FYI EVERYONE WHO HAS HARD TIME RESTARTING THESE WHEN ITS HOT OUTSIDE... All you have you have to do is remove the gas cap and it will start right up. Just needs to vent. Somehow it took me almost two summers to finally figure this out lol
I just bought one of these and as soon as I got it running I plugged a Lincoln 110 welder into it and it actually worked with no issues! Very impressive.
This generator got my through the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. I have no delusions thinking that something from harbor freight will last decades like a Honda will, but it worked for me when I needed it the most, so I call that a win.
I am currently using a Coleman PowerMate 5000 for my house during outages but from your loading tests I believe the 3500 would do the job and use less fuel. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for watching! This is an inverter generator and outputs pure sine wave form power. I think that this is a great unit for either home or RV use, I plan to use it for both but mainly RV...
Just to clarify, the generator is rated to run 3000 watts continuous and you tested it to 2200 watts, personally, I wouldn't be very impressed with that test alone. I would love to see some people push the power rating a bit, I always install hard start capacitors for my compressors so they don't take nearly the amount surge power to start as they normally would, this allows me to run closer to the max capacity of the generator without overloading it so I am curious how it would do when really pushed. Thanks so much for doing this review, it is rare and super valuable for users to post real tests like this, thanks so much!
I agree. I chose to run what i would normally run on a generator situation. True I could have pushed it to the limit but chose not to. I feel that I accurately portrayed a normal operating situation for the generator to handle. I do plan to install a hard start capacitor soon also which will help things out greatly.
Good call on the NGK spark plug. I run NGK in everything I own. From cars to lawn mowers to chainsaw to weed eater. NGK has always proven to me that they just run better/smoother in everything I own. Now to get one of these generators.
Great video, I am so glad I saw your informative video I was the same day, going to get a Honda 3000is, but I saved about 1300 on this predator and I tried it out on my RV No issues what so ever . I loaded it up to over 2000 watts didn't even buckle. Thanks again. The NGK . BPRNES plug I think that is the number . I am going to follow your procedure, Thanks again.
Thanks for this video, you've answered many questions as far as adding the different loads. We only wanted to power up an LG Fridge that has diabetic meds and a 5 cubic foot deep freezer some LED Lights and a fan and a 32 inch flat screen..! We suffered when Hurricane Charlie and recently Irma came near Central FL.. No Lights for 9 days.. but we survived..We cooked on our Gas Grill. Coming from NYC ..We made it..! I'm sold.. now we need a Harbor Freight Sale.. they're still $849.. way cheaper than Honda.. Thanks..! When you go the big box store they're no help since they don't have any generators in stock.. everything is online for now..! We get the extended warranty if they have one..! We need it mainly for the meds and foods that we didn't want to lose..and will shut off for some hours during the day if we can bear it..! Going to add up my wattage..!
The only issue I have had with this generator is the governor spring coming off. Rough roads probably led to this issue. It was an easy fix but we did spend a very hot night in the camper with no AC. All in all it is well worth the money. Good quiet power.
Got one yesterday - mainly for our camper which the generator went bad on us. Also will run power tools on a farm which has no power. Havent used it yet and I know nothing about them.
That's harbor freight for ya. They have quality products, but abysmal quality control. So it's a flip of the coin. And NEVER buy open box from Harbor Freight. One store sold me an open box gen they claimed was a floor model. I got it home, pulled it out of the box and SAND poured out the bottom like an hour glass. Needless to say it went right back, I gave the manager that lied to me a few choice words and drove across town to another harbor freight where I got the one I have today.
Hey FloridaBoy Surival, I watched your video's and was impressed with the Predator video's. been looking at them for a while Got and add from Harbor Frieght and the 3500 predator was on sale for $689.00. I took the bait. LOL. This thing is so quiet. Can't believe it. Going to hook up my camper and check it out. Bit the manual said only use 75% while in breaking time. Sure Think I will enjoy this one. Honda is way out of my price range. Though not knocking Honda. Just to exspensive ffor me. LOL
Break it in for 25 hrs first before you load it up. Run it with about a 30% load during the break in. Take out the spark arrestor and change the plug at 25 hrs. Change the oil at least 3 times during break in. Then this thing will really surprise you....it is just as good as a Honda
That meter is measuring volt amps, not watts. VA is apparent power. Anything with an inductor or capacitance load will not have a power factor of 1.0 which is a pure resistive load. For example, a 9w LED light will show 13VA. Refrigerator uses an induction motor with a likely power factor of 0.7 .
