Do You REALLY Need To Run your Genny?

As much as I'd like too,I haven't done as much boondocking as I'd like to with this rig. However, I did get one of those Gen-turi's as I have the 7.5 Generac and it's still kinda loud with that.Actually the gennie is louder than the exhaust,but I will say it's a lot louder if you don't use it. I have however,the couple of times I've boondocked,been able to get away with only bringing the batteries up to charge by running it during the day. My stepson has this cool little 13" TV-DVD that runs on 12V and hardly draws any power and we just listen to the radio and read in the evening. The DW does play some games on her droid,but that takes a really small amount of power to recharge.

I can go an easy 4 - 5 days on batteries (dual 6 volts)

I also have a small 45 watt solar setup I put on. Puts a few amps a day in. Switched to all solar lighting so batteries last a lot longer now.

Don't own a genny and don't need or want one. If it is hot enough that I need A/C I don't go camping. I can sit in the house instead of sitting in a small trailer.

Dry camping we can go three days/two nights without using the generator and that includes a couple of hours watching tv at night. Unless it is below 40 degrees. The colder it is, the faster our batteries drain. At 40 degrees we can go two days/two nights. At 30 degrees we can go two days/one night. We have two group 27 12V right now. If we are going for a weekend and the weather is predicted to be above 40 the entire time, we won't take the Honda 2000. If it is really hot we run a fan plugged into a small converter. But we have never seen an overnight temp above 80 so we have been pretty lucky. We don't use blow dryers and microwaves in our daily life, so we don't miss them camping.

timjcarter9 wrote:
I can go an easy 4 - 5 days on batteries (dual 6 volts)

I also have a small 45 watt solar setup I put on. Puts a few amps a day in. Switched to all solar lighting so batteries last a lot longer now.

Don't own a genny and don't need or want one. If it is hot enough that I need A/C I don't go camping. I can sit in the house instead of sitting in a small trailer.

This. I've dry camped all my life and never had the need for a generator. When we dry camp, we do it in an area where we don't need A/C. The rest of the 110 volt stuff is useless to us in that situation. We don't use the microwave and I perk coffee on my one burner Coleman stove. We don't watch TV or movies, we play games, read or sit around the campfire.

Technology has hit us slightly. All our books and magazines are on our Kindles. But, I use a small inverter to keep them charged.

Not saying this is what everyone should do but it's what works for us.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Depends entirely on the use of your RV. The way I use my RV, a genny is a necessity. I use my TT for college football weekends, tailgating and enjoying all the festivities. The RV's park in a field beside the airport. No facilities at all.

In September, and many times early in October, a generator (or twin Honda's) are absolutely needed to run the AC.

bfast54 wrote:
A very Quite genny......as gennys go........................IF I am dry camping, it is in a casino lot, or WAY away from anyone else ,in a remote forest service campground, lots of trees, coupl sites away....you do not even hear my genny......Mounted on rig, covered.....



BUT...................never fails...................someone will set up RIGHT next to me. Land aplenty ............but lets get close.





I can go for couple days on dual battery but I choose to do some things with 120 needed............so, sometimes..........yes, I need it.

You mean like this - we were up here by ourselves in late October and this group came up. No problem because it's open land, not something I would do, but notice the generator - and it ran most of the night. Would've gone over and said something but they had little kids. Still they should've said something out of courtesy

DW likes to blow dry her hair, run the microwave, and use the electric coffee maker. So that means running the genny a couple of hours a day which is enough to keep the batteries topped off. I haven't done a "run down" test to see how long the dual G27's and LED lights would last. We have a week of full-hookup camping coming, maybe I'll disconnect the converter and test it then.

ReneeG wrote:

bfast54 wrote:
A very Quite genny......as gennys go........................IF I am dry camping, it is in a casino lot, or WAY away from anyone else ,in a remote forest service campground, lots of trees, coupl sites away....you do not even hear my genny......Mounted on rig, covered.....



BUT...................never fails...................someone will set up RIGHT next to me. Land aplenty ............but lets get close.





I can go for couple days on dual battery but I choose to do some things with 120 needed............so, sometimes..........yes, I need it.

You mean like this - we were up here by ourselves in late October and this group came up. No problem because it's open land, not something I would do, but notice the generator - and it ran most of the night. Would've gone over and said something but they had little kids. Still they should've said something out of courtesy

Renee........Exactually what I was talking about........DO NOT understand??????...................Looks like there is a LOT of land there..............WHY did they need to set up Right Next to you???? ...(and me also)??????????

Just makes no sense to me ..................I go up to the U.P., forest service, or other primitave forest areas,.......to get away from the world............and enjoy my space...........................SURE, they have a right to be there..................BUT right on top of me...........(and you...)?????




Few years ago, in a 300 site campground, early in season..............I was the only rig in the state park................when I got back that eve, sure enough .......someone ..........(..only other people in the park, other than me..)..............WITH A Dog.........................Set up Right Across From Me.................REALLY??????????????????????........:h

Hi,

So buy an inverter? For everything but the air conditioner there will be nearly silent 120 volt power on tap.

Thats_Ok wrote:
We run ours all day.

It's the wife's fault, she has to have electricity of the 120 volt flavor.

We do get about 3 days of use with them MAXX batteries when not generating tho...

I guess it's a matter of what kind of juice is wanted whilst trailering.
Excessive microwave and coffee maker users here.

Don't ya just love it when someone sets up the gen on the off door side so now you have to listen to theirs and yours.