How much of my 2501TS can I run on 1 Honda?

[RHOUSER]

I know I have the on-board Onan 4KW generator but it uses fuel at about .5 gal per hour or 4 gal per 8 hours at 50% load.

For fall camping where I will not start my AC at 30 amps nor the heat pump at about the same amps, I wonder if I could get by with the 16.8 amps from a single Honda EU2000-i.


I own a pair of them (primary and companion) from before my new Forester. I also have two six gallon outboard motor tanks set up to service both or one of them. This puts the run times between refills at 2 days per six gallon tank. It also lets me swap tanks to go fill one as needed.

My thoughts: I can run a single Honda at 50% load for about 8 hours on 1 gallon. I suspect that the furnace, the refrigerator on propane, hot water heater on propane, the water pump, and the lights might come in at the 8 amp level which would come close to the 50% load for a single Honda.

Plan, I guess I will just take a Kill-a-watt meter and plug it into the Honda, put a 20 AMP adapter to my 30 amp and go turn on everything I think I want and see what the load is.

Has anyone used the honda/Hondas as an alternative to the onboard Onan or is this just my foolishness wanting to still get use from my Hondas.

I will not be offended if this is a dumb idea, but, be as kind as you can be in responses.

v/r rch

[Martsing]

I have a Ryobi 2200 and run my 2703WS with no problem. No air conditioner.

It doesn't like the microwave and several other things though and will trip.

vr

Marty

[herbike]

I can see a reason for wanting to use your Honda. We have an Onan mounted in our Shockwave. It makes too much noise to run very long at one time. We take our 3000 Watt Honda along and leave it in the pu bed. In the pu bed it can hardly be heard so sometimes if we are camping in below freezing temps we let it run all night, don't have to worry about batteries running down with the furnace.

[emm-dee]

Not a dumb idea at all. The Onan is way too noisy to be running long times...and uses too much fuel. I do two 6-7 night camping trips a year and use the dual Honda 2000 setup 24 hours a day. One trip is during chilly weather so most of the time only one Honda is running.

With a single generator you should be able to run everything except the A/C. Obviously you cannot run the air, microwave, electric water heat and other high amp portable items at the same time. I installed the MicroAir Easy Start system which allows the use of the 15k Atwood air conditioner. However, the high amp draw during that use causes the Honda to run close to its max speed. I’ve found that running both Hondas in parallel results in a lower noise footprint.

[Walholler]

I cannot tell you what you can run with one Honda generator in your RV, but I can tell you what I experienced with my two generators. I purchased the Honda 2200 with the 30 amp outlet and a companion Honda 2200 with the two 20 amp outlets. I also purchased the parallel cable. I ran a test with both generators running in parallel pulling a 15K AC unit. The outside temperature was 85 degrees and the AC thermostat was set on 72 degrees, the generators were in the Eco mode. Each generator holds 0.95 of a gallon of gasoline, the generators ran for 7 hours non stop running the AC. Nothing else was on during the test. Best way to find out what you can or cannot run on one generator is perform yourself a test.

[tosh99]

I used to have an Onan generator on my work van. It was used to run an air compressor and lights at night. In a commercial district it was no problem but in a residential district, I had to used good judgement about the time of day.


I have a Honda 2000 for my travel trailer. I really only use it to run a fast charge for the battery if needed or the small tire compressor which runs much better on AC than the 12vdc option.

[mnoland30]

We ran one Honda 2000 on our houseboat for years. No heater, but a 1/3 h.p. swamp cooler. The Honda would strugle when we turned on the cooler, but it would work. It would not run the microwave at the same time, but if you turned off the cooler, it ran the microwave with no problem. We upgraded last year to a 2200 Honda, and it will run both at the same time. That extended run feature with boat gas tank is a great feature. LED lights and fridge running on propane don't use much power.

[formerFR]

I know that you're using the typical 1/2 gal per hour running at a typical 50% of capacity, but it's very doubtful that just running your furnace overnight would need anything nearly as powerful as 50% of your Onan's power generation...more likely it would be 1/4, if that, and so the fuel usage is actually very minimal.

I came over to a Class A diesel from both a Fifth-wheel bunkhouse, with two Honda's in parallel, and then from a Class A gas unit, with onboard Onan, but nearer the rear of the coach.
Without a doubt, the upfront Onan RV QD6000 generator, with AGS, outweighs anything else I would use, even if I needed it to run all night long.
But, the reality is that it never does need to run that long. It really is there the charge the batteries, which then power the furnace, and allow the Inverter to power 120v items like the TVs, sat receivers, etc, during the dark hours. It might run for an hour, every three or four hours, as needed. Things like the water pump, water heater(if electric even), etc., might be part of the equation, but even then, they don't run 24/7, they only come on and off as needed, including the fridge.
I believe the Onan generators are much more efficient than most might realize.

I would never want to go back to having to haul, store, get out, set up, and get my 'generators' up and running, especially since they rarely have an 'automatic' start and stop. And that's not including having the need to have a place to store fuel for them.

[NMWildcat]

We are currently setup at Phoenix NASCAR event. We run one of our Honda EU2000is at a time. It will run everything in our 50 amp unit but the a/c. We run our microwave, coffee pot, hair dryer, one at a time. If I think about it I will turn off the eco mode. No sweat.

[jeffnick]

These are fun and easy...
https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Multimet...eter+voltmeter

[moose074]

I use the powerhouse version of the Honda when I dry camp for a few hours a day to charge battery ect ran everything I needed except a/c and microwave longest stay was 4 days not sure I needed it very little electric usage but I run it as a just in case

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by formerFR

I know that you're using the typical 1/2 gal per hour running at a typical 50% of capacity, but it's very doubtful that just running your furnace overnight would need anything nearly as powerful as 50% of your Onan's power generation...more likely it would be 1/4, if that, and so the fuel usage is actually very minimal.

I came over to a Class A diesel from both a Fifth-wheel bunkhouse, with two Honda's in parallel, and then from a Class A gas unit, with onboard Onan, but nearer the rear of the coach.
Without a doubt, the upfront Onan RV QD6000 generator, with AGS, outweighs anything else I would use, even if I needed it to run all night long.
But, the reality is that it never does need to run that long. It really is there the charge the batteries, which then power the furnace, and allow the Inverter to power 120v items like the TVs, sat receivers, etc, during the dark hours. It might run for an hour, every three or four hours, as needed. Things like the water pump, water heater(if electric even), etc., might be part of the equation, but even then, they don't run 24/7, they only come on and off as needed, including the fridge.
I believe the Onan generators are much more efficient than most might realize.

I would never want to go back to having to haul, store, get out, set up, and get my 'generators' up and running, especially since they rarely have an 'automatic' start and stop. And that's not including having the need to have a place to store fuel for them.

All good points but not valid if you camp in 95 degree weather for 7-8 days. The Oman is going to use 80-90 gallons of gas which means you have to break camp at least once to drive to a gas station. Also, that Onan is LOUD.

[RHOUSER]

A little off subject, but, not too much. I talked to my favorite "non-dealer" tech about installing a Micro-air Soft Start on my new "rig". He says he believes Forest River is installing them in the new Foresters already.


Short of climbing up and looking for a board or the complete package, can anyone confirm that this is so?


I might make a call to the "Mother Ship" and ask. They sent me this really cool elite card....


v/r rch