Generators

[Dahlia47]

So last weekend we took the travel trailer to the beach! It was awesome! However, there weren't any electric hook ups for the a/c. We had to hook up to my dads generator on his RV. So I need a generator. Learning from my last post, solar is expensive and not going to work! LOL!
My little window a/c unit is 115 volts, 4.8 amps, 515 watts, 5000 btu. The a/c will be the only thing running from the generator. Luckily the lights and the mini fridge run off the small solar panel and rechargeable battery. When I am out camping I don't pay much attention to my phone. Photos and emergencies only. I tend to put it away.
I am almost done with it. The last thing I intend to do is the solar water heater. I wont do that until autumn. After that is up and going, Ill post some more pics of everything I have done!
My dad saw our little home made travel trailer for the first time and loved it! While we were at the beach, we saw 4 other home made travel trailers! WTG!!! They were awesome! Hope to see more!

[booyah]

So close to sea level I've been able to run a 5000BTU off a small 8-900w 2 cycle generator like this one
https://www.harborfreight.com/900-max-s ... 63024.html

Down side is its dirty, loud, pretty close to max load, and smells (2 cycle)

More recently I've been using this one
https://www.amazon.com/WEN-56200i-2000- ... 00SMNLF4M/

Quieter, cleaner, plenty more power, and not as stinky.

I'd love to see if this guy can run a 5000btu AC though
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-900-S ... /302703564

All the nice clean, quiet, happiness of the bigger genny, but runs off propane (NO GAS!) and is smaller than the 2 cycle guy.
thing is he's a little bit expensive to spend on an experiment, especially when I already have two small generators.

[fishboat]

I saw a Champion 2000 watt generator on sale at a local store yesterday for $399. I think they are selling out the old-boxy-4 pillar design for a newer model that looks like the rest of the market (Yamaha, Honda, Generac........search at Home Depot..you'll see the new one) The Champion, like the others in their market, are the same 53dB noise level and 4 cycle operation. Champion has a very solid reputation with good customer service. I picked up a "less than 100 hours" used one last week. Runs nice.

[Dahlia47]

For the harbour freight generator, how long will I be able to run the little window a/c unit?

And what does it mean when the description says "running at 50%?

I don't know anything about electricity or engines. I can make just about anything out of metal and wood, but when it comes to electricity and engines, I am so lost! Ugh!

Thank you!

[GuitarPhotog]

For the harbour freight generator, how long will I be able to run the little window a/c unit?

And what does it mean when the description says "running at 50%?

I don't know anything about electricity or engines. I can make just about anything out of metal and wood, but when it comes to electricity and engines, I am so lost! Ugh!

Thank you!

The HF generator is a good deal, but... It is not repairable, there are no repair parts available. You can buy an extended warranty, and can return a defective unit to a HF store for replacement, if they have it in stock. Which they haven't had in my local store for the last FOUR MONTHS!

If you want true simplicity in a generator, find a 2KW dual fuel generator that runs on propane and gas, then never use it on gas. You will not have to empty out unused fuel, nor clean a varnished-up carburetor, nor deal with gas going out of date (gasoline lasts only about 6 months in a can these days).

[Pinstriper]

So close to sea level I've been able to run a 5000BTU off a small 8-900w 2 cycle generator like this one
https://www.harborfreight.com/900-max-s ... 63024.html

Down side is its dirty, loud, pretty close to max load, and smells (2 cycle)

More recently I've been using this one
https://www.amazon.com/WEN-56200i-2000- ... 00SMNLF4M/

Quieter, cleaner, plenty more power, and not as stinky.

I'd love to see if this guy can run a 5000btu AC though
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-900-S ... /302703564

All the nice clean, quiet, happiness of the bigger genny, but runs off propane (NO GAS!) and is smaller than the 2 cycle guy.
thing is he's a little bit expensive to spend on an experiment, especially when I already have two small generators.

I have that Ryobi, but I don’t have a 5k AC to rest with. I’m gonna go ahead and say “doubtful”. But I woulda said the same thing about the HFT 2-stroke, so....

