Best generator

[Bfrnk]

I'm new at rving but I've researched every site about best or quieter generators and I'm still at odds. What do y'all recommend? My bro in law just ought an Onan but just inot sure!

[Boon_Docker]

time2roll wrote:

Skibane wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Solar panels... very quiet.

And impractical for powering RV air conditioners and other high-power loads that run a lot.

Also useless in heavily-shaded campsites.

OK that is fair. And for me to run a generator 24/7 to have air conditioning would ruin my style of camping.
If I need A/C like that I am finding hookups.

To each their own.... enjoy your own style to the fullest.

X2
I wouldn't go camping just to sit in an air condition trailer 24/7.

[time2roll]

The OP did not actually give much detail on the expected use or location.

[Skibane]

Lantley wrote:
I have a neighbor with a Grandesign with 4 lithium batteries that can run his A/C about 5 hours.

That's only 20 percent of the time.

What does he use to power his A/C during the other 19 hours of each day?

If he's only running his A/C for 5 hours a day, he could probably avoid running it all if he didn't park in the sun to get power on the panels.

time2roll wrote:
And for me to run a generator 24/7 to have air conditioning would ruin my style of camping.
If I need A/C like that I am finding hookups.

Yes, I prefer camping in quiet areas, too - and generally avoid using the A/C at all.

However, there are a lot of locations where running a generator 24/7 isn't objectionable, due to all the ambient noise already present in that location - Race events, tailgate parties, camping on the beach, etc.

[time2roll]

Skibane wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Solar panels... very quiet.

And impractical for powering RV air conditioners and other high-power loads that run a lot.

Also useless in heavily-shaded campsites.

OK that is fair. And for me to run a generator 24/7 to have air conditioning would ruin my style of camping.
If I need A/C like that I am finding hookups.

To each their own.... enjoy your own style to the fullest.

[Lantley]

Skibane wrote:

Lantley wrote:

Skibane wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Solar panels... very quiet.

And impractical for powering RV air conditioners and other high-power loads that run a lot.

Also useless in heavily-shaded campsites.

You need to brush up on what solar is currently able to do.
You can now Run A/C on solar set ups with enough battery storage.
Of course you need sunshine but A/C capable solar is here.

Oh, I'm fully-brushed.

The amount of panels and batteries needed to run even one 15,000 BTU roof air conditioner for more than a few hours per day is completely impractical for the average RVer.

If you wanted to run the air conditioner 24 hours a day, the average RV roof doesn't even have enough room to mount all the panels that would be required.

Then there's the whole issue of not being able to park your RV in the shade, because the panels need full sunlight to produce any significant power - even though parking an RV in the sun drastically increases its AC cooling requirements.

In many campgrounds, there are no unshaded sites. How do you use your 25 solar panels and 1500 pounds of batteries there?

I'm not referring to running it 24/7. But is certainly possible to run overnight. I have a neighbor with a Grandesign with 4 lithium batteries
that can run his A/C about 5 hours. He has space for more panels. Battery capacity is his limiting factor. He has storage space but has simply not purchsed the batteries.
I have a built in Onan 5500 genset. It was about a $7K option
If I were buying today I would invest that $7K in solar.
MY built-in genset allows me to have push button electric at all times,
however a modern solar set up could accomplish the same feat, quietly!
Most if not all campgrounds have genset rules and limitations however they don't have rules prohibiting solar powered electric.
A modern solar set up would give me a lot of camping options.
Being able to book non electric site and still have quiet electric would be a huge game changer

[Skibane]

Lantley wrote:

Skibane wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Solar panels... very quiet.

And impractical for powering RV air conditioners and other high-power loads that run a lot.

Also useless in heavily-shaded campsites.

You need to brush up on what solar is currently able to do.
You can now Run A/C on solar set ups with enough battery storage.
Of course you need sunshine but A/C capable solar is here.

Oh, I'm fully-brushed.

The amount of panels and batteries needed to run even one 15,000 BTU roof air conditioner for more than a few hours per day is completely impractical for the average RVer.

If you wanted to run the air conditioner 24 hours a day, the average RV roof doesn't even have enough room to mount all the panels that would be required.

Then there's the whole issue of not being able to park your RV in the shade, because the panels need full sunlight to produce any significant power - even though parking an RV in the sun drastically increases its AC cooling requirements.

In many campgrounds, there are no unshaded sites. How do you use your 25 solar panels and 1500 pounds of batteries there?

[Lantley]

Skibane wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Solar panels... very quiet.

