My 1976 Palm Beach Total Overhaul
- Thread starter Justin Brady
- Start date
Started a new project on the GMC this weekend.
In my initial build I swapped my Onan for an EV6010 which I have always hated. It's loud and I never could get it to be 100% reliable, it would get hard to start when it got hot outside and would occasionally die on the road.
While building by house I used a Predator 3500w inverter generator and it was amazing. I actually ran it 1000 hrs straight running a dehumidifier and it never missed a beat. Its unfortunately not powerful enough to run both my ACs which is a must for me.
When the Predator 5000 came out I said well that will work! I've been searching for a deal since and finally came across one this week.
Started disassembly and this is where I've gotten so far.
Gutted it down to the essentials, it's TINY.
should save me 150+lbs in the back which should be a nice handling improvement.
Next up is to make a new bottom plate and build some ducting to make it cool correctly without it's enclosure. Luckily the whole thing is well shrouded so ducting should be very simple. I'll likely extend the exhaust out the bottom as well.
Overall shaping up to be a very easy project and I'm super excited to have a generator that I can run when I'm near the coach and without worrying about the neighbors.
Just to stem the tide of people telling me the ev6010 is great and quiet, yeah that's why I bought it originally because everyone said so. Its not. I've heard mine and several others. They run at 3600rpm all the time and have a huge amount of fan noise to keep the radiator cool. I even put a second muffler on it to help (and it did, to a point)
The new inverter gens are so quiet you can stand on top of it and have a conversation without raising your voice. Once it's in the generator bay here I imagine it's going to be almost un noticeable.
Frees up a lot of nice storage space too!
I'll update next week when I get it installed hopefully.
In my initial build I swapped my Onan for an EV6010 which I have always hated. It's loud and I never could get it to be 100% reliable, it would get hard to start when it got hot outside and would occasionally die on the road.
While building by house I used a Predator 3500w inverter generator and it was amazing. I actually ran it 1000 hrs straight running a dehumidifier and it never missed a beat. Its unfortunately not powerful enough to run both my ACs which is a must for me.
When the Predator 5000 came out I said well that will work! I've been searching for a deal since and finally came across one this week.
Started disassembly and this is where I've gotten so far.
Gutted it down to the essentials, it's TINY.
should save me 150+lbs in the back which should be a nice handling improvement.
Next up is to make a new bottom plate and build some ducting to make it cool correctly without it's enclosure. Luckily the whole thing is well shrouded so ducting should be very simple. I'll likely extend the exhaust out the bottom as well.
Overall shaping up to be a very easy project and I'm super excited to have a generator that I can run when I'm near the coach and without worrying about the neighbors.
Just to stem the tide of people telling me the ev6010 is great and quiet, yeah that's why I bought it originally because everyone said so. Its not. I've heard mine and several others. They run at 3600rpm all the time and have a huge amount of fan noise to keep the radiator cool. I even put a second muffler on it to help (and it did, to a point)
The new inverter gens are so quiet you can stand on top of it and have a conversation without raising your voice. Once it's in the generator bay here I imagine it's going to be almost un noticeable.
Frees up a lot of nice storage space too!
I'll update next week when I get it installed hopefully.
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Previous owner installed a new EV6010 in my coach in 2016. Had very few hours when I bought it - and I didn't like it. I removed it, went full solar. I know solar isn't practical for everyone while boondocking (no A/C). Your solution is very interesting - modifying a generator to fit.
I've got solar as well but here in the south you can't survive without AC!
Justin, Maybe an interlock between the A/C units so they both can't start the compressor at the same time will help the cause.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Justin, the new Predator is impressively small in your generator bay. How noisy is it compared to your smaller unit? If it's really quiet then I'd guess a lot of people will follow your lead. Quiet power to run two air conditioners at once and extra room in the generator compartment is rather an amazing win win. And if it's quieter than an Onan then it's a third win.
I think the 5k will handle it but we'll see. Good alternative if not. I know it will handle them both running.
Slightly louder. 60 vs 56 db for the 5k vs 3.5k
It also is an inverter so when it's not under full load it throttles down rpm and is quieter.
The ev6010 is 67db
I have a Predator 3500 , an older one without the CO detector. There is a large following of these generators, people really love them. There's a fb forum dedicated to them.
