portable generators

[Ryegal]

what is the best and lightest,and easy portable generator. thank you all for being here.

[Rysh]

Depends on what you want to run. I've got a Yamaha 1000 that is excellent to run fans and small items. Extremely quite and will run about 7 hours on .6 gallons of gas. Absolutely useless though if you want to run your RV.

[Uncle Dave]

Originally Posted by Rysh

Depends on what you want to run. I've got a Yamaha 1000 that is excellent to run fans and small items. Extremely quite and will run about 7 hours on .6 gallons of gas. Absolutely useless though if you want to run your RV.

Not quite useless if you change up the connections.

Lots of guys run the tiny gennies, but clamp a battery charger on the coach bank and "dry camp" this way.

This gives you an upper wattage limit of what the inverter delivers (in my case 2000 watts) and the charger catches up after the load is diminished.

Used this way you can keep your house bank full and set the upper limit load on your tiny genny using the amp setting on the charger.


To answer the posters question requires a wattage number from him, but for the portables the japanese inverter (rpm matching load) stuff pretty much is

#1 with a tie across Honda/Yamaha/ Subaru

Then Id look at the Boily which has a really good digital inverter circuit (but not the parts availability of the jap stuff)

Then the chinese stuff rounds out the bottom.


Uncle Dave

[TXiceman]

First thing you need to answer is what all you want to run and for how long.

I have a pair of Honda EU2000i generators with the parallel kit and they produce 26.6amps continuous duty and will surge to 30 amps for 30 minutes. You can add an extended run 6 gallon tank and really stretch out the run time. Each one will run for 4 hours at full load and about 8 hours at reduced loads.

They are quiet, reliable and easy to get serviced anywhere in the USA.

Kipor has a good reputation, for a bit less $$$, but finding service is harder and they are not as quiet as the Honda generators.

Ken

[Cat320]

Can't go wrong with a Honda.

[rgvtexan]

My Kipor has been running strong for 5 years, bought used on e-bay. The coach has a 7.5KW, But I run the kipor if we don't need air or the micro wave.

[IMPULSE DRIVEN]

Is there a quiet generator that can run everything?

[Uncle Dave]

Originally Posted by FLIGHTSIMMER

Is there a quiet generator that can run everything?

Lots

Any Inverter style single 3,4,5or 6 KW genny will power quite a bit really quietly.

You can also double or triple smaller gennies and scale your output and consumption.

3 honda 2K's is kinda neat. if not a wiring hassle.

Then you have the inverter big diesel units - uber cool.

UD

[Gary RVRoamer]

Depends on what "everything" is. My Onan Quiet Diesel 7500 can run 7.5 kw worth, which is almost everything in my coach running at the same time.

If you want the equivalent of 30A shore power, you need a 3600 watt generator, hence the pair of Honda 2000i's suggested above. If you want the equivalent of 50A shore power, you need 12,000 watts, but odds are your RV can't really use 12 kw all at once, so somewhere between 7.5 and 10kw is enough. A generator that size isn't portable, though.

[Dunner]

Several of us that camp at the dunes together use either Honda 2000 or like me a Yamaha 2000. Quiet and will run a microwave. This will be the first year with a MH, so I will see if it runs the TV and more.

[Gary RVRoamer]

TV is no biggie - it's the heater & chillers that suck up the kilowats: water heater, fridge, microwave, a/c, etc.

My microwave is big GE that needs 15A (1800 watts) on micro and 20A (2400 watts) in convection oven mode. More even than an a/c!

[Dunner]

Rut-row, my convection/microwave says 1.70KW, 15A. And how much will my inverter/charger be eating up? Pretty sure I tried it and I think it ran at full power.

I know it wouldn't run the 1100W microwave in my 5th wheel toy hauler anywhere near full power.

[menoble]

There was a long discussion in another thread about A/C compressor start-up surge relative to it's continuous draw. For instance, one Honda 2000 in economy mode will carry my A/C once it's running, but it takes 2 of them at full power to get it up to speed. Just something to think about.

[Dunner]

A friend told me that if you turn the fan on first, it is less of a load hitting the generator. Haven't tried it, but it makes sense.