Do I need a 50 Amp Generator?

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by Silvr_Bullet

I can only say I support the State Parks position on noise pollution, I go camping to connect with nature and enjoy peace and quite. I value your right as far as it extends until it becomes noxious. If you value your fellow campers you’ll try to get along with being the least obtrusive you can be. Does this answer your question.

It does, and I appreciate hearing this perspective! We are new to camping and trying to learn.

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

I’ll hang around the thread, but note that the local head of the ‘Department of Overkill Engineering’ is fully engaged in multiple current projects driven by SWMBO and I don’t have any bandwidth to spare...it’s part of the joy and challenges of being married to an incredibly talented and creative woman! She comes up with ideas faster than I can execute on them.

Like the complete rebuild of the MBR closet and storage, including a 3/4 oak strip floor.

Attachment 381159

Note that there were only 4-5 extra strips of wood at the end of the project, and every one of them on the floor were personally selected and arranged in their spot by her. Very little scrap trimmings left.

Oh my God I am laughing out loud. This is the same thing I do to my poor husband and father.

Please tell her that the floor and the arrangement of the wood is absolutely gorgeous. You do great work!!

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by McStreamy_

We run just one AC with our two generators. You can get a "soft start" installed on your AC unit which will lessen the power requirements at start up. We only have one AC so I'll leave it to others to detail how that would work with a dual AC trailer. We haven't felt a need to go the soft start route, but it's been written about extensively here on the forum. Search for MicroAir Easy Start and you'll be in business.

One other thing to be on the lookout for since you mentioned the Champion 3400W is you can sometimes find them online on Costco's website. Their return policy is legendary and will cover you if you have an issue down the road. Not currently available but might be something to watch for.

I am searching for that soft start now and your costco tip is perfect! Thanks so so much!

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by jaybauman

There is at least one consequence of your plan that you do not seem to have considered. A champion 3400 dual fuel inverter weighs just under 100lbs. By the time you add a robust mount and 2 generators, you could be adding 250-350lbs (or more) to the tongue of your trailer. Even if you have enough available payload band witch on your tow vehicle to absorb this, you would be subjecting the trailer A frame to more stresses than in a typical configuration. I'm not saying that this is not possible; however, I am saying you'll really need to pay attention to the stresses and loads and moments of inertia and all the other things that those mechanical engineering folks know about. I'm an electrochemical engineer, so I'll have to defer to my esteemed colleagues on these fora for that kind of opinions.

Good luck!

Yes, I have somewhat grasped that within my last 24 hours of research. I guess i am back to putting it in the back of my truck which makes me a little worried that it will get stolen! I guess I could try to bike chain it to something? Lol. What do you do?

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by Piggy Bank

Point taken.

What I was really driving at is not if you will need to run both ACs camping in Florida or the South. You will.

But do you truly think you will be camping in this region and not be in a campground with hookups.

Some people don't consider this. If you won't be camping off grid then you won't need a generator at all.

We wanted to stay on his parents lot when in south Florida and on my parents lot when in New Orleans. Maybe we need to reconsider!

[lsbrodsky]

Originally Posted by Jess_Pizz

Yes, I have somewhat grasped that within my last 24 hours of research. I guess i am back to putting it in the back of my truck which makes me a little worried that it will get stolen! I guess I could try to bike chain it to something? Lol. What do you do?

There are various size security cables that work with a good combination lock, attach to the generator and a tie down ring in the truck. A committed thief with the right tools can defeat anything but this will stop any casual thief.
Larry

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

I am just going to ramble a bit here. I have trouble thinking about what kind of camping you are going to do that requires two 3400 generators. If you are full-timing you will likely spend more time in campgrounds, if you are dry camping one generator will meet most of your needs all of the time. Trying to mount two of those guys on the A-frame sounds like a herculean effort. You are also going to need to do some serious electrical work because I do not know of generators designed to do parallel operation into an RV 50 amp connector. That means you are not going to be able to power both sides of your 50 amp service so paralleling them is a waste of time without the electrical modifications. Then you have fuel issues for two generators to deal with. Gas or propane and where are you going to store the fuel for two generators.
I suggest you get one 3400, locate it in the bed of your truck and camp for a while and see how much you use it and whether you ever need any more generator watts.
Larry

Thanks for the help, Larry.

