How many hours on your Generator ?

[OFDPOS]

Just curious to see what's the common or ave hours on any particular Gen weather its in your MH TT or portable one you use camping?

We bought a used 2001 GS in Nov. of 2012 and the gen only had 37.4 hours on the hour meter but had 31K miles on the OD..
The 2013 Nexus we have been looking at has 89.9hrs on the hr meter and 10,800 miles on the OD..

[Pirate1]

Around 1500, 2006, 55000 odometer.

[pnichols]

Big Katuna wrote:
Inverters can be over 90% efficient.

They can also be only 80% efficient.

The above equates to:

Up to 20 amp-hours wasted (@ 90% efficiency) from a 200 amp-hour RV battery bank,

... or that equates to up to 40 amp-hours wasted (@ only 80% efficiency) from a 200 amp-hour RV battery bank.

As-much-as-possible 12 volt appliances and gizmos is way to go for the ultimate energy usage efficiency when dry camping.

[tenbear]

Big Katuna wrote:
Inverters can be over 90% efficient.

Yeah, well, lots of TVs in the 20 - 26" range run on battery power without an inverter but people still run their gennys. Lack of knowledge or just don't care.

[Escargot]

Shouldn't each generator have at least 12 hours per year on them given the necessity of exercising them?

[Big_Katuna]

Inverters can be over 90% efficient.

[tenbear]

When we go to music festivals there are often many campers that run their gennys all day long. I figure it is because some member of the family does not like the type of music and spends the day in the camper watching the TV.

[pnichols]

They're probably running their generators for long periods because they have so many regular 120V AC appliances in their RVs and aren't aware of or set up to instead run them off large RV battery banks with inverters between solar - or periodic generator powered - battery charge ups.

We try to use 12V DC appliances as much as possible in our RV to reduce dependence on inefficient inverters, use periodically the main engine alternator or a very small and quiet portable generator for battery charging, and use the larger built-in generator for short microwave bursts and extended mid-day air conditioning.

[run100]

When we sold our previous camper, the gen had about 110-hours, after 12-years of use. The gen in our current rig has around 10-15 hours after 2-years. Living in the desert, it gets fired up to run the a/c when it's hot outside (6-months of the year) and when we use the microwave. We love having the power source available with the click of a button.

Looking at how we use our generator, we're not shy about using it, but find we don't really "need" to use it too often. This gets me curious about what other rv'ers power with their gens. During several camping trips, we have run across folks that run their gens for hour and hours. In fact, on my most recent trip, a fellow rv'er had his running from the time I arrived (around 2pm), until quiet hours, from 10pm-6am, Then, it started running from 6am and was still going when I rolled out around noon. The weather was moderate - no a/c needed during the day and only heat at night.

Fortunately, we were all spread far apart, so the noise wasn't an issue, but I'm just curious what devices are being powered that require a gen to run so long. What are your experiences?

[Padlin]

Portable Honda 2K, no meter but best guess would be around 25 hrs over the 8 years we've had it. About 25k miles traveling, just not much call for it, we don't use much juice. Either have hookups or move often enough to recharge. Not much boondocking in the east.

[pnichols]

Sandia Man wrote:
We average just over 100 hundred hours a year and after 7 camping seasons we have 755 hours on our Onan. We love to boondock and also camp in extreme temps while off the power grid. When we need to run AC or a couple of space heaters we just hit the genny switch and immediately have all the power we need to run our entire rig making every trip comfy and cozy no matter what's happening outdoors.

Well put!! IMHO, that's how a self-contained RV should be used when drycamping ... especially considering what one has to pay for them.

Not using RV furnaces to stay toasty warm and RV air conditioners with generators to stay sweat-free ... to permit drycamping in a wide variety of expected or unexpected weather conditions ... has never made sense to me.

We often find ourselves camping in high heat (desert rock hounding), so our built-in generator gets used for great comfort. We even sometimes use both the RV A/C plus it's generator AND cab air for a quick cool-down of the coach.

[F450]

I have 9.8 hours on my generator. I have my RV for 15 years. The generator is propane. As you can see, I don't use it much.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Just had our mechanic clean the gunked-up carb on our seldom-used genny. (Completely our fault) Probably less than 30 hours over 10 years - we just didn't boondock that much, and since the Class C was stored indoors, firing up the genny wasn't as simple as just starting it.

[IAMICHABOD]

My Onan 4.0KW has 890 hrs and runs like a top. It being an Ex Rental, it got a lot of use and proper maintenance with oil and air filter changes. These things are just about bullet proof if properly taken care of.

It is run monthly under load for at least an hour if I haven't been dry camping.

[rbturner]

Many years ago I was a cable TV guy. I had a bucket truck that was electrically driven hydraulic. The power was generated by a 2.5kw, single cylinder Onan. That Onan ran hour upon hour because a lot of my work required 120 vac. and of course any movement of the bucket required the generator to be running.The generator ran through two cab/ chassis over 15 years. It was still going strong when I gave up the truck for a new one. Along the line we did put a manual choke on it but that Onan must have had 10,000-15,000 hours on it. We changed its oil once in a while and one time we put a head gasket in it. My experience with that little generator sold me on Onan.