Generator on for Ac while traveling

holstein13 wrote:

nemo45 wrote:

holstein13 wrote:
You need to exercise your generator under load anyway. What better time than on a long hot drive?

I find that we often go from full hookup to full hookup; therefore, if we want to exercise our generator, we need to do it while hooked up (waste of fuel) or while driving. I'd rather run it while driving because it takes a load off of my alternator. In your case, your alternator is probably not powering the A/C, but at least you won't waste the fuel exercising the generator while you are hooked up.

Ideally, of course, you'd boondock at least once a month and exercise it there. That way you don't waste any fuel at all.

What makes you think that YOUR alternator is running your roof a/c? Only the thermostat is operated on 12V on the roof a/c. What load is the 110V generator going to take off your 12V alternator? Plus running your generator every time you travel is a waste of fuel if you do it more than once a month for an hour. We are full timers and stay in one spot sometimes for as much as 5 mos. so we have to exercise our generator monthly.

That's an odd question, but in case you are sincere, I can tell you that I have a 210 Amp alternator (over 2,500 watts) that charges my 16 batteries while I'm under way. I have two inverters, one for the Kitchen A/C and refrigerator and one for the rest of the coach. When I'm traveling down the road with the generator off or if I'm boondocking with the generator off, I can run my Kitchen A/C off of the batteries. If the engine is turned on, the batteries will charge from the alternator. I also have solar panels to help charge the batteries, but, as you probably know, they don't produce enough power to keep the batteries charged after running the A/C for any length of time.

The ability to run the A/C off of batteries is a great feature of this coach. It means that while I'm boondocking, I can go to sleep with the generator off and the A/C will continue to run. With the autostart on the generator, I need not worry about draining the batteries either because the generator will kick on to recharge them at a certain voltage.

And finally, no, I don't run the generator every time I travel. In fact, I rarely run it while I travel. I only run it if I need to exercise the generator anyway.

Well, I was sincere. I have never heard of a setup like that. We have one 2500 watt inverter and eight batteries and neither a/c is on the inverter circuit. I have 4-6V batteries for the inverter, 2-12V starting batteries and 2-12V deep cell batteries for the coach 12V charged by a converter. Most of my friends who have DP's have 6 batteries, 4-6V on the inverter and 2-12V starting batteries with no converter. The coach 12V is supplied by the inverter batteries on this setup. I know I have a 210 amp alternator also but not sure if it will charge all of my batteries. I do know that when we pull into a spot after traveling the inverter batteries always show a full charge after using it while driving. Now, 16 batteries? Eight for the inverters, two for starting and two for the coach 12V. What are the other two for? Sincerely asking. Bad enough I have to buy half that many,