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GoBeavs's avatar
GoBeavs
Explorer
Mar 16, 2017

Generator questions

I'll be taking out my travel trailer this summer and I'm a new rv'er. I have a 2017 Cherokee with two batteries. I'll be going "dry" camping for up to 5 days at a time. Will a Honda 1000 generator be able to charge my batteries? I just want to plug it into the regular shore power outlet. How fast will it charge? I'll be staying in national parks and they only permit generators to be run a max of 6 hours a day (2 in the he morning. 2 mid day, 2 evening). Plus I want to be a good neighbor. These seem like a really quiet option. I know a 2000 would work, but I can save a lot of money by going with the 1000.
  • korbe's avatar
    korbe
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2017
    In electrical conserve mode (ECM), we can dry camp for up to a week without the need of a generator. Our camping neighbors are very happy with us. We have 225ah of battery and we use about 15 - 20 ah per day.
    Still includes each of us daily navy showers, plenty of LED light use, and normal water pump use.

    You may find that you don't need a generator at all.
  • GoBeavs's avatar
    GoBeavs
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2017
    Oh. I like the sound of that! Yes. My TT has all LED lights and I've even purchased some battery operated LED tap lights as well so we're not always using the house batteries. I just want to make sure we have enough power for the water pump, and the rv fridge thermostat and some lights.
  • coolmom42's avatar
    coolmom42
    Explorer II
    Mar 16, 2017
    You can find the specs here. Max out put is about 8 amps, so running it an hour will put about 8 amp-hours (at most) back in your battery.

    If you are conservative, you won't use much electricity at all. Water pump, a few electronics, LED lights, and your consumption is very low. Charge your phones, etc in your tow vehicle while out sight-seeing.

    You should be able to go a long time on 2 batteries, with a little boost from this generator occasionally.

    Now it won't work if you are trying to run a microwave, coffeemaker, hair dryer, etc off an inverter. Those things suck batteries down fast.
  • SoundGuy's avatar
    SoundGuy
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2017
    korbe wrote:
    We have 225ah of battery and we use about 15 - 20 ah per day.


    That would be really conservative for most ... to the OP, think more in terms of at least twice that rate of consumption, maybe a 3 day long weekend with that pair of batteries you have, depending on exactly what they are. A 1K genset certainly will take it's time restoring a pair of batts from 50% to 90% but a 2K may not do all that much better if you're running a garden variety WFCO converter as so many are which can't even get out of it's own way when charging. :M For a more accurate assessment you'd have to provide more specific info about the batteries and converter / charger you intend to use.
  • GoBeavs's avatar
    GoBeavs
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2017
    Good info! Yes. We'll just be cooking on the stove and doing things that don't require cooking like sandwiches. Lol
  • troubledwaters's avatar
    troubledwaters
    Explorer III
    Mar 16, 2017
    coolmom42 wrote:
    You can find the specs here. Max out put is about 8 amps, so running it an hour will put about 8 amp-hours (at most) back in your battery.

    If you are conservative, you won't use much electricity at all. Water pump, a few electronics, LED lights, and your consumption is very low. Charge your phones, etc in your tow vehicle while out sight-seeing.

    You should be able to go a long time on 2 batteries, with a little boost from this generator occasionally.

    Now it won't work if you are trying to run a microwave, coffeemaker, hair dryer, etc off an inverter. Those things suck batteries down fast.
    If you plug your trailer into the generator, your converter should get a lot more than 8 a-h out of it.
  • Huntindog's avatar
    Huntindog
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2017
    coolmom42 wrote:
    You can find the specs here. Max out put is about 8 amps, so running it an hour will put about 8 amp-hours (at most) back in your battery.

    If you are conservative, you won't use much electricity at all. Water pump, a few electronics, LED lights, and your consumption is very low. Charge your phones, etc in your tow vehicle while out sight-seeing.

    You should be able to go a long time on 2 batteries, with a little boost from this generator occasionally.

    Now it won't work if you are trying to run a microwave, coffeemaker, hair dryer, etc off an inverter. Those things suck batteries down fast.


    Ummm. First he will be plugging the shore cord into the generator, and charging the batteries with his TTs convertor... Don't know what that is, but most can put out 45+ amps into discharged batteries.(lots of variables, but definantly more than 8 amps.)

    Second, he likely doesn't have an inverter. So unless he steps up tp a EU2000, he won't be running a microwave, coffee maker, hair dryer etc.

    OP, yes get a generator. For maximum flexability, the 2000 is the way to go. Not much more weight, and only about 300.00 more. A year from now you will thank me for this, as the 300.00 will be long forgotten.
  • SoundGuy's avatar
    SoundGuy
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2017
    Huntindog wrote:
    For maximum flexability, the 2000 is the way to go. Not much more weight, and only about 300.00 more. A year from now you will thank me for this, as the 300.00 will be long forgotten.


    For sure, a 2K genset is a lot more versatile than a 1K BUT the OP may not thank you a year from now once they've gotten tired of repeatedly lugging that 50+ lb 2K genset in and out of the truck. :M It may only be 20 lbs lighter but a 1K is FAR easier to toss around than a 2K. I've owned two EU2000i gensets but if I were to ever buy another a much lighter 1K would now be my preference. Yeah, a 1K will take longer to recharge a set of batteries to the same SOC as a 2K but at the end of the day my back will thank me for choosing a 1K. :W
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Mar 16, 2017
    GoBeavs wrote:
    Will a Honda 1000 generator be able to charge my batteries?
    Depends on the capacity of your converter.
  • mbopp's avatar
    mbopp
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2017
    My setup:
    2-G29 12V batteries (next time it'll be dual GC-2's)
    IOTA 55A deck-mount converter mounted in the pass-through.
    The factory WFCO charge circuit is disconnected since it never goes into boost mode.
    Honda 2000i generator.

    The Honda handles the IOTA when the IOTA is putting out its full 55A. And DW can run her hair dryer and make perked coffee, just not all at once. I like to get an hour a day on the generator just to top off the batteries. The Honda has also served to run my house fridge, furnace, sump pump, TV, and a few lights during power outages, the latest one last week during the windstorm in NY.

    Using the battery charger output on a Honda is the most inefficient way to charge a battery.

    To do over I'd still get the 2000i. I don't think a 1000i would run more than a 30A converter at full output.

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