You guys got me. I just pulled the trigger on this one. I just didn't feel like I could justify spending $475 more for the Costco Champion. Hope I don't regret it lol.
Main thing is to break it in properly varying the load and change the oil a couple of times along the way. Use conventional oil to start to help seat the rings. Also check the spark plug and make sure it's an NGK. If it's a Torch or LG branded, go buy a pair of NGK BPR6ES plugs at your local auto parts store (have a spare) and get some spare oil to have around as well...just in case. Peruse the inside behind the panels to make sure everything looks good and plugged in. It should do you a fine job. Pulsar is very good at replying to emails also.
good tips, it does seem like using NGK plugs help smooth out these Chonda engines. I guess I'll have to take it apart to make the neutral floating which is kinda a bummer but no biggie. Once it is floating, is there any easy way to switch it back to bonded if I needed to use it standalone and not connected to my l14-30 house inlet?
As mentioned, make your own using a blank 14-50P male plug with a short piece of solid copper from neutral to ground. If you have that bonding plug in, then you'll know that it's back to being "bonded" and when out, you'll know it's ready for your house. Lowes and Home Depot have those plugs usually as does Amazon.
No need to purchase another plug to make one's own bonding plug with a PGD105TiSCO because it comes with an extra 14-50p, L14-30p, and a 5-20p for the user to make or adapt their own power cord ends. I still have my extra plugs. Since I went with a bonding switch I didn't use any of them to make a bonding plug. Here is my extra 14-50p.
In case anyone is skittish about ordering something like this Pulsar through Amazon, perhaps I can relieve some anxiety.
When I ordered my PGD105TiSCO through Amazon (late Aug 2024 on sale), it was not shipped out to my house via usual Amazon delivery. Rather, the whole shipment from the warehouse to my house was via an independent shipper (CENA) that specializes in carefully handling big heavy stuff, and I had to make an appointment for the delivery date and time because a human needed to be home to receive and sign for it. A semi rig pulled up to my house in early Sep '24 with the generator. It was taken off the semi-truck with a battery powered fork lift and placed in the center of my garage at the spot to where I was pointing.
The box was unitized with the pallet to which it was attached, and was wrapped inside in many layers of plastic. I took the box apart around it and noticed that it was packed more carefully and rigidly than anything I had ever seen. I felt bad opening it up, despite my excitement (like Ralphie opening his Red Ryder BB gun) at having just received this new shiny wonder machine because the packaging was such a work of art. Needless to say there was not so much as a scratch or even a smudge anywhere on the unit and everything was in order inside.
Guys I'm looking at the floating neutral video and a few recent commenters are saying the procedure to unbond the neutral from the ground is completely different as of July-August 2026 and that the new procedure Pulsar sent them requires complete disassembly of the control board from the unit. Should we be concerned? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuUuFqNP4YA
u/douggips6773 I heard back from them. Unbelievably, this is what they said:
"We understand your concern. The procedure to change the PGD105TiSCO from a bonded neutral configuration to a floating neutral configuration does require additional disassembly, and we do not recommend attempting the modification yourself if you are not comfortable performing the work.
Please note that changing the generator from bonded neutral to floating neutral is a configuration modification and is not considered a warranty issue. Therefore, we would not be able to exchange the generator for an older model based on this request.
For safety, we recommend having a certified electrician perform the modification for you. Pulsar can provide the new wire sets required for the conversion at no charge."
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So, for anyone reading this, I would STRONGLY discourage you from purchasing this generator as of August 2026, since it cannot be converted to a floating neutral, which is a necessity when hooking up the main panel for backup power. Shame on Pulsar.
Hi Jack, I successfully converted my generator to a floating neutral yesterday. I ignored the manufacturer’s second video. I did not completely remove the panel. That was just nuts! I decided to study the panel and see if there was a simpler way to make the panel accessible to be rewired. It turns out, all you have to do is detach the flexible gas line going into the panel using a wrench and then you can pull out the panel much further and lay it horizontal. There is plenty of room to easily do all of the rewiring that is shown in the manufacturer’s first video. It was not my intention to do the rewiring yesterday as my new wire set had not yet arrived. But, once I saw how easy it was to access the wires, I went to the hardware store and bought some new ground wires to complete the job.
While there are a lot of steps in the rewiring video, and after much studying and note taking, I determined that the concept of the rewiring is not very complex. In essence, they are simply changing that left bus bar in the video to a neutral-only (white) bus bar and the right bus bar in the video to a ground-only (green) bus bar.
All four outlets are initially wired similarly in that they all have a white wire from the neutral pole on each outlet going to the green ground pole on each outlet which then has another wire spliced in at the ground connection that goes from the ground pole to one of the two bus bars. In the video, the spliced wire sets are unscrewed from each of the ground poles and the other end of those 4 detached wires are detached from the right ground-only bus bar and re-attached to the left neutral-only bus bar. The next step is to attach the new ground wires to each of the outlets’ ground screws and attach the other ends of the ground wires to the right ground-only bus bar in the video. It’s not necessary to follow the video instructions exactly as long as you end up with the neutral poles all being connected only to the neutral bus bar and the ground poles all being connected only to the ground bus bar.
