If you have a generator; what do you power with it?
arthur said
09:41 AM Mar 20, 2014
Just wondering-apart from air con or fridge, power outages etc. What do people use their generators for?
Rip and Rosie said
10:06 AM Mar 20, 2014
.... annoying others who park too close
dING said
10:13 AM Mar 20, 2014
Pumping water for my water slide
Haji-Baba said
10:26 AM Mar 20, 2014
Honda 20I.
Power Van Fridge, Portable Freezer, Electrical Tools Eg. Drills, Grinder, Chain Saw, Battery Charger, Indoor and Outdoor Lights, Phone and Acc. Chargers.
My Engle runs off a 120 amp.hr. deep cycle battery during the day and as soon as I start the Gennie late afternoon the Engel goes onto the 240 power. Only use my gennie for about 3-4 hours each evening.
We don't have an Air Con.
We don't have solar panels and do a lot of bush camping. Gas and Jennie suit our purposes.
This trip everyone who were camped near us had solar and they had jennies going every day and night till about 9pm.
Not a problem at all.
Just arrived home from 2 weeks camping, no problems with power or gas.
I do carry a fair bit of fuel for both boat motor and jennie about 35 l.
Fuel in plastic containers in the tray back ute, no fumes. Brought 20 l. back.
All good.
Have fun Haji-Baba
robcer said
10:26 AM Mar 20, 2014
We use our be sets to power our power tools(grinder,drill etc) plus my welding machines. When it's running I also charge up all my battery powered tools plus do any printing off the computer. By doing this I don't have to use the inverter.
If our house batteries need a bit of a tickle up I use the genet rather than our DC to DC charger
kandagal said
10:32 AM Mar 20, 2014
We use ours to mainly zap something in the microwave, leftovers etc.
arthur said
10:58 AM Mar 20, 2014
Haji-Baba wrote:
This trip everyone who were camped near us had solar and they had jennies going every day and night till about 9pm.
So does this mean their solar set up was inadequate?
villatranquilla said
11:01 AM Mar 20, 2014
generally just to charge batteries if they get low in cloudy weather- at those times usually only run it 5pm-8.30pm when we also watch sat TV - will run fridge at the same time if I remember to switch from gas to 240v.
Delta18 said
11:30 AM Mar 20, 2014
I have carried my Honda 2 for 5 years and only got it out to run on a couple hot days for the A/c.
Solar and gas covers all our free camp needs.
I have used the gennie at home more often during power outages to run fridges & lights.
Haji-Baba said
01:09 PM Mar 20, 2014
Arthur Just saying as it happened near us on our most recent trip.
1 Kipor, 6 Hondas all ran at some time during the day or evening.
Air con, I don't know, seems most neighbours were sitting under their annex most of the time. (And it was pretty hot outdoors.)
There was never a worry of too much noise or any interference to neightbours at any time in my vicinity.
Additionally we run a Lemair washing machine during the day and both fridges go onto 240 as soon as the gennie gets going.
Also run a small 240 pump for additional water from stream, lake, dam or bore.
As for limited solar power available to others nearby I don't know, most solar units I saw were folding and were moved around during the day. Those that may have been permanently mounted I couldn't see or I didn't bother to look.
It all worked out very well for us and others near by and we had a great time.
Have Fun Haji-Baba
valnrob said
03:44 PM Mar 20, 2014
Only to run washing machine a couple of times a week. Then only in the morning. Can't stand them running in evenings. We have enough solar power to keep our van fridges, lights phones, internet etc without the need to generate more power.
Cheers Val
Cloak said
06:59 PM Mar 20, 2014
One time a bloke had a generator going and offered nearby campers to feel free to plug in if they want.
I had a powered site opposite him so didn't need his kind offer.
No one complained and it all worked out well.
One bonus was the quiet drone was enough to drown out the drunken singing from a rowdy bunch nearby.
arthur said
09:27 PM Mar 20, 2014
The reason I ask is to get an idea of what other people do, and thinking what I will need; as I am planning on living in a van without town water or power.
Happyjack said
04:41 PM Mar 21, 2014
I have been debating whether to buy a pure sine wave genset for when I hit the road in May. I have a 110Ahr van battery and a 120Ahr "house"battery in the Prado. The Prado is fitted with a Ctek D250S dual charger. I am going to link the Anderson plug to the 'van to the house battery rather than the start battery. I will then have a better charging regime of the 'van battery, plus 230 Ahrs ( cables are appropriately sized for the length). Now, by my reckoning for any extra charging of the batteries i have a genset already in the Prado which I can run if needed and probably quieter than a genset, but maybe a bit engine size overkill. ( and i know diesels don't like low revs, had a launch for many yrs)
But then a genset is probably more adaptable - can power the aircon if needs be, and my portable oven, laptop, even my full pc :) I't just the extra weight type of fuel.