I recently purchased a toy hauler, 30 a.m., just want to make sure I do this correctly, start the generator first, then start flipping on the breakers for AC refrigerator things like that do not I have everything turned on and try starting the generator correct?
I actually live in my 32 ft. In 110 degree weather And seems like I am going thru gas very rapidly, I'm getting maybe 8 hours of AC on 5 gallons. Does that seem about right? $20. for 2-3 hours in three days?!
I just bought one there's only six in my area left if anybody's going to buy one they better get it now with the tariffs going on they're not going to be available soon
I just bought a 3200 to 4000 peak generator and plugged the Tralier cord into the generator, turned on cooler and ran 3 mins then tripped breaker on generator and shut off cooler any info greatly appreciated.
Where in Florida are you? I am in North Florida and thinking about getting one for my RV that I have parked out on my property. My main concern is running my A/C (14,000 btu) a fridge, water heater and the charger for the battery (inverter not converter by the way). Around my area (Keystone Heights near Jacksonville/Gainsville) we experience temps in the 90's with high humidity so the A/C will be running quite a bit. I can run the fridge and water heater off of propane, but being able to run them at the same time would be a plus.
I am in the Melbourne area, but I went to school at UF so I know exactly where you are. As you can see this one ran my 15k btu a/c, some lights, fridge, and TV with no problems at all. If you can use shade and stagger your a/c usage I think that this unit will do just fine.
Nice video. Always informative. My only concerns are parts for repair. How Easy Is It To Get Parts to repair When Needed and where do you buy them? Thanks
Thanks! This is really the exact same unit as the Northern Tool Powerhorse, theirs is just blue. You should be able to get parts from Northern Tool if needed
Good solid review of this model. I'm looking into using this for a small mobile detailing setup. Do you think this would run an ryobi 1600 electric pressure and say a vacuum or occasionally a polisher if I have too? Not all at the same time of course
Thanks for this video. So this should be able to power a winch on a truck? or is it overkill and I should consider the smaller version (2000W) ? Thanks in advance for your advice.
Good day sir, very good test and explanation, i am planning to buy a genarator when i will be back home in tha philippines, and i already computed the watts of all appliances in home its just 2500 watts, and i will buy a POWER HOUSE PWH-4500 watts enegize series ,so this one will be good sir.whats opinion sir?
@@TC-tw5zk Yes. Most important: change the oil often. Manual says run for 20 hrs then change it, but I changed mine at 4, 8 then 20 hrs and am glad I did. Lots of metal specs in the first change at 4hrs. Use regular oil, not synthetic during the break in. I changed the plug at 20 hrs also but this is not mandatory. Mine runs like a champ, yours should also. Watch the spark arrestor during break in, it may clog. If it does just clean it and continue. Let me know how it goes...
@@mcleod55 My error, I read your comment wrong. In the last hurricane I was running a full sized fridge, window fan, 42" TV and a couple of lights with power to spare. At night I ran a 6k BTU window unit to cool my bedroom with no issues.
The predator 4000 is a perfect generator and fit for a woman. Great video showing us what appliances we can use, this really helped knowing how many different things I can use on this predator.
Thanks. It will run all of that stuff for as long as the gas holds out. As long as you have it in an area with proper ventilation you should have no problems with over heating...
I’m looking for something to use at for storm/power outages. Just running a refrigerator, tv, possibly a lamp or two. Don’t have much knowledge about generators and I’ve been seeing that electronics need an inverter because of surges and uneven power flow. Is that the case or would I be ok with a regular generator and some some surge protector strips?
Electronics do not need an inverter because of surges, they need an inverter because of the type of power they put out. A regular loud contractor generator puts out modified sine wave power and an inverter puts out true sine wave power, which is what our present day electronics need and like. The compressor on the fridge and the TV will thank you for the inverter, but if you are just running lights and fans you can easily get by with a regular generator. Surge protector strips would accomplish nothing in this regard.
The nice part about inverter generators is they can be run in parallel. I use the Westinghouse parallel cord to pair up my Westinghouse igen2500 with my Aldi Workzone 2000. Together, they output 3800 watts of continuous power.
There are a few websites that give approximate watt usage for different appliances. Regular generator is ok. You are going to plug appliances directly into the generator. If quiet is a must, get an invertor like his. If you want the most watts for your money get a regular generator.
