees cold soaked. Had pump gas sitting in it as well, stabilized or engineered fuel would have resulted in a one crank start. Recap, your generator has a lithium battery. It doesn't need a charger unless you drain it. The original lithium battery will last over a year in standby and still start without charging. Try taking a lead acid battery of the same speciation and see what happens in the same situation as my originally comment. Your smart charger can only determine overall voltage, not individual cells that are prone to damage from over or under charge states. It might appear to be working, but it's cooking cells and the bms circuitry.

@@upnorthmike6085 Many battery types will be damaged if charged rapidly while cold soaked. A slow charge current generates heat from the cold cell's high resistance, as this resistance heat warms the cell, resistance drops and things get better. To correct the statement, fast charging a cold life cell can damage it. Care must be taken to charge just about any freezing cold battery cell, many li-xx chargers have a cold weather mode (slowly ramps up current).

With the trickle charger, the battery stays charged

@@upnorthmike6085 Can you let us know which trickle charger works for you or a link would be appreciated . thanks in advance

@@louie77what44 This is original and best; perfect size for a battery with this capacity: amzn.to/3NiPsYK

Nope, my remote was good to go out of the box. I think that pairing mode is if you lose the original and have to order a backup, that is how you can pair the new remote to your current gen

If you were to leave the battery switch on all the time it would create just enough of a draw to eventually drain the battery. however once you flip the battery switch on the receiver for the remote stays active for 12 hours so as long as you were to use the remote within 12 hours it will start with the remote just fine. That 12 hour timer resets every time you turn on or off the engine with the remote start.

The remote comes with it. Watch the model numbers though, many units look identical but do not have the remote start option. Look at Champions website it's easier to compare on it.

The remote does not have to be in line of sight, as long as you are within that about 80 foot range or so. I start mine from inside the camper all the time and it works just fine.

Check the manual, they give a quick reference manual that says which specific shipping nuts to remove. This will allow the engine to "float" on the rubber pads for dampening.

I just got one of these, I have the same question…

@@keithfransens9436 I ordered one from Walmart and FedEx lost the package. By the time I went to order another they were on back order again so I ended up with the Westinghouse generator. These review guys seem to just want to pump out "initial unboxing and test" videos with no other info

No I didn't. I imagine it would be slightly higher under load as would any generator.

It will time out after 12 hours of no use so the remote wouldn't work being on that long anyway. It does draw a very small amount of power in the on/standby mode as it is actively listening for that remote signal.

It fits under my cover in a 1500 Silverado

Yes it does, otherwise the unit is always looking for a signal and would run the battery low over time.

I was set for WEN, but the dual fuel one I was looking at did not have protective covers over the outlets, etc.

Yes you can leave it on for 12 hours and the remote start will stay active. Over 12 hours and the remote start feature times out to save the battery. The pig tail connects to an aftermarket "battery tender" available just about anywhere

Just add gas and stabilizer and no ethanol fuel if possible

Really? Mine runs like a top. Is your gas fresh? How is your oil level since it does have a low oil shutoff?

I was wondering that myself! Very important feature!

Doesn’t appear to have the auto fuel shut off like the Wen 3800 watt gen

That method does not actually work. The only way to drain the fuel out of the carb is to drain the fuel out of the carb. Running the unit with the fuel valve shut off does not completely drain the fuel out of the carb. If you plan on not using the unit for extended periods of time and do not use rec fuel and do not use a stabilizer, you should drain the carb, fuel lines, and fuel tank for storage. If you use rec fuel and a stabilizer and crank up the unit for 30 minutes at least every 45-60 days, you will basically never have an issue due to fuel. Do not put more fuel in the tank than you can use in a year. If you still have fuel in the fuel tank when the year is up, run the unit until the fuel is gone (also a good time to change the oil if you did not already need to do it on run hours) or drain it and discard. Go buy fresh rec fuel, add stabilizer, and fill it up to a year's worth. Repeat every year. I've been doing this for decades. Never had a fuel or oil related issue on several dozen small engines I have owned through out the years. You can listen to this advice or not. I have learned my lessons the hard way. Hopefully you won't.

I believe it came out 2 to 3 months ago possibly? I've used it around the shop just to test it out and finally got to use it camping last week and it worked awesome. No regrets at all

No, it does not. You would have to supply that.

@@upnorthmike6085 okay thanks

The 4650 has a manual choke and does not have electric start. I'm sure it is lighter because of no battery and starter.

I discovered the 4650 is offered in both configurations, with or without electric start and remote.