Don't need it for any heating as I'm installing a diesel heater as I'm heading South.
Aus-Kiwi said
11:30 PM Mar 21, 2014
Electric jug, toaster, microwave and maybe elect frying pan . Not all at once . Diesel powered.
Dunmowin said
11:52 PM Mar 21, 2014
Mostly to use the hair dryer - to defrost the 12v fridge!
The dog lady said
01:30 AM Mar 22, 2014
I only use mine to recharge the house battery when necessary. Recently bought solar panels but don't know if they will always be enough.
Hydeeeho said
09:09 PM Mar 24, 2014
If you don't like generators in a FREE Camp.
-- Edited by Webmaster on Wednesday 26th of March 2014 08:27:56 AM
arthur said
04:06 PM Mar 25, 2014
Nice sunny day outside
-- Edited by arthur on Tuesday 25th of March 2014 04:09:13 PM
-- Edited by arthur on Tuesday 25th of March 2014 04:09:39 PM
-- Edited by arthur on Tuesday 25th of March 2014 05:07:45 PM
Just wondering-apart from air con or fridge, power outages etc. What do people use their generators for?
Honda 20I.
Power Van Fridge, Portable Freezer, Electrical Tools Eg. Drills, Grinder, Chain Saw, Battery Charger, Indoor and Outdoor Lights, Phone and Acc. Chargers.
My Engle runs off a 120 amp.hr. deep cycle battery during the day and as soon as I start the Gennie late afternoon the Engel goes onto the 240 power. Only use my gennie for about 3-4 hours each evening.
We don't have an Air Con.
We don't have solar panels and do a lot of bush camping. Gas and Jennie suit our purposes.
This trip everyone who were camped near us had solar and they had jennies going every day and night till about 9pm.
Not a problem at all.
Just arrived home from 2 weeks camping, no problems with power or gas.
I do carry a fair bit of fuel for both boat motor and jennie about 35 l.
Fuel in plastic containers in the tray back ute, no fumes. Brought 20 l. back.
All good.
Have fun Haji-Baba
If our house batteries need a bit of a tickle up I use the genet rather than our DC to DC charger
So does this mean their solar set up was inadequate?
I have carried my Honda 2 for 5 years and only got it out to run on a couple hot days for the A/c.
Solar and gas covers all our free camp needs.
I have used the gennie at home more often during power outages to run fridges & lights.
Arthur Just saying as it happened near us on our most recent trip.
1 Kipor, 6 Hondas all ran at some time during the day or evening.
Air con, I don't know, seems most neighbours were sitting under their annex most of the time. (And it was pretty hot outdoors.)
There was never a worry of too much noise or any interference to neightbours at any time in my vicinity.
Additionally we run a Lemair washing machine during the day and both fridges go onto 240 as soon as the gennie gets going.
Also run a small 240 pump for additional water from stream, lake, dam or bore.
As for limited solar power available to others nearby I don't know, most solar units I saw were folding and were moved around during the day. Those that may have been permanently mounted I couldn't see or I didn't bother to look.
It all worked out very well for us and others near by and we had a great time.
Have Fun Haji-Baba
I had a powered site opposite him so didn't need his kind offer.
No one complained and it all worked out well.
One bonus was the quiet drone was enough to drown out the drunken singing from a rowdy bunch nearby.
The reason I ask is to get an idea of what other people do, and thinking what I will need; as I am planning on living in a van without town water or power.
But then a genset is probably more adaptable - can power the aircon if needs be, and my portable oven, laptop, even my full pc :) I't just the extra weight type of fuel.
Don't need it for any heating as I'm installing a diesel heater as I'm heading South.
Mostly to use the hair dryer - to defrost the 12v fridge!
I only use mine to recharge the house battery when necessary. Recently bought solar panels but don't know if they will always be enough.
If you don't like generators in a FREE Camp.
-- Edited by Webmaster on Wednesday 26th of March 2014 08:27:56 AM
Nice sunny day outside
-- Edited by arthur on Tuesday 25th of March 2014 04:09:13 PM
-- Edited by arthur on Tuesday 25th of March 2014 04:09:39 PM
-- Edited by arthur on Tuesday 25th of March 2014 05:07:45 PM