I have a 2004 Mandalay with a 7500W onan genny.I have purchased a yamaha 2000w portable genny and wanted to use it connected as an external power source connected to my shore power cord.The plan was to be more energy efficient as I only need to power my TV, sat receiver and a few outlets for computers.There was a really good article in FMCA that seemed to show that this will work if config'd correctly.I hooked it up and the RV EXPLODED INTO A MILLION PIECES !Just kidding, thought my story was getting boring.The Yamaha revved up to accomodate the load and then went into overload.I then changed my Xantrax to invert mode and tried again, same result.The Xantrax once it receives the added power, goes into charge mode for the house batteries and this is too much for the little 2000w genny so it overloads.Is there a way to stop the battery charge and just allow the yamaha to power the rv like when I am using the inverter ?

Battery Disconnect? Just throwing out EWAGs out of my posterior side.

I use a 1000 watt Honda to do what you wish to do.I set the Battery Charge rate to 5 amps. See if you can set your charge rate to a lower rate. Make sure the water heater and fridge is not on electric.

How many amp draw do you have your inverter/charger set on? I always set mine a max of 15 amps to charge the batteries, then lower it to 10 for watching tv. No need to have the inverter inverting as you're getting 110 from the generator.My Honda 2000 uses about a gallon every 5-51/2 hours. The Onan 7500 uses about 1/2 to 3/4 gallon per hour so Honda is much more efficient.What I do is run the Onan while brewing coffee, hair dryer, toaster, etc and it Will handle all the big draw stuff and charge batteries, but after about an hour shutt it off and run the Honda on Eco mode with the inverter/charger set at 10 amp max until float is achieved.You can run the inverter/charger set higher but it dramatically affects battery life.Hope this helps.

Won't your inverter handle the low amperage draw items you want to operate??? -Tom, W3TLN

rv2go wrote:I use a 1000 watt Honda to do what you wish to do.I set the Battery Charge rate to 5 amps. See if you can set your charge rate to a lower rate. Make sure the water heater and fridge is not on electric.What he said. When you put electric power to the MH then the frig auto selects electric depending on where you have the switch. I used to use a Honda 2000 watt generator like this and never had a problem unless I left an AC unit on or didn't switch the frig. One AC unit trying to start would usually trip the breaker on the Honda. The frig would make it rev high, but not overload it.

External Generator use on Class A | Good Sam Community

ChooChooMan74
Explorer
Jul 18, 2014
Battery Disconnect? Just throwing out EWAGs out of my posterior side.
rv2go
Explorer II
Jul 18, 2014
I use a 1000 watt Honda to do what you wish to do.
I set the Battery Charge rate to 5 amps. See if you can set your charge rate to a lower rate. Make sure the water heater and fridge is not on electric.
oldchief7155
Explorer
Jul 18, 2014
How many amp draw do you have your inverter/charger set on? I always set mine a max of 15 amps to charge the batteries, then lower it to 10 for watching tv. No need to have the inverter inverting as you're getting 110 from the generator.

My Honda 2000 uses about a gallon every 5-51/2 hours. The Onan 7500 uses about 1/2 to 3/4 gallon per hour so Honda is much more efficient.

What I do is run the Onan while brewing coffee, hair dryer, toaster, etc and it Will handle all the big draw stuff and charge batteries, but after about an hour shutt it off and run the Honda on Eco mode with the inverter/charger set at 10 amp max until float is achieved.

You can run the inverter/charger set higher but it dramatically affects battery life.

Hope this helps.
Tom_N
Explorer
Jul 19, 2014
Won't your inverter handle the low amperage draw items you want to operate???

-Tom, W3TLN
msmith1199
Explorer II
Jul 19, 2014
rv2go wrote:
I use a 1000 watt Honda to do what you wish to do.
I set the Battery Charge rate to 5 amps. See if you can set your charge rate to a lower rate. Make sure the water heater and fridge is not on electric.

What he said. When you put electric power to the MH then the frig auto selects electric depending on where you have the switch. I used to use a Honda 2000 watt generator like this and never had a problem unless I left an AC unit on or didn't switch the frig. One AC unit trying to start would usually trip the breaker on the Honda. The frig would make it rev high, but not overload it.
John_S_
Explorer II
Jul 19, 2014
Why not use your coaches genet. It uses about half a gallon an hour.
CT_WANDERER
Explorer
Jul 19, 2014
Might be a little different, I have a gas coach and I just switch over my stuff to DC and LP and run my Honda to charge up my battery bank. Then once the Dc load is down, I turn the TV & Sat over to AC. If not careful you can have lot of small AC loads that can add up. You have to check that water heater, refer, etc are not drawing AC power from the Honda.
trashguy
Explorer II
Jul 19, 2014
We boondock most of the time and have a yamaha 2000. One of the best things I ever bought. Cant even hear it running at the back of the rig, almost seems like being plugged into shore power. Make sure you lock it with a cable though, easy for it to walk off.;)
Peg_Leg
Explorer
Jul 19, 2014
Put the fridge and water heater on gas, turn off the circuit breaker to the converter and you should be good to go. You apparently have something creating to much of a current draw for the 2000, but it's just a process of elimination to get the watts under control. Don't make coffee or use a hair dryer.
John___Angela
Explorer
Jul 19, 2014
JCat wrote:
I have a 2004 Mandalay with a 7500W onan genny.
I have purchased a yamaha 2000w portable genny and wanted to use it connected as an external power source connected to my shore power cord.
The plan was to be more energy efficient as I only need to power my TV, sat receiver and a few outlets for computers.
There was a really good article in FMCA that seemed to show that this will work if config'd correctly.

I hooked it up and the RV EXPLODED INTO A MILLION PIECES !
Just kidding, thought my story was getting boring.

The Yamaha revved up to accomodate the load and then went into overload.
I then changed my Xantrax to invert mode and tried again, same result.

The Xantrax once it receives the added power, goes into charge mode for the house batteries and this is too much for the little 2000w genny so it overloads.

Is there a way to stop the battery charge and just allow the yamaha to power the rv like when I am using the inverter ?

Check the manual for the Xantrex. You should be able to scale back the charge section so it will charge at a much mower rate. Seems to me the Xantrex models had 3 levels. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.