Love this site! We have a question for the "Experts" (you!) - RV-Dreams Community Forum

South Texas Travelers · RV-Dreams Community Member

Love this site! We have a question for the "Experts" (you!)

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

We don't have power where we store our rig. The biggest problem around here is the sun, it eats everything. Yours is covered so that's good. Take it out monthly will keep the batteries charged up. I see no reason to pay extra for power in storage.

TheNewhalls · RV-Dreams Family Member

Where we store our motorhome they have a wash bay with 30 & 50 amp outlets. They let us plug in overnight anytime to charge our batteries, or just before a trip to charge batteries and get the refrigerator cold. Maybe there is a similar option where yours is stored .

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

The only reason to have power.. is to keep the battery charged.. you can pull it and bring it with you , and keep it charged at home..if wanted.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Look and see if you have a battery cut off switch. If you do, just park the RV, flip (turn) the switch and all is ok. If you can find covered storage here in Texas it would be best. Helps keep the interior cooler, and like NorCal Dan said, the sun does the most damage. Having a generator is a good idea. Beware though that unless you get a very large one- 12k or bigger- you won't have full 50amp capability.
What you can do though is have buy a 3500+ watt Inverter style generator, or 2 Honda or Yamaha 2000 watt units, and run 1 Ac and several small things. But you would have to manage your power. AC+Coffee Maker+ Hairdryer= no power, AC+Coffee Maker+ TV= OK, etc

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Like others have said the generator is a good idea to have.

For tight spaces there are a couple of ways to make it easier,
use a Power Caster designed for use with a 5th wheel something like this
www.youtube.com/watch
www.powercaster.com/Products.html

or pick up a good used forklift
losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/hvd/4825724574.html

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Alie and Jims Carrilite wrote:
Look and see if you have a battery cut off switch. If you do, just park the RV, flip (turn) the switch and all is ok. If you can find covered storage here in Texas it would be best. Helps keep the interior cooler, and like NorCal Dan said, the sun does the most damage. Having a generator is a good idea. Beware though that unless you get a very large one- 12k or bigger- you won't have full 50amp capability.
What you can do though is have buy a 3500+ watt Inverter style generator, or 2 Honda or Yamaha 2000 watt units, and run 1 Ac and several small things. But you would have to manage your power. AC+Coffee Maker+ Hairdryer= no power, AC+Coffee Maker+ TV= OK, etc

Onan makes a 6500 series generator that has 58 amps capability. The one I'm thinking of is just under $5000 and is powered by propane. They have a 7000 series with 58 amps that is a few hundred dollars cheaper, but it is gasoline. Keep in mind that with gasoline, if you change altitudes, the fuel/air mix of the carburetor will run either lean or rich, depending on the change in altitude. We have a Honda EU3000IS generator on gas and when we took it to the mountains, we could get 2 or 3 days with six hours use each day before the plugs fouled. Onan is saying on their website that some of their gas models do have electronic fuel injection, which would alleviate the problem we had.

Cummins Onan RV Generators

Onan 7000 non-fuel injected gasoline

Onan 7000 fuel injected gasoline

Terry

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

In a 5^th wheel I highly recommend an LP powered generator unless you plan to run it a great deal of the time. LP generators don’t have the problems “sitting” that diesel and especially gas generators experience with the fuel going bad – even with a stabilizing additive in it. LP never “goes bad.” LP doesn’t have the same altitude issues gas generators experience – even up to and above 10,000 feet. And you don’t have to deal with the storage issues of gas or diesel. An LP generator is a bit more expensive to use, but it always starts and needs almost no maintenance in comparison to diesel or gas.

All of the above is based on having a 5^th wheel and not using the generator a great deal of the time. If I were a motorhome that would be a different discussion.

South Texas Travelers · RV-Dreams Community Member

I have to say thank you to all of you for your suggestions, I appreciate them so much. We will gladly take any pieces of advice anyone wants to send our way on any subject that you feel is a good thing to tell us or remind us of that you can remember being important when you started out. Happy New Year and thanks again!

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Let me clear up something that Terry corrected me on. Your rig is a 50amp unit. But in reality it has the capability to use close to 100amps of power, 50amp per leg, 2 legs, if you turned on, or plugged in every high wattage item you take with you.
But a 5500 propane generator will work great, but you will lose your front storage area.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'd still recommend the 6500 or 7000 instead of the 5500 from Onan. The 5500 has an amp rating below 50 amps.

Terry

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have the 5500.. have not used it.. When camping we never come close to 50 amps.. ever.. and I have 3 ac's on all the time too, but they come one staggered.1 at a time... I think. hard to tell, very noisey.

Maybe thats the power management?

Bigger usually means it willl consume more fuel faster.. even at idle.

I'm starting to wonder if 2 x honda 2k generators may have been a better choice for me..

less than 1/2 the cost.. cheap to run. and I can take them somewhere else to use them too..and less space, and much quieter.

Even though DRV gives you a good deal on the onans sometimes.. not sure which way I'd go, if I did it again.

-- Edited by The Junkman on Thursday 1st of January 2015 07:07:17 AM

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

On the genset issue.......

The answer that will work best for you is based on how you use the rig. What Bill said about an LP genset is generally what I recommend for an "occasional use" genset in a 5er. For the reasons he stated. But if you plan on using the genset a lot then it might be better to have a gas or diesel genset. Most people do not use it that much - but only you will know the answer to that.

