Generators

[jbrack]

Please excuse me if this subject has been beat to death, but I am about to become a full-time RVer. I retire in 8 days and my wife and I purchased a new truck and 5th wheel and plan to roam around for awhile. My question is about generators. Do I want to incur the expense of a generator capable of running my 50 amp needs or should I get a 30 amp and only power the bare necessities? Do I want the dual fuel model? (seems like a grand idea to me). What about the "other" brands of generators? By this I mean, not a Honda. The 7000watt Honda is around $4k but I saw a nice looking Pulsar dual/fuel for half that. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[justme]

jbrack wrote:
Please excuse me if this subject has been beat to death, but I am about to become a full-time RVer. I retire in 8 days and my wife and I purchased a new truck and 5th wheel and plan to roam around for awhile. My question is about generators. Do I want to incur the expense of a generator capable of running my 50 amp needs or should I get a 30 amp and only power the bare necessities? Do I want the dual fuel model? (seems like a grand idea to me). What about the "other" brands of generators? By this I mean, not a Honda. The 7000watt Honda is around $4k but I saw a nice looking Pulsar dual/fuel for half that. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Only you can answer your question based on your needs. If you don't know what they will be, I would suggest that gain experience living in a 5th wheel and traveling/extended stay for a while. Then you will have educated yourself as to what your needs are. After that you can be more specific and not waste money up front. There is a big difference between dry camping and staying at a campgrounds, RV resorts, State/Federal parks and etc.

[Veebyes]

Lots of questions only you can answer for yourself. Most of it stems from the type of travelling you do & where you do it.

Like the vast majority 5er owners, we get along just fine with a 2KW genny. Most seasons we are on the road for 120-150 days. We dry camp at events like bluegrass festivals, just did 6 days at Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, without a thought & burn up maybe 5 gal gas a year with the genny. No solar but we do have a decent sized battery bank & an inverter so there is no need for the genny everytime 120AC is needed.

The only time a high powered genny would be nice would be to run the A/C on a hot night. We are seldom at such a place dry camping. In such weather we head for a CG with W/E hookups.

The difference between the price of a 2KW genny & a 3 or even 5KW heavy built in genny buys lots of CG nights, never mind the cost & inconvenience of lugging the beast around.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

What do you do about the Pinealla's running the battery down?

johndeerefarmer wrote:
So I purchased the Honda EU3000is and installed the Pinellas remote start/auto choke kit.

[johndeerefarmer]

Last year I modified the receiver hitch on my Reflection 29rs. I then built a custom generator rack for my Yamaha 4500W. It worked well. My only complaint was the generator caused vibration in the main beams which could be felt throughout the living area. When I got this new Reflection 220rk I was able to move the generator rack over to it; however due to the smaller I beams I was a little afraid of putting that heavy Yamaha on the rear (even though the stock hitch has a capacity of 300 lbs). So I purchased the Honda EU3000is and installed the Pinellas remote start/auto choke kit. I put a thick rubber mat under the generator and using chain and eyebolts I tied it to the generator rack. Then for security purposes I have two steel cables- on through the handle and one through the base of the Honda. I have the power cord run under the RV and secured in place. I have a 90 degree adapter on the side of the RV and the cord is connected to it.
Now I have power whenever I need it, while driving, while pulled over at a rest stop or camping. This generator has less vibration and is quieter than the Yamaha 4500W. I also installed the MicroAir Easy Start to ensure that the genny would start the 15k a/c in all conditions

[johndeerefarmer]

laknox wrote:

johndeerefarmer wrote:
Onan's are noisy and use lots of fuel. Onan's use to run at `1800 rpm back in the day and were quiet. Now they are made in China and run at higher speeds.

The Champions will save you money up front but they are noisy compared to Honda/Yamaha and won't produce as much power as a comparable Honda because Champion rates them different.

I just bought a Honda EU3000is and installed a remote start kit on it. I will then install the Microair Easy Start on my 15k a/c. I have the Honda mounted on a cargo rack on the rear that I built.

