Generators

[LittleRedGoat]

My DW and I are looking at upgrading our truck & 5th wheel to a toy hauler. I have noticed that most all Toy haulers have a generator.
What all will this power?
Can you drive down he road with it running?

[lincster]

5500 will run 2 AC's and everything else at the same time.

Fridge runs on propane when genny is not running.

[ng2951]

LittleRedGoat wrote:
...I have noticed that most all Toy haulers have a generator.

You may want to consider where the genset is located. Ours would take a 4400 watt Onan. The problem is that you would be sleeping on top of it.

What all will this power?

Depends on the size of the genset. A 4KW will power a single 15000 BTU HVAC and other goodies.

Can you drive down he road with it running?

If you have remote start some people leave the AC running. When they remote start the genset the HVAC fires up and cools down the trailer.

[1Wheeldrive]

The refrigerator doesn't "need" the genny, it will run off of propane while on the road, but if your refrigerator has an "Auto" setting, it will run off of electricity (typically 120 volts") then switch to propane when the electricity is not available.
A 5.5 kw generator will run at least two ac units and any thing else you might need with the possible exception of the electric water heater.
It is OK to run the generator while going down the road. I have done that more than a few times, such as when crossing southern Idaho in July, outside temps of 105 degrees. Usually start the genny a couple of hours before an overnight stop so the trailer is cool. When it is that hot, it can take a couple of hours to get the inside of the trailer comfortable.

[lawnspecialties]

Lwiddis wrote:
Hey, lawn, I thought 5vers would stop at 30 feet!

Good point. What was I thinking? :S

[LittleRedGoat]

I was wondering if he refrigerator need it and if it would power the ac units.

[Lwiddis]

Hey, lawn, I thought 5vers would stop at 30 feet!

[lawnspecialties]

Now that many toy haulers are offering three ACs, I think that's where things stop. But when we had two ACs, it would run everything all day long. But our 30 gallon fuel tank would be just about sucked dry from Saturday to Sunday evening.

Expect roughly a gallon an hour pulling that kind of load.

[wildtoad]

I can see where running some AC could be beneficial especially where temps get to be really hot. Even though there are no people, allowing "everything" to get hot going down the road greatly increases the time required to cool when you get to your destination.

[sch911]

Yes you can, most of us MH operators do this all the time to run the A/C units. The generator if properly sized should be enough to power everything in the TH. But I too have the same question, why? In the MH there are people, but while towing the TH there shouldn't be anyone, or any pets in there...

[arhayes]

Mine has a 5500 watt Onan generator which will power the normal items (fridge/entertainment/etc) plus 2 of my 3 air conditioners. I've read of some using them while moving, but not sure why you'd need to.