Lwiddis
Southern California :(
Senior Member
Joined: 08/12/2016
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Offline
|
I take my portable every trip…and don’t use it. One of these days it stays home.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad
|
Matt_Colie
Southeast Michigan
Senior Member
Joined: 10/09/2011
View Profile
Offline
|
obiwancanoli wrote:
I'm thinking I don't need to have this tool along on my adventures, most of which, I expect, will be boondocking hither and yon... and, having recently used a Honda 2K to charge my house batteries (don't ask, long story, not relevant), the small generator was ruined due to the high demands of the coach charging system.
Thanks for your input,
MJ
MJ,
If you ruined that Honda trying to recover the house bank, you did something that was drastically wrong. I actually can't imagine what it might have been. What you should have done was connect the portable to the shore power feed and let the coach's charger do the job.
Matt
Matt & Mary Colie
A sailor, his bride and their black dogs (one dear dog is waiting for us at the bridge) going to see some dry places that have Geocaches in a coach made the year we married.
|
obiwancanoli
Napa
Senior Member
Joined: 02/13/2018
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Matt_Colie wrote:obiwancanoli wrote:
I'm thinking I don't need to have this tool along on my adventures, most of which, I expect, will be boondocking hither and yon... and, having recently used a Honda 2K to charge my house batteries (don't ask, long story, not relevant), the small generator was ruined due to the high demands of the coach charging system.
Thanks for your input,
MJ
MJ,
If you ruined that Honda trying to recover the house bank, you did something that was drastically wrong. I actually can't imagine what it might have been. What you should have done was connect the portable to the shore power feed and let the coach's charger do the job.
Matt
That's exactly what we did... the genny whined high and low throughout the charging process... now, maybe there was something wrong with the generator itself before starting the process, but there was no way to know this, as it appeared to work fine before starting
|
wildmanbaker93
Kennewick, WA
New Member
Joined: 11/03/2021
View Profile
Offline
|
If the Generator was overloaded, it should have tripped the output and got a warning light on the set. We have a gas MH, and carry a 2K generator, even though we have an onboard 5.5 gen. The 2K will run for 6 to 8 hours on a gallon, the onboard uses .9 gallons per hour. If is is hot, we use the onboard gen as the 2K will not start either AC unit. We use the 2K when watching TV, be it Sat or DVDs. We have Solar, but they are aging out and their output is getting lower each year.
|
time2roll
Southern California
Senior Member
Joined: 03/21/2005
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
I carry a small propane generator and separate small battery charger to avoid overload.
Just for emergency use and I have no on-board generator besides solar. Probably never use it.
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
675w Solar pictures back up
|
|
|
bukhrn
Lanexa, Va
Senior Member
Joined: 03/20/2005
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
gbopp wrote:If you have an onboard generator that is working as it should, I don't see a need for an additional portable generator. X-2
2007 Forester 2941DS
2014 Ford Focus
Zamboni, Long Haired Mini Dachshund
You can have my RV, when you pry my cold dead fingers from the Steering Wheel
|
pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 12/18/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
My brother purchased a 2000 watt inverter generator. He took it on a trip. It was run for about 3 hours, under medium to high loads. He shut it off. The inverter more or less melted. Game over for that unit.
Always do a cool off for generators. (and inverters, too)
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.
|
wa8yxm
Davison Michigan (East of Flint)
Senior Member
Joined: 07/04/2006
View Profile
Offline
|
I will say YES a small one (100-200 watt inverter type precise size depends on your converter)
WHY... A Generac 1000 (True 1000 watt "Traditional" generator enclosed about as loud as a Honda EU-2000i at half load) will power a Progressive Dynamics 9180 (mine was a plug in module so I could feed JUST the converter) for a good 6-8 hours on a small tank of fuel.. The ONAN sucks between 3 and 8 gallons doing that. Though the noise is not much higher
But i liked being able to use teh small one to top off the battery when needed instead of the big Onan.
Also,. from time to time I needed that thousand watts remote from the RV.. I have. for example an electric chain saw.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times
|
obiwancanoli
Napa
Senior Member
Joined: 02/13/2018
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
wa8yxm wrote:I will say YES a small one (100-200 watt inverter type precise size depends on your converter)
WHY... A Generac 1000 (True 1000 watt "Traditional" generator enclosed about as loud as a Honda EU-2000i at half load) will power a Progressive Dynamics 9180 (mine was a plug in module so I could feed JUST the converter) for a good 6-8 hours on a small tank of fuel.. The ONAN sucks between 3 and 8 gallons doing that. Though the noise is not much higher
But I liked being able to use the small one to top off the battery when needed instead of the big Onan.
Also,. from time to time I needed that thousand watts remote from the RV.. I have. for example an electric chain saw.
In fact, this was one reason I was considering it... When I boondock, I search the area for downed wood I can use for a campfire, and usually, that wood would have to be cut with a saw. Absent a battery operated model, unless I were close enough to the coach to plug in, a small portable generator would come in handy... but if that's the only reason to have it along, methinks a quality battery operated reciprocating saw (or something similar) would be perfectly fine...
|
DrewE
Vermont
Senior Member
Joined: 08/23/2014
View Profile
Offline
|
obiwancanoli wrote:In fact, this was one reason I was considering it... When I boondock, I search the area for downed wood I can use for a campfire, and usually, that wood would have to be cut with a saw. Absent a battery operated model, unless I were close enough to the coach to plug in, a small portable generator would come in handy... but if that's the only reason to have it along, methinks a quality battery operated reciprocating saw (or something similar) would be perfectly fine...
In my experience, power reciprocating saws don't work too well for firewood over maybe 1 1/2" to 2" in diameter; the stroke isn't long enough to let the blade clear sawdust from the middle part of the cut, and it collects and bogs things down. A decent battery-powered chain saw would be a far better option. A Corona Razortooth saw is remarkably good, too, and requires no batteries or gasoline or electricity--just some elbow grease, but not as much as a typical bowsaw.
|
|
|
|
