generator hook up for a newbie

I'm very new to rv'ing -I recently inherited a 30' Salem 5th wheel and have yet to take it out, but have been playing with it to figure things out. I'm trying to use my small Honda ex800 generator (120v, 60 hz, 700 va, 800 va max) to power my fifth wheel. The generator has a regular plug, the 5th wheel has a big three prong "shore power" plug. Can I just get an adapter to make the shore power plug fit the generator?

Can the generator power the a/c system? The heater fan? The microwave? Everything else seems to work ok via battery.

Thanks for the help.

hpcmbw said:

I'm very new to rv'ing -I recently inherited a 30' Salem 5th wheel and have yet to take it out, but have been playing with it to figure things out. I'm trying to use my small Honda ex800 generator (120v, 60 hz, 700 va, 800 va max) to power my fifth wheel. The generator has a regular plug, the 5th wheel has a big three prong "shore power" plug. Can I just get an adapter to make the shore power plug fit the generator?

Can the generator power the a/c system? The heater fan? The microwave? Everything else seems to work ok via battery.

Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

800VA (800 watts for all practical purposes) isn't much power for most microwaves and A/C systems. Look at the ratings of each item and if it's above 800, the answer is a "no".  If the stuff is rated in amps instead of watts, multiply the amperage by 120. For an example, if your microwave says 120 VAC @ 10 amps, that is 1,200 watts and your generator is under powered by 400 watts. Sometimes the rating is inside the oven door (on the side, right where the door closes), sometimes near the cord. But everything should have its wattage rating listed somewhere if you look for it.

Other than that, the use of an adapter should be fine.  But it seems like you might need a bigger generator for many items you want to run.

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700VA is about 6A at 120VAC, not much power.  Not enough for a microwave, A/C, or even some smaller appliances.  As Don says, you need a bigger generator.  Yours will run a TV and/or computer, but not much more.  Yes, you can use an adapter to plug the trailer into the generator.  Any RV store will have them.

That size generator will work fine however to recharge the battery(ies) so you can keep running all your 12V stuff for extended stays.

You can get a 30A (three prong) to 15A (household outlet) adapter at a Walmart RV section or any RV dealer. It will work fine on the standard 15A outlet on your genset.

But as Don says, you won't run much on 800 va (watts). The a/c needs nearly twice that, so no go there. Microwave probably uses 800-1200 watts, so probably not that either.  Even a toaster or hair dryer will likely need 1000w or more. Your furnace fan should be 12v, not 120vac, so you don't need the genset there. Basically you can use the generator to recharge batteries and power the outlets in the RV, so you can plug in a fan, cell phone charger, computer, radio, etc.

hpcmbw said:

Can I just get an adapter to make the shore power plug fit the generator?

Can the generator power the a/c system? The heater fan? The microwave? Everything else seems to work ok via battery.

Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

To take each question one at a time:

Can I get an adapter: Yes,  If the outlet on the Honda is like a wall outlet in your house, a standard 15/30 adapter from any RV store or camping world, wall mart, sears, and many more will work just fine, Most camp grounds have 'em in the camp store in fact.  Though the price may be a bit...excessive... there.

Can the generator power the A/C system: NO, it can not, not enough Volt-Amps need at least 2,000 likely more

Heater fan: The fan yes (it is likely 12 volt) the heater no.  (Note enough watts) but the fan yes.

The converter that converts 120 vac to 12 vdc may be an issue however.. Mine pulls just over 1,000 volt-amps when the batteries are way down.. and next to nothign when the batteries are ful.

I think they say you can power a converter up to 60 amps. If the batteries are low... That's ALL you can run with that generator but the as the batteries come up you can turn on televisions and such.

Microwave.. A small one yes, the one in my Class A... NO. again not enough volt amps.

Volt-Amps rule

Here are some general guidelines, these may be off (since they are only guildelines) but these are AMPS. to convert to Volt-Amps, multiply by volts, that is 120

Air conditioner running, about 10,, STARTING  40 or more
Microwave, Mine is a 12 they run about six to 12
Water heater 12-13
Fridge 3-4
Televisons 1-3
Radio 1-2 (home theater systems are on the tip end)
Lights, furnace fan, water pump and such are 12 volt items

Converers figure the amps out times 15  This adds a bit for overhead, so a 60 amp converter takes 900 VA peak.

But... ONLY if the batteries are DEAD.. if it's only putting out 30 amps. it only needs half the VA

Great info guys! I didn't think the a/c would run on the little generator, but was hoping the microwave would. Oh well. I figure the generator will be mostly for recharging the batteries when needed.  Not sure how much I'll be using the 5th wheel, but not worth selling it in this economy, so I'll hang onto it and find ways to put it to use.

Thanks for the info!

Depends on the microwave. I have a 600 watt unit at home that would run ok on your generator, but the big micro/convection oven in the coach uses 1400watts on microwave and 1650 in convection mode. It's on a separate 20A breaker, which gives a good clue as to its demands.

Can you see the rating plate on the back of the microwave? It will give the wattage. 

Quality and length of extension cord can make a difference too.

I have a 1250W peak (1000W continous) generator.  It will run my microware (wattage unknown) fine if I don't use an extension cord, but will not if I use my 75 feet very light duty extension cord.  I know I need a bigger power cord, but it's not really a priority.

As I and Gary said.. The microwave it depends.. Mine is 1100 watt, and you only have a 1000 watt peak unit, less running, so you can't run mine.

Gary's is half the size or mine and will work with a 1kw Honda inverter type.

It's all up to the Microwave.

One thing you can do that will work with that mix is put an inverter in the rig.. Now I have a Prosine 2.0 in my rig (Warning, the installed price is about 2.0...thousand. less if you buy refurb and install yourself) this is a very good true-sine inverter/converter.. You hook it to 2-4 six volt battiries (2 pair is best) and it will power my microwave.. The Honada generator can then re-charge the batteries using a SEPERATE converter in the 60 amp range.  I have done this on occasion when I had power line quality issues.  (The PD 9180 in my house is more tolerant of out-of-range voltages than the L.G. manufactured microwave)

We used to camp in a remote place in Maine with only 15A service from a campground generator. Weren't allowed to run our own generator. I had a standalone inverter in that coach and a 50A converter/charger, so when we needed to use the 1200 watt convection oven, we would run it on the inverter (pulling about 120A DC from the batteries) while the charger was pumping about 50A back in.  Worked fine and the batteries recovered in a few hours after the meal was cooked.  You can do that with a standalone inverter and separate charger, but not with an integrated inverter/charger cause it won't invert and charge at the same time.

RV Roamer said:

Can you see the rating plate on the back of the microwave? It will give the wattage. 

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Always open the door and look inside first. I have five microwave ovens and four of the five have the wattage mentioned in a plate inside the oven. This is usually easier than trying to get to the rear of the oven, especially when it's mounted. If that fails, run the make and model number as an internet search and see what comes up.