We are planning on going full time and we need to at least be able to run one AC and TV and charge electrical devices on the generator. Do you think a 3400 can do that? This thread started with one 5.5w generator but then people made me concerned that it would be too heavy..

https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect...-LP/p6316.html

[lsbrodsky]

Yep, a 3400 can do all that easily. An Easy Start is some insurance for that but I also think the easy start is good for your A/C compressor life.
Larry

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by SC RVer

All of the previous post have more than adequately covered your question as to 30 amp vs 50 amp genset requirements. The only thing I can add is that I recently took delivery of a 2020 Flying Cloud with dual a/c's and opted for the Westinghouse IGen 4500. This unit is actually made by Onan and is identical in all respects but color. (Blue vs Green) The output is 4500 watts peak and 3700 watts running which will take care of all your 30 amp needs. I was unable to find the Onan unit anywhere and found the Westinghouse on Amazon for $100+ less. Hope this helps.

Hi SC, after days of head spinning research I think this is where we are at now as well. Can you run one AC and a TV at the same time on it? What about charging a laptop or phone? Thank you!

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

Yep, a 3400 can do all that easily. An Easy Start is some insurance for that but I also think the easy start is good for your A/C compressor life.
Larry

Great. Thank you so much for the quick reply too. This seems like the best option when weighing all the pros and cons of what is available.

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

There are various size security cables that work with a good combination lock, attach to the generator and a tie down ring in the truck. A committed thief with the right tools can defeat anything but this will stop any casual thief.
Larry

Perfect, I have added this to my list of items to research and buy!

[rmkrum]

Biggest issue I’ve had with a Champion 3400 dual fuel inverter is the height of the generator. It’s about two inches too tall to properly fit under the tonneau cover in the bed of my 2012 Toyota Tacoma. The tonneau has to be tied down with a bungee cord when we are driving.

That’s just another excuse for buying a nice new Tundra and putting a cab high cap on the bed of the new truck. When I do that, I plan to look into designing a custom ‘cage’ just inside the tailgate to secure the generator and allow the tailgate to be lowered for ventilation while the generator is running.

At present, I just open the tonneau and tailgate, and slide the generator onto the tailgate. I have a big padlock and cable to secure it in the bed. I hook up the propane hose and power cable, then fire up the generator. The electric start is a lovely feature!

The generator easily runs my single air conditioner and any other loads in the Airstream easily. For a larger trailer, I’d suggest MicroAir EasyStart boxes installed on both air conditioners. That would allow running either one on a single generator, possibly both in reasonable conditions with careful electrical load management. My rig is 30 amp, so even in really hot and humid weather in Texas last September, it cooled down easily.

We travel with four dogs, and having the generator made it possible for wife and I to enjoy dinner on the road whilst keeping the dogs cool. I do go out and verify the generator is running properly at 30-45 minute intervals. If I have time to get clever, I’ll come up with a remote system to check voltage and temperature inside the Airstream while running the generator.

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by Jess_Pizz

Oh my God I am laughing out loud. This is the same thing I do to my poor husband and father.

Please tell her that the floor and the arrangement of the wood is absolutely gorgeous. You do great work!!

It helps to have a wide selection of the appropriate tools for the work. When she comes up with a new project, she also lets me buy any new, special tools I might need. An air-powered flooring stapler and a seriously big air compressor is in stock from many flooring projects dating back to 2004.

We’ve run miles of oak flooring in several houses. The project pictured was only 100 square feet here in Southern California. Our house in Alabama. that she designed from scratch, took more than 4,000 square feet of oak flooring when all was said and done.

We also did miles of fancy trim work, to the point that the neighbors were convinced it was snowing sawdust all summer long from the mitre saw I had set up on our front porch. Projects like this keep us out of the bars and having fun at home instead.

