Cheap vs. Expensive Generator (Surprising Results)

Great video.

Durability and longevity, probably the most important thing. worth $6K to have the standby generator. The harbor freight that I have is literally falling apart after 2 years sitting in the garage. warranty forget about it. just one less thing to worry about.

Americans and their end of the world obsession ! Were is God in this equation ? Or maybe do you really think that technology and being remote will save from anything because you deserve to be saved ?!

Mr. Cool is an excellent name. Wish my husband was so handy. We would be living off grid if he was. Wifey you picked a winner. Great vid thanks for sharing.

all incredible good job and thx to comunity help

A smart guy.

Your elevation will play into the output of the generators.

I’ll never live in the wild but thoroughly enjoyed this guy’s demo. Might just purchase that predator generator to go with my Honda generator would love to have him as a neighbor he knows his stuff lol.

Your assumptions on continuous output is incorrect. Those are MAX output numbers. Generators are designed to run at 80% of rated load. The Koehler is designed to run continuously at 11,200 wats at sea level and the Predator is designed to run at 10,560 wats at sea level. Then you derate 10% for every 1,000 foot gain in altitude. I HATE it when folks try to discuss generators and have no clue what they are talking about and give HORRIBLE advice. Also you need a HORIZONTAL tank for the Koehler generator. That verticals tank does not off gas fast enough for it to properly run as it does not have enough surface area. That’s why all permanent generators use horizontal tanks and not vertical ones. Also you need to run them both at maximum rated load to get a true fuel consumption. The harder you run them the more fuel efficient they are. The lighter load you run the less fuel efficient generators are. And again you are comparing air cooled generators that run at 3800 RPM and are notoriously louder than water cooled generators which are designed to run at 1800 RPM. I can stand next to my 25Kw Generac standby generator and hold a nice conversation and it has a 2.4L Mitsubishi engine in it.

Propane btu output per oat (temp outside)propane btu drops with temp drop and altitude height. So I think your Koehler was right on target. Also check regulators. They can freeze or not supply enough btu to keep up with generator. Vertical tanks offer lower btu/hr than horizontal tanks. Horizontal more surface area for liquid to gas conversion. Get down to 10F and propane btu/hr rating drops. I think your Koehler did fine.

Also these generators that don’t put their stated watts out should be illegal and is false advertising.😂

You definitely look like Strange Parts

I swear Riley you are a genius. Well done

I would suggest methane?, bio digester so you'll run the generator off poo

Your electric truck is a bigger polutant than any other.

This may seem nuts but I'm considering doing this to escape monthly hundreds of dollars of socialism on my electrical bill (aka public benefit 🖕😫) batteries an inverter and a generator set up like this to charge them, solar isn't a good idea in my location because of my neighbors trees...

You should always overestimate your needs by 30%. If you do this with everything than a shortage should never happen, cutting it close is bad bad bad idea

Anyone had problem damaging appliances or gas furnace with a non-inverter generator, powering the whole house?

I picked up the Predator 13,000 watt generator about 3 years ago. Were I live we lose power about 16-18 days a year on average. I built a little generator hut with cooling fan which works great. I am at just over 1,200 hours on the generator and it works like the day I bought it. It runs pretty much my entire home with a some trade offs such as switching off certain appliances when others are in use such as the water heater when you you want to use the stove etc, but it's not a huge issue.

Can you PLEASE do a very detailed video of how you rigged that up? I have the same generator and need the auto start feature.

Generac

when you shut down your generator, you should shut it off at the fuel shut off valve.

Your setup at the end was perfect. I'm looking for this exact fix for this exact generator from harbor freight. Much appreciated.

Do you have an automatic generator switch you'd recommend?

So you bought a range extender for your electric pickup?

ln Dallas Tx the power went out for 7 days straight in 2024. All the gas stations were down. The natural gas generators failed on day 2 from line demand. The internet was out and ph service limited. l have 18kw batteries/solar and Tesla 3. l had neighbors at my house all week storing meds, charging hearing aids, phs, cams etc etc. Endless coffee. lt was like ww3. l realized then that solar, batteries and an EV are the only solution for a long-term widespread blackout. Heat pumps as well. Love the channel.

Buy the predator and a backup for the predator and still save thousands!

I ask the question are you able to read if so spell the word solder and then pronounce the word

Really cool video disappointing line loss voltage. Wow auto start predator. Mr. Cool interesting allot of info

You clearly are an incredibly capable person (that goes for both of you btw!) but have you any LPG sensors monitoring your big bulk tank for gas leaks especially from hoses and regulators…… same applies to the big generator?

Yur sooo Cooool!!😂😮😊

in this situation you need a reliable generator and even with the Permanent one you still need a portable since the bigger one cannot be taken to a shop without being disassembles portables are quickly switched out and taken to shop and if luck works fixed quickly . hares an important part how many watts needed to just charge the batteries in a reasonable time
large propane is best since cuts out crabeater and fuel tank problems . i still lean to having 2 or 3 portables with 3 would be half cost of the Permanent one and other models have remote start i surprised harbor freight don't seem to have it yet even on the big inverter one . and a minor problem with battery start if you dont use generators often the batteries run down unless you have some type of charger trickle or small solar just like mowers over winter spring dead battery
BTW what happened to the diesel military one you had a yr ago

If u charged an electric truck with gas generator would it be a gas truck…

Yeah, the results are gonna be fairly surprising because they both do the exact same thing one just automatically does it

Can you send the parts list for the auto start?

