3 Things People Hate About the Predator 5000 Inverter Generator... aka Predator 3500 Replacement?

I wanted to leave a comment on the performance of the tri-fuel conversion kit that I added to my Predator 3500, version 2, generator. I bought the kit a couple of months ago and watched the videos on how to install. The installation was straightforward and simple. A very well designed kit that fits with no need to modify anything to make it work. I set it up for natural gas and yesterday was the first time I needed to use it due to a PG&E power outage. I connected the regulator, plugged in the hose, turned on the gas, and pushed the start button. It took a little while for the gas to reach the carb and then it started right away. The rpm smoothed out quickly and it provided more than enough power to keep the refrigerator and freezer running with no problems. The outage lasted a couple of hours and I was very pleased with how the modified generator worked. I have a 3/8" quick disconnect hose that I use for both the generator and my Weber grill that I converted to natural gas. It is about 15 feet long and works well. No need for a larger hose with 1/2" disconnects. I am happy with the conversion to natural gas since it is much cheaper than propane and there are no trips to the gas station to get my cylinders or gas cans refilled.

This is a game changer for independent truckers looking for a big enough generators to run AC, appliances, block heaters and fuel heaters

this generator was clearly made for people with small-medium travel trailers. and needing something a little bigger and better than a 3500. for trailer camping families, this is a home run.

I bought 1 yesterday... let it run a couple hrs to break in. Totally happy with the purchase. There are larger ones for less but this one is more moble and definitely quite.

I already have the 1st version of the 3500... been working great now for several years.... After watching this... I see nothing wrong with the 5000.... I think it's great and I'm gonna buy one...

I just bought this unit. I also have a double pole 30 amp breaker I added to my main line when I need to run lights and such in the house during a power outage. Just bought 25’ of 10-3 cable and wired up a 30 amp plug that plugs into this unit. Works just fine to get me by without needing to run any large appliances.

Enjoyed your video. I did the same thing at my home about a year ago. I selected a Champion generator dual fuel 9350/7500. Didn't want gallons of gasoline sitting in my garage. Prefer propane. The power on propane is a little less but it doesn't require fuel stabilize and is safer overall. We have solar on our roof that provides a surplus each year but if the grid fails solar systems without battery backups have a switch that shuts off the solar power to prevent it sending power down stream that could harm utility workers trying to repair the grid. So our geny like yours powers the entire house! Got a super deal on it, so my investment was very reasonable.

I love this unit. I run two of the 5000’s on the 50 amp parallel kit as backup power for my 5th wheel. Runs everything I have no problems, and the size is still reasonable to load up and haul 2 around.

I just purchased the Predator 5000 generator to run my 30 amp RV trailer. I was very pleased to see that this unit already has an RV 30 amp plug. I was planning on converting the 30 amp outlet similar to the one on the 3500 to the RV outlet. Now I have time to do my other Honey-Do chores. I also love the remote control unit

I got one this week for $900 and it is my first generator. I am only needing it for 2 sump pumps and a window AC. The push button and remote start are perfect for my wife and kids.

I bought this 5k unit for my travel trailer It is replacing dual Ryobi 2300w units. And I am SO happy with the upgrade. I literally bought one 45 minutes after learning about its release

Well done review, you answered every question I had, thanks!

Great review, my friend! I’ve had a number of generators, as I live in Florida and have weathered many hurricanes and power outages. But now we’re traveling in our trailer and these inverters are the bomb! Just bought the 5000 but have been using the 3500 for a season. Using the soft start and have no problem with one AC unit but the change in voltage when the AC starts is still enough to constantly restart my CPAP. Bought a battery back up ( for computer) and it stays nice and steady. Just in case anyone else has this issue.

We have a 3500 we use for power outages in our rural home. It's wired to a box in one bank of the box. We didn't use the microwave but it did keep the lights, internet, fridge, freezer, etc running. When the freezer kicked on, it would draw too much and knock out the power for a split second. Overall, it ran all the essentials for 3 days during a massive snowstorm in 2022. Thinking about upgrading to the 9500. It might be overkill but I'd rather have it than not.

Great video Andy. I have your kit on my powerhouse 4500 and love it and I have it well tuned. I like your idea of running your demand regulator for adjustability for guys like me who have access to a Bridge emissions tester. I think that would be a big selling point for your kit. I would like to see a real world LP efficiency test at 25% load and how many hours it will run on a 20# cylinder with the factory regulator system vs your kit set to .5-1.0 CO. I believe most factory preset demand regulators are set overly high. Thoughts?