[JP-Isa]

Hi, I am definitely a newbie in this world (2020 26 FC) with 2 AC but selected to couple two 15 amp generators (Honda silent model) in case of we need 30amp. Noise factor has been an important element for us, though we have not tried it on the field.

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

Biggest issue I’ve had with a Champion 3400 dual fuel inverter is the height of the generator. It’s about two inches too tall to properly fit under the tonneau cover in the bed of my 2012 Toyota Tacoma. The tonneau has to be tied down with a bungee cord when we are driving.

That’s just another excuse for buying a nice new Tundra and putting a cab high cap on the bed of the new truck. When I do that, I plan to look into designing a custom ‘cage’ just inside the tailgate to secure the generator and allow the tailgate to be lowered for ventilation while the generator is running.

At present, I just open the tonneau and tailgate, and slide the generator onto the tailgate. I have a big padlock and cable to secure it in the bed. I hook up the propane hose and power cable, then fire up the generator. The electric start is a lovely feature!

The generator easily runs my single air conditioner and any other loads in the Airstream easily. For a larger trailer, I’d suggest MicroAir EasyStart boxes installed on both air conditioners. That would allow running either one on a single generator, possibly both in reasonable conditions with careful electrical load management. My rig is 30 amp, so even in really hot and humid weather in Texas last September, it cooled down easily.

We travel with four dogs, and having the generator made it possible for wife and I to enjoy dinner on the road whilst keeping the dogs cool. I do go out and verify the generator is running properly at 30-45 minute intervals. If I have time to get clever, I’ll come up with a remote system to check voltage and temperature inside the Airstream while running the generator.

Wow I didn't even think of the height thanks for bringing that to my attention. Do you feel like the dual fuel gives you an advantage? Should I go with an all LP if it is shorter?

We will also have our pup and cat and were planning on getting a temp monitor. FYI- I have read good things about the Temp Stick.

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by JP-Isa

Hi, I am definitely a newbie in this world (2020 26 FC) with 2 AC but selected to couple two 15 amp generators (Honda silent model) in case of we need 30amp. Noise factor has been an important element for us, though we have not tried it on the field.

Did you have to rewire the trailer since it was a 50 amp?

[Jess_Pizz]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

It helps to have a wide selection of the appropriate tools for the work. When she comes up with a new project, she also lets me buy any new, special tools I might need. An air-powered flooring stapler and a seriously big air compressor is in stock from many flooring projects dating back to 2004.

We’ve run miles of oak flooring in several houses. The project pictured was only 100 square feet here in Southern California. Our house in Alabama. that she designed from scratch, took more than 4,000 square feet of oak flooring when all was said and done.

We also did miles of fancy trim work, to the point that the neighbors were convinced it was snowing sawdust all summer long from the mitre saw I had set up on our front porch. Projects like this keep us out of the bars and having fun at home instead.

My husband was formerly a carpenter and he says your responses are giving him PTSD. Supposedly your wife is not the only person out there who wants to hand select where each piece of wood goes. Hahaha

We don't drink either... I might start taking credit for that since i always have some new plan cooked up to keep life interesting lol

[lsbrodsky]

Originally Posted by Jess_Pizz

Did you have to rewire the trailer since it was a 50 amp?

The Honda companion has a 30 amp outlet, but not an RV 30 so those of us with 30 amp trailers buy an adaptor for the generator. I assume such adaptors are also available for regular 30 amp to RV50 amp.

Larry

[jaybauman]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

The Honda companion has a 30 amp outlet, but not an RV 30 so those of us with 30 amp trailers buy an adaptor for the generator. I assume such adaptors are also available for regular 30 amp to RV50 amp.

Larry

It's far easier to just use a 30 amp cord with a 50-to-30 dogbone at the trailer connection. I avoid that unwieldy 50 amp cord-beast any time I can!

[lsbrodsky]

Sure, makes sense but you still need the adaptor on the generator to use a 30 amp cord.
Larry