Generator education

[RetiredBruce]

Hello all. I own a 2021 GD reflection model 337. It has 2 ac’s. I can shore line either 30 or 50amp. My question is what size gas powered gen would I need to get at least a 30 amp for 1 ac and everything else? I don’t wanna over or under buy what I need. Thanks in advance. Bruce

 

[Redapple63]

Hello all. I own a 2021 GD reflection model 337. It has 2 ac’s. I can shore line either 30 or 50amp. My question is what size gas powered gen would I need to get at least a 30 amp for 1 ac and everything else? I don’t wanna over or under buy what I need. Thanks in advance. Bruce

30 amps is about 3600 watts. If you want to be able to run everything you need to start with a 3500 watt generator. The caveat is that a 3500 watt generator will be very heavy.

You can get potentially 2 smaller generators and parallel them together.

Honda is probably the most popular because they are light and quiet. They are also expensive, around 1200 each.

There others out there though, Yamaha, Harbor Freight Predator, GE and more.

Bill

 

[Second Chance]

Thread moved to Solar Systems and Generators.

Rob

 

[trailrydr]

Hello all. I own a 2021 GD reflection model 337. It has 2 ac’s. I can shore line either 30 or 50amp. My question is what size gas powered gen would I need to get at least a 30 amp for 1 ac and everything else? I don’t wanna over or under buy what I need. Thanks in advance. Bruce

The only other issue with gennys is the noise and required maintenance. You definitely want a quite one at that and keep up with the maint. Some are dual fuel (gas, propane). Some in depth research will be your friend. And dont expect to use them in many CGs.... most frown on it. Happy trails!

 

[SilentService]

Hello all. I own a 2021 GD reflection model 337. It has 2 ac’s. I can shore line either 30 or 50amp. My question is what size gas powered gen would I need to get at least a 30 amp for 1 ac and everything else? I don’t wanna over or under buy what I need. Thanks in advance. Bruce

The Westinghouse (or Onan) 4500's are a good option. They do weight about 130lbs with a full 3.4 gallon tank. I have 2 of the Westinghouse's. One duel fuel and the other gas only (it was on sale for $540.00 so I jumped on it.) With a soft start, one would handle, within reason, just about anything you throw at it. They are quiet and come with a remote start. Way cheaper than two smaller Honda's. Right now on Amazon the Westinghouse DF is running about $1000.00 and the gas only is $900.00. Also with two, you can parallel them and run 50amps on one leg. It is a pain hauling both though.

 

[dryfly]

[MENTION=51427]RetiredBruce[/MENTION]

Definitely go with the inverter generators for low noise. Lots of good options out there as mentioned. Don't know if you are familiar with the mentioned soft start capacitor, if not here is a brief video that really shows their value with smaller generators.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNmyS2f8lys

 

[Big Blue]

30 amps is about 3600 watts. If you want to be able to run everything you need to start with a 3500 watt generator. The caveat is that a 3500 watt generator will be very heavy.

You can get potentially 2 smaller generators and parallel them together.

Honda is probably the most popular because they are light and quiet. They are also expensive, around 1200 each.

There others out there though, Yamaha, Harbor Freight Predator, GE and more.

Bill

Honda's are quiet until you load them up to run an AC.....

 

[RetiredBruce]

Gen/ solar education

Tanks much for the gen info. Good stuff. I agree most campgrounds frown upon them only to use during certain hours. My GD is factory set( pre wired ) for solar which may be a serious option. As with solar I’ll need to get educated and do a cost comparison.

 

[kb0zke]

Our trailer came with the factory solar panel (~50 pounds). I opted for two 100AH LiFePO4 batteries instead of the lead acid batteries. I'm guessing that with the two batteries and solar panel I have about as much weight as if I didn't have the solar panel and had two LA batteries. Haven't run the numbers, but LA batteries have gotten heaver in recent years, especially since I turned 70 a few years ago.

We host at Missouri State Parks quite a bit. Generators are permitted until 9:00. I like the fact that the solar panel keeps my batteries charged even while we're driving (assuming there is sun, of course). Also I don't have to deal with the extra machinery and gasoline (truck is diesel).

 

[TerryH]

We boondock a lot so opted for the onboard Onan but it's loud and a fuel hog. We now have the Champion 4500 with remote start. Very quiet and fuel efficient. I also have soft starts in both A/C units. The Champion runs both with no issues. The Champion also has nice size wheels and a folding handle to make getting it around much easier. We have solar and a 250ah LiFePo4 battery and use that unless we need the A/C's. I could not justify enough equipment and batteries to run the A/C's on solar when these generators are fairly inexpensive and so such a great job.

