Quote History Quoted:
Thanks to some well timed answers from some of the guys posting here, I was saved from the sirens-song of Harbor Freight, and nudged toward the Champion 46598. Before I saw this actual thread, I'd wandered to tractorsupply.com, and discovered this deal for myself.
I got my genny, as well as the 48036 25' generator cable. The cable has 4 20 amp outlets on one end and connects to the genny via the NEMA L14 receptacle.
Instructions are lacking, I'm not using the genny today, and I can call Champion on Monday. It appears to me that with this cable, you must select 120v or 240v. I assume that 120v is always the proper choice ( first choice, anyway) and that the 240v would only be used when connecting to home, or to an appliance that is 240v.
Random Amazon.com reviews, however, suggest that the cable must be run in 240v mode (not sure what happens if 120v is selected) and further that it provides two parallel 120v runs, shown on the color coded 20amp outlets.
Can anyone confirm?
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the cable you purchased,
http://www.amazon.com/Champion-Power-Equipment-No-48036-Generator/dp/B005Z17WLE
provides qty 4 NEMA 5-20R receptacles (rated 120Vac 20A, 3 wire [L1, N, GND]) at one end, and a NEMA L14-30P plug(rated 120/240Vac 30A, 4 wire [L1, L2, N, GND]) at the other end .
the generator has two operating modes:
1) single phase, 120Vac output at 30A (1 circuit of 120Vac x 30A = 3600W)
2) split phase, 240/120Vac output (2 circuits of 120Vac x 15A = 3600W)
recall that in a split phase power system (item 2 above), there are three combinations of connections, with two voltages resulting:
a) L1 to N, resulting in 120Vac
b) L2 to N, resulting in 120Vac
c) L1 to L2, resulting in 240Vac
for the cable you have purchased, it utilizes connection (a) for two receptacles, and connection (b) for the other two receptacles. there is no 240Vac present at the receptacles. if the cable were wired differently, it could provide 240Vac -- for example to power a larger well pump. but the cable you have purchased simply presents two 120Vac 15A circuits, and each of those two 120Vac 15A circuits is terminated in 2 NEMA 5-20R receptacles.
long story short, for use with that cable the generator should be set for 120/240Vac operation using the switch on the front panel. i noticed that on the faceplate this position is marked as "240 VOLT" but reality is that this results in a 120/240Vac split phase output at the L14-30R receptacle. you can confirm this by looking at the supplied schematic. with the switch in the "120 VOLT" position no power is supplied to the L14-30R receptacle. the L14-30R receptacle on the generator is correctly marked as "120/240 VOLT".
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_17/668846_Champion_generator_model_46598_3_5KW_running___4_0KW_surge___observations__details__and_photos.html
ar-jedi