Champion Power Equipment 6250-Watt Portable Open Frame Inverter Generator with Quiet 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.——

Thank you!We will process your review and publish it within 3-7 business days.CONTINUE SHOPPING5.001/17/2021The power actually went out less than a month after I got itPretty nice inverter generator. I bought it shipped and the box was nicely protective, though the box had some dents and gouges The generator inside was perfect. I took off the shipping pieces, easily mounted the wheels and handle, poured just a half quart or so of fuel, added 5-30 synthetic and test ran it for a half hour or so till empty. Then put it under a cover in the heated garage for safekeeping. I think the 5:30 synthetic is a good choice because it's really not a lot of oil and often in a generator or more oil doesn't get changed very much so it seemed like pretty cheap protection and allows full temperature range operation without having to change the oil. Anyhow less than a month went by and when the power went out I waited 5 minutes for the power to come back on, when it didn't I went out to the garage and then poured in some gas. It's a pretty heavy unit but rolls easily with the included wheel kit and handle. Which brings up an important point, if you're considering a harbor freight generator the wheel kit is extra, on this wonderful inverter generator they include it. There is no electric starter, but I pulled out the manual choke gave it kind of a week pull and it started on that first pull. Keep in mind brand new oil ran just a week or two ago to be broken in and in a warm condition from inside storage, but yeah I was pretty impressed it started right up.Alsoo harbor freight doesn't have a 240 volt inverter generator. And that's really the main reason I bought this, it's the cheapest 240 inverter generator that Will meet my power needs. Would be nice to have one that was a little bit bigger, but then the fuel consumption would be higher. This runs all our winter loads except the electric heat in the greenhouse. We have a pretty efficient updated home with all LEDs and modern efficient appliances and should be able to run AC in the summer if we are careful not to run the microwave and the toaster at the same time. So here we are 6 hours into our first outage and watching the Bills against the Ravens in good comfort. Initially I filled it up to about 7/8 full, there's a good gauge on top of the tank, I ran it for about 3 hours before adding more fuel at that point it was at halfway on the gauge. Using a sound meter app on my phone I verified that yeah it was about 68 decibels at 20 ft about 83 right up next to it. that may be a lower reading than a loud person talking next to a meter, but the constant drone of an engine is pretty loud. Basically as they say it is as loud as a vacuum cleaner or maybe a little louder. All in all I'm very satisfied is I don't think there's another generator that offers inverter technology and 240 volts with the low distortion in this price range. I'll keep this until champion or someone else makes all these specs available in a unit that's enclosed for better sound insulation, don't get me wrong this one's probably pretty quiet for the open frame design and it is a definite buy. In my opinion compared to what else is on the market you're getting much more than your paying, but it's not everything you could wish for, how are you going to get that at a bargain price?

So far it has worked well. Ran it for 5hrs to do the break in on the engine and change the oil. Used once for a few hours to power the house during an outage. Ran 2 fridges, one small window AC and a few lights and ceiling fans without breaking a sweat. The output is steady and no pulsating from LED lights or even much of a dip when a fridge kicks on like with old style rotary gensets. Can’t speak for longevity yet but time will tell. It’s is not as quiet as a closed frame genset. Is just a noisy as my old powermate rotary 5000 at full throttle. It is alittle quieter on eco mode under no load condition. One thing i will say is, these carburetors do not like to sit for very long without being run with fresh gas. It does take a little bit to get it started and to run smooth if it’s sat for a few months. The electronic throttle control on this unit is sensitive to making it run smooth and overcompensates while the motor tries to level out on start up after it has sat. I’d say add fresh gas and run it every month or so for about 10 mins to keep the carb clean