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Old 05-10-2015, 06:52 PM   #1
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1000 vs 2000 watt generator for A122?

We want to get a generator to top off our battery and charge our laptops and phones on 7+ day camping trips. We would also like to add a propane conversion kit. One of us leaning toward the 2000 and the other the 1000. What do you think?
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Old 05-10-2015, 07:05 PM   #2
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For the price difference, 2000w, but I'm biased. Better to have to much juice instead of not enough

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Old 05-10-2015, 07:12 PM   #3
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For the price difference, 2000w
I would tend to agree. If pennies are tight.. a 1000w would keep you in business, but you would get more bang for your buck with a 2000w. It also opens up a wealth of other uses aside from just charging your battery/ies.

Is there a specific reason for wanting to convert to Propane?
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Old 05-10-2015, 08:44 PM   #4
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1000 vs 2000 watt generator for A122?

My boyfriend does not want to have anything to do with the smell of gas in the car, while we're transporting the generator/trailer to the campsite. He feels that propane is a much safer and cleaner fuel. I understand his concerns but have concerns about putting all of our "energy eggs" in one propane basket. We tow our A122 with a Subaru Outback, so excess weight is a concern.

I would love to find out from those of you who have used generators in a small A122 trailer:

1) Whether propane is a safer, better fuel choice than gasoline for a 1000 or 2000-watt generator. If you use gasoline, do you experience gas fumes in your tow vehicle (e.g.,) or is the generator sealed well enough that there are no fumes? How long does gas generally last in your 1000 or 2000 (more than 3.8 hours?)

2) While I agree 100% in getting more bang for our buck with a 2000 watt generator, my boyfriend feels a 1000-watt should be plenty for topping off the battery and our laptops and phones. Besides more 19 pounds more weight, a few inches larger size, and only $200 more in cost, what are compelling reasons to get a 2000? Is it true that a 2000 generator converted for propane would have to work at full power at all times (meaning, no throttling down of power output for a low-energy phone, for example)? Are our calculations incorrect that a 2000-watt generator would likely only get 11 hours of power out of a 5-gallon propane tank, vs. 22 hours for a 1000-watt generator? That sounds counter-intuitive to me, so if you could explain whether a 2000 would actually provide double the potential hours of power, I would appreciate it.

3) For those of you who use a generator in a small A-frame, what types of appliances do you use the generator for? We've only thought about the battery and laptops and phones, but what other electric appliances or tools do you use?

Thank you In advance for any light you can shed on any of these issues.
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Old 05-10-2015, 09:17 PM   #5
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Honda has a 2000Watt generator/Inverter that is very robust, extremely quiet (By comparison) and can be converted to run on propane with a readily available kit.

Honda eu2000i

They are pricey. I have the 3000Watt version. It is very efficient and quiet. I used it to power the A/C in my Lance 835 truck Camper. I would by another One in a heartbeat

We used ours to power or home refrig and sump pumps well as next door neighbors, during Hurricane Sandy. Other Neighbors of ours had different brands and had issues, our's never skipped a beat. You get what you pay for in this case for sure

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Old 05-10-2015, 09:22 PM   #6
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I am ready to buy a Honda 2000

But Deaver, my partner has numerous concerns about it: size, weight, too much generator for what we need. That's why I am trying to solicit more persuasive arguments from you pros who have been using generators. Even tho we have a very small trailer, the A/C would need a 3000-watt, so even a 2000-watt model wouldn't get us A/C. Is there anything else you use your generator for? Do you use gas or propane-conversion for your generator? If it's gas, how do you transport the generator from your home to the campsite? Is there a gas smell left in your tow vehicle? Do you empty the gas after each use so it doesn't get sludgy over time?
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Old 05-10-2015, 09:27 PM   #7
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The eco-throttle on the Honda will easily charge a cell phone at low speed. The fule tank on my Honda 2000's is air tight when closed and dose not vent any gas fumes. If you ever trade up, you can add another honda 2000 and have a nice set up that will run an AC unit.
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Old 05-10-2015, 09:59 PM   #8
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The Honda is physically small for its rated size. I am suggesting the Honda for its reliability, ease of use and the availability of Propane conversion (as requested). I am not sure of the specs of your A/C so it would be unfair of me to speculate. How many Amps does your A/C draw when running and how many during start-up? The 2000 will run everything else in your camper (at the same time probably)

The Honda can run for ~8+ hours on one tank of gas depending on the Elect load you put on it. Never saw a need for propane and gas available everywhere.

We carried ours in the backseat area of our crew cab truck full of gas when starting out and never smelled it. You can shut off the fuel supply to the engine on ours and let it run out of gas in the carb to keep it from sludgeing. MFG reccomended

If your partner wants the best, no hassle, starts every time and quiet generator, Buy a Honda and never look back. There are 218 reviews I linked that gave an overall 4.9 out of 5 stars. There is a reason of that
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Old 05-11-2015, 06:25 AM   #9
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Maybe Try Solar for a season?

Hi:

We currently have the Yamaha EF2400iSHC so we can run the A/C but it's kind of bulky and heavy. We never smell any trace of gasoline in the SUV. We fill it before we leave and it usually lasts a week; probably because we have yet to need the A/C. If need be, we'd throw it in the SUV mid-week and refill it on a trip into town. Have thought about putting a gas can in the storage area of our A122S, but just haven't needed that kind of power. Right after we bought the Yamaha, I thought I'd heard that Honda came out with a generator around the 2400 watt range, but I don't see it on the internet.

