Yes, it the remote start. I can set it up and then start in from inside the house when needed. It's great.
Who makes the engine on these?
This brand is a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Company, who in turn is a premier power and electricity management firm dealing with anything and everything related to power generation. They even have nuclear power generation solutions! Best of all its heritage dates back to the late 1800s.
If you look at most all of the brands of these generators, Westinghouse, Champion, Duro Max, Wen, ect. The engines and dynamos all look identical. Many look as if several of the parts like air filter assemblies, would swap out. My guess is most all of them are made by some major industrial manufacturer in China. And then are painted, featured, and branded per contract, by the companies who purchased them.
These Westinghouse units all have overhead valve, cast iron sleeved engines, same as the Thailand manufactured GX Honda's do. A lot of people like to crap on anything that comes from China these days. And politically they're not the nicest guys on the block. However with that said, their quality and guarantees on their products is quickly coming up to world class standards.
Both of my Westinghouse units function flawlessly. If you check the reviews on both Home Depot's and Lowe's websites on this unit, they get very high marks. And a lot of the people who purchased and reviewed them, came from hurricane country like Florida and the east coast, where they ran them for literally weeks on end non stop.
Word of advice.
Start it every two weeks or so and let it run with a load on it. 100 watt bulb is fine.
The reason is that the battery needs to be charged and the generator uses a trickle from the battery controls to support the fob.
My sister bought one. Gave her the same advice which she didn't follow and I had to take my Gen to OKC which is a 2 hour drive to get her house going. It was a rope start unit as well but she is not capable of doing that.
Another factor regarding the remote start FOB on this Westinghouse unit. In order for the FOB to work, and start the unit remotely, the master engine switch must be left in the "RUN" position. (The little yellow "Battery Indicator" light will glow yellow when the engine switch is in the "RUN" position). This will discharge the battery over time. So it's not something you can leave on for days on end. It's like leaving the ignition switch on your car in the "ON" position. It will discharge the battery if the engine is not started in a short amount of time.
You might be able to counter this discharge by leaving the battery charger that came with the unit hooked up to a 120 Volt outlet. But I wouldn't advise that because you might overcharge the battery. (I believe the included charger puts out 2 Amps).
And as was mentioned, it's always best to run the unit under some type of load. I use 2 of those portable electric oil filled heaters. They each have a 3 position switch that pulls 600 W, 1,200 W, and 1,800 W on "HIGH". That allows me to have a load that varies from 600 W, up to 3,600 Watts with both units on "HIGH". It's good to be able to vary the load when you are breaking in the unit.
I also bought one of those "Kill-A-Watt" meters at Harbor Freight. They're a nice little unit you plug into the outlet first, then plug whatever you're using into it. And it will tell you exactly how much wattage and amperage your pulling. They are really nice to have when you're fooling around with generators of any type.
https://www.harborfreight.com/kill-a-watt-electric-monitor-93519.html
Thanks for all the info guys. I really don’t see me using the remote start on to start the unit. I will keep it handy inside to use it to turn the generator off once the electricity come back on. I did run it yesterday but did not put any type of a load on it. Will do that today.
Again, I appreciate all the advise.
Again, I appreciate all the advise.
Is this generator dual fuel? I'm in need of a new generator but I will like a dual fuel.
Tell me about the F-150... 1991? I have a soft spot in my heart for early 90's ford's.
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