Questions about power for overnighting

[RnTBnB]

I tried the search feature, but I didn't find what I am looking for. My wife and I travel with a 5er and we do not have a generator, so overnighting on a parking lot in hot weather is not an option for us. What setup would I need in order to be able to run a fan in the bedroom all night and a coffee maker the next morning? Running the 13.5 BTU AC in the bedroom overnight plus the coffee maker the next morning would be even better, so what setup would I need to be able to do that?

Thank you in advance for your input.

[NinerBikes]

Lantley wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:

pnichols wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:
Sometimes you just gotta quit being such a cheapskate, and just go spend the money and get an air conditioned room. It's the nature of trips through the midwest and south during the hotter months of the year, budget accordingly.

Cheapskate has nothing to do with quick overnight stops in Walmart parking lots (with permission), church parking lots (with permission), Port-of-Entry parking lots (with permission), Cracker Barrel parking lots (with permission), out in back by farmer's barns (with permission), and truck stop parking lots (with permission).

Convenienceskate is what it's all about. When we're shooting for making time on long RV excursions, I'll be dead and gone before I drive all over the place in maybe late afternoons trying to find a "hookup" campground when the places I just mentioned are close to main travel routes. And this includes touring the Southern U.S. in August. We don't want to have to camp for comfort at high altitude or only in places with temperatures below 75 degrees - that's not what self-containment and the money you spend for it is all about.

As for as staying in an air conditioned room with one's $$$ RV sitting outside unoccupied just because of generator paranoia - one has to be kidding. Not in a million years would we do that - assuming that the RV's built-in generator and air conditioner(s) are high quality, well installed, and fully operational!!

BTW, bedbugs can be an expensive nightmare to get out of an RV or stick house once a person has stayed in the wrong rented room on the wrong night.

No point in debating with someone as self centered as you... you seem to believe you can do no wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A sure sign that something is not right is if you do a search for it, and nothing comes up on the Bulletin Board. If you have to ask if you can, something internally is probably telling you that you shouldn't do it, you are seeking validation from a few selfish like minded individuals as you. If it's acceptable to do it, you wouldn't even consider asking the question... it's a given. Consider it an application of common sense, unless you are a narcissist.

Running a generator when you are camping is acceptable, generally you are far enough away from fellow campers that noise pollution and exhaust fumes are not a problem. Running a generator when you are overnighting disturbs everyone. I have no hesitation when I am there first at a WalMart to ask someone to shut their generator off, as I don't wish to hear it or smell it. Recharge while you are driving down the road with your alternator, and no one is offended by it.

Do you go up to the 18 wheelers and ask them to turn off their engines and/or fridge units.
On a few Wal-Mart overnights there have been trucks present making more noise the my genset.
If it were a hot July or August night, I seriously doubt I would turn off my genset per your request.
Especially if I where there first before you arrived.
I would obey if asked to turn off by Wal-Mart,neighbor or LEO.
But being ask to turn off by a camper that just arrived would just end up with me suggesting you park farther away or deal with it

Pay attention, and re read. I clearly stated I was there first. I don't park in truck stops, ever. So that is a non issue in your debate.

The stated goal in overnighting is to be unobtrusive to all, including fellow overnighters. No different than camping. Including quiet hours from 10 pm to 6 am. Why would it or should it be any different, unless you are a selfish bore.

The issue isn't noise being created by your AC unit, the issue is if you make noise to generate electricity to power up your AC unit, when your AC unit and whole Rv was designed from scratch, to be hooked up to a pedestal, not a generator, to power the AC. RV parks and RV builders are in bed together, they have a symbiotic relationship.

As for me, I plan my trips to make stops, even in the summer time, such that I have enough elevation, where it cools off at night, at any given overnight spot so as to never have to run the AC unit, let alone the generator. This means climbing up out of the desert southwest onto a 5000 ft elevation plateau around or north of Cedar City, UT before stopping, about a 450 mile one day drive. Or else, I pay a fee at an Indian Casino to plug in at a pedestal overnight and cool down.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Hee hee hee, try sleeping in a roadside rest stop where RV's are forced to park in the big rig parking area. What? Sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot? Lessee only a 39 mile diversion off the interstate or is that 390?

Generator/AC camping is EXPENSIVE. Down here when diesel was FIFTEEN CENTS a gallon, I had to drive 82 miles round trip to Chetumal, to fill up drums.

I found it FAR cheaper to move to an RV park in Chetumal where the daily rental with hookups cost $11.00 (dollars). This is based on 24/7 operation and being an MBA I am partially convinced I can use a calculator and track all expenses.

