small genne just for charging batteries

[Scott & Heather]

Cliff: when I first bought them three years ago, they did just that. Annoying. So I learned to slightly overfill the oil (only slightly). Never ever have that problem anymore.

Dave: yeah I think I'll wire in an actual wired remote start setup since the gennies are so close to the drivers seat. No point in going wireless. I'll even run en extension on the eco throttle switches too.

As for the generator usage for us: we don't have a battery bank yet nor an inverter so these babies run 100% duty when not on the pole. Cliff I have over 4000 hours on these units already and they are still humming along with only oil changes. Haven't even changed the spark plugs yet. I run a can of sea foam through them about an hour before turning them off when we do park and connect to power. So that seafoam gas is what's sitting in the carb for the storage periods. This keeps things from gumming up and hopefully helps to keep carbon deposits down to a minimum. If one of them fails catastrophically, I'll post it here as a data point, but so far they have been perfectly reliable.

My simple math conservatively is saying we have 6,000 hours on them already. I'm planning on adding an inverter this summer which will cut down on genset usage dramatically for us.

Here's a very cool thread on another site that shows a guy tearing down his EU3000is after 6000 hours of use. He thinks it died prematurely due to using propane and the higher temps from that. I think the consensus was that using gasoline they would
Last much longer.
https://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146258
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[luvrbus]

That is strange most propane fired engines outlast the gasoline engines ,lol do you ever shut those babies down 4000 hrs is a lot of hrs for the short time you have owned those,that would be 80 oil changes or 160 oil changes  on  the 2.you are due for some plugs also you are way past the 200 hr plug change maybe 300 hrs depending on which manual you read , you got your money from those plugs,you can count the blinks for the hours reading   

[sledhead]

on the 2000 w genne's they are pull start to keep the price , weight , size down . so I guess you could install a start motor , a battery on one ? my plan was to charge up the batteries through the day like a solar panel would and move the genne to a spot that would not offend anyone . my thought was when I knew that I would not be on the pole I could bring it and a 2 gal. gas can and put them in the box of my pick up truck with a big chain to lock it up 

Dave

[Geoff]

Big difference in a remote start and the auto start on generators I never saw a auto start on tiny generators is why I asked and was wondering if they made one   

The small Champion generator at Costco comes with a keyless remote start.  I bought a wireless remote start/stop for my Honda powered air compressor on eBay for $10.67 free shipping from China. Two remote fob's.  The unit I bought doesn't work the choke, you would need a three channel remote control for that along with an electric plunger solenoid to work the choke.  On/off works for me, I have to check the fuel and oil anyway, after the first start it is warmed up and I don't need the choke.  The remote saves me a lot of time and effort when working.

[Geoff]

That is strange most propane fired engines outlast the gasoline engines ,lol do you ever shut those babies down 4000 hrs is a lot of hrs for the short time you have owned those

I agree, propane results in a loss of power, but burns much cleaner i.e. less carbon buildup and cleaner oil.

[TomC]

On my Onan Emerald III 6.5 gasoline, when run on propane it is rated at 6.3.