Oh Know Campground Lost Power

[Loretta2.0]

I have the Predator 3500. Great little generator! Can't beat the price! I have ran my rig on the generator for an entire day night. The Predator will run the rig with 1 AC not both but I can make do with 1 AC if I need too.
If $ are tight or you just don't want to fork out the $$$ I recommend this generator.

[Steven@147]

We are thinking about getting the Predator 3500, really quite. What do you think any recommendations? We want to be able to run the A/C if the power goes out.

They seem to have a lot of positive reviews. I looked at several u-tubes for the Predator, was impressed by the viewing. A 3500 should be able to run at least one AC unit or a combination of several appliances.

Update: We are camped in the colder weather, campground power has gone off twice now, not for very long but enough to spook the wife. I had been looking at RV ready inverter generators, Cummins Onan 3500, Westinghouse 3500 and the Champion units we saw at the Indianapolis camping world. The Onan and Westinghouse are out of stock and are months out to get one. Based on reviews of the HF Predator 3500 we went to look at one. The local HF store only had one left in stock of the 3500s. Its was the newer style with the fuel gage and it has the 30 amp RV adapter plug. Price was $789, no additional discounting. Another person was looking at it also. The Wife convinced me to buy it before it was gone. Its not what I wanted, but it seems to be close to it and it was there for the buying.

We did buy the additional 2 year repair plan, don't usually do that, but its a unit swap if anything goes wrong at any HF store. It's right at 100# so it's not too bad for the wife and I to lift it into the truck bed. Got it back to the RV, set it up and it started right up. It is very, very quiet, we were both impressed, ran it for about an hour. Out of the box it does not come with oil but a quart of SAE 10w30 (in the setup instructions) motor oil is not that big a deal. Seems to be just fine. I do not like the small little hard plastic wheels on it but I guess its OK. For us fulltiming its an emergency power type of thing. We'll see how it holds up. I'll run it a little every month needed or not.

[Skilletface]

I highly recommend the Cummins Onan i4500 for its service location availability and customer service. The Westinghouse, I think Predator and any other brand that looks like the Cummins Onan i4500 are made in China by Dacar. They are hard to come by these days due to the pandemic ,weather and a National recall due to some issues with the test gasoline.
Yes, I got one of those units on the list. Cummins had it repaired and back to me in two weeks, part of the delay due to the unit was cycled through the RV dealer. Being able to take mechanical things to a branded dealer is worth a the extra bucks.

There is a slight decibel difference the Cummins Onan i4500 being quieter at low load but unless you have a dB meter there’s not much difference between the Brands. I was able to get 13.5 hours running a 15k A/C, appliances and it was still going but very low on fuel.

[Mikey1]

What kind of hitch carrier is that? Do you have problems with stability i.e. swaying,rocking so forth do you use an anti sway device? I have been looking for something similar. Thank you Mike.

[Mikey1]

Sorry, I am new to this my question was for just for kicks. Forgot to put that in my post. I welcome any advice on posting thank you Mike.

[fez111]

We lost power in a Michigan State Park (storm) 6 months after we got our new-to-us 2016 Solitude 379FL. It was a 30 Amp service. We immediately put the fridge and hot water on gas (this is why we don't have a res fridge) and kept power usage to a minimum. With the one original battery we made it 36 hours before the fridge started beeping for low power. I had to plug into the truck to get the hitching and jacks done to go home. Would you believe the power came back on while I was dumping?

As soon as we got home I bought a plastic work box big enough for three full-sized batteries and mounted and vented it to the outside as the single battery was. I have two batteries now in parallel, but am dragging my feet on a third for fear of blowing the converter fuse if the power runs low. But now, between the two RV batteries and the two in the truck all connected together I know we can make it at least 3-4 days if we have to. I even mounted a 36 inch 12 volt ceiling fan over the bed which draws 1 amp maximum at full speed. Still have to sleep when its hot...

[orbiker]

We lost power in a Michigan State Park (storm) 6 months after we got our new-to-us 2016 Solitude 379FL. It was a 30 Amp service. We immediately put the fridge and hot water on gas (this is why we don't have a res fridge) and kept power usage to a minimum. With the one original battery we made it 36 hours before the fridge started beeping for low power. I had to plug into the truck to get the hitching and jacks done to go home. Would you believe the power came back on while I was dumping?

As soon as we got home I bought a plastic work box big enough for three full-sized batteries and mounted and vented it to the outside as the single battery was. I have two batteries now in parallel, but am dragging my feet on a third for fear of blowing the converter fuse if the power runs low. But now, between the two RV batteries and the two in the truck all connected together I know we can make it at least 3-4 days if we have to. I even mounted a 36 inch 12 volt ceiling fan over the bed which draws 1 amp maximum at full speed. Still have to sleep when its hot...

Hopefully all your RV batteries are of the same age and model. Mixing batteries is not good.

If all your RV batteries are the same, the next best thing you should be doing is buying a quality 4 stage converter. HERE is a chart to help. KEN

[SolarPoweredRV]

The Onan is a nice looking unit. Champion is another option if you don’t feel like you have to go all the way to 4500. I think their dual fuel inverters are 3400/3500 (we have a 3500). I can vouch for their customer service being excellent - they overnighted a new battery for us when ours died for the electric start, even though I could still start it np with the pull cord. And the person I dealt with was in Canada.

In any case, glad they got the power back on quickly. The worst part is waiting and not knowing.

I agree, the Champion 3500 Dual Fuel is the best Generator on the market, as far as I am concerned. I love not having to buy and store Gasoline just for the Generator, I ONLY run mine on Propane.

By-the-way, the Champion 3500 will run either Air Conditioner in our coach as well as the microwave (not at the same time) without any problem.

[SolarPoweredRV]

Setting here in Northern Indiana in the cold, weather front moving in, this morning winds 20mph, gusts 30-40mph, the RV is wiggling a little now and then. BAM, the AC power goes out in the campground. Reports are a tree fell across power lines some miles away. Water also shuts off because the campground is on a water well. Power company reports power will be restored in approx 4-5 hours. No panic in the cold weather but told the wife we go into power conservation mode right now just to be on the safe side!

We have 1/3 full fresh water on board, full propane tanks and a good battery, we can last a long while before the battery goes! If needs be we'll plug the truck into the RV for more power. She said, "See I told you we should have gotten a generator"! Wont be able to live that down!
Lowered the furnace temp down to 65* to help conserve power running the furnace. Will switch over the fridge to propane if needs be but maybe not since its cold out and it doesn't run much. Don't need lights after daylight, water pump wont use that much power, don't need hot water right now.

Well they got the power back on in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Wife says, "Well you gonna give in, what happens if temp is in the 20s and we lose power again?"
I may have to give in.
Of the three inverter generator brands I had looked at several months ago when she urged me to get one, and I said we didn't need one,,,,,I still like the Cummins Onan P4500i inverter generator. Looks like a generator maybe in our future!

Be careful with buying the Onan Generator, it is not CARB compliant and it can not be used in California and 13 other States that follow the CARB guidelines.

[Skilletface]

Be careful with buying the Onan Generator, it is not CARB compliant and it can not be used in California and 13 other States that follow the CARB guidelines.

https://www.cummins.com/generators/o...able-generator

Generator Model Run Time Hz Watts Voltage Amps Fuel Type Certification Spec Sheet
P4500i 18 Hours 60 4500 120 37 Gas EPA, CARB Spec Sheet