5th wheel generator.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
I

icewater

Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Posts
5
OK I have a question about 5th wheels.....do some/most have a propane generator system built in or is this an oddity. I am very new to this idea RVing. I was a backpacker in my younger days. I have been looking at E Bay just for some ideas of what is available. I like the idea of a towed trailer that could be stored at a home base type arrangement while the truck could be used for day trips. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving ! :)
 
Icewater,

Most 5th wheel trailers do not have generators. Some folks do order them or put them in after they get the rig. I would stay away from any propane fired generator. They use an aweful lot of fuel. Honda has a very quiet gas generator that is capable of taking care of any needs one might have. You can also tie two of them together for a full 30amps. They are not cheap but people that have them seem to love them.

If you decide to install a generator inside a bay be sure it is properly prepared. With the portable you can leave it outside with less fear of fumes getting into the rig.
 
Our Cameo came preped for a generator,but we have never had one installed. We did buy one of the little Honda 1000's and we carry that with us. It will not run
the A/C or the electric water heater, but it will run the TV and the Sat Receiver and the lights and charge the batteries. If it is hot enough for the A/C we hook up
and move to a cooler place or go where they have hookups.

Dave
 
You do know with that honda you can likely parrallel in another to make it a honda 2000, and by the way, the AC unit I put in my trailer (Before I traded it in on something larger) a Genrac 1000 did run it,,, Sounded a bit strange, but the  Genrac did indeed run it.

A 2000 would have run it better though
 
Ice -- I use a Yamaha 3000Iseb generator/invertor. It's the quietest I've found. Pricing seems to be between $1829 to $2300. You can find them on the internet; ebay, some RV Dealers and most Yamaha (motorcycle/Snowmobile) dealers.
My 5th has a location to mount the generator; but I've elected to use it as a stand alone. The location on my 5th is at the front of the RV, below the hitch; which seems to me a bad spot if we need to run it for AC while trying to sleep; plus I like the storage for other items. When we go and need the generator I can leave it in the back of the pickup; or put it towards the rear of the RV off the bathroom wall; that way we neither hear the noise, nor feel any vibrations.
This particular model uses the battery of the generator to boost the AC wattage for 10 seconds to 3500 watts; enough power to start most 13500BTU AC's. We've never had a problem using any of the appliances with this generator.
Before you buy any generator; go somewhere they will fire it up and let you listen to the noise level. Camping in an RV is supposed to bring added comforts; not added noise.
Good luck/happy camping.
 
If you can't spend the amount necessary for a Honda or Yamaha, Pep Boys has a 3500-Watt Gen on sale for $269.95 right now.

It's noisier than the Honda, but adequate for RVing when neighbors are more distant.

Also, if you're using a Short-Bed pickup/extended pin-box, a hitch-receiver mounted carrier can be used to transport the generator, even while the fiver is connected. We cut 1-foot off each end of our carrier to make it clear the fiver in a tight turn. This carrier has a 500-pound load max. It costs about $80.

Prior to this arrangement we used a carrier mounted on the back bumper of the fiver. That only works on the 4"-square bumpers; not on the more modern units. Caution: Some RV bumpers won't handle the weight.

Many fifth-wheels have a steel bottom in the nose storage compartment; suitable for a generator; some are even factory-wired for a generator. That location, just under the bedroom, is a bit too noisy, however.
 
Thank you very much for the replies. I will have to think this one through. Hmmmm batteries and inverters and a charging system gas/diesel....diesel would be the best bet. Thanks !
 
Let's back up a bit, Icewater. What are you expecting to do with the generator? 

There`are roughly three levels of electrical service you may want in an RV.  The first (lowest) level is simply recharging the battery(s). The second is operating some electrical appliances, e.g. tv, coffee pot, hair dryer or maybe even a small microwave. The second level has a max load of around 1200 watts and is usually an intermmitent load, i.e something you would need for 15-30 minutes only. The third level is heavy duty electrical appliances, typically an air conditioner. Level 3 is both a large load and continupous, typically for hours at a time.

The first level is easy to satisfy with a small portable genset such as a Honda eu1000i. Actually, a small (1000 watt) genset will often handle much of level two as well, as long as nothing else is demanding power at he same time. Certainly a 2000 wat would do level 2 nicely and a Honda EU2000i is still an easily portable unit.  Its not until you get to level 3 that things get difficult.

Chances are you will not be willing (or allowed) to run a genset for general level 3 use anyway.  Your camping neighbors will hate you and most places prohibit running generators after 7 or  8 pm anyway.
 
icewater said:
Thank you very much for the replies. I will have to think this one through. Hmmmm batteries and inverters and a charging system gas/diesel....diesel would be the best bet. Thanks !
Click to expand...

I had an inverter/charger installed on my MH, Xantrex Prosine 2000, (2000 watts continous draw for as long as the batteries hold out,,,,, at that level, a bit over an hour, or 2 horus at 1,000 or 20 hours ato 100 or... Well you get the math)  watts times hours = about 2300 for the batteries I have)

Included is a lovely CONFIGURABLE 3 step charger, Safety shut down settings and a lot lot more

When I'm done I'll be able to select either a converter/charger (max draw about 1000 watts) to charge the batteries while the Xantrex runs the necessary 110 stuff or the gen-set on the rig or "shore power"

(I note in QZ we are allowed only 1,000 watt loads... IE: said converter)

You can then use a portable generator (IE: Genrac 1000 or Briggs & Stratton 1000, both same unit) to run a charger or one of the Hondas.  I am going to have to pack a scope I think and take a look at someone's honda.  My Xantrex monitors, among other things, the power waveform and it don't like other inverters much
 
Iceman, I have the Honda 3000 I use with my 5th wh. You can buy a remote kit for them which makes it a lot better,  it will work inside your tralier, they run around 69 db in noise which is very quite.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,093 (members: 16, guests: 1,077)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,934
Posts
1,387,761
Members
137,684
Latest member
kstoybox
Back
Top Bottom