Genny

[longing]

I have a question about generators. When we bought our TT we also bought 2 2k Honda generators. They do not have a whole lot of hours on them. We are trading the TT in on our new 30T. Would you make room in the MH for the generators or just use the on board one all of the time. I will probably keep the Honda's even if they don't go with us any more. I guess I am asking which would be better to put the wear and tear on, the built in one or the portables.

[Mr_D]

Does your new rig have a gas or propane generator? Propane will use far more fuel and it's harder to refill the propane in the MH.
If you have an onboard propane generator then I'd probably take one Honda with me and use it when not needing full generator output.

[Mudfrog]

The onboard genset needs to be exercised routinely. A general recommendation is an hour or two per month under some load. The onboard is made to be run and should do well as long as maintenance is kept up with.

On the other hand, and this is imo, i wouldn't want to put a tons of hours on the onboard just to keep coach batteries charged or watch TV. That would be a better job for the Honda. Of course, if you have room for it, it sure doesn't hurt to have the Honda along for a back up.

[MisterT]

we traded our 5th with two Hondas Eu2000s several years ago for a Georgetown ClassA with onboard generator - would never need the Hondas, and certainly don't want to carry them around 'just in case'... sold both immediately on CraigsList for about 80% of what I had paid for them several months before.

[Scarab0088]

From the OPs signature line...the Sunstar LX line (Ford F53 chassis) has an Onan 4Kw or optional 5.5Kw Quiet Gas gennie.
So, it will run off the main gasoline tank.

We had a portable gennie from our last TT when we got the Class A and took it along to save hours on the built-in Onan...but stopped 'cuz the Onan is SO much easier to use. Just push the button and being built-in, it is very quiet.

It's a personal decision to use the on-board or not. If you camp off-grid a lot and have no inverter (optional 1000w unit on the Sunstar), then your gennie hours will be higher...YMMV.

Best luck

[Gary RVRoamer]

There is little value to using the portable instead of the onboard genset, especially since the onboard one needs regular exercise anyway to keep it in good working condition. Unless you expect to be running the genset 24 hours/day, wear & tear is negligible. Fuel consumption will also be about the same for whatever kilowatt-hours you use.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

There is little value to using the portable instead of the onboard genset, especially since the onboard one needs regular exercise anyway to keep it in good working condition. Unless you expect to be running the genset 24 hours/day, wear & tear is negligible. Fuel consumption will also be about the same for whatever kilowatt-hours you use.

We too have two Honda generators which we used in parallel when we had our TT. We still have them, and still use them periodically. Nice to have on the farm when we need electricity 400 feet from nearest plug!

We carry one of them with us in the coach we currently own. I disagree about the fuel consumption statement above. Our Honda EU2000 will run from 6 to 9 hours with varied loads on 0.9 gallons of gasoline. Our Onan uses 0.5 gallons / HOUR with minimal load . . .

We don't have any issues with keeping the on board genny exercised. If not used in the normal course of events, I keep a log and run it at least monthly for with minimum of 50% load for 1 hour.

We like the convenience of having the Honda when we are dry camping for extended periods.

Note: We have the Berg extended run 6 gallon fuel tank, and also have inductive type hour meters installed on both Honda's in order to keep track of usage for maintenance purposes.

One last item. If you have a Progressive Industries power management system on your coach, you will need to either bond the neutral and ground at the generator yourself, or purchase/manufacture an adapter that will do the same. Otherwise your PI will sense and "open ground" and prevent the transfer switch from allowing Honda generator power to run the coach.

[garbonz]

If you keep Honda, also need to exercises them monthly, and run them dry to prevent goo from building up in the carb. and yes on the neutral bonding with the PI unit. I first ran into that with a xantrex marine charger inverter and it took awhile to figure out.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by garbonz

If you keep Honda, also need to exercises them monthly, and run them dry to prevent goo from building up in the carb. and yes on the neutral bonding with the PI unit. I first ran into that with a xantrex marine charger inverter and it took awhile to figure out.

Good points. The Honda's don't like to sit with alcohol "enhanced" fuel. What I have seen happen is the main metering jet ends up sticking in the orifice if you store with fuel in it, even with the use of "stabil" or similar fuel additives. If not planning on running for awhile, we empty the gas, run the fuel in the float bowl out and store in a climate controlled area. Also, for oil changes, it's handy to purchase one of oil drain "extenders" available on Ebay. I eliminates the mess of changing the oil. Wish the Honda's had a small "tiny" oil filter on them though!

[Gary RVRoamer]

We carry one of them with us in the coach we currently own. I disagree about the fuel consumption statement above. Our Honda EU2000 will run from 6 to 9 hours with varied loads on 0.9 gallons of gasoline. Our Onan uses 0.5 gallons / HOUR with minimal load . . .

Something wrong with your Onan, then. Guessing you have a QD7500 in that Newmar, it should run at about 0.25-0.30 gal/hr with light loads and produce a whopping 3700 watts if consuming 0.5 gal/hr. The rule of thumb for the Onan diesels is 0.5 gal/hr at 50% load with a minimum of about 0.3 at idle. The gas Onans are about the same, but LP gensets consume a bit more.

With onboard gensets is that it is difficult to measure the fuel used by genset vs the coach engine, so hard to make meaningful comparisons. but Onan provides detailed fuel vs load figures from its testing.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by Hit_the_Rhod

We carry one of them with us in the coach we currently own. I disagree about the fuel consumption statement above. Our Honda EU2000 will run from 6 to 9 hours with varied loads on 0.9 gallons of gasoline. Our Onan uses 0.5 gallons / HOUR with minimal load . .

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Something wrong with your Onan, then. Guessing you have a QD7500 in that Newmar, it should run at about 0.25-0.30 gal/hr with light loads and produce a whopping 3700 watts if consuming 0.5 gal/hr. The rule of thumb for the Onan diesels is 0.5 gal/hr at 50% load with a minimum of about 0.3 at idle. The gas Onans are about the same, but LP gensets consume a bit more.

With onboard gensets is that it is difficult to measure the fuel used by genset vs the coach engine, so hard to make meaningful comparisons. but Onan provides detailed fuel vs load figures from its testing.

Okay, maybe I should have stated "half load" instead of minimal load for the 1/2 gallon / hour burn rate. So using .3 gallons/hour at idle, it is still burning almost three times as much diesel than the .11 gallons/hour of gasoline at 25% rated power the Honda burns. This is assuming all you need is a very small amount of AC 110v power to trickle charge batteries, run TV, DvD, maybe a fan and a few lights. So figure 1/3rd the cost in fuel alone(.3 gph vrs .11 gph and gasoline being cheaper than diesel most times), not to mention maintenance costs/hour for the Honda vrs the Onan.

Over a season, you can see a significant savings, so you do it YOUR way, and I'll do it MY way! Neither way is the only right way, only pointing out alternatives to other posters.

Oh, and attached is some comparison data on various generators, diesel, gas and propane taken from manufacturers specs. The last part of the chart gives some interesting figures on btu/gallon for various types of fuels.

[vsheetz]

We carry a 3100w gas portable generator in addition to the 10kw onboard diesel Genny. It provides for backup should a problem arise with the onboard Genny. We often use it instead of the onboard Genny when we are somewhere for a few days as it's quieter and provides no vibration to the coach. Uses less fuel, i think, although this is not a biggie to us. If you already have the generators I would keep them.

And yes, they all need periodic exercise to keep them in good shape.

[longing]

Thank you all for your input. We will definitely keep the Honda's. I am thinking that we will take them with us when we plan to boondock and leave them home otherwise.