Community Forums

C.Martin · 08-31-2017, 11:07 AM

There is always more than one way to look at things.

The light loads you're taking about...can usually run on a well sized Inverter and Battery Bank. If you like to camp "unplugged", I would make sure you have enough of the inverter and battery combo to do what the small generator would do.

This approach will put you in the right direction for installing Solar. Solar is like a daytime generator that runs without making noise and doesn't comsume gasoline.

If you just want redundancy...then get a small generator, but I would recommend a Hybrid inverter as well...in the coach. You can plug the coach into a 20a shore power adapter for the small portable generator, the Hybrid inverter can use the power to supplement the battery storage to give you more total output.

Personally, having more battery...and running the big Generator for a couple of hours, would be preferable to running the little generator all day. If you don't have the battery storage...then just the opposite would be true. Better to run a small generator all day vs a big generator all day.

Gary RVRoamer · 09-01-2017, 10:45 AM

Hard to imagine a coach that has a 12kw genset not having plenty of battery capacity, at least 400AH and perhaps 1.5x that.

Dutch Star Don · 09-01-2017, 10:12 PM

Over the years, I've occasionally thought of getting a small Honda 2000 to power the coach, but when you do the math, you don't save any money. It would take over 700 hours of diesel generator use to pay for the Honda 2000. That's several years of running the genny for most. Then you add the hassle of hauling a portable and refueling it.

Hittntheroad · 09-03-2017, 07:55 AM

If you have ever dry camped at a NASCAR race you would see the benefit of having the 2000. Thousands of rvs in a small area close together. Trying to get all that exhaust going in the right direction and the noise. We spend 90% of our time outside. They are small enough to fit in most storage compartments.

Ray,IN · 09-03-2017, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Over the years, I've occasionally thought of getting a small Honda 2000 to power the coach, but when you do the math, you don't save any money. It would take over 700 hours of diesel generator use to pay for the Honda 2000. That's several years of running the genny for most. Then you add the hassle of hauling a portable and refueling it.

A valid point Don. I already owned my Boliy Pro3600 prior to purchasing a MH, bought it when we had 5ers. It's 9 yrs old and still running strong. With an EMS a15A plug must be converted to ground neutral and ground, but it powered the 5ers stock.

ftodaro · 09-03-2017, 06:57 PM

I have an 7500 watt on board gen, but i also have a 2400 watt Yamaha inverter gen. that i take to the track and run most of the day. I already had the gen and have no other use for it at this point. i run the on board gen a few hrs a day to give it a work out but run the inverter gen most of the day. It works for me. The inverter is much less noise and intrusion.

YC1 · 09-03-2017, 07:35 PM

We had our 1000 Watt Honda for years and wish it was 2000 because running the 8kw is very noisy compared to it. Of course neither would run our AC's but refilling the battery tanks is great.
Run an extension cord and put the generator behind a tree and you almost do not hear it.

awol50 · 09-03-2017, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ftodaro

I have an 7500 watt on board gen, but i also have a 2400 watt Yamaha inverter gen. that i take to the track and run most of the day. I already had the gen and have no other use for it at this point. i run the on board gen a few hrs a day to give it a work out but run the inverter gen most of the day. It works for me. The inverter is much less noise and intrusion.

In your case if you don't need ac, it works out good economically.

Dutch Star Don · 09-05-2017, 12:26 PM

I think if you do something specific on a regular basis, like Nascar, a second genny may be the ticket, but for general RVing, it's a cost versus value issues. On rare occasion we camp along the shore at a nearby beach and a small genny for just powering the battery charger would be nice. The problem is, we don't go there enough or do similar camping enough to justify it.

For those who don't store their RV at their house, you could justify a small genny as a house back up.