Hi all. Recently retired and soon to be on the road. I'm trying to set up my van for bush and free camping. Does anyone have recommendations on generators suitable to run the fridge/freezer, AC and lights? Many thanks in aadvance. Richard and Gaye
JeffRae said
02:00 PM Sep 4, 2019
Hello penycraig, Welcome to the forum. We have a Honda generator EU 2 that runs everything you have mentioned, it wouldn't run the airconditioner in our previous caravan as it had a huge start up current required. We have had it for a few years, doesn't get much use, but handy to have. Ours gets more use to run a small fan heater as we don't have a diesel heater JeffRae
travelyounger said
08:25 AM Sep 5, 2019
Hi Pennycraig
I you only want to run the gear you mentioned a 1 kW Honda should do have you looked into solar and or gas fridge freezer as running a gen all the time can be difficult if you want to run bigger appliances such as air con or kettles or blow heaters either Honda 2.2 kva or Yamaha 2.4 cheers
travelyounger said
08:30 AM Sep 5, 2019
One more thing some of the older air con's will not run with the Honda check before you buy or go into general forum or techies forum there has been some forums on this topic lately cheers
Kebbin said
09:10 AM Sep 5, 2019
I fail to see how a 1kW Honda will run a air con, the newer 2.2kW is the go.
travelyounger said
10:11 AM Sep 5, 2019
You are correct but it all run lights and fridge freezer you will need a larger gen to run air and a Honda 2.2 will not run all air conditioners
Possum3 said
09:10 AM Sep 9, 2019
travelyounger wrote:
You are correct but it all run lights and fridge freezer you will need a larger gen to run air and a Honda 2.2 will not run all air conditioners
We use a Honda 2.0i it starts & runs our Ibis air conditioner OK. Try one prior to buying is the only certain way of knowing if it will do your job/s satisfactorily. Key is to turn off all 240v switches prior to starting generator, then only using air conditioner whilst all appliances remain turned off
Dougwe said
08:13 AM Sep 11, 2019
Welcome to the gang Richard, enjoy here and out in the playground.
I have a Honda 2 and when I use it have no problem running my Ibis3 aircon. It's usually the only time I use it anyway as my Solar set up provides all other power I need. Just use one appliance at a time though.
Keep Safe on the roads and out there.
PetenSue said
10:48 AM Nov 9, 2019
Never say I dont care about anyone. I just thought I would bring this to the top to help Ianas boredom. I have 2 generators. I carry a Yamaha 2400 in summer so we can run the aircon if we wish and in winter we carry a Yamaha 1000 to run the battery charger if we get caught out. Haha sorry to the others. Regards Pete. Ps. Just my way of creating humour.
yobarr said
07:43 AM Nov 11, 2019
penycraig wrote:
Hi all. Recently retired and soon to be on the road. I'm trying to set up my van for bush and free camping. Does anyone have recommendations on generators suitable to run the fridge/freezer, AC and lights? Many thanks in aadvance. Richard and Gaye
If your words ".....and soon to be on the road" mean that you intend to travel full time,you might like to consider a decent Solar system,and Lithium batteries.No need to worry about the dangers of carrying petrol,and if you do it right,there is no need to carry gas bottles either.Do it properly and you can run whatever appliances you want,when you want,for as long as you want. You may be concerned about cost,but Solar is an investment,and if you get water supply sorted,you can go where you want,when you want,for as long as you want.Savings on caravan park costs,petrol costs and gas bottle costs mean that you soon have your money back. I believe that van parks are $30-$50/night,(?) so a year "in the bush" would save between $11,000 and $18,000 (+/-).....and that's only ONE year! I bought a brand new Yamaha 2800i generator,which has yet to even be started,and it now lives in the back of my shed.Terry,or Peter'n'Margaret,among others,seem to be well set up,and I am sure that they would be happy to give advice? Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Monday 11th of November 2019 09:33:32 AM
PetaSmall said
08:05 AM Nov 11, 2019
Excellent piece of advice yobarr. Exactly what most people should consider these days with excellent solar panels and goos batteries readily available. The other point to mentos that generators are becoming the biggest issue/problem at free camping areas because most of us go for the peace and quiet and then someone runs their generator for hours on end. It is a source of much anxiety. I am anti generator and very pro solar/batteries/inverter certainly a much better option.