Except for the neighbors and noise issue this is a pretty cut and dried calculation. No way on earth is generator A/C camping inexpensive, then or now. If the object is "No Money" that's one thing, if "Money is no object" that's quite another. Another skew is the number of hours accrued annually. This is not a cut n dried "Yes/No" decision.

[Lantley]

NinerBikes wrote:

pnichols wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:
Sometimes you just gotta quit being such a cheapskate, and just go spend the money and get an air conditioned room. It's the nature of trips through the midwest and south during the hotter months of the year, budget accordingly.

Cheapskate has nothing to do with quick overnight stops in Walmart parking lots (with permission), church parking lots (with permission), Port-of-Entry parking lots (with permission), Cracker Barrel parking lots (with permission), out in back by farmer's barns (with permission), and truck stop parking lots (with permission).

Convenienceskate is what it's all about. When we're shooting for making time on long RV excursions, I'll be dead and gone before I drive all over the place in maybe late afternoons trying to find a "hookup" campground when the places I just mentioned are close to main travel routes. And this includes touring the Southern U.S. in August. We don't want to have to camp for comfort at high altitude or only in places with temperatures below 75 degrees - that's not what self-containment and the money you spend for it is all about.

As for as staying in an air conditioned room with one's $$$ RV sitting outside unoccupied just because of generator paranoia - one has to be kidding. Not in a million years would we do that - assuming that the RV's built-in generator and air conditioner(s) are high quality, well installed, and fully operational!!

BTW, bedbugs can be an expensive nightmare to get out of an RV or stick house once a person has stayed in the wrong rented room on the wrong night.

No point in debating with someone as self centered as you... you seem to believe you can do no wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A sure sign that something is not right is if you do a search for it, and nothing comes up on the Bulletin Board. If you have to ask if you can, something internally is probably telling you that you shouldn't do it, you are seeking validation from a few selfish like minded individuals as you. If it's acceptable to do it, you wouldn't even consider asking the question... it's a given. Consider it an application of common sense, unless you are a narcissist.

Running a generator when you are camping is acceptable, generally you are far enough away from fellow campers that noise pollution and exhaust fumes are not a problem. Running a generator when you are overnighting disturbs everyone. I have no hesitation when I am there first at a WalMart to ask someone to shut their generator off, as I don't wish to hear it or smell it. Recharge while you are driving down the road with your alternator, and no one is offended by it.

Do you go up to the 18 wheelers and ask them to turn off their engines and/or fridge units.
On a few Wal-Mart overnights there have been trucks present making more noise the my genset.
If it were a hot July or August night, I seriously doubt I would turn off my genset per your request.
Especially if I where there first before you arrived.
I would obey if asked to turn off by Wal-Mart,neighbor or LEO.
But being ask to turn off by a camper that just arrived would just end up with me suggesting you park farther away or deal with it

[Mkwilkie]

pdogg wrote:
As for coffee, we go for simple solutions... like a stove top percolator, or even easier are the Starbucks VIA powdered coffee packets.. Just add boiling water and you're set.. cheap and simple. All you need is a kettle.

Others have covered the AC topic to death..

I'm old enough to remember stove top percolators. And I also remember the mess they could make if you didn't use them right. Coffee grounds everywhere! Don't want to go back to those days!! Lol!

[pdogg]

As for coffee, we go for simple solutions... like a stove top percolator, or even easier are the Starbucks VIA powdered coffee packets.. Just add boiling water and you're set.. cheap and simple. All you need is a kettle.

Others have covered the AC topic to death..

[NinerBikes]

pnichols wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:
Sometimes you just gotta quit being such a cheapskate, and just go spend the money and get an air conditioned room. It's the nature of trips through the midwest and south during the hotter months of the year, budget accordingly.

Cheapskate has nothing to do with quick overnight stops in Walmart parking lots (with permission), church parking lots (with permission), Port-of-Entry parking lots (with permission), Cracker Barrel parking lots (with permission), out in back by farmer's barns (with permission), and truck stop parking lots (with permission).

Convenienceskate is what it's all about. When we're shooting for making time on long RV excursions, I'll be dead and gone before I drive all over the place in maybe late afternoons trying to find a "hookup" campground when the places I just mentioned are close to main travel routes. And this includes touring the Southern U.S. in August. We don't want to have to camp for comfort at high altitude or only in places with temperatures below 75 degrees - that's not what self-containment and the money you spend for it is all about.

