Hi travelnutz,
My solar was designed with no generator in mind and no air conditioner use. I literally never run out of power. I often run the water heater or the fridge to "knock down" the batteries a bit, so as to not waste the watts falling on the panels. I live about 104 miles north of Plentywood, MT so I guess that means I'm in the mid west.
It is highly unlike to harvest 1200 watt-hours from 150 watts of panels.
It is uneconomic to use a generator for charging batteries to 100% state of charge--but the solar does that on a regular basis.
It is uneconomic to run a generator for air conditioning. It costs more for fuel than an inexpensive electric only campground.
For "emergency" 12 volt power all of us have access to a perfectly good alternator.
That makes the generator a "convenience" for running "high draw" items for brief periods of time, at the expense of noise, carrying fuel, and storing the generator. It is true that some rv's have built in generators, but far more come with nothing of the kind.
I've used a generator for less than 300 hours over a thirteen year time frame. My first RV was a class C diesel from 1987, and with winter temperatures down to -40 without shore power for operating a block heater, a generator was a "must have" item.
My cost of operation, based on purchase price, is in the region of $20 per hour of run time. Those include a Kipor 2800 watt electric start ($1300), a No name which caught on fire after being serviced ($700), a Boliy which was totally unreliable ($1040.00), and now a Yamaha 3000 sIEB ($3000.00). The Kipor lasted about 8 years.
The operating costs, which at $4.90 per US gallon are not low, and then there is changing the oil at -40. What an absolute JOY that is.
If I took 75% of the money I've spent on generators--I would have a solar system that would be capable of running my roof air conditioner. I already can run the block heater for enough hours to make the generator unnecessary.