 

[Big Blue]

We boondock a lot so opted for the onboard Onan but it's loud and a fuel hog. We now have the Champion 4500 with remote start. Very quiet and fuel efficient. I also have soft starts in both A/C units. The Champion runs both with no issues. The Champion also has nice size wheels and a folding handle to make getting it around much easier. We have solar and a 250ah LiFePo4 battery and use that unless we need the A/C's. I could not justify enough equipment and batteries to run the A/C's on solar when these generators are fairly inexpensive and so such a great job.

I checked out a factory generator install at the Tampa RV show... Not impressed.... I installed an Onan in the front compartment of our 230RL doubled up on the firewall insulation and it's not as annoying as 2 Honda's... If you need to run a generator all day to run an AC you are camping in the wrong place, especially if there are tent campers nearby.... I always make contact with other campers to let them know about my generator usage 1 hour in the morning same at night... most people boondock to get away from the city.. So be considerate, look around, meet your neighbors they might be interesting people.....

 

[TerryH]

I checked out a factory generator install at the Tampa RV show... Not impressed.... I installed an Onan in the front compartment of our 230RL doubled up on the firewall insulation and it's not as annoying as 2 Honda's... If you need to run a generator all day to run an AC you are camping in the wrong place, especially if there are tent campers nearby.... I always make contact with other campers to let them know about my generator usage 1 hour in the morning same at night... most people boondock to get away from the city.. So be considerate, look around, meet your neighbors they might be interesting people.....

Neighbors? We camp to escape neighbors. Thanks for assuming we don't know what we are doing and camping in the wrong place.

 

[Big Blue]

Neighbors? We camp to escape neighbors. Thanks for assuming we don't know what we are doing and camping in the wrong place.

I assumed you weren't the only person reading this post.....

 

[Big Blue]

I assumed you weren't the only person reading this post.....

I also assumed someone might use this product to sound proof the built in generator..... https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-10-76...prefix=firewall+insulation,aps,99&sr=8-3&th=1

 

[trailrydr]

Neighbors? We camp to escape neighbors. Thanks for assuming we don't know what we are doing and camping in the wrong place.

My wife wouldnt want to even camp with an attached genny..... she is a light sleeper and we wouldnt need the nearby "neighbor" to upset.... cause it would be HER, LOL!

If truely boondocking and dont have any light sleepers on board... you are good to go with the genny noise issue.

 

[Big Blue]

Great Pic by the way "Lucky You'

 

[TerryH]

I assumed you weren't the only person reading this post.....

When someone quotes me I assume they are speaking to me... Have a great day.

 

[TerryH]

My wife wouldnt want to even camp with an attached genny..... she is a light sleeper and we wouldnt need the nearby "neighbor" to upset.... cause it would be HER, LOL!

If truely boondocking and dont have any light sleepers on board... you are good to go with the genny noise issue.

Thankfully neither of us are very light sleepers. My wife can actually sleep thru the Onan being right under the bed on our Momentum 31G. lol... The Champion 4500 inverter is actually pretty quiet. I also use the full length of the cord and place the gen at the back of the trailer and face the exhaust away from the trailer. Barely audible from the master bedroom on the opposite end of the trailer.

 

[TerryH]

I also assumed someone might use this product to sound proof the built in generator..... https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-10-76...prefix=firewall+insulation,aps,99&sr=8-3&th=1

I have the entire compartment wrapped in multiple layers of sound deadening and use an external muffler in addition to the original. Unfortunately the placement in the Momentum 31G puts the generator under the master bed which puts the exhaust right under the bed slide. Not really any other place to put it in these trailers.

 

[traveldawg]

first a word from one of our moderators (that's me) ---- our rules say to be nice.... and not to attack folks.... sometimes it helps to take a breath before pressing the enter key (heaven knows I have to take more than one most times when I see some responses here - which can be often some days)

And now back to the topic: '...how big a generator...'

I have had 2 Honda 2000i generators for over 20 years and they still work great. So, obviously, I am of the 2 small generator mind-set. I've run them for at least a week straight (off an auxiliary fuel feed tank) when dry camping (and wanting air conditioning).

I've even used one when we had a class A motorhome with a 5000 watt Onan when we just needed a low amperage source to keep batteries up and some 'lightweight' 120 things.

A good feature of carrying two (for me at least) is I an lift them by myself, I can use just one if I don't need 4000 watts (or probably more like 3600); they are quite (as quiet as my Onan was). I heard a Harbor Freight Predator 200 watt generator recently and was impressed with its low noise.