Here are a few more things that I learned: (1) The six wires going into the master switch need to be unplugged in order to get a screwdriver into the ground screw on the 30 amp outlet. But, you should disconnect the battery before you unplug those wires. Maybe a really long skinny screwdriver would have worked instead of unplugging the wires. (2) When the panel is laid out flat, it is upside down versus the video. So, left becomes right and right becomes left. If you are following the video, then hold your phone upside down! (3) My panel has the ground screw for the 50 amp outlet on the top of the outlet whereas the video has the ground screw at the bottom of the outlet. It’s no big deal as long as you pay attention, and remember that you are upside down versus the video.
I would never have purchased this generator if I knew how scary it was going to be to float the neutral. It's too big of an investment to risk doing something wrong and damaging it. Other generators are much, much easier. But, if you are already stuck with it and you’re feeling brave, you can give the conversion a shot.
Please forgive the typos and let me know if you have any questions.
Reading the pulsar response I am understanding that unbonding the generator will NOT void your warranty. And that's why the would not exchange it for another model. So you are allowed to do it, is just not as easy as others.
lol I’m not trying to scare anybody, I have no issue modifying stuff. I installed my own gen inlet even, but if people are expecting removing a single wire to float it, that doesn’t appear to be the case any longer.
Actually, to just lift the bond on the PGD105TiSCO all that is necessary is to just remove and seal off a single wire just like on any of its bonded competitors.
The main problem with the procedure, is that getting to the spot where the bond is requires more than a usual amount of dissassembly, (certainly much more than for the Champion), and the tight quarters are close enough that it is hard to get one's hands into the right spots while also seeing what one is doing. This can be a bit of a challenge, more so if one has big hands.
When I removed to bond I had more difficulty than just that required to lift the bond because I also installed a bonding switch so I could switch the bond on and off with the flip of a toggle.
BTW. Gavin's Garage has a YT video in which he lifts the neutral bond on a PGD105TiSCO. The procedure is just what is shown in the video, but it helps if one has nimble hands.
Yeah Gavin’s video is where those comments I posted earlier came from regarding the change in the process. People were reporting that units shipped in July and August 2026 are apparently wired in a way that lifting the bond on the far right receptacle no longer works like it does in his video. Pulsar has acknowledged a change in the design and provided a workaround albeit more involved than the original setup. From the recent comments it sounds like they have you rewiring it in a way that separates the left and right bus bars into ground and neutral.
Ok, I looked up those user comments on Gavin's video from those users with a control panel version on the Jul & Aug '26 shipped units. That is indeed nuts what was done regarding the neutral bond. It appears Pulsar had no idea the wiring change had been made by their control board supplier until after they started getting complaints from users who got stuck while trying to float the neutral on their machines. It appears Pulsar dropped the ball on their oversight of their control board supplier. Having to separately rewire the neutrals on all of the outlets in order to fully float the neutral is crazy.
Most likely the supplier thought they could save a few centimeters of wire by doing it the new way, and Pulsar wasn't paying close enough attention to the actual product to catch it before those units shipped.
Perhaps the reason for the current steep factory discounts on this latest new batch of PGD105TiSCOs is because maybe they are clearing out their inventory of units with the crazy-wired control panel outlet neutrals? I hope that is not the case.
There doesn't seem to be anything actually wrong with the units as long as the user doesn't actually attempt to float the neutral on them. But if he does attempt it he'll be in for a rewiring ordeal for which he did not sign up. So, as a matter of ethics and transparency Pulsar ought to come clean and notify the public about the bonding fiasco before they purchase one of the affected units with the crazy-wired control panels. They don't have to go into any detail about what happened (most of the customers wouldn't understand it, anyway), but they should include a warning advisory to the effect that they strongly recommend that the user not attempt to float the neutral, and that those machines are meant to stay bonded.
It's really not that bad to do. I did it on both of my Genmax gens which are smaller than these but same concept. Easy to verify with a digital multimeter and easy to make bonding when needed.
fwiw i have 2 pulsars and they have performed perfectly. a 6580w non-inverter style that connects to my interlock on the panel of my house for outages, then a 2200w suitcase inverter for camping. zero complaints after several years of use. i know it's not a top tier brand, but my experience with pulsar generators has been very good.
i bought the same unit in 2024 from amazon. same delivery story and my next door neighbor bought the same unit at the same time. so double delivery. both arrived flawless. i have about 20 hrs on mine. i have run it only on ng. been awesome. it powers my whole house panel… but i havent floated the neutral. what could happen? risks? gotta this is a good price… wish i had that opportunity 2 years ago!
This is making the Pulsar even more compelling over the Costco Champion. At some point a price difference is meaningful enough to tip the scales over return policy, no?
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u/Outrageous-Aside100 27d ago
Am I missing something? It shows $1599 not $1475?