However, the newer ones do not seem to be made to the same quality level. The CO detector can be bypassed easily, unlike Hondas which is a huge advantage. But there are many owners reporting loss of power production for no good reason.
Also they tend to catch fire or explode sometimes. More than Onans? Idk. There are a lot more Predators out there than onans, and onans have been known to catch fire too. So it's up to you to decide. Maybe the answer is a fire suppression system?
Nice mod nonetheless, keep it up and keep us posted! Very cool!
I was at Oshkosh a few years ago, camped in the 24 hour generator area in my Brother's SOB. We ran his Onan non stop (eventually), made for cool dry sleeping and wonderful white background noise. We slept like a baby once we figured that that was the way to go. After a few days we pulled out and didn't even notice a difference in the fuel level. Totally worth it.
Anyway, while there I had the opportunity to compare the noise levels of many many manufactures. The Predator invertor 3500s were consistently the quietest. Maybe the Hondas were on par or slightly better but those two were head and shoulders quieter than any other brand. They are great generators.
Anyway, while there I had the opportunity to compare the noise levels of many many manufactures. The Predator invertor 3500s were consistently the quietest. Maybe the Hondas were on par or slightly better but those two were head and shoulders quieter than any other brand. They are great generators.
CO detector was removed first thing as it would render it pretty useless un the generator compartment.
As with all things chinese it's a gamble! I've had good luck with 2 of them in the past one of which was very heavily abused (1000+hrs straight, literally I hooked up an aux tank and never turned it off, didn't even change the oil). It's now at 1400hrs and starts first pull every time. So I'm willing to take the gamble.
As to blowing up, I feel it's much much less likely without a fuel tank sitting on top of it. With a diaphragm pump there's little to no chance of the carb bowl overflowing into a sealed container, which is generally what starts a fire. In the original setup there's a tank up top with gravity feed so any leak won't stop until you're out of gas.
My biggest fear is that it's a lot of work to disassemble, build an enclosure etc so if something fails catastrophically it's going to be annoying to have to replace it. On the plus side all the parts are now much easier to get it!
A little distracted with other projects and kiddos but made some progress today.
Got it mounted on some slides to make maintenance easier.
Got the inverter mounted to the tray
Cut a new control panel utilizing the parts I need only
A lot of progress
Also got the air/exhaust drawn up but didn't have enough material to cut it today so...next week.
Got it mounted on some slides to make maintenance easier.
Got the inverter mounted to the trayCut a new control panel utilizing the parts I need onlyA lot of progress
Also got the air/exhaust drawn up but didn't have enough material to cut it today so...next week.
Love your control panel.
I am also looking to install a 5000 Predator. A few questions if I may.
1). Isn't the outer casing needed to direct the air flow over the fins for cooling?
2). Do you have to modify the gravity flow carburetor to accommodate a fuel pump?
I am also looking to install a 5000 Predator. A few questions if I may.
1). Isn't the outer casing needed to direct the air flow over the fins for cooling?
2). Do you have to modify the gravity flow carburetor to accommodate a fuel pump?
The engines itself is shrouded with a fan at the front. The intake pulls air over the aluminum inverter on the way into the shroud. I'll likely use some silicone baffles to mostly seal off the inlet to it pulls the air over the inverter but without experimenting I don't know exactly how much sealing is needed there.
The carb should be fine on a low pressure diaphragm pump but I haven't run it on it yet.
I think I got lucky with the way this one is shrouded. I planned to build a full enclosure to emulate the original but I don't think it's necessary here. Won't know until I test it though and probably won't really know until it's tested driving down the road at 100 degrees
Very Cool. I looked at those when they came out last year and almost pulled the trigger (even though I have a freshly rebuilt onan, ready to go into my coach. The inverter power is def the way to go. Will be watching to see your success!
Her is my option. No generator, just a massive LiPO4 battery bank. This on is 51,2vdc, 300ah and 500 lbs less weight than original installation. Pricey, though but won't break down.
Part of 12vdc 1,000ah battery bank + there is also a separate 12vdc 800CCA, 100ah Diehard starting battery.
or this option
Firman dual fuel inverter generator, propane + gasoline (internal tank)
Check out SailorMan's LiPO4 build
