KyDan's generator thoughts and mutterings

[KyDan]

Greetings!
We just spent 3 great days at Mammoth Cave NP. The CG there is a good
one as far as layout and shade and restrooms but has no hookups.
We go there about once a year and have been doing so for many years.
That half off for senior pass was nice!
It cost me $30 for 3 nites- sweet!

Oh Yeah, the CG check in guy mentioned the National Parks senior pass is
going from $10 to $80 late this year. October I think. Still a good buy but
that's a serious increase all at one time. If you're of the age but haven't gotten
your pass yet DON"T wait too long!

This trip we have the entire set of Jesse Stone DVDs and wanted to watch
one a nite.
I've been using a little cigarette socket plug in inverter that cost a whopping
$19.95. I've used it successfully on 3 different TVs and it still will get the
job done. It does cause a little interference in the TV- light and dark
waves move across the screen. You can still watch the TV and once you
get into the movie the interference goes out of mind.
But I've always wanted a little better inverter so I got one of those "pure
sine wave" inverters from Ebay. (see photo below)
I was a tad disappointed to find it also caused those ghostly waves in the
picture. Not as bad by far but still there. Oh well, we enjoyed the show
anyway.

When I needed to top up my 2 6v. golf cart batteries I plugged my
trailer into my Honda 2k. I found out that my hard wired Progressive
surge suppressor doesn't like Honda gennys! I shut off the suppressor and
charged anyway.
Google search of this FRF found the threads where folks point out that you
can overcome this little E-2 "no ground' error by adding a plug to the genny
outlet that has the Neutral and ground jumped together.
What good information!!

Now a sort of question- I've got the WFCO 8955 power center. Their website
says this one has 3 stage charging so I should be ok there. What I wonder
is how long to run the genny?? When charging batteries that's always been my question.
Since there isn't really any fuel gauge for batteries how long is long enough.
I used to use a stand alone 25 amp charger that had digital display and
I could watch the progress by observing the amps of charge gradually dwindle
and if left on long enough it would finally stop and say FULL.

Since on board power centers don't have that feature it leaves me wondering about charge times.
At least next time I'll have the neutral/ground bonding plug and I can
watch the amps on my Progressive surge suppressor display.

Finally the last part of my ramble and I'm not trying to derail my own thread
but I just gotta say this-- There was a little trailer across the CG loop that had a
medium contractor type generator and he started that
@#$%& thing every day about 5 and ran it until 11 EVERY night.
We could see him in there watching a little TV. Wow. just wow....
I guess he doesn't know what an inverter is.
My little Honda 2K would idle right down to a quiet purr while charging.

Well we don't go to a public camp ground expecting it to be quiet....

It was a great trip and the tall grass at home didn't bother me a bit.

Happy Trails!

(here's that inverter that worked ok but still had a small amount of TV interference.)

[lugoismad]

Besides no hookups, how did you like the campground there? Its about 2 hours from my house and we've been thinking about going. Would have to be in the fall or early spring so we don't need AC.

[KyDan]

Any time it's not really hot is great there. We always tell folks, hike/bike in the
morning, take a cave tour in the afternoon and enjoy the shaded camp ground
the rest of the time. It typically cools off after sunset unless it's really muggy.

As I said, it's a good CG and we usually spend a couple days there every
year. They accept reservations on the front loop, closer to the park road.
Some traffic during the day but pretty quiet at night. There are 2 rear
loops, C & D that are "walk up" which means first come first served.
It can get a little crowded on prime weekends but we always go without
reservations. We also go in week now that we are retired. Last week the
CG was less than 1/4 full.

Bring your bikes they have streets you can ride as well as a great thru the
woods packed gravel trail that goes on for miles.

If you want a popular cave tour you are advised to reserve it at least a
day or 2 ahead or more.

There are also some good hikes near the visitor center and out of the CG
as well as miles and miles of back country trails if that's your thing.