PetenSue said
08:31 PM Nov 11, 2019
Ok so lets face the real world here. Honestly how much noise does a little Yamaha/Honda generator really make ?? Haha half the gns ive camped near can let out great snore( and ladies too) to put a little generator to shame. Let alone the forbidden diesel heater. Regards Pete
Baz421 said
08:58 PM Nov 11, 2019
PetaSmall wrote:
Excellent piece of advice yobarr. Exactly what most people should consider these days with excellent solar panels and goos batteries readily available. The other point to mentos that generators are becoming the biggest issue/problem at free camping areas because most of us go for the peace and quiet and then someone runs their generator for hours on end. It is a source of much anxiety. I am anti generator and very pro solar/batteries/inverter certainly a much better option.
Fair comment,,, just get further away is the solution,,, you can run around nakid tooooooo
Tony Bev said
09:56 PM Nov 11, 2019
Welcome to the forum, penygraig
Unfortunately you have asked a hard to answer question, as you have not given any specifications about your airconditioner
I am not a techi, but I am led to believe, that different type/size airconditioners, require a different size genset
For example my Honda 2 (2,000 watt inverter type) genset, has no problem running the Coleman Mach airconditioner, on my motorhome
Some people in the past, have said, that my type of genset, was unasble to run their airconditioner, I fogot what type/size of airconditioner they had
Tony LEE said
11:14 PM Nov 11, 2019
"Do it properly and you can run whatever appliances you want,when you want,for as long as you want"
Hard to believe that people still make these sort of fantastic claims and even harder to believe they expect others to believe them
Hi all. Recently retired and soon to be on the road. I'm trying to set up my van for bush and free camping. Does anyone have recommendations on generators suitable to run the fridge/freezer, AC and lights? Many thanks in aadvance. Richard and Gaye
Hello penycraig,
Welcome to the forum.
We have a Honda generator EU 2 that runs everything you have mentioned, it wouldn't run the airconditioner in our previous caravan as it had a huge start up current required.
We have had it for a few years, doesn't get much use, but handy to have. Ours gets more use to run a small fan heater as we don't have a diesel heater
JeffRae
Hi Pennycraig
I you only want to run the gear you mentioned a 1 kW Honda should do have you looked into solar and or gas fridge freezer as running a gen all the time can be difficult if you want to run bigger appliances such as air con or kettles or blow heaters either Honda 2.2 kva or Yamaha 2.4 cheers
One more thing some of the older air con's will not run with the Honda check before you buy or go into general forum or techies forum there has been some forums on this topic lately cheers
We use a Honda 2.0i it starts & runs our Ibis air conditioner OK. Try one prior to buying is the only certain way of knowing if it will do your job/s satisfactorily. Key is to turn off all 240v switches prior to starting generator, then only using air conditioner whilst all appliances remain turned off
I have a Honda 2 and when I use it have no problem running my Ibis3 aircon. It's usually the only time I use it anyway as my Solar set up provides all other power I need. Just use one appliance at a time though.
Keep Safe on the roads and out there.
If your words ".....and soon to be on the road" mean that you intend to travel full time,you might like to consider a decent Solar system,and Lithium batteries.No need to worry about the dangers of carrying petrol,and if you do it right,there is no need to carry gas bottles either.Do it properly and you can run whatever appliances you want,when you want,for as long as you want. You may be concerned about cost,but Solar is an investment,and if you get water supply sorted,you can go where you want,when you want,for as long as you want.Savings on caravan park costs,petrol costs and gas bottle costs mean that you soon have your money back. I believe that van parks are $30-$50/night,(?) so a year "in the bush" would save between $11,000 and $18,000 (+/-).....and that's only ONE year! I bought a brand new Yamaha 2800i generator,which has yet to even be started,and it now lives in the back of my shed.Terry,or Peter'n'Margaret,among others,seem to be well set up,and I am sure that they would be happy to give advice? Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Monday 11th of November 2019 09:33:32 AM
Fair comment,,, just get further away is the solution,,, you can run around nakid tooooooo
Unfortunately you have asked a hard to answer question, as you have not given any specifications about your airconditioner
I am not a techi, but I am led to believe, that different type/size airconditioners, require a different size genset
For example my Honda 2 (2,000 watt inverter type) genset, has no problem running the Coleman Mach airconditioner, on my motorhome
Some people in the past, have said, that my type of genset, was unasble to run their airconditioner, I fogot what type/size of airconditioner they had