Generator Installed or Seperate

I have had both and liked the installed best. If you plan on spending most of your time in RV Parks I would not even get a generator. The on board generator is nice when traveling and stop for lunch. If you are parking on public land and boondocking a portable is nice because they are not as loud in the trailer.

There are many pros and cons. I believe if installed it would run off of propane. If it sits in truck bed having it stolen is always possible, as well as the room it takes up.

We have an installed generator. Before that we had portables. We love the convenience of an installed generator and if you have pets, you can get auto start which allows one to set the generator to come on in case of power failure or if the RV reaches a set temp. We do not have a pet so we do not have auto start. I would say an installed generator is not the norm for a 5th wheel. At least now we do not have to worry about someone walking off with portables. We used our generator a bunch on our trip to Alaska last year and it opened up a whole new way of camping for us. We are full timers and we have plenty of storage even with the installed generator. We also have a Magnum PSW 2000 watt inverter installed, also a handy addition.

Not quite the same animal but after working years in the fire service and having issues with built in generators on our units I found they can be a pain if they develop a gremlin or don't get used often enough. Not sure how they would be filled with a fuel on a trailer since our units are plumbed into the diesel lines for the old systems, the new gen systems we use run off a PTO system from the motor and trans already running.

I have a Honda EU2000 which I can use around home if the power goes out and store it in the garage so that I can run it every month or two, I find it easy to service on my own and if it developed a serious enough issue I could take it to a service center without the issues of having a permanent mount set up.

I'm sure it's convenient to have it built in and that would be a plus if it's used often.