I just bought one and did get the extended warranty. I almost never buy the extended warranty but this time I thought it was worth the money. It covers it for everything with the exception of loss or theft all I have to do is go to any Harbor Freight with the broken unit and they give me a new one, can't complain about that.
Do you start with all the breakers in your fifth wheel off? I ask because I’m not sure if I should leave my 50amp breaker switch off since the generator is only 30amp.
No they were all on, even the converter. As long as everything is off the breakers can be on. Then start selectively turning things on and monitor your amperage use on the generator display.
stupid guy question over here... i am looking on downsizing from my 3800watt portable generator to a smaller inverter style at 1700 or 2200 watt for many reasons (i dont need 3500 watts , i'd like to charge electrical equipment, less noise etC)... I am doing some calculations on things i typically use to get an understanding of the power usage i'd need and the hypothetical ceiling i'd have for extra things in those rare occurances... I am looking at the chargers associated with my lithium boat batteries and have confused myself... My biggest charger for my 12V 54ah dakota lithium has an output of 14.4V / 10A . It is also lists the Input on the charger as 100-240Vac / 1.5A ... Question is, would i use the output or input data for my calculation ? I know the generator is a 120V so the difference is minimal in this situation, but i would like to also understand this concept so that i can calculate correctly in other instances... Thx
Im a truck driver n i was thinking about getting one... But running this thing for 10 hours a day with portable ac i think is going to last me a month... 😂😂 What do u think?
Hello mate so I have some similar type machinery because I feel that electric cars and batteries are rubbish and sooner or later artificial gasoline will make Tesla a thing of the past.
@@FloridaBoyBushcraftSurvival Yes well you see I think the best use for solar would be to create steam for a generator but unfortunately there is no one who makes steam 4 stroke so you basically have to build it from scratch .
After Hurricane Harvey passed my house, we set this generator up and it powered a refrigerator (in the house, not an rv fridge), a full chest freezer, a 6000 btu AC window unit, two lamps, a desk fan, a shop fan, an LED Tv and an xbox one. I don't remember the exact amp draw at that point, but I seem to remember thinking I had power to spare.
@@FloridaBoyBushcraftSurvival At one point I was standing outside smoking a cigarette and my neighbor was sitting on his porch, trying to stay cool. He asked me, "How the hell do you have power and the rest of the neighborhood is dark!?" I told him I lost power too. All he could hear was the window unit AC running. He couldn't hear the generator AT ALL. That ended up being my favorite part. Looters are always an issue after a hurricane and if I had been using a traditional generator it would have been at a target.
Thank you so much for all of this information. With all of the generators out there it was confusing as to which one to buy. But if the Predator 3500 can do all of that I am definitely sold. I'm heading to Harbor Freight right now!
It is a good generator. I just tried another experiment, I had the 15k a/c running along with the TV, lights and refrigerator running together pulling about 2000w. Then I cycled the a/c off, then back on to see if the generator would flip the breaker and not cycle the a/c back on but it did perfectly. no problems with this unit...
Thanks for taking the time to do this video! I’ve watched quite a few on this model. I’m putting together a truck camper this summer (8’ bed and an A.R.E. topper), and like you, I’m in the sweltering Florida heat. HAVE to install an AC in there somewhere, and since it’s such a tiny space that I’m cooling, I’m gonna use a tiny 5k window unit that I’ll temporarily mount through the cap window when I get to my campsite. So I’m thinking about getting the next inverter Predator model down (2000 I think, can’t remember), just to run the AC and microwave. All of my other needs are rechargeables, like lights. I gotta assume the lower model can handle this, and although I would like to go for the 3000/3500 to be safe and to use for home backup purposes (hurricaneland in South Florida!), I’ve read that the weight on it is a mother. I’m a little guy, and an old fart, and don’t know if I can handle it. But your videos and others have shown me how good these gens are, especially with proper maintenance and compared to the costs of Honda and others.
