Which Generator?

[paulbeauchemin]

My Jayco Pinnacle fifth wheel is pre-wired for I assume an Onan 5500 Generator

My original plan was to buy a couple of Honda 2000's and hook them together

Looking at the specs for the Onan the sound rating is about 70 dB while the Honda's is 59 (since dB is logarithmic, that is twice as loud)

Just curious what others opinions are of having an on-board generator Vs the Honda's?

Have 2 A/C units to run. Like the quiet of the honda's and the convenience of the Onan

[Bionic_Man]

paulbeauchemin wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:


Advantages:
Don't worry about theft
Runs everything in the trailer
Much more convenient


Trade offs:
Louder than the Hondas
Uses a lot of propane
Wife would rather run an inverter if all we are doing is charging batteries

If I were to do it again, I probably wouldn't install an generator, I'd just go with two inverters and the parallel kits.

How much propane does it use? How long would a tank run the gen?

I didn't notice that the Onan is not the inverter type

When we have been at Moab, and started the generator at 7, and run 12 hours, it will go through a full bottle in a day.

[laknox]

lee worsdell wrote:
gonna run the whole campground with 25kw lol

Hell yeah! Charge my neighbors for power! :B

Lyle

[lee_worsdell]

gonna run the whole campground with 25kw lol

[2oldman]

25kw.. lol. No wonder there's no pitch change.

[laknox]

Personally, I'd love to just tow my dad's old MutiQuip Whisperwatt 25kw, Isuzu-powwered generator, behind my FW. It's much quieter than my old Generac 4k and I can't even hear the MQ change pitch when the A/C kicks on. 🙂 Frankly, I'd love to hear what it does when there's a =real= load on it. 🙂

Lyle

[avvidclif1]

paulbeauchemin wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:


Advantages:
Don't worry about theft
Runs everything in the trailer
Much more convenient


Trade offs:
Louder than the Hondas
Uses a lot of propane
Wife would rather run an inverter if all we are doing is charging batteries

If I were to do it again, I probably wouldn't install an generator, I'd just go with two inverters and the parallel kits.

How much propane does it use? How long would a tank run the gen?

I didn't notice that the Onan is not the inverter type

According to the book, on propane it burns 3.3 lb/hr @ 1/2 load. Mine is gas and it shows .6 gal/hr @ 1/2 load. In real life unless the AC's are running continuously I can go well over 60 hrs. of continuous running on a listed 30Gal tank(???). One reason I got a toy hauler.

[lee_worsdell]

Honda 7000 sitting in my truck running on 120 /240 volt 50 amp runs both ac,s and fridges ,fans ,lights and pretty well anything else I plug in

[paulbeauchemin]

Bionic Man wrote:


Advantages:
Don't worry about theft
Runs everything in the trailer
Much more convenient


Trade offs:
Louder than the Hondas
Uses a lot of propane
Wife would rather run an inverter if all we are doing is charging batteries

If I were to do it again, I probably wouldn't install an generator, I'd just go with two inverters and the parallel kits.

How much propane does it use? How long would a tank run the gen?

I didn't notice that the Onan is not the inverter type

[whatimmadoboutm]

Unless you have a plan to install the Hondas in the generator compartment of your unit, I assume you will be running them outside of your trailer. If they are outside, they are more prone to theft and exposure to the elements.

[2oldman]

Trackrig wrote:
Are two Honda 2000s going to run two A/Cs?

x2. No, not easily or quietly.

[N-Trouble]

My Onan 4K Microquiet is loud. Have heard many Onan 5500's and they turn a much lower RPM and are quieter. Most of the noise from mine comes from the intake fan and underneath the unit, not the exhaust. Doubt the venture thing would do much for mine

[Sandia_Man]

Properly installed at the factory an Onan is not emitting 70db of sound. No matter which brand of paralleled 2K watt inverter generators you use they will sound louder when called on to provide max wattage, as noted you will need three 2K watt generators to reliably run both AC units under most circumstances such as high elevations and extreme temperatures.

My vote is go for the onboard Onan, we love and use ours heavily, over 1K hours and a decade of reliable, one button operation thus far. We did purchase a Champion 3100 with remote start being babied by the convenience offered by our Onan, it easily runs our rig's AC unit on eco-mode and at high elevation. Pairing a couple of the Champion 3400's would be my second choice.

[kerrlakeRoo]

I'll make the question even more confused, what do you think the Onan's noise level would be with a Gen-turi added?

[Bionic_Man]

I put a built in Honda generator into my 5er shortly after we bought it new. It has less than 200 hours run time on it.

I would think the advantages and disadvantages would be the same. Here is what I have found:

Advantages:
Don't worry about theft
Runs everything in the trailer
Much more convenient


Trade offs:
Louder than the Hondas
Uses a lot of propane
Wife would rather run an inverter if all we are doing is charging batteries

If I were to do it again, I probably wouldn't install an generator, I'd just go with two inverters and the parallel kits.