Another use for your generator.

We were returning home from a trip and were about 100 miles from home when the alternator went out on our truck. I had a battery charger with us so I hooked it up to the battery and ran an extension cord to the generator in the bed and fired it up. We made it home fine.:)

My 2KW Gnerator sits secured in the tailgate corner of my truck bed. My truck bed has the FOLD-A-COVER hard plastic folding covers.


The main purpose for my truck mounted generator is re-charhging my trailer batteries at 8AM each morning when camping off the power grid but also has been my PLAN B thing for the past 6 years now for many other times when myself and others need some power... No telling how many times I have run down my truck start battery when using my emergency radio comms I do a lot of...

This setup Charges batteries, jump starts stranded folks by charging their battery for five minutes with my portable battery charger, makes great fresh ground bean coffee for us in about five minutes of generator run time using our Cusinart Coffee grind and serve coffee pot, and any number of PLAn B items...

Always got to have a PLAN B...

Roy Ken

I've got a 'cheap' Remington electric pole saw. I once backed the camper down into the back yard among the trees of the little church I attend, and used the Onan to power it. A 70' poplar had broken part-way off in a big windstorm, and was hanging over our 'nature trail'. The extension pole was just long enough to reach the break, so I could cut thru it at the hinge point and drop the top of the tree safely onto the ground.

I then went home & got the pickup with the 'real' chainsaw and winch, and removed it from the trail. That lil' Remington pulls a heck of a starting surge, maybe due to the chain friction. Almost bogged the Onan 2800 down every time I pulled the trigger, but it kept going. I cut the tree up later and gave the wood to one of the girls who also goes there.

Jim, "If the zombies chase us, I'm tripping you!"

I'm sure duct tape is somehow involved in this story. :)

On a trip to a NFS campground this past summer the neighbors in the next campsite could not get their diesel pickup to start. Took my Honda Eu2000i Genny and 12A battery charger over. Plugged the charger into the generator and hooked up to the truck batteries and fired up the Honda. After a few minutes on the "charge" setting and another 10 on the 8A charge setting his truck started right up. I recommended that he 1) get the batteries load tested after arriving at home, and 2) get his alternator load tested if the batteries checked out good.

...and if/when it ever gives up the ghost, it makes a dandy boat anchor.

If I ever have alternator failure in my class C, the house generator should feed the chassis with plenty of power to operate the engine/lights etc. This is with a relay separating the house/chassis systems. One ignition is on, relay is closed connecting the two.

In fact during daylight the solar panels should accomplish the same thing.

I can then deal w/ failed alternator on my terms, not emergency terms. In past vehicles I've had several Ford alternator failures over the years.

...A Mornin’ Redneck Moment.....

I'm convinced they live life more to the fullest in a way that most of us will never experience. And IMHO secretly wish they did.

I was lucky enough to share in one:

Nice CG. Big new dually up pulls in with 'big' residential refrigerator in back.

Drop fridge on CG site and plugs it in.

Leaves and comes back a few hours later with his FW and family and friends. Drops it and puts the fridge under it.

Says hi to me, opens the fridge which apparently came packed to the brim with nothing but beer and offers me a cold one!

Now THAT's the way to have a weekend camping party. Those campers were so nice no one even cared about the fridge up under his FW, not even the park owner. :C

Yep! And if you're broken down or need a hand with a repair, WHO do you hope will come by- a guy in a suit in a fancy car on his 3 cell phones, or a Redneck in his pickup with a toolbox in the back and a boatload of get-er-done-ness in him? :B

We were camped in Deep Creek St. Pk on Deep Creek AK, guy a few sites over had a genny running 24/7 to power his freezer. He and his family were subsistence fishing and would catch and filet their daily limit of fish and freeze them. When the freezer was full they left. Nice families too.