Wheel House Generator

Hey everyone, I just purchased a wheelhouse and am now looking at a generator to pair with it. The house is wired for 110 and 12V and is fairly basic inside (fans, led lights, outlets, and 18000 btu forced air furnace). Has anyone had good luck on the ice with a “cheaper” generator or does one just bite the bullet and go with a Honda/Yamaha? In all reality I can run everything off 12V except the outlets and the generator would primarily used to charge the battery. Thanks!!

Had a champion 1000W. It was loud! After a year and a half sitting on a shelf in the garage, with all the stabilized fuel run out of it, the carb rusted beyond revival. More regular use may have kept it alive, who knows. Don’t care.

Have a Honda 2000w now, its quite and reliable. 4 years with no issues. Sit’s unused for 8 months at a time. Resale value should be strong as well.

IMO it’s absolutely madness to burn nearly $1000 on a Honda/Yamaha generator for this need. You’re not running a life support machine so I simply cannot see paying silly money for an overpriced generator because of the name brand.

I have a similar situation, off the grid hunting cabin in my case, and here’s what I did. I bought a Coleman 2000 watt generator powered by a Briggs engine and I connect it to my battery charger on my camper. When the battery needs a quick top up, I run the generator for a few hours. Problem solved and this generator will last decades at this level of use. Total cost, $125. This is a non-inverter type generator so it is loud, my solution was to put it in a “doghouse” shed with a cooling fan to reduce noise.

If I had it to do over again, I’d spend just a little more and buy one of Harbor Freight’s super-quiet inverter 2000 watt generators for about $425. These get excellent reviews for half the cost of Honda. These were not on the market when I bought my generator or I’d have been all over it. They are 2 DB louder than Honda at less than half the cost. I’ve heard them run and they are a low hum like a fan. 30 feet away I can barely hear the machine run at all.
Here’s a comparison graphic:

To be honest, I think Honda/Yamaha are priced at a ridiculous level because in the past they were the only ones making this kind of generator. Situation has changed and now many makers have a quality unit available at far less.

Grouse

my buddy has been using a Wen for 1 full year. He’s a trucker and runs it all night long everyday during the summer months to run the AC in his camper. He uses it in the off-season for ice fishing too. He must have a million hours on that thing. Works for him. Louder then you know what though!

Honda is the kits meow boys!

I would be looking at the predator generators very closely, like Grouse said. I got my Honda quite a few years ago before everyone else jumped on the suitcase generator train. I paid $750 at Northern Tool, I find that more than fair. Deals on them do not come up very often…

Yes, I love my Honda and the purchase price has finally subsided now that it’s 7 or so years old. If the Predator models were out when I got mine, I would most likely own one of them instead. Keep an eye on HF sales, as their generators will probably go on sale soon.

Wouldn’t buy any thing but a 2000 hondafor a wheelhouse

So, where can I get parts for a predator generator?

I forgot to add, the Honda has a mechanical fuel pump, not gravity feed. This allowed me to hook up a remote gas tank. Using the built in gas tank, I get about 9 hours run time. With the remote 5 gallon tank, I can start it Friday night and shut it off Sunday when it’s time to leave. No need to bring a Jerry can and fill the generator on the ice.

Yamaha has conversion kits to change them over to propane. This is an option for the guy that only wants to deal with one fuel type on the ice.

Check out Unclaimed Freight in Milaca if you go with a Honda. Every year, about this time, they buy a bunch of Hondas and put them on sale. You’ll find them next to their fish house supplies. Last year I think they were $850.

I bought my Honda at Northern Tool for cheap two year ago I think. It was $899 with a $200 gift certificate, so $699 was a great deal IMO. (I think they run this deal every year??) FYI most generators don’t put out the same wattage, just because they say 2000W.

We tried three different generators on an air conditioner. The only one that could run it was a Honda… the others kicked out. You get what you pay for.

I run multiple items that require 1800W and the Honda does very well. Fish cooker and space heater.

mark-bruzek wrote:

So, where can I get parts for a predator generator?

You can order parts from Harbor Freight, part numbers are in the manual. HF product support would be my first stop or since this is just the Harbor Freight version of a generator sold by many other outlets like Northern Tool, you can get many common parts like recoil springs, carb assemblies, etc on Amazon or Ebay.

Grouse

Good discussion. It seems to me that if you’re gonna use it a lot, the Honda is the way to go.

I have the Honda 2000. When it’s below zero it is a bit hard to start and when it’s really cold I need to bring it in the house to warm up first.

Farm & Fleet has the Honda 2000 for $100 off

HRG

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I spent my time with the odd brands that weren’t Honda. Unserviceable and/or unsourcable parts, especially carbs, each dime-a-dozen specimen became dead to me. Got a Honda 2000, thing is great, and I run the 6 gallon extended BERG tank, it runs all weekend, I forget its there, its like light switch power. But most of all, its what I don’t hear. Braaaaaap.

I have about the same setup with an 18K BTU forced air furnace, 12v/110v and charging system, with two group 31 batteries. Replaced all the filament lights with LED. I can last a day or two in comfort on just 12v pretty easy if I lose genny, while I figure out what to do next.

Each year it seems, Honda authorizes dealers to take $50 or $100 off, this is when you buy it. Northern Tool and other major dealers for Honda can file your warranty for you, too. Only wish I had pulled the trigger sooner so I could have enjoyed my time on the ice even more. It does sometimes need warming up to start in really cold weather, but it always starts.

I was in your same situation this year and went with the Honda after much research. Main reasons were service centers close to me if I need parts or repair, the fuel pump like mentioned above to run the external tank and not need to have the tank above the generator, and most of my family has them and have never had a problem.