One thing you should do especially when using propane to power a generator is to purge the lines by hooking up the hose to the tank and then opening the valve briefly until you smell gas and then connect it to the generator. What is happening here is the propane line has air in it and it is slowly filling with propane as you pull the cord and is taking it's sweet time getting to the spark plug. I use a similar trick when lighting my propane heating stoves for the first time of the season. Using a BBQ lighter I heat the thermocouple until the gas valve stays down then open the main gas control while still having the BBQ flame on the thermocouple and in seconds the main burner will light.
Good video! I did a general overview on this one as well and it ended up replacing my predator 3500. You made a smart choice. Super lightweight and powerful. On the hard start on propane, super easy fix. Hook up your propane line to the tank and generator. Turn the propane tank on. Then, back off the connection on the generator and you will hear propane leaking / hissing. Do this for about 6-8 seconds to purge air and then tighten the connection. After this, will always fire cold in 1-3 pulls (1st pull for me on most occasions). Cold starting on propane with air in the lines was so bad, I almost returned it. Glad I did not! Gave you a like and subscribed. Keep up the good work. 👍
Ended up buying this generator for home backup. Connects directly into my panel with an interlock. Also got a 1/4 propane hose with quick disconnects attached to my home propane supply. Plan to never run gas through it. For the quick disconnects, I have a spare male attached to the generator with a string. I attach it, run propane until it starts out of the hose and then plug it into the generator. Starts first or second pull. With the hose you have, before connecting it, turn the propane on and let it run for a second, turn it off then plug it in.
Dude I bought this same generator and pulled and pulled and pulled until I turned the choke off. Then it fired right up! I was wondering how long it was going to take you to turn the choke off! I bought this for my new camper. It runs the ac, microwave, tv and all the lights running off of propane. I am pretty impressed with it so far!
I’ve come to learn that the switch writng is slightly off so if you don’t turn it to the exact mark it will start on choke turn and you’ll feel when it clicks
You need to prime the gas line before trying to start the generator, once the air is out propane will flow and start on the first crank. Loosen up the hose a bit and once you smell gas re-tighten the hose and it will start easily.
I have a question, I have the same generator and when I have it on for a while and I turn it off, when it comes to turning it back on I have to wait a long time for it to even start up. What would it be?
How is that generator holding up? I'm considering getting the same one that you unbound. I wanted a dual fuel generator which was light and powerful. Please let me know.
1st purge the propane from the hose... 2nd 2 pull with choke... 3rd switch to run and ll at the 1st pull. 4th no synthetic in the first run. Use mineral and change the oil after 1 hour at low idle. Done.
Must be from the South. I turned the choke off and it started on the 2nd Pull LOL. I just ordered my 2nd one of these and will run them in parallel. Should run 3 Frigs and 2 freezers and the heater blowers that pull 1169W and 869W respectively. These little suitcase units are hard to beat for the price and I like to have a couple little gas sippers to back up my Generac. I do recommend the WEN 55201 Magnetic Oil Dipstick for Inverter Generators it fits perfectly and I use it on my pulsar 2200.
Great video, just wondering about oil. You said you were going to use synthetic oil but used supplied oil. I read that never use synthetic oil in generators, is this true?
I just get prefilled 20lb tanks from lowes. But they only fill it with 16lb/4gal..tractor supply and other farm stores sell various sizes from 10lb up to 100lb
@@Greatlakesprepper Sorry. I wasn't very clear. I was looking for runtime on a bottle of propane so I could decide on what size bottle to buy. But I just bought a 10lb tank. Also, has anyone tried to change the oil in these yet? Looks like the only way is to fill the interior of the case and let it drip out the bottom via a small hole in the bottom of the case. Not a very user friendly design.
@@slashdotjeo such as? And if you had watched the videos all over the net you would have seen everyone that bought the dual fuel shown in this video got the adapter
Just a bit of info when the choke was on the pressure regulator saw no draw and would not allow propane to flow. On gasoline engine you're trying to draw gasoline from the tank to the bowl to the needle to the engine on propane you must leave it in the "run" position or the pressure regulator will not open up
I purchased one of these and the carb was bad right out of the box. Be very sure to test this as soon as you get it. It's been a nightmare trying to get a working unit and I've finally given up. Returning today.
it's a very good product, but there's 2 downsides: - only 1 20A outlet & no USB outlet nor 12V cigarette lighter style outlet - no built-in wheels to move it around aside from that it's great
Does your spark plug wire socket have a rubber boot around it that pushes firmly into the surround hole around the spark plug? Mine only has an upper rubber “cap” that covers the top of the hole, but no rubber around the plastic wire connector. So it vibrates. I think it’s missing on my unit. I have other brand units that have the rubber that makes a firm seal around that hole and keeps it secure. Any chance you can add some photos of yours?
Thanks so much for doing this Video! I would have pulling my arm off trying to start it! I've got an old dog house we don't use, and plan on keeping my new Generator in there! That way, I can use it, but not hear it, and after last year during hurricane IAN, we had MANY people stealing Generators, so it's going to be easier for me to prevent this using the dog house. I've got an older gasoline only, 6500 Subaru, and I've got a feeling it's not going to make it thru another week of heavy use, like last summer. I like the idea of propane in Florida as well. Anyway, think about building it a small shed to keep it in and you won't hear the noise. As long as the ventilation is good, it will keep the unit safe, cleaner and again cut noise.
Long video but thank your for making it!! I am very interested in this generator. Please do more testing with it. Maybe use an outlet tester on it to make sure its wired correctly to the outlets and that sort of thing?
Update just tried to use it on my rv with 13500 btu ac and on propane it will not run. 2nd update unfortunately i do not have soft start on my ac so i ran my built in generator for 30 min to allow ac compressors to warm up the. Switched to the generator and it ran the ac with no problem
I have a 15K BTU Coleman and it started up with installed start up capacitor from factory. Its a 88-108 MFD capacitor connected with a start up resistor that takes it off line as soon as it starts up. They sell those for about $40 or so on line or you can build it yourself by ordering capacitor and start up resistor separately. Best is if you find out from your AC maker what they recommend for start up capacitor so you dont ruin the start up coil over time with too much capacitance energy. Mine starts up with no trouble and cycles in and out with fan. I monitor volts and hz and they are right on the money at start up. In the camper I get down to about 118 Volts at start up and then recovers back to 120 volts. Hz stays right at 59-60. The voltage reading right at generator is 122 Volt with minimal load. With AC its at around 119-120 at start up. Doesnt dip that much because the unit kicks in quickly with start up. Voltage stays steady. Now if I turn microwave on, then it dips some more and starts to overload some. Makes alot of noise to keep the rpms up. I would not recommend that for too long. My converter is on while all this is going on so I'm sure I do exceed the 24 amps with propane. I have not run it on gasoline yet bcus I do not intend to. I'm sure I could get more power out of it if I did but my intention is to run propane only. I have diesel in my truck and propane in my camper, I dont need to lug around another fuel type.
I haven't used it that much yet. But the reasons I got it were dual fuel capability,high wattage/dollar ratio,high wattage/size ratio,light enough to pickup...the downsides were only 1 120v outlet,small 1gal gas tank and slightly louder noise then some others.
Purge the propane line first, then start on Run. Choke is more for gasoline starting. Also, invest in a magnetic dipstick and put that in, to collect the very fine metal shavings that get in the oil (especially during break-in). I recently bought this exact same unit for my boat. Getting ready to give it a start on gasoline first, then propane. Hopefully it won't take 40 pulls, I'm an old man and don't want that hassle, lol.
