Do I need a generator?

[Steve_B_]

I've been camping for years and haven't felt the need for a generator but now I will be doing more trips without hookups available. My trailer has a single battery, and I only use it for lights, and usually only have one on at a time. I have no idea how long the battery will/should last, just running lights. I replace it about every 4 years. I don't even have a meter to tell me how much life is in it. A generator seems like a big investment, and there is the maintenance to think about as well, although it would be nice to have at home in an emergency. If I just hook up to my vehicle to recharge, how long does that take? If I'm in a spot for a week and then drive a day to another area, is that long enough to recharge? As you can see, I'm pretty ignorant on all of this but it just hasn't been a concern until now. Since retiring a few years ago, my goal has been longer trips. That didn't become possible until now, with the loss of my mom a few weeks ago. I don't like listening to other campers' generators so I've been reluctant to get one but the site I have this summer for a week is so private, no one would have to listen to it but me.

[Steve_B_]

I did just get 3 LED light bulbs to replace what I had, they take half the power. I discovered that they don't work base up, so I can't use one of them in the fixture over the dinette. I don't have a hot water tank. There is a CO2 detector. Didn't know the refrigerator takes power? When I use it on propane, the power switch has to be off - does it still draw power? It's just a small dometic cube refrigerator that works on gas, 12v, or 110.

[ng2951]

The way you are operating you could easily get by with 1KW generator. A 2KW might even run the HVAC you have attached to TT.

As far as recharge time for the battery, how long does it take to recharge battery on shore power? It will be the same for your TT on a generator.

We call our TT "our lifeboat." That is to say when the power fails at home we fire up the gensets and stay in the TT. If we think parish water might run short, we fill the tanks though we have additional water filters and a swimming pool.

Without the gensets we cannot run the AC or the pardette's hair dryer. We don't need it for the pardette's coffee maker because we have an old west coffee pot.

[Lwiddis]

"The solar fanatics will be chiming in and in your case they are probably right assuming you will park where the sun can get to them"

Yup, a small 100 to 200 watt solar system with your usage would serve you well.

[kerrlakeRoo]

RoyB!!!!!!!! I'm shocked :E, aghast! :?
Your battery's arent color coordinated.

[Ivylog]

The solar fanatics will be chiming in and in your case they are probably right assuming you will park where the sun can get to them.
Yes your car can charge the battery but it or the trailer may not be wired for doing that.
LED lights would help and at $1 each on EBay not a big investment.

[kerrlakeRoo]

Sounds like you have taken it pretty easy on your method of camping and never needed any more. That works in your favor if you are going to extend your trips. In short, yes your TV will recharge your trailer as you drive if the lead to your battery from the 7 pin plug is live. You will only be charging a few (5-10) Amps at best.Batteries charge quickly to about 75% -85% charge, but to get the final top off go very slowly. your battery is likely holding about 85 amphrs total capability. To recharge fully would take a full day of driving. If your trailer has space to add a second battery, that would be a good first step, A generator to recharge and let you run other items would obviously help too, you could also add a solar panel to trickle charge the batteries to extend their operation, this has the added benefit of keeping them topped off when the trailer is not in use.
There are many threads on here giving the technical information on how to measure usage and determining drain on your batteries, Read a few, try using a voltmeter on your next trip to see how much you are runnoing the battery down and then you can figure out what you want or need to get what you want from your setup.

[K_Charles]

The first time we were away for more then a few weeks it was for almost 3 months. We took a generator and only used it three times. If the battery got down we would get a campground for a few days, plug in and go site seeing. One day plugged into the tow vehicle will not charge the battery. 40 nights at $25 a night could get you a good generator, only you know what you want.

[RoyB]

I carry a small 2KW Generator in the tail gate corner of my covered truck bed... Wouldn't leave home without one for sure... Not many days goes by without me firing it up for something...

Here recently I have been getting a quick battery charge in my truck sitting in the Walmart and Food Lion parking driving Ms Daisy around grocery shopping. I keep running down my truck battery that needs replaced. So here I sit for five minute running the generator which is powering up my 10A Battery charger so I can start the truck again haha... It needs a new battery for sure... Best PLAN B thing I can think of...

We are usually the last ones leaving the camp grounds we stay at and I use it to jump start other campers of them having their doors all open loading up etc...

When we are camping off-road which is mostly the way we camp I will run my 2KW generator every morning where allowed starting at 8AM for three hours charging up my 255AH battery bank from its 50% to 90% charge state so we can do all of this all over again for the next day/night run off the batteries. We usually draw 23-25AMPS DC current from our battery bank between 4PM and 10PM each evening running the things we want to run when camping off-road... This drops me down to the 50% charge state by 8AM each morning... This is probably alot more than others do when they are camping off-road but this is what we do haha...

Roy's image

My battery bank

Roy's image

Roy Ken

[sch911]

Your battery also provides power for the gas alarms, refrigerator circuit board and possibly your water heater circuit board. So there is more to consider than just lights.