Last year, before we got the Yamaha, we used a combination of a solar panel and an inverter. It was plenty to charge two phones, a tablet, a wireless hot spot, and a laptop. We put in a cigarette lighter adapter and we have a voltage meter that plugs in to monitor the battery. For awhile, we carried a nice automotive battery charger and would run the SUV, connect the inverter and charge the trailer battery before we tried solar. It would recharge the trailer battery very quickly.

Thanks,
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Old 05-11-2015, 06:48 AM   #10
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Think also about mission creep in deciding the size. Are you going to want to run the microwave oven and can the 1000 do that with 900 watts of continuous power?

Then to make things muddier rather than help you narrow the decision, for electronics charging, water pump and lights, you might also consider getting a group 31 battery and a solar panel array. Without the furnace, careful use and a G31 battery will get you through most of a week. A easy to handle solar array could keep you powered up except in the worst of weather when you could use your car as a fall back for device charging.

Solar is more fashionable, as in "greener." It can be a plug'n'play system with the controller wired into the electrical system making it just about as easy to use as a generator, and certainly doesn't leave fumes beyond the initial manufacturing.
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Old 05-11-2015, 07:28 AM   #11
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"...careful use and a G31 battery will get you through most of a week..."

Is that with solar?
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Old 05-11-2015, 08:53 AM   #12
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1000 vs 2000 watt generator for A122?

MinneeweeseM, Thanks so much for writing about your varied experiences. We had considered solar and a second battery, but settled in a generator. Regarding the battery charger idea, how long did it take to recharge the battery from your SUV? Pls explain that process in more detail.
Since you tried a battery charger and solar, but ended up with a generator, what were some of your considerations for going with the generator instead?
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Old 05-11-2015, 08:57 AM   #13
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Pooneil, yes, we certainly were interested in solar. But because we like to camp in the big Woods, there may not always be enough light to fully charge the panel, and it would not be helpful in charging the trailer battery.
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:06 AM   #14
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Also, one of my main reasons for wanting a trailer instead of camping in a tent was having a furnace that would allow us not to freeze at night, and having a porta potty. Those were my two criteria for a trailer. Of course, because we're using a Subaru Outback to tow the trailer, weight - less than 2700 pounds max fully loaded - is a major consideration. So I was told that the reason we can't run the furnace at night is because the furnace fan requires too much of the battery. So my next question was how do we keep the trailer battery charged sufficiently so we don't have to freeze at night? We looked at solar, we looked at double batteries, we looked at generators. But we're trying to choose between a 1000 W and a 2000 W. Sure, it would be fun to run the microwave, but it's certainly not necessary. Our a 122 needs at least 3000 W for the AC. My questions to you more seasoned travelers is what other appliances might we want to run in the future that would require a 2000 W generator instead of 1000? We have only thought about our laptop and phones and battery, but what else might one need/want for a longer trip?
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:14 AM   #15
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Pooneil, yes, we certainly were interested in solar. But because we like to camp in the big Woods, there may not always be enough light to fully charge the panel, and it would not be helpful in charging the trailer battery.
Makes sense to me.
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:18 AM   #16
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... how long did it take to recharge the battery from your SUV? Pls explain that process in more detail.
Since you tried a battery charger and solar, but ended up with a generator, what were some of your considerations for going with the generator instead?
Hi: How long a recharge takes gets really complicated fast depending on a bunch of factors. You can probably read many long threads about that here and elsewhere!

Our experience was that every 2 or 3 days we would hook up our charger to the trailer battery. It was a fairly common Schumacher charger and it seems like it pushed 15-17 amps(?) Again, you can read about cooking the plates from the many experts here and elsewhere but it seemed to work for us. The charger was running on an inverter connected to the tow vehicle and the tow vehicle's engine was running. Seems kind of strange to go from 12v to 120v then to 12v on the charger, but it worked*. It was a pretty hefty inverter (1000w?) too and a pure sine wave inverter because sometimes we'd charge the laptop and phones directly from it.

*We considered just jumping the trailer battery from the tow vehicle because there is a lot of charging current available, but you are kind of force-feeding your tow vehicle battery when it doesn't need it and that can shorten its life.

The solar panel worked well too, but you have to drag it with you and like you said, there are often a lot of trees. (Especially where we camp!)

We still use the solar panel while the trailer is parked in the driveway to keep the battery topped up. (it has a charge controller and seems to work great.)

Thanks for asking!
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:23 AM   #17
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Wow MinneeWeeseMI, I did not realize that solar produced enough juice to top off the battery.
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:25 AM   #18
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Hair dryer, coffee pot, small microwave, small electric griddle, ceramic heater (instead of propane heater in camper) battery charger (camper charger/converter takes too long to recharge RV battery) all come to mind to be run off 2000 watt unit. We always haul our generator in our RV. Like mentioned never smelled fuel around the generator and fuel can be shut off to carburetor and run dry before shutting down unit. Propane doesn't produce as much power as gas and propane generators are generally propane thirsty ... at least the larger ones. I think your partner is concerned about the wrong issues and should look beyond charging up a battery.
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:30 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MinneweeseMI View Post
"...careful use and a G31 battery will get you through most of a week..."

Is that with solar?
Without using the furnace and by minding my usage, I've gone four days on a the cheap group 24 battery that came with my camper. The time could be extended if I chose to shorten the life of the battery by running the voltage down further.

So I say "most of a week" because the the OP has two people to support and power needs for electronics that I don't. So as an estimate, a G31 deep cycle, which has substantially higher capacity, should support his greater demands, excluding the furnace, for most of a week (at least four days) without charging.
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:31 AM   #20
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Deiselguy, bingo! Thx for all the considerations you provided.
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