How often do you use your portable generator?

It was 101 in Richland, WA and I suggested to Elaine that we fall on our sword and hook into the 110 AC at the RV park we are in for tonight (have been dry camping in FS, BR and NP CGs for 4 weeks. She said just use the solar (1400 W) and LFP battery suite (9600 W-hrs). Ran fro two hours and dropped internal temp from 95 to 83. Outside temp is supposed to be 64 tonight. We do have a 1 kW Honda for emergency but have not used it or line power for 13 months - but I was ready this afternoon

We run everything, induction cooktop, convection microwave, refrigerator, composting toilet, air conditioner, etc., of of 600Ah of batteries and 500w of solar.

Assuming you are running a 12V system, I'd be interested to see your daily Amp hour calculations supporting this, especially the plan to run AC for 6 hours. Similar calculations concerning recharging the battery from solar after 24 hours normal use of electrical equipment would also be helpful.

Fuses on EACH end of the interconnect cables? - YES, absolutely essential.

HMS Beagle wrote:

deltabravo wrote:
...so there's been multiple occasions where I fill the gen with gas at bed time, then stick it as far away as the extension cord will allow, then I run a small electric heater all night.

Hope you didn't have neighbors. I have been the neighbor in these situations. The extension cord got it just far enough away from the owner not to hear, and just close enough to me to appreciate all night long :B.

It's always been in a remote setting where I do this. My cord is 80' long, and I run it the opposite direction, away from others in my group.

narcodog wrote:

deltabravo wrote:
I hate the noise of the propane furnace, so there's been multiple occasions where I fill the gen with gas at bed time, then stick it as far away as the extension cord will allow, then I run a small electric heater all night. I only do this in the fall when it's cold at night. Any other time of year, it gets too warm at night with the heat on.

Instead of the small electric heater why not consider a WAVE cat heater, no noise or amps?

Far too much work to go through to replumb the propane lines to install one, and no good place to put it in my AF811.

I only use a generator to run the AC. My solar system will handle everything else.

For me, buying a generator is sort of like 4x4. You don't need 4x4 until you need 4x4. Same with the generator, specifically in my example generator and air conditioner. The nice thing about a portable generator, you can add it at any time.

About 7 years ago we took a 16 day trip, it was unseasonably hot for the area, above 90F at night and around 100F during the day for pretty much the entire trip. About a week in my wife and I were both fighting constant heat exhaustion, migraines, and lack of sleep. The trip was cut short two days (from 18 to 16) because my wife couldn't take it anymore and drove 1000miles straight to get home, driving with the AC on in the truck was the only relief we got from the heat.

Fast forward to June 2014. We are on a 27day trip armed with a generator and AC. It was 100F in Utah, no big deal, fire up the generator and run the AC. It was 109F in the shade in NV, no problem, run the AC (shore power).

We use the generator very seldom. When we do, it is usually to run the air conditioner in extreme heat/humidity. For us, investing a little more money (less then 10% of our RV investment) towards a good generator and air conditioner to ensure we are comfortable was important and for us worth it.


--
Interestingly, we used to lose power to our house a couple times a year, once I invested in a good generator about 5 years ago, we haven't had a single power outage.

I have a Honda 2000 plus the built in propane generator. And I use both.

Run the propane one for A/C or the push button start up ease. EI, coffee in the morning.

I run the Honda 2000 sometimes in the evenings to charge up everything if boon docking for several days. But really on a local weekend trip don't need either one.

deltabravo wrote:
...so there's been multiple occasions where I fill the gen with gas at bed time, then stick it as far away as the extension cord will allow, then I run a small electric heater all night.

Hope you didn't have neighbors. I have been the neighbor in these situations. The extension cord got it just far enough away from the owner not to hear, and just close enough to me to appreciate all night long :B.

JW2 wrote:
I am trying to decide if I really need a portable generator or not. I am purchasing a used camper, 2008 Northern Lite 9-6QSE. It does not have air conditioning, but I am looking in to having a small ac unit added. As part of this I am trying to decide if I would ever need a portable generator to either run the ac, or anything else for that matter. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

JW2,
Has 7 pages of debate helped you make up your mind? LOL!

last trip, 90* in the shade, Baking hot out on the stream where I was fishing. My waders had become my own personal sweat box. It sure was nice to fire up the Honda and cool the TC down to 68*