As for as staying in an air conditioned room with one's $$$ RV sitting outside unoccupied just because of generator paranoia - one has to be kidding. Not in a million years would we do that - assuming that the RV's built-in generator and air conditioner(s) are high quality, well installed, and fully operational!!

BTW, bedbugs can be an expensive nightmare to get out of an RV or stick house once a person has stayed in the wrong rented room on the wrong night.

No point in debating with someone as self centered as you... you seem to believe you can do no wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A sure sign that something is not right is if you do a search for it, and nothing comes up on the Bulletin Board. If you have to ask if you can, something internally is probably telling you that you shouldn't do it, you are seeking validation from a few selfish like minded individuals as you. If it's acceptable to do it, you wouldn't even consider asking the question... it's a given. Consider it an application of common sense, unless you are a narcissist.

Running a generator when you are camping is acceptable, generally you are far enough away from fellow campers that noise pollution and exhaust fumes are not a problem. Running a generator when you are overnighting disturbs everyone. I have no hesitation when I am there first at a WalMart to ask someone to shut their generator off, as I don't wish to hear it or smell it. Recharge while you are driving down the road with your alternator, and no one is offended by it.

[pnichols]

NinerBikes wrote:
Sometimes you just gotta quit being such a cheapskate, and just go spend the money and get an air conditioned room. It's the nature of trips through the midwest and south during the hotter months of the year, budget accordingly.

Cheapskate has nothing to do with quick overnight stops in Walmart parking lots (with permission), church parking lots (with permission), Port-of-Entry parking lots (with permission), Cracker Barrel parking lots (with permission), out in back by farmer's barns (with permission), and truck stop parking lots (with permission).

Convenienceskate is what it's all about. When we're shooting for making time on long RV excursions, I'll be dead and gone before I drive all over the place in maybe late afternoons trying to find a "hookup" campground when the places I just mentioned are close to main travel routes. And this includes touring the Southern U.S. in August. We don't want to have to camp for comfort at high altitude or only in places with temperatures below 75 degrees - that's not what self-containment and the money you spend for it is all about.

As for as staying in an air conditioned room with one's $$$ RV sitting outside unoccupied just because of generator paranoia - one has to be kidding. Not in a million years would we do that - assuming that the RV's built-in generator and air conditioner(s) are high quality, well installed, and fully operational!!

BTW, bedbugs can be an expensive nightmare to get out of an RV or stick house once a person has stayed in the wrong rented room on the wrong night.

[pnichols]

Almot wrote:
Most RVs carry el-cheapo generators with no provisions made to quiet it down during a short-term stay.

My Onan 4K retails for around $3100.00. Winnebago installed it well in our Itasca. As installed by Winnebago - in a cabinet up high with none of the generator hanging down low enough to see it so it has walls completely encircling it's top and all sides - it's plenty quiet enough if I had to camp next to it and listen to it. As installed, it easily exceeds "forest service generator noise standards". Onan built-ins are not el-cheapo and neither is Winnebago's installation on our particular Itasca.

By the way, I wonder how many of those ranting about generator noise have ever strained to hear a Honda EX650 charging batteries? They need to try it sometime before continuing their rants against "all" generators.

Boy ... are we really getting off topic. 😞

[MEXICOWANDERER]

R.V. Park.

The alternatives cost thousands of dollars. It's an "A" or "B" choice.

[Mkwilkie]

Almot wrote:
***Link Removed***.

Why drinking coffee in a 90 degree heat, is a mystery to me.

True coffee addicts need it year round. 🙂

[Sam_Spade]

pianotuna wrote:
I won't run a generator while I'm sleeping.

Alas very often in the summer time I can't sleep if I DON'T.
ROCK ------ HARD PLACE.

Actually I only run it until about midnight or 1 AM.
And the gen only makes about as much sound as the A/C does.
And my exhaust has a "chimney".

Once the inside is cool and the outside goes below 70 or so, it's not needed anymore.

[Almot]

Clicky.

Why drinking coffee in a 90 degree heat, is a mystery to me.

[Mkwilkie]

Coleman Camping Coffee Maker from Amazon. Works on your propane burner to brew coffee.
$30 on Amazon.
Coleman Camping Coffee Maker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001K7IDVU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_su-PwbS7TC570

[copeland343]

I have a onan 4kw flat twin 1800 rpm generator. When my truck is idling you can not hear the generator. Yes it will make some noise it just sounds like a quite car.I have a automotive muffler on it not a generator silencer.

[pianotuna]

I won't run a generator while I'm sleeping.