How much power should your generator have?

[Land Yachtie]

We have a new Wildcat 5th wheel that is 32'.
We want to get a generator for backup purposes in case we are somewhere without a land hookup.
Have no experience so need your help.
Should we get a Honda 2000 generator that can be linked to another
Honda 2000 generator in case we need more than 2000 watts of power or
should we look at a single 2400 unit or even the non-linkable Honda generator?
Would really like to know what the minimum requirement(s) might be for running the 5th wheel without ground power.
Thanks so much.

[wingnut60]

One 2000 won't run the AC, but 2 of them will; the 3000 will run the AC, but not much else. The 2000 is light enough to move easily--the 3000 I have heard is 160lbs.
Anything but the 2000 Hondas and the similar Yamaha are quite noisy--if noise doesn't bother you (or you won't have neighbors) than the choice for gens gets much larger. I have a 4k Generac that I used before I got the builtin Onan--it did everything I needed, but is very noisy.
Joe

[Land Yachtie]

Thank you for your advice, Wingnut. Very helpful.

[450Donn]

Look it is really simple. Decide what you MUST have and what you can do without. Is the AC a must or can you do without? If you can do without then a 1000 watt Honda will do just fine. Remember you do not run the water heater or refer on ac power, you run them on gas when boondocking. We boondock a lot and for many years all we had was a Honda 1000 watt and it worked perfectly for us. It will not run a hair dryer, it will run the toaster, barely. It will not run the microwave, but we do not use that so who cares. When boondocking the idea is to be outside as much as possible, so battery charging is really all we needed a generator for. Your situation is probably different, so will your needs. IMHO I would buy a single Yamaha 2800 watt generator. It will run my 15K AC unit if necessary, is fuel efficient and less costly that the Honda twins. Do your research first as to how much you actually need and buy that one.

[diandtom]

I got a 3000 kw from PEP Boys and it will run my AC and microwave on our Arctic Fox that we had. I did a modification to put the two windings in par ell for more AMPS. This did away with the 220 V outlet. It is quite and cheap around $300, when I got it. It also weights around 90 lbs.. I also have a Yamaha 3000 that I use at the house. It is much better generator, but cost around $1600 and much heavier. I have only used the PEP Boys special a few times and it is all we need. I think we did boon dock with it once and it did ok. We use it mostly to cool off on a hot day as we have lunch in the fiver.
Tom

[wa8yxm]

Re the Pep Boys Special.. I had one of those myself, it grew legs and walked off on me (From a garage) Now, I know who's legs it grew, but proving it is another matter.

THEY MAKE A LOT OF NOISE

As the original poster (wingnut) said, the Honda or Yahama are much easier on the ears.. In fact a few years ago at Quartsite, now under stand there is a bit of crowd noise there. but a friend and I stopped at the yahama display.. At no load the 2400 ... Well.. If I listened carefully I could just hear it under the crowd noise, Bernie, the salesman and I were speaking in normal tones

At half load I could hear it but we did not have to raise our voices

At full load we had to speak up... a bit (not much)

At full load it was still less noisy than the pep boys special at no load.

The honda.. on paper it's 1db louder.. You can't hear 1db difference, nobody can.

[diandtom]

I agree the Yamaha is much better but the cost is very high and it much heavier. I only use it every now and then. In the three years the generator has very few hours of use. I change the oil before putting it back on the fiver and the oil looked like new. The Yamaha at the house has very few hours on it also. We live on the coast of North Carolina and I got it for hurricane, as we usually loose power for days when we have a hurricane. Since I got the Yamaha no hurricanes and hope I don't get to use it.

[golfinal1]

All good advice from everyone. I just have a couple of comments.

I heard Honda has a new 3KW on the market that is just slightly heavier than the EU2000i. I haven't seen it yet but it sounds good.

Also take into account that a generator looses 3% of its total power output for each 1000 ft in altitude you climb. So if you are going to Colorado or Wyoming you may want to run some calculations. However you will not need your air conditioner in the mountains.

[Ray,IN]

I am pleased with performance of my RV's choice for Portable Power - Boliy USA, Home of the Boliy Generator. The 2010 model offers electric-start if desired. When you read the specs it betters a Honda 3000, and with higher output. At 78# it is easy to load/unload from the truckbed. After the 3 yr warranty expires, a Honda service shop will work on them.During warranty it must be returned to the dealer for repair.

When I received mine I ran some informal tests. It will power both our heat pumps at the same time, while maintaining acceptable voltage and amperage levels. Of course I would never attempt that again, but it did exhibit the strength of this (for me) reliable power source. You will find more on this by searching irv2.