And impractical for powering RV air conditioners and other high-power loads that run a lot.

Also useless in heavily-shaded campsites.

You need to brush up on what solar is currently able to do.
You can now Run A/C on solar set ups with enough battery storage.
Of course you need sunshine but A/C capable solar is here.

[wing_zealot]

Wow, some of the misinformation in this thread is mind boggling. OP, I suggest if one of your primary concerns is loudness, you research the numbers yourself. There are some people in this thread that simply don’t know what they’re talking about.

[Grit_dog]

Skibane wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Solar panels... very quiet.

And impractical for powering RV air conditioners and other high-power loads that run a lot.

Also useless in heavily-shaded campsites.

Not according to some of these geniuses!

Apparently they look like a 1954 Worlds Fair display in their campground with an array of solar panels surrounding their camper and a stock of batteries that would affect the profitability of Interstate if they hadn't bought them!

Or they are the true super duper leaf lickers who's disdain for anything fossil fuel related is only overshadowed by their 1977 Dodge Van motorhome that leaks/burns a quart of oil a day, gets 6mpg, downhill, and smells like an entire nascar race run on cheap gasoline!
(And the fact that they couldn't' afford an AC and a Honda generator to run it unless they smoked alot less weed and sold alot more Mexican hippie ponchos and glass pipes!)

[Skibane]

time2roll wrote:
Solar panels... very quiet.

And impractical for powering RV air conditioners and other high-power loads that run a lot.

Also useless in heavily-shaded campsites.

[time2roll]

Solar panels... very quiet.

[MFL]

Not trying to take the thread off track, but just a noise comparison.

I read that when you have reached your sound db max, it only takes 1 additional db to be way too much. An example of torture, using sound, if a siren is going at 140 db and you are forced to stay near, just moving to 141 db will be a torture you cannot withstand.

Jerry

[Grit_dog]

Skibane wrote:


When an all-new Champion or Predator with the latest doo-dads costs only 1/5th as much as a stodgy old Honda, you can afford to upgrade when something new comes along.

First of all, we're talking generators here, not Iphones...."something new"? ROFLMAO. It's a tool, if it starts and puts out juice like it should, how much more totally awesome can a new model be? That was the funniest justification for buying Chinesium I've heard in a while.

And your math is horrible. The super ching chong cheapo generators are just under 1/2 of what a Honda/Yami cost. And the better "quality" ones like Champion are 1/2 or little over 1/2 the cost. 20% vs 50% is mucho different.

Noone is stopping anyone from buying a Firman, Wen, Westinghouse, wannabeYamaha, Predator, Champion or any other.

Some of guys are too funny!

Funny story, one of my crews just found a Westinghouse, I think, or maybe it was the "Onan" model 2kw inverter genny in one of our conexes. Of course it wouldn't start, because it probably sat full of cheap gas since last year or god knows when.
Guys sent me a pic of it. Looks like new.
(Probably someone needed another genny one night at work at 8pm and ran to Costco and bought one.)
I told the supt hey find a small engine shop to get it running. Guy said he called 3 or 4 places in Spokane and all of them said, don't bother bringing it in, we don't work on those.

[Grit_dog]

2112 wrote:
I do not understand why someone would care how others spend their money.

Perhaps because the title of the thread is "Best Generator"? Just a guess....

[StirCrazy]

valhalla360 wrote:

Tvov wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

Tvov wrote:
Remember that a small change in "DB level" or noise level is actually big sound-wise - it sounds a lot louder.

It's actually the opposite. dB is a measure of power but to hear a difference in noise level is not linear.

I am not a sound engineer or anything like that. In my experience, just a one or two number change in "DB level" is very much noticeable.

I don't know the science behind, just what I've heard... lol!

You have sensitive ears then. Generally, people can't detect a 1dB change.

Plus simply moving the generator a few feet further away can lower the dB by a few points.

actualy a 1db is noticable but you need something to compare it to, and it depends on the range it is at. because it is a logrythmitic scale it works out that every 3db is twice as loud, so 50db is twice as loud as 47db and 47 is twice as loud as 44 and so on, but not exactly. in reality it is all compared from 0db and on a 10 fold scale, so 10 db is 10 times louder than 0db and 20db is 100 times louder than 0db and 30 db is 1000 times louder than 0db and so on. I find even a very quiet 48db generator drives me nuts after a bit if I dont have music or somthing going to mask the sound, but that is getting better with the more hearing I lose evey year haha. when I first started camping I bought a 58 db generator not knowing better... used it once and i wont subject anyone to that again haha

Steve