I've moved my LP genset between three 5ers now, since 2010. It has all of 21 hours on it. But we have a large solar array.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

I’ll comment from the perspective of someone who has a 5500 watt Onan LP generator installed and has used it in 50 amp RV’s for now going on 9 years. 5500 has been just fine for us. It till run two air conditioners and most everything else you can turn on in the RV just fine. It will run two air conditioners and the microwave along with the usual entertainment center stuff, battery charger and the fridge.

5500 watts will not run – all at the same time – two air conditioners – the microwave – a hair dryer and the hot water heater on electric (which should be on gas anyway because gas is more efficient when shore power is not available.) But you don’t have to do all that continuously. That is, run all those things at the exact same time.

My only point is, the number of times in 8 years when 5500 watts (yes ~30 amps per leg x 2 legs) was not enough for us has been zero. Just the least bit of power management is all you need for the few times you will be using it. And, just for a point of reference, we use a lot of power and want everything to work when we need it. But we’ve just never wished we had a bigger generator. Not worth the cost, the additional size and additional weight in our view. The larger ones will also ten to use more fuel even when lightly loaded.

Like Jack, BTW, we're still using the same 5500 watt generator that came with our previous trailer. We moved it to our new rig and in 8 years the LP generator has never failed to start the first time.

Just our experience should it be helpful. YMMV

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

We also use a 5500 watt, as does Bill. It is more than enough for what WE do. And it easily runs two AC units at the same time.

cheryls-other-half · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jack Mayer wrote:
We also use a 5500 watt, as does Bill. It is more than enough for what WE do. And it easily runs two AC units at the same time.

Quick question for these other 5500 Onan LP owners.

Yes, we've been able to run both AC's when on LP/generator.

No, it doesn't last. Last time, it shut off, because the LP tank it was using FROZE. switching to the other tank worked, and the first tank did melt.

Any ideas about how/what to troubleshoot?? I figured it was simply too heavy a draw, and that's what froze the line.

I did have that problem with my old AC unit in S&B, and shutting unit off for 1/2 hr solved that ...

was it just that TOO Long will cause that, so just use 1-2 hrs, and then shut off before bed?

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mitch, are you still in Florida or a place with very high humidity when this happen? I.e. “your tank froze?” Actually it was the regulator input from the tank that probably froze, not the tank itself. It is very normal to get a lot of ice on the outside of a tank under heavy draw when in high humidity. But that’s just on the outside of the tank.

I would suspect the regulator.

Now, before someone says you won’t have a freeze up problem with gas you will be mistaken. We used to put hair dryers pointed at the carburetors on our gas generators than ran big television mobile units when I lived and worked in Florida. They would freeze up due to the high humidity and venturi effect. Same exact problem in the LP pressure regulator with a lot of gas going through the small hole. Gets really cold.

You could try changing the regular. They are not expensive. If this solves the problem well and good. If not, you will have a spare regulator which I recommend having “in stock” regardless. Yep, needed one of those and not one to be found for 200 miles.

A thought, was the 5500 watt generator installed at the factory or added later? If added later it is possible the supply lines are too small.

Bill

Mitch:

Follow up thought – you said you switched over to the other tank and it worked. Are you saying you did or did not have the “other” – non-frozen tank valve already open such that the auto-change over in the regulator could operate? Did you simply run the tank that appeared frozen out of fuel?

Just sort of curious what was really going on as to the real problem.

Bill

-- Edited by Bill and Linda on Monday 5th of January 2015 01:33:34 PM

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hard to explain, but the boiling point for propane is -44F. The closer the ambient air temperature gets to that temperature the less propane gas will be available. It's possible that your tank was unable to meet demand. You can try wrapping the tank with a blanket and see if it helps.

If there is water in the propane it will cause regulator freeze ups. Part of a proper maintenance of a propane tank is to put some methanol into the tank annually.

cheryls-other-half · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mitch follows up:

Bill and Linda wrote:
Mitch, are you still in Florida or a place with very high humidity when this happen? I.e. “your tank froze?” Actually it was the regulator input from the tank that probably froze, not the tank itself. It is very normal to get a lot of ice on the outside of a tank under heavy draw when in high humidity. But that’s just on the outside of the tank.
I would suspect the regulator.
Now, before someone says you won’t have a freeze up problem with gas you will be mistaken. We used to put hair dryers pointed at the carburetors on our gas generators than ran big television mobile units when I lived and worked in Florida. They would freeze up due to the high humidity and venturi effect. Same exact problem in the LP pressure regulator with a lot of gas going through the small hole. Gets really cold.
You could try changing the regular. They are not expensive. If this solves the problem well and good. If not, you will have a spare regulator which I recommend having “in stock” regardless. Yep, needed one of those and not one to be found for 200 miles.
A thought, was the 5500 watt generator installed at the factory or added later? If added later it is possible the supply lines are too small.
Bill
Mitch:

Follow up thought – you said you switched over to the other tank and it worked. Are you saying you did or did not have the “other” – non-frozen tank valve already open such that the auto-change over in the regulator could operate? Did you simply run the tank that appeared frozen out of fuel?

Just sort of curious what was really going on as to the real problem.
-------------------------------
Bill:
you said you switched over to the other tank and it worked.
----> The left tank was the one that was frozen. I don't have an auto-change-over valve, I need to swap the lever from left (tank) to right to change tanks...
When I switched the valve from left to right, yes, everything started again. It IS possible that I ran the other tank out of fuel, but it WAS 3 months ago, wasn't THAT humid, and WAS in NC.

-- Edited by Bill and Linda on Monday 5th of January 2015 01:33:34 PM