Yahoooo I just got mine and I’m so excited! I watched your videos before I bought it. Now I’m going to watch it again as I unpack it. I must be a very weird woman to love this! 😂
Is you’re A/C 110v or 220v. Can my Predator 3500 run this house A/C? If so how? Cool Capacity: 17500/18000 Btu/h Input: 1800/1850 W ERR: 9.7/9.7 Btu/h.W VOLT: 208/230V Hz 60 AMPS: 9.0/8.3A PHASE 1 DESIGN PRESSURE: H.S:350PSIG L.S:150PSIG REFRIGERANT: R 22 24.9 oz
What I don’t understand is, I just bought this unit everyone said it was fine fir rv. But folks said the ac needs 30 amps. But ur video didn’t show the ac taking in 30 amps from the generator
Right. The A/C does not need a continuous 30 amps to run, it just needs enough capacity to cover the "spike" in amps when the compressor starts. After that it pulls about 12 amps continuously. The Predator 3500 will start it and run it just fine...
I know someone who has two HF, a 6.500 watt and a smaller one. The small one maybe around the 2000 watts? But it is super quiet, can't hardly hear it. He is really impressed with them for the price. Yea, but you didn't show it charging your phone?? Thanks for sharing.
HF makes some good stuff and some not so good stuff lol. These are actually a clone of a more expensive generator and are of very good quality. Like anything else if you take care of it there should be no problems. I totally forgot to show me charging my phone, next time....
Good video. All I had was problems with mine. It ran just fine in the cooler weather. My unit is on the back of my Expediter Van on a swing arm. It ran my 13,500 AC unit on top of the van just fine when I installed it in SC in December. Ran it a few times running my Espar heater. It worked great. But...…… like everyone said, will it stand up to the Laredo Texas heat!!! Well, I went down to Laredo. Started up the generator, kicked the ac unit on, and layed down. I didn't lay down for long. The generator kept overloading. This is after the first oil and spark plug change. I tried everything to keep it running. I went to RU-vid and watched a video about taking the oil fill door off because the unit was starving for air. I took it off, it helped some, but would still overload. I ended up taking the whole side cover off so it could get as much air as it needed. It was loud, and it would still overload. I cannot always park the van so that the sun is not on the generator. Being in the shade helps, but it still overloads. I can't have that problem down in Texas. I need reliability. Another driver bought a newer one after I bought mine. He is having the same problems. I took mine back, went and bought a 3000IS Honda generator. It never misses a beat. Been to Laredo several times, start up the generator even while in direct sunlight, kick on the ac unit and it purrs like a kitten!!! No problems at all. I think Harbor Freight is headed in the right direction with these generators, but I think they still need some more tweaking done to them. I certainly hope yours keeps working good for you. I'm going to put a soft start on my ac unit and I will be able to run the Honda generator on ECO mode running the AC. Keep up the videos on this generator. I would like to see how it's working out for you. Thanks!!!
I bought the same generator during Hurricane Harvey preparation (I live in Corpus Christi, Tx). This thing is a BEAST. After Harvey I put a window unit AC in my bedroom. It powered that, a TV, lights, couple fans, the fridge, a chest freezer and had plenty leftover. It was also so incredibly quiet that the neighbors couldn't even hear it. While everyone else in the neighborhood was bored and sweating for several days waiting for power, I was sitting comfortable in my house playing Call of Duty all day. LOL. That said: I can TOTALLY see spending the extra money to get a Honda. This predator may run as well as a Honda right now, but 10, 20, 30 years down the road you'll probably still have that Honda while the predator is long dead and buried. Honda small engines are LEGENDARY. I would have bought one if they weren't all sold out during my hurricane prep. I love this predator, but I have no delusions thinking it'll last as long as a Honda.
Great point. I am not saying that this one is as good as a Honda, just saying it is a good intermediate unit that will work great when needed. I conserve mine and only run it when needed so I should get years worth of use from it...
@@FloridaBoyBushcraftSurvival Oh for sure! It's an excellent unit, no doubt. You just have to keep up the maintenance. That's the big plus for Honda. You can abuse the hell out of them and they don't care. Just ask my 16 year old Honda push mower. I treat that thing like crap and it just keeps going. LOL.
Hello, can any one out there help me, I see this is about RV use, But my husband says it can be used for running our home. Everything Air conditioner, well, frig, everything. What do you think. Pleas e help befoe he waste money and goes and buys one
Yes I can help you. This is a great generator but it will NOT run your entire home. It will reliably put out 3000 continuous watts, which will not even begin to run a central a/c. You need to check each appliance and determine how many watts it takes to run them and either size your generator accordingly or run items selectively.
A traditional shop MAY be able to service it but not likely. This unit is exactly the same as the Northern Powerhorse and you can get a schematic and parts from them.
