Generac generator question

[oldjohnt]

2 hours ago, FL-JOE said:

I think in your situation John, especially with your knowledge and self installing, solar would be a viable choice due to the amount of time you spend off the grid.  

Safe travels,

Joe

Thanks Joe, indeed it all depends on how often or how long a person "dry camps". The "economic" decision also hinges on if you already have a Genset in the RV OR if you have to go out and buy one... I just don't like the idea and concept of having to fire up a Genset to charge my battery bank hate nor do I like to run it early mornings in quite peaceful say Natl Forest type camps where there's mostly tent campers within earshot. Other options I've observed more lately (if no genset or solar) are the use of an RV or tow trucks charging system to pump some charge into the house batteries but that's a whole other topic...….For many and as alluded to above, energy is NOT the dry camp time limiting factor ITS RUNNING OUT OF FRESH WATER OR HAVING TO DUMP. With only us two in our relatively small 29 ft Class C and modest energy requirements keeping our 520 Amp Hour AGM house battery bank up to say 60% to 100% SOC using 1080 watts of Solar is never a problem. I designed my system to allow us to dry camp (we never use public facilities) for one week before we need to take on water and we can go nearly two weeks before dumping, but after a week in one location were ready to move on anyway.

 At the recent RVillage Rally we saw a huge Class A with enough Lithium battery capacity and an extra 180 amp engine alternator to power at least one maybe two rooftop AC's at the same time for a decent amount of time, they were really into it much more (and a ton more money) then us in our smaller Class C.

To each their own and all the choices and options is what makes the diverse RV community great.

Nice chatting with you

John T  Currently off the road for a while "Back home again in Indiana"  Helping my buddys farm, maintenance and improving the RV while planning the next trip, practice a little law, having fun ………..       

Edited June 3, 2019 by oldjohnt

[D&J]

On 5/22/2019 at 8:33 AM, D&J said:

They use a pulse system, if it cranks for a few seconds with no start it pulls it closed for a short period but if the battery voltage is low or the cables from your house batteries are to long or small it won't pull in because the starter is pulling down the voltage. I have a stand alone battery for mine and if it's not fully charged the choke will not pull in, I'm looking at putting a pushbutton switch next to my start panel in the rig to just manually choke it.

Denny 

I finally got around to installing a choke monetary switch at the remote start switch and it works like a champ. I pulled power off the starting solinoid coil (left terminal) so it will only work when cranking and cut the choke wire (number 90) and spliced in wire from the new switch eliminating the auto wire.

Denny