Definitely made some quite excellent points. A 5,000 Wp generator is really on the borderline to might as well go with a bigger generator if you want to 120/240 loads for whole home backup use. There's quite a lot of non-inverter generators out there that are 120/240 capable and you can get away with it if you really know what you're doing. Worse thing can happen is if you overload it is tripping a breaker or the engine stalls out compared to popping the inverter module. As for the natural gas debate, it really depends on the application. My experience when running on alternate fuels is what is the availability and is it worth the cost of having that feature that you're more than likely not ever use it. In my use case, I live in a tropical cyclone prone area and having a fuel source that is not tied to a specific infrastructure better for me. A couple of years ago we had a "mild" tropical storm that went through our area, not only we lost electricity along natural gas. What I found out later was the natural gas pumping got flooded out during the storm. My neighbors who had natural gas whole house generators were down for the count several hours after the power went out. I myself still had power alternating between gasoline and propane keeping my backup batteries topped off for a week.

Maybe some thoughts if home backup is part of the consideration and you are thinking how this generator can fit in: 1. TT-30 extension cords are easy enough to get. Usually very little voltage drop over 10 gauge wire. Then you can have a multi-plug NEMA 5-20 adapter. 2. A generator like this can handle hard starting motors in fridges, older style "single stage" ACs, etc, but maybe you modify these appliances to use a soft starter for the motor or get upgraded appliances that either have the soft starter built in or are inverter based. Inverter based A/C - heat pump units in particular pay themselves back quickly and are very inverter generator friendly even in their economy mode. Hard starting motors tend to need any economy mode on the inverter generator turned off. 3. There are a variety of inverter based window A/Cs, mini-split A/C - heat pumps, and even dual or hose-in-hose A/C - heat pumps out there that can run on 115V. Even if you can't cool or heat your entire home, having a room or two you can heat or cool is certainly better than nothing. This generator should be able to drive up to 2 of the larger 115V AC - heat pump units. Even when you are not using a generator, the "cool room" concept can save you a lot of energy in that say you make your home 80 F and your cool room 75 F instead of say your whole home 75 F. Or say in the winter, you have a mini-split installed in your "cool room" and use efficient heat-pump action to cost effectively keep that room warm, say you set it up in your bedroom. Or say you get a dual head split A/C and have a home office room regulated in the day and your bedroom regulated at night and let the rest of the house float up and down to whatever you can tolerate in order to save on power. If for some reason it is too cold to run a heat pump, you could drive a couple of small electric heaters off of this generator. Far safer than burning stuff in your home to stay warm. 4. Most light bulbs these days are LED based that use 20W or less. So plenty easy to have lights on with this. 5. If you are running this generator off of propane, it is cheap enough to have a propane stove as well. So you could still be cooking on propane with either a Y-splitter into the tank or better yet, get some refillable 1 lb bottles and fuel back up off of a larger tank from time to time if say you have a propane camping stove. A propane BBQ is going to work just fine in a power outage. A gas stove can still be lit with a lighter, so no electricity needed for that either. If you really want to draw power for cooking, a generator like this should power a microwave oven, toaster, rice cooker, air fryer, induction burner, etc. Just gotta watch your load as a number of these electric cooking appliance can draw up to 1,800W by themselves. Thus why I mention natural gas and propane cooking first. 6. An inverter generator like this is designed to run your electronics. So you can still have Internet access and your TV going to watch these videos as well as your computer running so you can leave comments on these videos. 7. With say hot water, you should have some water stored. As long as you have a pot and something to cook with, you can have hot water. Not super convenient, but perfectly do-able. Consider say you run one 115V air conditioner, a fridge with soft start / inverter based, some lights, and some electronics to surf the web, watch YouTube, or even play video games or do actual work from home (through a computer), that can all happen at the same time on this generator, no problem. Especially with some propane lying around and bottled water, you can round out the picture to a reasonably comfy "roughing it" in an emergency situation where the power is out for an extended period and there is no water or natural gas available during the emergency. Especially if you are told to "shelter in place" during the emergency, you should be set, granted you do have some food in your home as well. In an emergency situation, you don't actually need running water, you don't need natural gas, you don't need to cool your whole home or even heat your whole home.

We purchased a 50acre ranch with no electric on site, so solar and generators are a must. Until our home is complete we stay in the RV, and this 5000 is perfect. In the Texas summer you need to have the a/c on even at night. I also have the 9000 for running the well pump, arc welder or any large projects, but it is way too loud to run next to the RV at night.

Mine is quiet and too me it's worth it for the money works so far great at camping jets are easy to change oil screw drivers like this video yes just proper maintenance great video build box over it vent it much quiet if use it wisely

What you're calling SA on the propane regulator is, in fact, CSA. That is a Canadian certification, which is a higher standard than UL.