how big of a generator is needed
so the wife and i are going to bite the bullet and get our first travel trailer. i am curious as to how big of a generator we will need to buy for when we are not hooked up to elec power. i have...
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Just because you have a TT doesn't mean you need a generator. Most things in the TT will operate fine off the battery: gas furnace, gas water heater, water pump, lights, radio, etc.
If you get a 12v TV then it will run from the battery just fine. Or, a small inexpensive inverter will run a 120v AC TV from the battery bank for many hours.
A residential fridge isn't a good choice if you intend to camp without a hook up very often. I would power it with an inverter and possibly some solar panels. That way it will be powered when in motion too. There's no way to power the ref. while traveling with a gen. unless you have the gen. running in the bed of the truck or something.
A large inverter and a good battery bank will easily handle a coffee maker or a toaster since these items are used only briefly.
That just leaves air conditioning. So, the question is are you going to spend lots of time just sitting inside the TT all day with the AC going? If so, why not just stay home? There are very few places that you can run a generator all night to have AC while sleeping. So, the gen. is really only useful for AC during the day. Places complete out in the middle of nowhere, NASCAR races, and truck stops being the likely exceptions.
My TC does have a built in generator because it came that way. In 9 years of camping, including often without hookups, we've only put about 60 hours on the generator. Most of those hours were just running it occasionally per the manual for maintenance and powering my house during power outages. I'd guess actual camping useage to be less than 3 hours a year.
If you get a 12v TV then it will run from the battery just fine. Or, a small inexpensive inverter will run a 120v AC TV from the battery bank for many hours.
A residential fridge isn't a good choice if you intend to camp without a hook up very often. I would power it with an inverter and possibly some solar panels. That way it will be powered when in motion too. There's no way to power the ref. while traveling with a gen. unless you have the gen. running in the bed of the truck or something.
A large inverter and a good battery bank will easily handle a coffee maker or a toaster since these items are used only briefly.
That just leaves air conditioning. So, the question is are you going to spend lots of time just sitting inside the TT all day with the AC going? If so, why not just stay home? There are very few places that you can run a generator all night to have AC while sleeping. So, the gen. is really only useful for AC during the day. Places complete out in the middle of nowhere, NASCAR races, and truck stops being the likely exceptions.
My TC does have a built in generator because it came that way. In 9 years of camping, including often without hookups, we've only put about 60 hours on the generator. Most of those hours were just running it occasionally per the manual for maintenance and powering my house during power outages. I'd guess actual camping useage to be less than 3 hours a year.
