Special generator discussion

There are many generators I will not name brands other than Honda and Yahama which I recommend

"Contractor Generators" DO NOT take camping.. Period

INVERTER generators.. These are the ones to take with you, They are more expensive but they do not need earplugs to be included.

One special case.. Harbor Freight sells a small inverter job with a 2 stroke engine.. I'm not so sure about this one and would love to hear it under load so I can comment.


Now, how big.

Also there are some small FULLY ENCLOSED generator type generators (Traditional) that are not bad.. I used to have a Genrac 1000

This was a true 1,000 watt generator and it was able to power my Progressive Dynamics 9180 with dead and mean Dead U-2200's hooked to it (Sucking near max power).

2,000 watts will run the Microwvae

3,000 SHOULD run 1 A/C 4.000 will for sure.

Note Im' talking true power. Not peak power.

Bought a Honda EU1000i for emergencies and outages around the house, to keep the refrig and tv running. Turns out it worked OK for the travel trailer, for battery up keep. Bought a Eu2000i, which would run the Microwave now in the Travel trailer, a good thing when wanting to fix a TV dinner, sometimes time is scarce between fishing to tie up additional necessary flies for the next day, the expense of those stor bought flies at $2.25 each adds up fast. Bought another Eu2000i so that I could pair them and run the A/C on the Travel trailer, along with the pairing cables.

Last week, I bought a portable 120 Watt folding solar panel... it's much quieter than running the gennies.

Depends, but for dry camping and battery charging, a backup plan B for cloudy, snowy or rainy days is a must, at least for me, if one can afford it. Just don't feel like hauling around a bunch of lead acid batteries, though one day, I forsee a couple of heavy 6v golf cart batteries for a 12v system.

One can lessen their need for a generators usage by conserving electricity usage, getting LED light bulbs, not using the electric pump with solar showers, solar panels and on and on and on. Just depends on how much budget and how serious you are about staying off the generator, off the grid, or off petroleum powered products that you want to be. Or use combinations, as you see fit.

A generator will always get you electrical power, a solar panel system and batteries might not always get you enough, depends on the number of watts, daylight, and your engineering ability and budget.

A honda generator, if properly stored with a dry tank and a dry, empty carburator, with no fuel to go bad in it, is usually a pull or two away from having some electricity when ever you need it. They are great to have in emergencies... plus I'd rather have one and not need it, than need it and not have one.

BTW, I bought my first generator, a used Honda EU1000I on Craigslist for $350. It wouldn't run unless the choke was on, the carb was gummed up from fuel varnish forming in the jets from being stored with fuel. I bought a can of Gum Out, pulled the panel, undid a few screws, and went to town on the jets on that carb. That pretty much cleaned it up, but the motor still "hunted" with the governor a bit. Bought some Techroline, added it to a tank of fuel (1/2 gallon) and then just ran the motor in eco mode as needed. Just running it camping, charging the battery (group 24 DC) on a one week trip, a couple of hours a day, and one tank later, the motor and carb/governor just purred like a kitten, nice and smooth.

$400 used is good, $500, to me, is too much, for an Eu1000i. Right now, there are brand new honda Eu2000i's for sale in the box on Craigslist for $900, tax free. I'd jump on one now, new if you need one, that price will be gone shortly.

Here's some things we can do with our little 650 watt Honda when drycamping in our RV:

- Charge the the coach and boat batteries, instead of the Onan.
- Run the computer long periods of time to watch movies, surf the Net, do computer stuff, instead of an inverter.
- Charge the phones, instead of an inverter.
- Run the RV vacuum cleaner, instead of an inverter.
- Run the DW's hair dryer on it's low setting, instead of an inverter.
- Run our 1500 electric heater on it's low setting to save propane, instead of the Onan.
- Run two 150 watt personal electric heaters to save propane, instead of an inverter.
- Run a large oscillating fan outside under the awning on scorching hot days, instead of an inverter.
- For some reason NOT RUN the refrigerator on it's 120V AC setting to save on propane ... I'm working on why this unfortunate situation is as it is. (Of course the Onan will run the refrigerator.)
- Run SOME power tools ... for example, a pump to bring water from a nearby stream.
- Make it possible to start the main engine if for some reason all batteries should wind up too flat.
- Periodically relieve the coach battery bank when powering the tank heaters in extremely cold weather.

K3WE wrote:
Requesting special thoughts here- I have dry camped a lot. And I can decide for myself but there's usually a few valid intangibles that you can pick up in a discussion.

Never had a generator and I know I don't NEED one but am going to dry camp and am thinking one might be nice this time. Otoh I'm thinking thousand dollar battery charger

I guess what I'd like to hear is what ELSE do folks do with their little Hondas. To make this worse we do have a nasty contractor generator for house. But I'm envisioning that toting the honda in the car to ?????? Picnic? Light hobby construction??

