Add a 3.6 Onan Generator LP or Diesel?

I have a 2014 27-5L with a 3600 gen. LP on board. Love it. You will not go wrong. It's a little more noises that the 5500 LP. But the 5500 is 50amp and the 3600 is 30amp.

I have a built in Honda that runs on propane. LP has a number of advantages - it does not gum up the carbs if it sits for a while, runs off the tanks on my RV, doesn't have any odor.

The downside has been mentioned. I think the propane bottles are harder to fill, and it does use a lot of fuel. When we boondock in Moab, and run the gen for the AC during the day, I will go through two 30 pound bottles in less than 2 days.

If it is only occasional use, I would say LP (or possibly 2 Honda/Yamaha 2000's in parallel). If you need to run it for long periods of time, I would go gas with a outboard motor gas tank.

The disadvantage to the portable units is you have to worry more about theft.

We bought a Champion 3800 watt dual fuel portable generator from CW several months ago on sale for $599 with free shipping. It is about 110 lbs and about 1.5 " above the bed of our Ram 3500 pickup. It has electric start and 30A RV plug. I need to install plug on front of our Keystone Alpine 5ver so we can plug into FW to generator in bed of TV. It is small enough to put it in the front compartment if we wanted to but I would need help lifting in as DW is not an amazon. I plan to tee into FW propane tanks with a 25' hose extension for boondocking or can use 25 lb portable bbq tanks. It has a 4 gal built in gasoline tank if needed. Just an option for you to think about.

12lightsacrossthebay wrote:
Thanks again for all the thoughts and considerations. We hope to go cross country late next year. I could carry a quiet Honda EU2000i portable as well.
Happy Holidays
Carl

Congrats on the new rig.

I would suggest both. Solar panels and a generator. You could get a pair of EU2000 and parallel them. When you only need to run 1 you can alternate them to balance the hours and save fuel. When you have to run them both you have the option.

12lightsacrossthebay wrote:
Thanks for the great suggestions, Lyle and Dutchman Sport. We are retired but volunteer as emergency medical responders and in case of a lack of electricity here during a disaster we think it would be advisable to be self-sustained. We just been trailering for a year and primarily are full hook-up camping but many state parks in California do not have hook-ups. Our Arctic Fox 5th wheel says we could handle a 3.6 Onan Gen LP. I have no idea at this point what the costs are for that generator/ best place to buy and same with Solar.
Thanks

One thing to be aware of with a propane-fueled engine, and that it uses a =lot= more fuel than a gasser and it will also lose more power at altitude than will a gasser. Diesels are =heavy= and a lot more expensive and, while it's nice to have a common fuel between truck and genny, small ones, IMO, just aren't all that practical. Another consideration is to use an inverter-style generator rather than a straight generator. Onan doesn't yet have an inverter generator, so it will either run at idle or run wide open, no matter how small the load on it. An inverter will run just as fast as it needs to for the load, so it is much more fuel efficient. (I still can't figure our why Onan doesn't get this, and offer inverters.) Personally, I'd never own anything but an inverter for camping. Now, if I could tow my dad's Isuzu-diesel-powered 25kv MultiQuip behind my FW... :-) It's not much louder than a Honda 3000!

Lyle

12lightsacrossthebay wrote:
Thanks again for all the thoughts and considerations. We hope to go cross country late next year. I could carry a quiet Honda EU2000i portable as well.
Happy Holidays
Carl

If you want to run the A/C I would at least go with the Honda 3000 watt. It gets hot and humid in the midwest of a summer or plan on staying where there are hookups.

I have a built in Onan and it's nice to be able to just hit a switch and have A/C and microwave for a lunch stop.

Thanks again for all the thoughts and considerations. We hope to go cross country late next year. I could carry a quiet Honda EU2000i portable as well.
Happy Holidays
Carl

If you're pulling with a diesel truck, I'd put an extra tank in the back and go with a diesel genset.

Check what the run time is on a propane generator when running the A/C. A friend with a TC and a built in propane generator can't go 10 hours on a bottle when running the A/C. He spends a lot of time getting bottles refilled.

Bill

Thanks for the great suggestions, Lyle and Dutchman Sport. We are retired but volunteer as emergency medical responders and in case of a lack of electricity here during a disaster we think it would be advisable to be self-sustained. We just been trailering for a year and primarily are full hook-up camping but many state parks in California do not have hook-ups. Our Arctic Fox 5th wheel says we could handle a 3.6 Onan Gen LP. I have no idea at this point what the costs are for that generator/ best place to buy and same with Solar.
Thanks

If I understand you talking built in Onan generator. I don't think a Onan Diesel would fit the generator compartment in the Artic Fox. If you need to run A/C I would go with a LP generator. For small usages and battery charging I would use solar.