Predator 3500 Inverter Generator Break In for Campers | Harbor Freight

What is your favorite generator for camping? Have you had success with this predator model from Harbor Freight?

We've been running the predator generator in our vanlife for a kooonngg time now. Over 5000 hours. Never used a magnetic dipstick or anything else. Completely stock. Just change the oil every 100 hours along with cleaning the spark arrestor and your ready to run! Oh, and we run regular gas. Non ethanol may be recommended if you don't use it too much and the gas is sitting in it. But we use ours everyday so the gas is always flowing.

My man, we are going through a severe storm in Sacramento, California, which unearthed a giant tree that hit our powerlines, and we are without electricity for an unknown amount of time. We bought this generator, and your video was clutch! Thank you so much.

So just a little tip, for the future you don’t need to add stable to the fuel if it’s ethanol free. Stable is to keep ethanol fuel from attracting water and stops the formation of deposits in the fuel which can plug up the carburetors jets and or fill the bowl with ethanol deposits. And I know this because I’m an engineer who does emissions and fuel testing.

so i just purchased this generator last week. I ran it 1.5 hrs and changed oil like alot of people were saying is required, i strained the oil and not 1 piece of aluminum or metal, machining shavings or particles were anywhere in the oil. I was suprised after so many videos were showing oil so full of particles. Maybe the new ones are machined better?? who knows but i am keeping this second oil in for at least 25hrs then ill change it again. I know my store was backordered from factory for a month or more. but as far as im concerned changing oil once every hour for first 3 hours is a waste. my friend bought 2 of these generator 2 years ago or so and said he did first change at 30 hours and his run perfect with over 200 hours now. just my opinion. good luck to everyone

Added lawn mower wheels and added a propane fuel converter. Changed the oil at 1 hour, 5 hour, and 25 hour. Along with the magnetic dip stick I think I got all the shavings out. I clean the spark plug (ngk) every oil change and it runs like a champ.

I went with the westinghouse 3700. It's really light and puts out a ton of juice. It's been great so far. I followed your procedure for break in, worked amazing!

I have the 3500 for over a year now. I use it on my 28ft 5th wheel. It now has 3450 hours. On eco mode it’s Very very very quiet and on 1 full tank of gas it last all day long. My only issue is the pull cord breaking but lucky for us it has an electric start.

A word of caution with the magnetic dipstick. I tried one with a new generator and during the break in like a dummy I went to change the oil and twist out the dipstick. Burnt the crap out of my fingers on it. Of course the metal dipstick was the same temp as the engine casing and for some reason I didn't think about that. Wearing a pair of gloves would have prevented the burn.

That generator will be a game changer for future trips. The tips you shared (advantages of 1 larger generator, magnetic dipstick, using fuel stabilizer, etc.) were helpful. Looking forward to the follow-up video showing your generator in action on a camping trip.

I bought two of these for our fifth wheel and for power outages at home. They are awesome. I make sure I keep non-ethanol gas with stabil in them and use synthetic oil. I also exercise them every 30 days. My hack is to take the control panel off and disconnect the kill switch. Now when I turn the knob off it continues to run until the carburetor is dry and shuts down. Should prevent carb issues.

You will love it, I have had no problems at all, it will run everything at once but I recommend shutting A/C off b4 running microwave, it does do it but puts it very close to the generators power limits, but will do it . Great generator...👍

Mine has 5000 hours on it mostly run at 2000 Watts or more this thing is a beast for the money. You might read this from more people than just me but over time what happened to me was the small little spark arrestor honeycomb type thing clogged and choked out the machine. I just took mine out I run my generator inside of a little building so no risk of fire.definitely put a real spark plug in the machine mine came with a crappy one. After about hour 3000 my main jet clogged and the machine would stall out if you had a big load on it Jets easy to service and clean. Even if this thing conked out on me tomorrow I'd go buy another one.

Been running small engines all my life (non pressure lubed), and I have never used a magnetic dipstick. The magnetic only picks up ferris metals, dont do anything for the 17 other metals that won't stick to the magnet. That pretty color in the pan means the engine is getting happier. The oil used in a small engine is supposed to suspend particulates, unlike a pressurized system. In my opinion, that magnetic dipstick is not needed.

Okay, your humor is sneaky. "Lift with your back, not your legs." Didn't even catch it for a few seconds. Nice video.

We just got one of these.. thanks for the review! I ordered the magnetic dipstick on Amazon - with free shipping to me- a Prime member- was $15.15. Got another tip- I'm buying an NGK BPR 70S spark plug- it's supposed to improve the engine's running.

The inverter part means is goes from AC to DC. Then it goes back to AC again. This makes it so that you can use it with sensitive electronics - laptops, tablets, TVs, appliances, etc.

I have two Honda 2800 watt! Thinking I could parallel,you can’t! Bought the 3500 predator and it’s actually quieter and I love the electric start!!

Great choice! Been running my 2306bhs for the last 1 1/2 years with no issues!! 👍👍👍

There is gold in them hills! With your shallow oil pan, it really did look like you were panning for gold.