By the way. If anyone simply posts how they've always or never had a generator...... Thanks for nothing ( just a little preemptive razz ;) )

I used to run an extension cord around the yard when I needed power in the back for a short time, like hedge trimmer, portable air compressor etc. Not any more fire up the honda and plug stuff in.

Could use it if we lost power for any length of time, but we seldom have that problem.

A few times I've taken it to our community RV lot if I needed power in the trailer for a short while when it was in storage. Usually if I wanted to do a mod or two and with generator didn't need to hook up the trailer and bring it over to the house.

I have my little Honda EU1000i that I use for tailgating and battery maintenance. I can run the TV, charge phones and all of the 12V stuff. It quietly runs at 53db for more than the rated 9 hours on a half-gallon of gas. At 29 lbs., it’s easy to lug around. You can find them on Craigslist for around $500, but I've seen them for $400. If for some reason you don't like the Honda, there are plenty of buyers that will be glad to take it off your hands.

With that said, I've owned the $79 Harbor Freight 2-stroke generator that is rated for 800/900 watts. It is not a bad little generator. You do need to replace the spark plug with a quality plug when you first buy it, but after that, it’s all good. The 2-stroke operates at a low rumble and is quieter than it's decibel rating implies. It sounds like a moped engine at idle. It does not sound like a chainsaw. Yes it is Smokey at first, but it is fine once the engine heats up. It will run a long time on a gallon of pre-mixed gas/oil. It is rated at 800/900 watts, but will handle larger loads. I bought mine for $79 and sold it two years later for $60. It got a LOT of use after two major storms. It ran for days at a time with no complaints.

The Honda is the best quality and most quiet. Because I had the money at the time, I bought it on Craigslist. If not for that, I would have kept the little Harbor Freight 2-stroke.

I regret nothing about purchasing either unit, but the Honda is so nice!

Hi Roy,

How big is the battery bank in amp-hours (20 hour rate)?

360 watts is good, but you are forgetting that by shortly after sun up and until shortly before sun down, the panels will be supplying all the parasitic loads, whereas before those loads were only being met during actual generator run time.

Another factor is the choice of charge controller. If it is temperature compensated with a probe on the actual battery bank, charging will be more optimized than what your converter does.

Is the charge controller PWM or MPPT?

In the summer time, 360 watts may allow harvesting about 125 amp-hours per sunny day.

RoyB wrote:
I went with the beefed up trailer techniques and running from large battery banks first being re-charged the next morning running my 2KW Honda generator when allowed to run one.

I am just now starting to add on SOLAR PANELS etc to aid in not having to run my generator as long .

I need 20AMPS per battery to properly recharge my batteries in a quick three hour smart mode charge time and a 120WATT Solar Panel will give you around 5-6 AMPS of usable 12VDC power for probably 6 hours in a day. Will take many solar panels for me to mimic my PD9260C smart mode converter/charger unit. More than the three 120WATT Solar Panels I am planning on starting out with.

If the solar panels don't do the job by at least 4:30PM each day then I have to go to PLAN B and run the generator to get everything back up to the 90% charge state so we can make it until 8AM the next morning.
Roy Ken

I went with the beefed up trailer techniques and running from large battery banks first being re-charged the next morning running my 2KW Honda generator when allowed to run one.

This method allowed me to figure out how to do things running off the power grids and how to plan for all the 120VAC and 12VDC appliances we wanted to have with us. Have been doing this now for over five years and we are very successful now camping off the back roads and trails.

I am just now starting to add on SOLAR PANELS etc to aid in not having to run my generator as long to always start each day with at least a 90% charged up battery bank.

To me a generator is a must have item when camping off the power grid to cover all PLAN Bs and will not be replaced by my solar panels. I need 20AMPS per battery to properly recharge my batteries in a quick three hour smart mode charge time and a 120WATT Solar Panel will give you around 5-6 AMPS of usable 12VDC power for probably 6 hours in a day. Will take many solar panels for me to mimic my PD9260C smart mode converter/charger unit. More than the three 120WATT Solar Panels I am planning on starting out with. I read a good 52AMPS being drawn by my battery banks when I first start up 14.4VDc smart mode charging if I want to have them ready for my one day/night run off the power grid...

If the solar panels don't do the job by at least 4:30PM each day then I have to go to PLAN B and run the generator to get everything back up to the 90% charge state so we can make it until 8AM the next morning.. Most places we go to does not allow the generator to be run after 8PM each day.

I of course can cut back on things that draw power but that's not in my camping planning...

It takes good planning to be successful running off of the trailer batteries...

Just my thoughts...
Roy Ken

Gas Weed-Eater started bothering my back, so I bought an electric one. Instead of dragging cords all over, I put my little Honda on the golf cart and do it the easy way. (or the lazy old man way)

I agree with mts, generator first then solar. Even as much sun as we get here in Colorado, there are still going to be stretches the require a generator if you are out long term.

If you have a big inverter, except for air con there's not a lot you need a generator for except charging batteries.