how to use my generator

plab wrote:
hello all I'm new to the forum and the RV world.
My wife and I just purchased a 2012 KZ hybrid and we're looking forward to enjoying it in the back woods of remote Maine. So I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer. I have a 1000 watt portable gas generator/inverter I want to use this to supply my 12V needs for an extended stay out. should I just plug my camper right into it ? I'm wondering if it has enough power output(7.5amps) to feed all the campers 12V power needs. i.e. the furnace,smoke alarm, and the various other little doo dads in the coach that will use 12V power .... or should I just hook it up directly to the battery and charge it that way
I question what the minimum power input need is for the on board inverter

thanks Plab

1000W gen most likely will be a bit on the light side.

IF you have a group24 size 12V RV/marine battery it should be sufficient size to run your furnace overnight and some lights for an evening. Anything else and you will need to run your gen to recharge the battery more often.

Depending on how many days and how much stuff you want to run you may need to consider upgrading your battery size.

Plug shore cord into the 120V outlet on the gen.

You will need to make sure the fridge is set to propane only.

You will need to make sure if equipped the water heater electric element is turned off.

The built in 12V "converter" will then start charging your trailer battery, but depending on how deeply discharged it is and how many amps the converter can supply you might trip the gen overload a couple of times at first..

DO NOT use the 12V output that is on the generator, it is not regulated and it will not provide as much charging current as the built in 12V converter and because of that will take many more hrs of having to run the generator...

plab wrote:
hello all I'm new to the forum and the RV world.
My wife and I just purchased a 2012 KZ hybrid and we're looking forward to enjoying it in the back woods of remote Maine. So I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer. I have a 1000 watt portable gas generator/inverter I want to use this to supply my 12V needs for an extended stay out. should I just plug my camper right into it ? I'm wondering if it has enough power output(7.5amps) to feed all the campers 12V power needs. i.e. the furnace,smoke alarm, and the various other little doo dads in the coach that will use 12V power .... or should I just hook it up directly to the battery and charge it that way
I question what the minimum power input need is for the on board inverter

thanks Plab

just plug the trailer's shore cord in.
the 12v outlets don't provide much and will take forever to recharge the battery.

and your trailer has a CONverter, not an INverter. all RVs have CONverters. only some motorhomes and 5th wheels come with a factory INverter.

your 1000w will be ok for recharging the battery but not for the microwave or a/c.

you need to understand that the generator won't be supplying the power for 12v items. it will be charging the battery, which is what provides power for the 12v side of the trailer.

take oldman's suggestion of the 12 Volt Side of Life. it'll help you understand how 12v stuff works in your trailer.

bikendan wrote:

plab wrote:
hello all I'm new to the forum and the RV world.
My wife and I just purchased a 2012 KZ hybrid and we're looking forward to enjoying it in the back woods of remote Maine. So I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer. I have a 1000 watt portable gas generator/inverter I want to use this to supply my 12V needs for an extended stay out. should I just plug my camper right into it ? I'm wondering if it has enough power output(7.5amps) to feed all the campers 12V power needs. i.e. the furnace,smoke alarm, and the various other little doo dads in the coach that will use 12V power .... or should I just hook it up directly to the battery and charge it that way
I question what the minimum power input need is for the on board inverter

thanks Plab

just plug the trailer's shore cord in.
the 12v outlets don't provide much and will take forever to recharge the battery.

and your trailer has a CONverter, not an INverter. all RVs have CONverters. only some motorhomes and 5th wheels come with a factory INverter.

your 1000w will be ok for recharging the battery but not for the microwave or a/c.

you need to understand that the generator won't be supplying the power for 12v items. it will be charging the battery, which is what provides power for the 12v side of the trailer.

take oldman's suggestion of the 12 Volt Side of Life. it'll help you understand how 12v stuff works in your trailer.

OP doesn't give the model number of the gen, BUT, typically the wattage number given to a gen is the start up surge wattage.

Actual continuous or running wattage will be less.

I suspect the running watts would be closer to 800W or 900W which is typical of most smaller gens..

IF the OP has a converter of 35A-45A they most likely will not have any problem running the gen to charge the batteries.. Provided the fridge is set to gas only and no other high wattage 120V items are on.

However, if they have a converter of 50A-55A they are on the verge of not being able to use that gen..

60A and higher and all bets are off (my PD9160 is rated at 1,000W draw at full load)..

When recharging a deeply discharged battery the converter will draw max 120V wattage rating.. As the battery starts charging the wattage drawn will taper..

A lower amp converter would give the OP a more favorable chance of making it work since the converter will not draw as mach power as a higher current converter..

The drawback is it will take longer for a 35A converter to fully recharge than say a 55A converter..

Since OP did not provide much in details it is only a guess if it will work.

To fine tune the guess, the OP needs to supply the battery size, converter model and the generator model.

To find the converter model, the OP only needs to find the breaker/fuse box panel.. The converter is built into the panel and there should be a model number on the panel.

The battery should have a model number..

The generator should have a model number plus other ratings on it..

Make and model of the converter? If it is 40 amps or less 1000 watts will run it going flat out. If it is larger then the generator may over load and/or stall out.

I'd add a modest solar system myself.

thanks for all the info. my genny is a ryobi 1000 watt model, output 900W running. I believe my converter is 30A I'll check to be sure.
so question ? the converter charges the battery only and actually doesn't directly supply the 12V power to the coach ?
and yes propane for the frig. my biggest concern is cold weather when I'll need my furnace, I'm sure that will be the big hit on the battery

plab

A furnace uses a lot of power, but if you set up with a fully charged battery, start your generator as a part of your initial set up and let it run, make sure you fridge and water heater are switched to propane, you should be just fine, manage your lights, only turn on what you use, and turn off when your leaving an area. Happy Camping

plab wrote:
thanks for all the info. my genny is a ryobi 1000 watt model, output 900W running. I believe my converter is 30A I'll check to be sure.
so question ? the converter charges the battery only and actually doesn't directly supply the 12V power to the coach ?
and yes propane for the frig. my biggest concern is cold weather when I'll need my furnace, I'm sure that will be the big hit on the battery

plab

The converter and the battery are basically connected together in parallel. The output current from the converter when hooked to AC power and using DC power is split between charging the battery and powering whatever DC things are in use. If you're familiar with basic circuit theory, this is a straightforward application of Kirchhoff's Current Law. If the current feeding the RV circuitry is greater than the converter can produce, the battery will be discharging to supply the extra.

(There almost certainly are some fuses, wire connections, disconnect switches, or other elements between the converter and the battery, but these can be safely ignored for this basic analysis.)