I have run a HFT pancake compressor off the Ryobi for winterizing our big rv.


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[crttaz]

Aldi had a 1600w cont/2000w peak "Work Zone" generator last year for $349, but then they dropped the price to $199 so I bought one even though I don't have a camper yet. Figured it would be perfect for a home backup (only need to run the fridge) and keeping things charged.

Gotta keep the beer and ice cream cold!

https://slickdeals.net/f/12127960-workz ... 29-99-ymmv

[Aguyfromohio]

I'd love to see if this guy can run a 5000btu AC though...I have that Ryobi, but I don’t have a 5k AC to rest with. I’m gonna go ahead and say “doubtful”...

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I am willing to take the other side of that wager. This is my little 5,000 BTU Frigidaire A/C unit. The specifications at Frigidaire say it uses 450 watts and pulls less than 4 amps.
With these small propane generators costing only $300 and able to put out 700 watts steady, 900 watts briefly, I think it would do fine.

When we were planning our build either these small gensets were unavailable or I didn't know about them. We were only aware of the little $1,000 Honda 1,000 watt generators running on gasoline.
We spent $700 on a big inverter plus $200 on a big battery, and are still working on big 75 amp 12VDC circuits from the tow vehicles to run the air conditioners.
We were reluctantly willing to pay the thousand dollars for a Honda but not willing to carry gas cans and fuss with refilling the generator, it's a mess and even the Honda's are louder than we like, so instead we went with the expensive and crazy tow-vehicle-is-the generator approach.

If these little propane gensets work as advertised, and if they don't burn too much fuel and are quiet, they seem like a great solution. Better than what we came up with.

[Pinstriper]

Do the specs show the surge load it draws ? Could be as much as 3 times running load. Even twice the load would be iffy.


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[Aguyfromohio]

Do the specs show the surge load it draws ? Could be as much as 3 times running load. Even twice the load would be iffy.


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I looked and can't find a number for this unit for in-rush current during start-up. I found do-it-yourself test runs with clamp on meters showing 200%, and others on forums claiming 150%.
Need to test to figure it out I guess.

[Pinstriper]

Do the specs show the surge load it draws ? Could be as much as 3 times running load. Even twice the load would be iffy.


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I looked and can't find a number for this unit for in-rush current during start-up. I found do-it-yourself test runs with clamp on meters showing 200%, and others on forums claiming 150%.
Need to test to figure it out I guess.

I wonder if a kill-a-watt would capture the spike...


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[GPW]

What about those bigger starting capacitors people add to their small ACs to facilitate starting … ???

[troubleScottie]

Just wondering about the fuel efficiency for these dual fuel generators.

Looking one up, it stated 10 hours for 20 pounds of propane. And 10 hours for 5 gals of gasoline. (2hr/gal) @67 db This was for a big engine -- 3600 to 4500 Watts.

My Honda 1000 runs 3.7 to 7.1 hours on 0.5 gals of gas (7.4 to 14.2 hr/gal). @50 - 60 db (going up 10 db means 10 X the noise).

[StrongFeather]

I'm wondering how the sweet little Ryobi propane 700/900Watt generator would work with an inverter/charger (https://www.renogy.com/renogy-1000w-pur ... r-charger/) and batteries.

When the inverter/charger is working as an inverter, producing A/C power (for the Air Conditioner), it can draw power either from the batteries or from shore power - the generator in this case. It has an auto transfer switch that switches over to shore power when shore power is available, and back to battery power when shore power is not available. The transfer switch operates in 10ms.

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on how this setup would work? I assume that if the generator can't handle the inrush current, the inverter/charger would just switch over to the battery input momentarily until the generator caught up. But, I'm wondering if it would cause the transfer switch to cycle back and forth for a couple of seconds.

I also happen to have the same Frigidaire 5000 BTU unit as the guy from Ohio, and I believe it was listed as a "soft start", so in rush might be lower than other units.


Steve

[Pinstriper]

Seems like for the extra money you could just bump up to the 2k from HFT.

No, to me either it works with the generator, or get a bigger one.



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