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kfrost72's avatar
kfrost72
Explorer
Feb 06, 2017

Generator Recommendations

We've been dry camping a lot more and our poor old generator has seen the last of it's days. It was one we had before we bought our TT and it would recharge the batteries, but wouldn't run the AC.

Now that we need to buy a new generator we'd like to buy one that runs our 13,500 BTU air conditioning but we're uncertain what level of generator we need to do that. Anyone have any recommendations?

40 Replies

  • ulvik wrote:
    Champion 3100 inverter generator. Read the reviews on here, it has become one of the best on the market and will easily pull your 13,500 btu air-conditioner. We ran our 15,000 btu AC at 7,000 ft and no issues what so ever. Best inverter generator I have ever owned and it was less than half the price of the Honda I had.


    This is what we purchased last March although we already have an Onan onboard that still runs great but is way overkill for most of our needs. Got babied with the one button start of our Onan making the remote start version of the Champion 3100 a no-brainer. Runs our AC at over 8K' elevation and will do so even on eco-mode.
  • I recently bought a Champion 2000 inverter type from Supergen I dealt with the Glendora store which is close to my home.

    I bought a reconditioned generator and if you bought two and the parallel kit it would be cheaper than one Honda iu2000 or whatever the number is. The specs are pretty close to the Honda, although many will argue that.
  • ulvik wrote:
    Champion 3100 inverter generator. Read the reviews on here, it has become one of the best on the market and will easily pull your 13,500 btu air-conditioner. We ran our 15,000 btu AC at 7,000 ft and no issues what so ever. Best inverter generator I have ever owned and it was less than half the price of the Honda I had.


    I've been reading a lot of good things about this Champion. The wireless remote start seems a good feature too.

    I've got twin Yamaha 2k generators, they'll run my 13.5 after I put an aftermarket capacitor on it. Without the cap, starting was hit and miss.
  • ulvik wrote:
    Champion 3100 inverter generator. Read the reviews on here, it has become one of the best on the market and will easily pull your 13,500 btu air-conditioner. We ran our 15,000 btu AC at 7,000 ft and no issues what so ever. Best inverter generator I have ever owned and it was less than half the price of the Honda I had.


    X2. And the Champion is about 1/3 the cost of a Honda of equivalent capacity. Mine runs the AC with no problems.
    RichH
  • Champion 3100 inverter generator. Read the reviews on here, it has become one of the best on the market and will easily pull your 13,500 btu air-conditioner. We ran our 15,000 btu AC at 7,000 ft and no issues what so ever. Best inverter generator I have ever owned and it was less than half the price of the Honda I had.
  • I have a 13,500 and a Honda 3000 with remote start bolted in truck bed with an lockable insulated metal cabinet with 10" axial fan pushing air out the other side of cabinet. I often open the cabinet lid but it depends on where we are.

    I made the cord and twist lock long enough to point the rear of the truck away from the pin area where the cord goes into the front of the rig. Also added a plug and weather resistant cover on gen box where I can more easily plug in an extension cord or power my pancake air compressor.
  • I run two Yamaha EF2000IS generators as they are what came with the trailer. They are extremely quiet, super efficient and run the AC without problem.

    If a gen did not come with the trailer and being a toy hauler with a ramp I would of gotten a bigger single gen on wheels myself.
  • A single Honda 2000 won't do the job on the A/C, I have found. So you could get two and link them in parallel. A Yamaha 2800 might do the job, I have heard, but do not know from personal experience.

    The quieter generators are more expensive and are really a lot quieter -- try them out and you will see.