Generator for AC

[Rocketdog]

I recently bought a 23ft Rockwood and I am thrilled to join the lifestyle (now to get my wife excited about it). My question is regarding the use of a generator. What size generator will provide adequate power to the AC? 2000W? Any words of wisdom or advice before I start shopping? Thanks...

[aintgotnun]

Welcome to FRF!!

P = V * I

P is power in Watts
V is voltage in Volts
I is current in Amps

2400w = 120v * 20A and that's without the initial "surge"

3000w minimum, 3600-4000w ideal size (let's you run other stuff)

of course this is my own humble opinion................


greg

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Rocketdog

I recently bought a 23ft Rockwood and I am thrilled to join the lifestyle (now to get my wife excited about it). My question is regarding the use of a generator. What size generator will provide adequate power to the AC? 2000W? Any words of wisdom or advice before I start shopping? Thanks...

minimum is the Yamaha 2400, which is advertised as being able to run most newer 13.5 btu a/c's.
or 2 Honda 2000's.
or some of the lesser known, like the Boliy 3600.
one Honda 2000 will probably not run your a/c unless at sea level and nothing else on. i have one and it'll run mine but i live near sea level. haven't tried it at higher elevations.

[skidoonut]

i run a honda 3000 eu and it runs everything. it is great on gas and is very quiet. only draw back is it is a little heavy. but this also stops it from growing legs as fast.

[TravelSoftballDad]

If you have the coin, the Honda 3000 eu or dual Honda 2000i's (with patch cord) will work perfect and are nice and quiet; no problems at most campgrounds. Also safest should you be running a lap-top or the like. If you're like me (without the luxury of extra $$$) and only use generator in parking lots at sporting events, you can get away with a Champion 4000. I paid $199.00 after rebate and it works great...just a little loud in comparison with the Honda's gold standard.

A buddy has the Kipor 3500 and it'll start and run the AC, but at AC start-up, it is maxed out. Meaning, if TV is on and AC tries to start, the TV will shut off...prolly not good on the TV and/or any other sensative electronics.

You'll need to figure out how much you will be dry-camping (no hook-ups) and where you will doing this. State campgrounds and loud generators don't mix. However, I have learned that most think they will do more of this type of camping than they actually get to. ;-(

Let us know what you go with and how much you paid.

[MtnGuy]

We have the Yamaha 2400, and it runs our 13.5k AC just fine. We haven't tried it with the AC and additional load, but I can always cut off anything else on the AC startup, which draws the most amps.

Chap

[slpybeartx]

Here was a good discussion... I reccomend the Champion.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...light=champion

[Rocketdog]

Thanks for your input. I purchased a Gentron 3500 W Pro2 (RV Model) from the internet (GeneratorDepot.us). It was $459 with free shipping. Not as quiet as a Honda but I figured another 10 decibels to save$500 was a good trade. It is heavy though... I hope my wife don't hurt herself

[guysing]

I used my 3000 watt generator and it was able to run both the a/c (13, 500 btu), several lights and the microwave at the same time so I suspect anything 3kw or higher should work fine. (2701 Rockwood)

[2manytoyz]

Since the OP has already purchased a generator now, this info is for other perspective buyers.

A Honda 2KW is a tad too small to reliably run a 13,500 BTU A/C unit. It "might" start it initially, but probably won't restart the A/C unit after a head pressure has built up. Most report it won't even initially start theirs, including my local buddy here in flat FL. Two certainly will, but that's $2K worth of hardware with the parallel cable.

The Yamaha EF2400iS is the smallest, lightest, quiet series generator, that will reliably run most 13,500 BTU A/C units.

It weighs in at 70 lbs. A 3000 Watt generator typically weighs double that.

The 2400 uses the same sized engine as the 2800 and 3000 Watt generators.

It will carry a 3000 Watt surge for a full 10 seconds before going into overload.

I've done quite a bit of testing of my Yamaha. Details and pics at this link: http://www.2manytoyz.com/yamaha2400.html

Every 3 dB is twice the sound energy. Every 10 dB is perceived to be TWICE as loud to the human ear. Quiet is expensive, loud is cheap. Loud can't be fixed with a different muffler (doesn't address intake and mechanical noise). Pay once, cry once. I didn't, I cried twice. But I'm finally happy now!

Another thing to consider is when comparing noise figures, everyone looks at the top figure and compares apples to apples. Not so. Inverter type generators only run as fast as the load demands. A 5000 BTU A/C unit keeps my generator at idle, or 53 dB. My 13,500 BTU A/C unit brings it up to about 2/3 throttle, or 55-56 dB. A conventional generator is running 3600 RPMs constantly just to make 60 Hz.

If you can live with loud, and camp in the boonies, go for cheap. Contractor grade generators will certainly run your camper. I did this for many years. But if at a campground, or for emergency power at home, there's a HUGE difference in the sound level of a quiet series generator.

[gizzys]

We are new to rv camping as well. Last year we bought a 2009 Rockwood 2501ss. We also are in the market for generators. Today we visited both the Honda and Yamaha dealerships. At Honda, we were told that to run our a/c plus a few things we would need a Honda EU3000i ($2,300 cdn). If we didn't need to run a/c than a EU2000ic ($1,300 cdn) would be fine. At Yamaha, they told us that a Yamaha EF2400is ($1,900 cdn) would barely be okay for a/c but if we turned on one light at the same time it would blow. He said we would be better off with a EF3000ise ($2,700 cdn). Trying to make a sale? Maybe. Any of these is alot of money to spend. We need to have something quiet as we will mostly do campgrounds, provincial and private. So we have to look at the inverter style. Can't beleive the difference in price for quiet vs. your basic generator. Even Honda and Yamaha brandnames. If our cdn $ wasn't so bad, I would cross the border into Montana and buy one down there... Now we aren't sure what to get and if it is worth it. Maybe we need to try a season without...
Giselle

[MtnGuy]

Giselle, we got this delivered to our house with no shipping charges or taxes:

http://www.wisesales.com/YamahaEF2400iS.html

It powers the 13,500 btu AC OK. I can't think that a light or 2 is going to kill the power. You always want to start the AC without any other load, but after start-up you should be able to run a few other low wattage draw items.

[gizzys]

Does anyone know anything about Kipor Generators? We are looking at an IG3000. They seem to be a bit louder than the yamaha and honda at 60-67db. But is this still reasonable? We could get one for about $1600.00. It's $700 less than a honda eu3000.
We would order from the US but trying to find a place that will ship to Canada isn't so easy and with the $ exchange, s&h, tax and duty.... all of a sudden we are looking at big dollars.
Giselle

[redtang02]

If you purchase 2 of the Honda's eu2000i's and get the parallel cord you will have basically a 4000 watt generator for around $2300. The 2000's are easier and lighter to handle and easier to store than the 3000 watt and if you need less power you can use just one.