I'll say it, yet again, it's beyond me why Honda/Yamaha/etc., haven't started building inverter gen-packs to the Onan pattern or Onan hasn't started putting inverters in their boxes. Seems pretty d@mn logical, to me... :h

LYle

Good question. Last year I posted over on the Grand Design forum in the "recommendations" section that GD convince Honda or Yamaha to build one in the Onan form factor. Hopefully some day

[ken_burke]

jbrack wrote:
Please excuse me if this subject has been beat to death, but I am about to become a full-time RVer. I retire in 8 days and my wife and I purchased a new truck and 5th wheel and plan to roam around for awhile. My question is about generators. Do I want to incur the expense of a generator capable of running my 50 amp needs or should I get a 30 amp and only power the bare necessities? Do I want the dual fuel model? (seems like a grand idea to me). What about the "other" brands of generators? By this I mean, not a Honda. The 7000watt Honda is around $4k but I saw a nice looking Pulsar dual/fuel for half that. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Well, I am not sure. I guess I would ask "do I really need a generator??". Why? Do you plan on spending a lot of time without electricity? Installing a large generator in the 5th wheel will really be heavy. If you are going to be off grid for only several days . . . a 2000 watt generator is all you need to top off the batteries.
Don't get a generator unless you really need one.
ken

[lee_worsdell]

Sorry but I have a 7000 Honda that stays in my truck all summer. I drag the cord out and plug in if we have no power. Runs everything that's includes 2 fridges 2 ac,s and all other equipment . Great unit

[gtnsmlr]

We were in the same spot last year. So, I figured out what we needed to run everything we may need. We got the Honda 6500 inverter, it lives in a secure weather tight box in the bed of the truck. Also installed a Harbor Freight hide away boom lift to get the genny and hitch out when needed. We have never regretted this move, in fact, we never think about it. We go where we want and enjoy our trailer all up wherever we are. Think about making dinner while dry camping on a hot day.

[Vette_Racer]

Money wise if you need air conditioning go to an RV park and plug in, for the rest have a good inverter system of around 2800 watts with a good battery bank to power everything except air conditioners and a Champion 3400 remote start genset on board to charge the batteries. A plus is that it will power one 15k air conditioner if needed.

[laknox]

johndeerefarmer wrote:
Onan's are noisy and use lots of fuel. Onan's use to run at `1800 rpm back in the day and were quiet. Now they are made in China and run at higher speeds.

The Champions will save you money up front but they are noisy compared to Honda/Yamaha and won't produce as much power as a comparable Honda because Champion rates them different.

I just bought a Honda EU3000is and installed a remote start kit on it. I will then install the Microair Easy Start on my 15k a/c. I have the Honda mounted on a cargo rack on the rear that I built.

I'll say it, yet again, it's beyond me why Honda/Yamaha/etc., haven't started building inverter gen-packs to the Onan pattern or Onan hasn't started putting inverters in their boxes. Seems pretty d@mn logical, to me... :h

LYle

[johndeerefarmer]

Onan's are noisy and use lots of fuel. Onan's use to run at `1800 rpm back in the day and were quiet. Now they are made in China and run at higher speeds.

The Champions will save you money up front but they are noisy compared to Honda/Yamaha and won't produce as much power as a comparable Honda because Champion rates them different.

I just bought a Honda EU3000is and installed a remote start kit on it. I will then install the Microair Easy Start on my 15k a/c. I have the Honda mounted on a cargo rack on the rear that I built.

[time2roll]

How often will you be off-grid? And then how often are going to run the A/C all day and night? If you want all conveniences at any time I recommend a built in generator. You dealer can set you up. Probably Onan 4000 to 7000 watts.

Get on the road a bit and see what you need.

[prfssr]

I have 3 Honda 2000 watt generators. I use 2 in parallel to run 1 AC and few other items when we dry camp, this works great. I also made my own extended run tanks. I just use 5 gallon gas cans, rubber fuel line. The cap for the generators have an air valve in them and I just remove that, drill out the correct size hole for the hose diameter into the cap and slide hose through it - it should fit extremely snug. The generators will suck the gas through the line and keep it full for hours.
Now for everyone's question on why do I have 3 generators. I have owned 2 of them for years and just acquired the 3rd one. I am in the process of building a 50 amp female receptacle that will include 3 pig tails that plug directly into the generators 110V receptacle. This gives me 6000 watts (4800 running) so I can run as much as I need in my camper.
Do a Youtube search and you will appreciate the convenience of this. I am not trying to open up a separate conversation as we need to stay on topic for the OP as he was looking for options. This works for me as I had these 2 original generators for years and I know what I have vs. selling them and getting a bigger one.

[laknox]

we3 wrote:
I was about to purchase a Honda 3k to run my AC as my son has one and likes it. I told him and he replied that I should purchase two Honda 2k as the 3k is heavy to move around and cost is about the same. Good call. Most of the time I just run one when I don't need AC, I have an additional 1k watts, easy to move. The only downside I can see is that while they are easier for me to move they are also easier for others to "remove" as well.

If that's the way you want to go, then also buy an extended run kit. The 2k gens only run about 3.4 hours at full load and 8 hours at 1/4 load; the 3k runs about 7 hours at max load or 20 hours at 1/4 load.

Lyle