Um you live off grid which is fine I want to half the time as well but you bought a ev truck??????? Not a diesel???? Or gas? wtf???? You ok?? Dropped on head a lot? As a kid. Um lol. Dude could buy a diesel run off damn near anything depending on type age mods etc all very easy mods if needed btw but nope he picked the thing that can only be charged for a few hours a day basically only 3 out of 52 weeks a year??? Oh and it’s got half the range and 80% less towing capacity than a slightly older diesel! And now costs more to refuel!!! My buddy and I just did a road trip. Cost him 101$ per fast charger. My 500 hp Porsche V8 twin turbo suv never cost more than $67 lol and it’s better for the earth!!! That’s a fact!!! EVs and their packs just to build are so bad for the earth and that’s before you factor in a replacement pack in a few years and where most buyers get their power!!! It’s coal btw the vast majority recharge their ev from burning coal lol. Not to mention the packs very little RARE earth metals/minerals can be recycled for use in new packs!!!! But hey I’m a idiot because I like the way my V10 lambo sounds

Also, most cars built after 1990 have an antisiphon feature so you will not be able to siphon gas out of your car or your neighbor’s car without cutting things and modifying things etc. can’t just put a hose in a go like the good old days

How does your EV work in the cold?? I sold mine after we had a really cold winter. My first year of ownership we had an unseasonably warm winter. Next winter we did not. My range tanked in the cold and when we hit negative temperatures -4f to -30f even after all night plugged in and stored in a warm climate controlled garage all night on the charger once out in the cold driving I saw my range dropped to 11 miles. I work 16 miles away. I thought no way so I’ll risk it. I wasn’t the only one either. My coworker said all nearby chargers were taken and he refused to leave and get me from a station blocks away because he didn’t want to lose his spot. I had to turn around and dust off my 1973 pick up. It started and made it without using even 1 gallon of fuel. I wasn’t walking several blocks in ice snow -30 holding all my stuff. And 2 other coworkers had these stupid issues as well. One found a charger kinda nearby and had to figure out how to get to work from there. After work tho they didn’t make it home because he had to stop off at his moms house so his drive went from less than 20 miles to 32. It was slightly warmer later in the day btw when he got stuck I think it was -8. The other guy just parked it and prayed. After 2-3 hours in the cold not plugged in is all it was a brick. Even when it warmed to 40f. He had to tow it. Later that week we all sold our EVs. Well the one guy who lives 7 miles from work and found a charger kept his but had he lived through that day yea. Bet you anything had he lived it like us it would be gone. We all had different EVs btw 2 American models 2 euro. One Tesla. I then researched them and learned they are junk and can’t be recycled etc. Even the reason I got it which was it’s 0-60 time has terrible limits that made it totally pointless to buy for that too!! Had to wait for it to warm up so the ice guys with their warm oil didn’t wait. I was limited on how many times you can do those runs before power is cut big time and that’s assuming it didn’t overheat the pack and limit all the power for a long time before then!!!! Nothing like on pass 3 losing 150 hp simply because the charger dropped and/or after the run being shut down for the pack overheating even in winter! Oh and the top speed!! On the track I’d get beat at the end as the ice guys could keep climbing but not me 105-130 huge drop felt like it just turned off but my 911 can do a drag strip/track all weekend keep the same power and hit 130,150 and 210! And it never overheats! And Doesn’t need to wait to be 100% charged then only giving me a few runs before it’s power drops! Nope my 911 stays at 650 hp even if I only have half a gallon of fuel left or running on fumes!! Btw where I live we have many days every winter that are bitterly cold and it’s not like I live in Alaska or next to Canada. I’m a less than 9 hour drive to the ocean and my elevation is under 900 feet. St. Louis Chicago Kansas City are all north of me!!

Awesome job 😊

The pred is the more cost effective version given if you can for say build a home for 2 of them and run the at the same time or on a 1-2 system giving you the safety net!
Sa 1 has a fault the 2 can do the job till 1 is back up and running and as you said $1200x2=$2,400.00 versus was it $6,000.00 so you get 5 gens for the one price i like the one is none two is one idea!

Another guy who doesn't know diesel generators power electric car charging stations

The Kohler is a real generator.

As an old welder, the weight of each unit tells you something about the materials and quality of the windings in each generator. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the performance vs price for the predator series. Love them. But a stable power output at max load will depend on the higher quality of the generator windings. Great video, I enjoyed it quite a bit... Oh, and no worries , CoOp will get that propane there, they deliver ours as well. 🤠

i worked for a oil company i took junk cars & ran them to there unfix-able the most i got 300,000 miles from a fixed engine with over 100,000 miles before fixed i took a plan junk car with like 125 000 miles just changed oil and plugs it fell apart at 240,000 miles in a test really! the car fell apart the engine still ran the frame broke!

Great video! I love these but it's hard to find someone actually running them through for a full comparison

HahaI just realized it's only off grid. I need to turn off my main breaker before any power from my generator can go through. Great vid though

You folks don't seem to have a cashflow issue so I would buy a larger LPG tank (to cover your entire winter) and go with the Kohler. Your Victron Charger/Inverters will love you as the input power will be a lot easier for them to handle. Their 5-year warranty is good, but consider the cost of replacing them if you run dirty mobile genny power into them all day long.

How have I only just found your channel I'm 2 minutes into my first video & ive never hit that subscribed button so fast

For 1/6th the cost you could have 3 of them on hand meaning you could have 2 backups