Alternative Generator For our campers

[brholt]

Given the limited space in truck campers and to avoid carrying gas I was wondering what people think about something like this:

Car Based power generator

They seem to have both a "1000" watt and a "2000" watt model though the later is pricy.

[Kayteg1]

kohldad wrote:

Didn't know you could buy a 1000w inverter generator for $150.

You should come to the forum more often.
It was great tip here about This Generator going on sale. It is on sale again, but now for $250.
Nice thing about RV is that you can charge the batteries in several ways, but not all of them makes economic sense for one, or convenient sense for other.

[kohldad]

For the price of BTB charger you can buy 1000W inverter generator (when on sale) and use it anytime you want without worry about truck engine wear and economy.

Didn't know you could buy a 1000w inverter generator for $150.

I'm running the engine anyhow moving from spot to spot, not idling in a campground. I move most days so this isn't a problem. The BTB charger takes a lot less space even fitting in a cabinet with the other electronics. Plus it comes on when ever I crank the truck so don't even have to think about it.

[ajriding]

no even worth my time to read the rest of the post. Dumb item. run away

[pnichols]

kohldad wrote:

Our small motorhome on the Ford E450 chassis has the V10 in it. When drycamping and the coach batteries get low, I bring them up a bit by idling the V10 for awhile. It's fed off the main 55 gallon tank and it idles very quiet. It's 130 amp alternator dumps way more current into the batteries initially, when they're quite low, than the motorhome's built-in charger can. Doing this shortens overall charge time quite a bit for when using the motorhome's generator or a portable generator to finish up the charging. While doing this V10 idling, we can also use the main cab heating and air conditioning systems to also heat/cool the entire coach area.

You would do better by adding in a battery-to-battery charger. This way the coach battery will see a higher charge rate during the entire idling time. I'm adding one not for while idling, but to maximize the charge rate during my short move days where normal running wouldn't have a chance at a full charge.

When my two 115AH Group 31 AGM deep cycle batteries (230 amps total) get run down to around 50% SOC - and I then use my idling V10 for 1 to 1/2 hours to supply an initial boost charge (of 14.XX volts) into them - the ammeter I've installed shows this process as initially pumping up to 80 amps from the 130 amp Ford alternator into the coach batteries and then tapering down to around 25-30 amps at the end of the 1 to 1/2 hours of V10 idling. I'm not sure that a B-to-B charger between the engine battery and the two coach batteries could do any better than this.

My motorhome of course has it's engine alternator much closer to the coach batteries than what a tow vehicle's alternator would be to a trailer's or 5th wheel's battery bank. Our motorhome also is using 8 guage cabling between the engine alternator and the coach batteries ... hence the high current that is able to flow from the alternator to the coach batteries due to only a small voltage drop between the alternator and the batteries.

Actually, a truck camper could also use the above approach for initial high current boost charging of it's camper batteries.

When drycamping, I can finish the coach battery charging by running the built-in Onan generator or our portable Honda generator for several hours after the initial engine alternator boost charge.

[Kayteg1]

For the price of BTB charger you can buy 1000W inverter generator (when on sale) and use it anytime you want without worry about truck engine wear and economy.

[kohldad]

Our small motorhome on the Ford E450 chassis has the V10 in it. When drycamping and the coach batteries get low, I bring them up a bit by idling the V10 for awhile. It's fed off the main 55 gallon tank and it idles very quiet. It's 130 amp alternator dumps way more current into the batteries initially, when they're quite low, than the motorhome's built-in charger can. Doing this shortens overall charge time quite a bit for when using the motorhome's generator or a portable generator to finish up the charging. While doing this V10 idling, we can also use the main cab heating and air conditioning systems to also heat/cool the entire coach area.

You would do better by adding in a battery-to-battery charger. This way the coach battery will see a higher charge rate during the entire idling time. I'm adding one not for while idling, but to maximize the charge rate during my short move days where normal running wouldn't have a chance at a full charge.

[Eric_Lisa]

pnichols wrote:
...When drycamping and the coach batteries get low, I bring them up a bit by idling the V10 for awhile....idling a vehicle engine to supply non-motive power can be a viable thing in certain situations.

A family member of mine owns a generator company. The smallest they make is based on a Chevy 350. It puts out 208a on single phase. The V10 in the motor home is capable of a lot more output relative to the inputs needed to keep it running. Way overkill for simply charging the house batteries.

