Problem With New Champion 3500/4000 Genny

JTate · Mar 10, 2011

I've got a Briggs 5500 genny and just got a new Champion 3500/4000 today. Here's the deal. I'm running (6) 400w HPS with remote ballast box and have one standard 30a 120v RV Plug. By the way, this setup has always worked fine with the bigger Briggs.

I let new genny warm up for several minutes and plug in the lights. Flip the toggle switch to 120v, (which should supply up to 30a) and the genny dies. So, I unscrew one bulb and try it again. Genny acts fine and all lights warm up. I screw in the other bulb and it fires up and everything runs fine, but there is a noticeable flicker in all the lights. I turn them off and let the genny keep running and try starting them all again and it dies. Why won't it start them all at the same time? And why would they have the flicker?

Any ideas?

westcolafishgetter · Mar 11, 2011

your genorator doesnt put out 30 amps.... check it.. more like 25

Taylor0208 · Mar 10, 2011

my 3000 has no problem starting 8, 300w halos, not sure why the 3500 would do that

JTate · Mar 10, 2011

Yea, me neither. I figure I'm only at about 2800 watts, so it isn't maxed out.

dustin · Mar 10, 2011

they say with the hps flickering has to do with a non clean voltage and somewhere there is a thread about someone messing with the governor on their motor if you search hps flickering i think it comes up

JpEater · Mar 10, 2011

Your pushing the capacity of the generator. How long did you run it? Long enough to let the engine get broken in a little?

JTate · Mar 10, 2011

I let it run for 15-20 minutes before plugging anything in. If the initial load is too much for the genny, I'm fine with only starting a few at a time, but the flicker bothers me more than anything else.

MossyOak23 · Mar 10, 2011

I've got the same generator running all halos (4-300w/ 4-500w/ 2-150w) mine does the same thing. I've found that if I unplug one side of the lights and let it run for a few minutes powering the one side then plug the other side in it will run fine. I'm not real sure why it does this, the only thing I can think is that I'm running it at 3500 watts and it bogs it down trying to power everything at once. Also, I don't have a flicker after I let the one side warm up first.

Problem With New Champion 3500/4000 Genny

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