Generator use during travel

[Fstmvrerik]

I plan on doing quite a bit of winter camping, including driving during midwest weather and temperatures. With my last fifth wheel I had an onboard generator to run 120v electric heaters to keep everything above freezing. I currently have a 39' Outback TT, that has a winter package with sealed underbelly. I have a gasoline 30 amp stand alone generator, and the camper has its shore power at the very rear of the rig.

I have a class 3 hitch on the rear of the camper and was wondering if anybody has put a cargo carrier on the rear of the camper and used the generator on the carrier while in motion.

I know from past experience the rear of the camper can be a fairly "active" area for cargo on some highways. I worry about a 120lb generator bouncing around on the back of my rig.

Does anybody have any experience doing this?

[Omrod]

For the past eight years we have left Wisconsin and headed to Arizona in February. Sometimes it has been very cold when we started. All liquid things in the pantry, extra bottled water, etc. were in danger of freezing. I hang an indoor/outdoor thermometer in the camper and take readings as we travel along. If it close to 32°, we stop after fueling up and turn on the furnace. We monitor it and turn it off when the temperature gets into the 60’s. Usually by the second/third day we are far enough south not to worry about it. This has worked well for us in cold weather travels. Happy Trails.

[badsix]

i have a 27' T/T with a 3500 Champion gen on the reinforced rear bumper. we made a trip to Alaska and thought about catching some fish. so i put a 5cf freezer in the back of the truck and ran an extension cored from the gen to the freezer in the back of the truck. i would usually stop about every couple hours and start the gen and let it run for and hour then shut it off with the remote. i didn't feel comfortable starting it with the remote because i didn't have any way to know if it actually started.it worked great.
Jay D.

[time2roll]

The furnace in the floor should do better at heating the underbelly than the electric heaters would.
Or do you have 120v heat pads on the tanks etc?

[PhilipB]

Yes I have mounted generator on a rear rack. Ram 30 amp cord to it. Ran fine driving down the road. No issues. I was running A/C and frig on electric. BUT, the hitch did fail. It cracked the welds. I caught it before loosing it, but that was luck. I had a Yamaha 3000 generator. I have run same genny in truck bed with no issues.

[deltabravo]

time2roll wrote:
My furnace runs fine while in transit.

Mine runs fine too. I've use it while driving.

[Fstmvrerik]

I did a road test this morning, the heater did not skip a beat (I was amazed). I was still worried about the underbelly tanks and knife blades on the waste, so I put a diverter on the front bedroom floor vent so I can run heat directly into the belly next to water and bathroom waste storage.

Now I just wish I could replace my 30lb tanks with 2 100lb tanks I have in my garage, not going to start that project since I am really happy with my hitch adjustment and the added weight directly on the tongue.

[campigloo]

I have an Outback like yours. I put solar on it and occasionally needed to run the gen while on the road on a cloudy/rainy day. I cut the ends off of a typical 30a extension cord and connected in line with the shore power and through the underbelly to the front of the trailer and long enough to reach the bed of the truck with lots of slack. I slipped the tonneau cover slightly rearward and put wedges under the lid to create a draft of cool clean air. I use rubber bungees to stabilize the gen.
I’ve run it for several thousand miles like this from Alaska to Florida and points around and it works great. No carb or oil or overheating problems.

[Huntindog]

Lots of opinions here.

But I have actually done this.
Here are some facts.

My first TT a 75 Prowler. I welded an extension onto rear frame rails. It was beefy. It had to be, as the small quiet inverter generators did not exist then.
I wanted a quiet generator. The Honda ES3300 was my pick.... It was HEAVY at over 400#!!!
I semi permanently mounted it on the rear rack I had fabricated along with a cover to protect it from weather. It had electric start, so I rigged up a switch to be able to start it from inside the TT.

It worked great under tow, and camped. No issues at all...

Well there was one big one. The weight I probably added 600#s to the rear. So I had to be sure to load the front heavy.

With todays small Hondas, it would work even better.

As an aside, I have also ran the furnace while under tow. No issues there either.

Note: This was before the internet was invented, so information and misinformation (opinion) was not so easy to spread.

[canoe_on_top]

An electric heater won't heat the enclosed space under the trailer where the tanks are. I've towed in winter and just keep the furnace turned on. Don't forget to turn on the water heater. It is exposed to the outside and can freeze. Shore power is a great convenience in winter. If you boondock, you will need a lot of battery capacity and will have to run the generator a lot during the day.

[lane_hog]

The furnace should do.

Another option would be to run the generator from the bed of the truck, and snake an extension cord into the coach for a space heater or even to the back of the coach to the shore power.

Haven't done it yet, but I will be running some 10/3 (orange) Romex with the appropriate twist lock connector from the tongue to the rear of my coach so that I can run the generator on overnight stops. It's $50 in wire plus the connector.

[time2roll]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
As long as you have a battery charge line running from the truck to he camper via the 7-way plug then the battery will stay charged. Run the furnace and tune on the heated tanks if you have them.

I would add a DC-DC battery charger in the trailer.

I agree if camping off-grid.
I believe the OP is jumping pedestal to pedestal and even if the battery is bit low on arrival it will charge soon enough.

I would sooner carry an extra cylinder of propane.

[Grit_dog]

dodge guy wrote:
As long as you have a battery charge line running from the truck to he camper via the 7-way plug then the battery will stay charged. Run the furnace and tune on the heated tanks if you have them.

Not a chance.
True statement if you had a dedicated charging line but the little 10ga 12V wire in the 7 pin doesn’t do much.

[Thermoguy]

Why do you need to have power when moving? Trying to keep the pipes from freezing? Wouldn't it be smarter to run empty and drain your low point drains before driving in such low temps. Maybe add antifreeze to areas where you might not be able to get all the water out? I assume this is the only reason you want to have power. Just winterize or do as much as you can. I think if you filled your fresh water, assuming you need water, a full tank wouldn't freeze even with 8 hours of driving. When you get where your going, plug in or run the gen.

[TomG2]

Class A and Class C motorhomes travel thousands of miles every year with generators running. I have run mine in the bed of my pickup while driving with the travel trailer plugged in for air conditioning. I don't do it all time, just wanted to make sure that it would work.