I've been looking at small generators, and was curious how many watts would I need to run only the air conditioner? I'm thinking I should be able to get away with 1500 running watts since I can run it plugged into the house on a 15A plug. I don't know how many BTU's my A/C is since most of the exterior stickers have fadded away, but I do know it's a Coleman unit.

The Generator I've narrowed down to is a Buffalo Tools, Sportsman 2000. It's 1500 running watts, 2000 surge, 10A 12V. Also if anybody is running one of these what do you think? I know it's not going to be very quite, and probably not the best quality, but for $200 if it works I'll be happy.

The true purpose of the generator will be to run a couple small appliances that require AC occationally. One is a Margaritta Maker that uses 400 watts. It will also be nice to be able to charge the batteries back up, so I don't have to worry about running dead while I'm boondocking. But it would be nice to have a unit that will be small enough to fit in my storage compartments in my TT, be enough to run my A/C to cool it down before going to bed, and be cheap. If I'm going to spend the big bucks I'd go for a Honda, but that's not in the budget this year.

RedGuy,

I have a Honda 2000IS genset and it want run my 13,500.

You mean it won't run your A/C?

Is that 2000 running watts?

Most people consider 2000 watts the absolute minimum, and that is usually not enough, especially if you are at elevation. I would be surprised if a 1500 watt generator would work. Add to that the noise level of the generator you are considering. If you use it, be sure you don't have any neighbors within a couple hundred feet.

quote:

Originally posted by RedGuy:
You mean it won't run your A/C?

Is that 2000 running watts?

A 2000 watt generator is rated also for continus duty and is less than 2000 watt's

The "Rated Output" is 1600 watt's. That means continus duty.

The max rated output is 2000 watt's.

quote:

Originally posted by Rif:
Most people consider 2000 watts the absolute minimum, and that is usually not enough, especially if you are at elevation. I would be surprised if a 1500 watt generator would work. Add to that the noise level of the generator you are considering. If you use it, be sure you don't have any neighbors within a couple hundred feet.

About the highest elevation I'll see is 1,000ft, most of the terrain around Michigan is pretty low. As for neighbors, there are none where I go. But I suppose I should look at a larger unit if I want to run my air. I've seen some Champion 3,500 watt generators at Murray's for $300. The extra $100 might be well worth it. I'd imagine I should be able to run everything with 3,500 watts 4,000 surge with out a problem.

Aside from neighbors you just might get tired of listening to a noisy generator, worse the spouse could get tired of it.

If I had to go with a portable for a generator I'd get the 3000 Honda or look into a pair of 2000s. I've seen that discussed here in the past and it seemed to be workable.

....like horsepower-you can't have too much....it is a matter of noise and nothing else....geofkaye

You need to follow Stanley's advice. It will take the 3,000 watt Honda, or similar, to run the roof air. My friend has a Yamaha 2800 and it will run his most of the time, but not always. We are near a guy with a cheap generator now, and it is loud. Maybe you will be camping far from anyone else and if that is the case get the cheap, noisy one, rated for at least 3,000 watts.
Dan

Getting a generator that will run all your equipment & appliances is essential. You also need to consider the noise your generator makes while making your power. I know several folks that have bought generator on the cheap, makes power and lots of noise. They were asked to leave forest service camp areas because of the noise their generators made. I also know most campgrounds won’t let you run your generator when they have power available at your site. Be a good neighbor and get a generator that everyone can tolerate.

Redguy,

Our previous MH had an Onan 2800 and we now have a Yamaha 2400. Both are capable of running the 13,500BTU air conditioners in our RVs. The Onan had an adjustment on the carburator for altitude and it worked at 8,000+ feet. Haven't tried the Yamaha at over 6,000 yet. The Onan would run the AC and the microwave at the same time as long as the compressor did not cycle (would run AC full on or on fan only when using the microwave).

With the Yamaha 2400, I do have to be more careful what other loads are present when the AC compressor starts up. If the battery charger is on bulk, it sometimes overloads the generator.

If your looking for a more budget priced generator, take a look at the Kipor generators. They are mid-range priced between the bargain and name brand units. They've gotten a lot of reviews on other RV forums. They are not rated quite as quiet as the Honda and Yamaha, but much better than construction grade generators.

http://www.kipornorthamerica.com/Sinemaster.aspx

Another clone of the inverter generators is marketed under the Boily brand name. I haven't kept up with reviews of them.

Hope this helps!

I have a Honda 2000 and use it to keep my batteries charged when there is not enough sun and run the microwave. It will not run the A/C. I figure if the A/C becomes an issue then I will get a second one and combine the two.

You may want to take a minute and go to Generator Joes. They have many differnt brands however, probably none you will want. The site will give you some education about generators related to output, altitude etc.

Buying a generator is a lot like buying solar. Just a lot cheaper. Figure out what you want to run and go from there. Buying the next size up is always cheaper than making a mistake and purchasing a larger unit later.

JMHO

Tony

I have two Honda 2000 generators with a kit that allows both of them to be connected together to provide up to 4000 watts.

We can run A/C (15,000 BTU) & dryer at the same time. I went with this combination so I could use them at home in case of power outage or only carry one if we are going to a location where A/C won't be needed.

A single Honda 2000 will handle everything except the A/C.

The noise level is very low even with both units running at full load.

We get about 8 hours use on a tank of gas, so they are very efficient.

We are heavy electric users and these two Honda generators meet our needs very well.

Although if I had to do it over I would get a Honda 3000 with a remote electric start unit and a Honda 1000 for battery charging and watching TV.

My biggest concern is theft based upon some of the stories I read in the RV forums.

Please, don't buy some noisy gen set. Do your wife a favor, and get her something decent.

Jim

We had an Onan 2800 in our 5W. It ran the roof a/c everywhere we went until one winter in Mexico when we hit some 90+ weather. It just didn't have enough to run the a/c in that heat. Based on that experience I would say you need 3500 watts minimum to be sure that you can run the a/c wherever you want to.