But I do agree - it does make sense in certain situations. Certainly wouldn't be my primary battery charger.

-Eric

[pnichols]

JoeChiOhki wrote:
You'd be better served getting a belt driven generator kit from fabco.com if you wanted to add 110volt power generation directly to your vehicles engine, though the better ones are RealPower's PTO drive generator kits

This product reminds of what I've doing lately when drycamping:

Our small motorhome on the Ford E450 chassis has the V10 in it. When drycamping and the coach batteries get low, I bring them up a bit by idling the V10 for awhile. It's fed off the main 55 gallon tank and it idles very quiet. It's 130 amp alternator dumps way more current into the batteries initially, when they're quite low, than the motorhome's built-in charger can. Doing this shortens overall charge time quite a bit for when using the motorhome's generator or a portable generator to finish up the charging. While doing this V10 idling, we can also use the main cab heating and air conditioning systems to also heat/cool the entire coach area.

So ... idling a vehicle engine to supply non-motive power can be a viable thing in certain situations.

[brholt]

Kayteg1 wrote:

2oldman wrote:
I'm totally convinced that inverter will actually put out 4000w.

They usually do. I just got that inverter yesterday, so tests are coming, but in the past I was using 1200W inverter to run 1500W oven on my boat. Boat had good cooling, so inverter would perform for 7 minutes before going into overload/overheat.
Than it would take more investigation what "peak" means for the manufacturer. I'd expect 5 seconds, so good for starting electric motors at 2 HP.

TEST RESULTS.
The inverter did start and run 3HP rated vacuum cleaner.
The single battery voltage dropped to 10.8V and output to 90V, but the thing run for several seconds test.
Lot of variables to consider. The included cables are 6mm-sq or 8 g, so lot of things can be improved.
Still very impressive for very small & light inverter with pure sine.
Isn't technology amazing?

The add says 4,000 watts peak, 1,800 sustained

[JoeChiOhki]

You'd be better served getting a belt driven generator kit from fabco.com if you wanted to add 110volt power generation directly to your vehicles engine, though the better ones are RealPower's PTO drive generator kits

[greenno]

If your looking at an aftermarket generator for 120v AC power check out the DuroMax dual fuel generators. I have the XP2000EH model and I can run my AC or Micro separately with no issues. I purchased a 2019 AF 990 camper 2 years ago and ordered it with no generator ( cost $3,863 ) the Duramax cost me about $600. It stores inside the same compartment as the built in and is easy to plumb up and connect electrically. Along with 510w of solar panels ( $717 ) on the roof I can be off the grid for weeks without shore power. I have (2) 30lb propane tanks and the generator will run for 30 hours at 50% load ( 8 amps or so ). Easy to carry and hook up . good investment check them out. FWIW just got back from a 3 week trip down in Baja and all good.

[mkirsch]

What about the elephant in the room?

IT'S NOT EVEN A GENERATOR! Generators generate electricity mechanically. This is an inverter.

Seems I recall there being another product that one of the major generator manufacturers was calling a "generator" when it really was just an overpriced battery with an inverter on a hand truck.

[Kayteg1]

2oldman wrote:
I'm totally convinced that inverter will actually put out 4000w.

They usually do. I just got that inverter yesterday, so tests are coming, but in the past I was using 1200W inverter to run 1500W oven on my boat. Boat had good cooling, so inverter would perform for 7 minutes before going into overload/overheat.
Than it would take more investigation what "peak" means for the manufacturer. I'd expect 5 seconds, so good for starting electric motors at 2 HP.

TEST RESULTS.
The inverter did start and run 3HP rated vacuum cleaner.
The single battery voltage dropped to 10.8V and output to 90V, but the thing run for several seconds test.
Lot of variables to consider. The included cables are 6mm-sq or 8 g, so lot of things can be improved.
Still very impressive for very small & light inverter with pure sine.
Isn't technology amazing?

[2oldman]

Kayteg1 wrote:
The $99 inverter with 4000W peak

I'm totally convinced that inverter will actually put out 4000w.

[Kayteg1]

SidecarFlip wrote:

2oldman wrote:
It appears to be nothing more than an inverter, with a lot of glitz and hype.

Isn't the public gullible? Go buy a Xantrex or an AIMS Power PSW inverter and a set of jumper cables and be happy, for hundreds less/

The $99 inverter with 4000W peak comes with the cables.
I would judge the topic as scam, so common on this forum.