@@massa-blasta yup, 200993 is the electric start version part#.

@@williamday1090 My 4650 has electric start . As they say : Your actual mileage may vary .

This comes built in with carry handles, wheels and a long wheel handle.

I have several champion products and I'm very happy with the product and the company. This model also has everything that I need.

The westinghouse is junk, just everything about it, I just returned the one I bought 2 days ago and is why I'm here looking at this one... I strongly urge folks to stay away from anything from westinghouse, what really sucks, westinghouse is a U.S. company... I had the the westinghouse iGen4500 DF for 45 days and nothing but problems from the day it arrived... when it arrived it was damaged, I said no big deal I'll just call westinghouse and they would send me the parts to fix it, ABSOLUTELY NOT, they said they wood, but never did... when it arrived, the side access panel was cracked, the upper air box (it has 2 air boxes with filters, a upper and a lower) was broke, literally a hole in it and the carburetor had a hair line crack in it... I called them and they said they would ship me the parts and that I could use the generator until the parts came in because it did run, and ran pretty good, I just bought Q-bond and fixed the air box so it was air tight and didn't suck in absolutely no dust or dirt... by the way Q-bond is a awesome product, completely amazing, I didn't even need westinghouse to send me a new air box cover to be honest, like I said, amazing product... anyway, I called them a few times to see where the parts was at and the calls went from answering, to hanging up on me as soon as I said who I was to not answering at all... on day19 the Bush button start went out, on day 41 it started running up and down, up and down and throwing a lot of black soot out of the exhaust, the crack in the carburetor had finally failed and on day 43 the remote start went out... during all of this time I tried to call westinghouse probably 50 times with no answer, just absolutely ghosted... I had finally said enough was enough and called home depot, explained everything to them and they said this is typical with westinghouse and that UPS will be there tomorrow to pick the iGen4500 up and as soon as UPS got there and scan the Original box that it came in Home Depot would refund my total cost, and thats exactly what they did... Home Depot will forever be my go to place, I'll never shot anywhere else as long as they have whatever product I am looking for at said time... I forgot to mention how I would use friends and family members phones to make calls to westinghouse so westinghouse wouldn't recognize the number so they would answer, but every time I said who I was and why I was calling the phone went click, hung up on... do yourself a favor, stay away from Westinghouse, now if you don't believe my words, then buy something from them and see for yourself and report back so I can say "I told you so" lol... I was looking at Pulsar because they have all the same features as the iGen4500, but looked at comments on the BBB and about choked, I literally couldn't even believe what I was reading... I literally left the BBB page thinking I clicked on something wrong or it was a comedy skit page or something, but nope, they was actual complaints and actual responses from Pulsar to their customers... i urge you to go read those, I can bet money you have never seen anything like that...

@upnorth mike; I think you made a very good choice... I to bought Champion in the past and had to have warranty work done, but 1 phone call and Champion had me 1) parts on the way 2) a service center that was the closest to me... I will never buy anything other then Champion, never... the only reason I didn't buy this one here was because I really wanted the the features that westinghouse has on the iGen4500 DF, I won't ever make that mistake again lol...

Looks like the 20 amp outlets have the ground leg on the bottom that’s how every single one I’ve ever used is. And the 30 amp has the ground to the top that is how a 30 amp rv cord works it has the ground at the end of the cord so it will hang down when connected in a generator like this. I have seen a few cheapo generators with a 30 amp lug with the ground down and that is backwards the cord has to be draped over the entire generator it looks ridiculous!

I work at a large semiconductor and all the 110 v recepticals are installed with the ground at the top....I was told that if anything conductive fell down the wall and the plug was not full engaged the thought was the first thing it would contact is the ground. Just what I was told. Have a good one.

The 30A receptacle on this generator is mounted with the correct side up.

What did you buy?

@@paultheisen5290 champion 3500 dual fuel no remote start but, I can run off of propane for 14.5 hrs and gas 7.5

Hey Mike, Passing on some information, they do make kits you can get to convert the Champion 4500 watt generator, do some research on You Tube

To run on Lp, sorry forgot to proofread, "Paul from Iowa

Nope. But I do have a generator collection problem... I also have a DuroMax 10kw and a really old generac 2kw suitcase model.

@@upnorthmike6085 just all your videos are on champion products!! lol good thorough reviews though. I live just north of the cities figure I might need one after the chauvin trials verdict is read !!

@@brianloeffler2245 as I get some other products and tools I'll try to do some reviews on things I think people might enjoy. Either this year or next I'll get into some solar and battery storage too. Thanks