Inverter Question

thank you

"jarata1"....It helps sometimes if you give more than needed info versus less. You don't say what brand generator you bought. Just beware, some of the brands, like the Honda, draw their air from under the generator. For that reason, you don't want to set it in the dirt or grass. Have a piece of wood cut to size to fit under it. Both my daughters have trailers and both have the Honda 2000. No matter where we're at, they get cable locked to the trailer frame. It's just too tempting, especially the Hondas and Yamahas.

As stated, just plug your 30 amp cord from your trailer into the generator. Even though this may be a new/larger generator for you, it's limited on what it will run inside. Remember when you turn it on, when plugged into your 30 amp shore cord, the first thing it will be doing is trying to charge the batteries in your trailer (powering your charger). This can take up to half the power the generator is capable of putting out when running.

If you have your refrigerator set to automatic, it's going to try and change over to A/C power, so you might want to manually set the refer in the gas position when dry camping.

No matter how many times I tell my daughter when dry camping, she'll turn on her microwave while running other large items in her trailer and trip a breaker.

Lastly, your new generator is not able to run your rooftop A/C. You need at least a 3000 watts to do so.

With all that said, you'll have to do some power management when using this new generator, it can't run everything in your trailer.

Thanks Gordon being a newbie just didn't think of the easiest solution

jarata1 wrote:
Mine is a 1989

That's not so old then, Plug the main power cord into the generator. You won't need to run extension cords out the door.

Just don't try to run more than the generator can handle. If it's 2000 watt that's just the microwave, or just a coffee maker. Smaller things like the fridge, lights, television all count too.

Experiment and come up with a mental list of what you can run together and what you cant.

2oldman wrote:
Sure, just run a whole lot of extension cords to each appliance instead of using the 30a shore plug.

I guess you're talking about a generator since most inverters don't have exhaust.

Oh what a surprise another rude comment from 2oldmen Is anyone else sick of this person.i have contacted the moderator and hopefully something will be done.All he does is make fun of people who are trying to learn things

Mine is a 1989

jarata1 wrote:
I just bought a 2000 Watt inverter.My question is since the update inverter stays outside the travel trailer due to exhaust ,do you run extension cords from items you want to use out the door to inverter.
I have an older travel trailer so that is the only way I can see to do it.

Thanks

Just how old are we talking? Is this trailer so old that it has no electrical infrastructure, no fuse/breaker panel, no shore power cord?

Sure, just run a whole lot of extension cords to each appliance instead of using the 30a shore plug.

I guess you're talking about a generator since most inverters don't have exhaust.

Assume you are talking about an Inverter Type Generator... Thats what I do here but my 2000W Honda Generator sits secured in the tail gate corner of my covered and locked truck bed. When I need to use my Honda Generator I just pull it out onto the tail gate. It is completely out of sight when not in use to help keep it from walking away when unattended.

I can also use a RV 30A to 15A long Adapter (WALMART) and connect my trailer to the generator but in my case I have to flip off a few breakers in my 120VAC Power Panel for a few of the high wattage appliances... The only real big reason to connect my trailer to my generator directly is to be able to run my on-baord converter/charger unit to re-charge my batteries when they get down to the 50% charge state..

All of my low wattage 120VAC items I want to run when not on Shore Power is handled by a low wattage PSW Power Inverter off of the battery bank... I have a 600WATT Power Inverter but usually only ever load it down to around 300watts at times. Makes for a great what I call My Duty Power Inverter which stays on all the time when I am using my trailer.

If you leave your generator outside you really should have it covered with something for bad weather when not in use if the generator is not built to be left outside..

Be aware when running your generator outside not to point it at another trailer or people as it does emit poison CO fumes that are deadly...

Also if your generator is cheap one it may be very loud and this will create problems when camping at camp ground with other campers. Most camp grounds have generator run time restrictions in place so don't get into a situation where you think you can run your generator anytime you want to. I don't know of many public places if any where a generator can run after 8PM at night.

This 8PM restriction just might get in the way for you all wanting to watch HDTV from 8PM to lights out at 10-11PM each night... Need to run things from the batteries and just think about using the generator to re-charge your batteries when you are allowed to run one...

Running extension cords from the generator into your should come in another way other than the door access... You surely can crack a window or come in through the storage bay. Don't want kids or other people tripping on your extension cords etc... This would be a safety violation...

Roy Ken

If you have a genset/inverter you can buy a pigtail and connect your shore power cable directly to the genset/inverter. Hard to give you suggestions without the make/model of what you have.