What's your shutdown scenario

[1930]

First time I ever used my generator was last night. ( First time I  ever used a generator)

I have a small camper in the woods ( early/ mid eighties camper)

It's a dometic roof mounted a/c unit and it worked great but I'm thinking there's gotta be a better option of shutting things down other than having to get up when I'm starting to fall asleep and go outside to shut off the generator than try and go back to try and fall asleep again?

What do you guys do?

 

[1930]

Also seems like I have three options on my a/ c.

Low, medium and high. I don't see a thermostat?

Seems like it's gonna just keep on blowing cold air..
That doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[SpencerPJ]

Some portable generators have a remote, like a car key fob, starts and stops.

I've never seen an AC that didn't have a knob to set coolness level, I'm sure they might exist. 

Edit:  If you tell us what type of Generator you have, we can help you possibly create a wired kill switch that you can run into the camper.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Back in the day is was not unusual to have no wall-thermostat, but there will be controls on the a/c units ceiling grille.  Should be at least an On/Off and a temperature setting, but the temp control could well be just Low/Medium/High. Can you identify the brand/model of the a/c unit?

There certainly should be no need to go outside and remove power to the camper.  What about a circuit breaker inside somewhere - the a/c is required to have a breaker on its circuit.  Although I suppose it could have been added as a DIY project by  someone who who didn't know or care.

 

[steveblonde]

Thirty year old campers rarely had a/c units and those that did most wouldnt work today , low med high is about right. Alot of newer campers still have those controls . The ac unit in my 5ers bedroom is like that and its a 2015 the main area ac is on a thermostat

 

[spdracr39]

Non ducted roof ac unit's do not have a thermostat for the fan it is either on or off on Low,medium, or high. The temp is controlled by a colder or warmer knob but no actual temperature based control. This is still the standard today. Ducted units with a thermostat work more like a house a/c. A ducted unit cannot be used in a pop-up but you could in almost anything else with modifications. You can however get remote start generators.

 

[Lou Schneider]

First time I ever used my generator was last night. ( First Tim ever using a generator)

I have a small camper in the woods ( early/ mid eighties camper)

It's a dometic roof mounted a/c unit and it worked great but I'm thinking  there's gotta be a better option of shutting things down other than having to get up when I'm starting to fall asleep and go outside to shut off the generator than try and go back to try and fall asleep again?

What do you guys do?

RVs with built-in generators have on/off switches inside the RV.  Since you don't, you really only have 3 options:

1) go outside and shut off the generator
2) let it run until it runs out of gas ... then it will shut down by itself
3) let it run all night long

Your neighbors will LOVE those last two choices!

Turn off the air conditioner before you go outside.  If the compressor was running when you shut it off, let the generator continue to run for a couple of minutes before you shut it down so the cooling fan can remove heat from the engine.

If you're electrically handy, there are sellers on Ebay or Amazon with 12 volt remote controlled relay and key fob actuator kits (similar to what you'd use for an electric garage door opener) but you'd have to figure out how to wire it up to turn off the generator's ignition when you press the key fob.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Years ago while I was building our former mountaintop home, I was staying in a small TT most nights. I tried to have just enough fuel left in the construction generator I was using at the end of my work day so it would run out right around my bedtime. I got pretty good at guessing the correct level after awhile...