Generator year.

Guysakar wrote:


OK, that is what I was looking for. I am familiar with the Honda EU2000i, which reduces the RPM's under light load, etc...

You are saying that most motor home generators just run at a constant RPM regardless of load?

So what does that do for fuel consumption? I assume that motor home generators are nowhere comparable to portable generators, then.

I wonder why they can't use the same tech that is in the portable ones in a motor home.

So on a 4K watt Onan, you think 1/2 gallon an hour?

It might be more cost effective to just buy a portable gen and never even mess with the onboard gen, if doing a lot of dry camping.

A Honda 3000 (peak) 2800 (constant) watt gets .17 gallons an hour at 1/4 load and .47 at max load.

Unloaded, 0.3 gallons per hour. Half-load, 0.5 gallons an hour, full tilt, 0.7 gallons an hour. Source here.

As for inverter technology, most everyone on RV.net would agree with you. It would require some engineering though, because with most portable generators, you flip them off of Eco-Throttle (or a similar setting) before firing up the A/C or else the generator may not "catch" the load and spin up in time. Of course, this can be handled by a circuit similar to the Yamaha 3000iSEB and using the battery for a quick added wattage to handle the incoming locked rotor amps from a compressor (or on a lesser basis, a magnetron.) However, for a lot of things, the onboard Onan genset is "good enough". Since gasoline models tend to use the onboard fuel tank, they tend to have plenty of run time, which means it is a lot more convenient to just push a button inside the coach to get the generator running than to go outside in the cold, get out the gas container, manually start the generator or generator pairs, then head back inside to dry off, thaw out, or get cool.

Another use for the inboard genset is using it with a controller from Onan or Magnum Energy. You can then configure it to fire up the generator when the batteries get below a certain voltage, run for a few hours, then stop. You can also configure quiet hours so the generator will not fire up (unless manually actuated.)

My next rig, I'm doing the best of both worlds. The inboard genset will be what I use normally. However, I plan to take along a 2000 watt Honda which is more efficient at gas when boondocking. This provides not just better charging and allows use of all electrical items but the A/C (not all at once), but if the house batteries go flat, the Onan may not start, so it would provide a way to get the battery bank charged enough to allow the onboard genset to take over.