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Old 04-01-2013, 07:25 PM   #1
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What Size Gen.

Im new to RVing. I have a 361 REQS Eagle on order and im just trying to prepare for some boon-docking. I have been looking at gen. and im not sure what size I need to keep things going. I want to go to BIG BEND in south Texas. The summers are 90 to 100 deg. and I will need to keep both a/c's going and tv refrig. tv etc... Could anyone give me an idea what size gen. I might need. Been looking at a 10k a friend says he thinks that might be way over-sized. Any help would be appreciated.
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Old 04-01-2013, 08:03 PM   #2
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For the cost Jayco charges and being a custom order try to add the genny option. That will have all the switching, self contained and be quite. That will run everything you list.
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Old 04-01-2013, 08:25 PM   #3
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X2 on the factory Generator.

I believe it is 5500 watts, if you don't get the internal factory one I'd say the 5500 is about what you need if you plan to run both ACs at the same time.
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Old 04-02-2013, 06:32 AM   #4
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IF you must go with a gen get the biggest QUIETEST one you can..
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Old 04-02-2013, 07:39 AM   #5
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Generator

I went with the honda eu2000i generator. They're real quiet but dont think one this size would run both of your AC. My 2013 Whitehawk has one AC and this will run it. Honda does make bigger models
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Old 04-02-2013, 08:41 AM   #6
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First I would check at all the places you think you might want to camp at in the BIG BEND area of Texas and see what their policy is going to be on generator run time restrictions. Most public camp grounds have generator run times only allowed from 8AM-10AM and then again 4:30PM -7:30PM. This will not give you alot of time to run your generator to cool things down. You will find some places that have extended hours but they are NOT the norm. Private camp grounds are a different story.

Nearly all of the Natl Forest places we got to on the East side of the US may have generator run times allowed from 8AM-8PM and I have never found a place where they allowed the generator to run all night long. Maybe at a NASCAR place...

Just something to consider before jumping into a big money hole...

After experiencing all of this I decided early-on to just beef up my trailer to run all of the 120VAC items we wanted to operate from an INVERTER and 12VDC items directly from the battery bank. Then installing a big enough battery bank to handle the load. This involved going "GREEN" everywhere we could like changing the high current incandescent light bulbs to LEDs and making sure we had a good smart mode charging technology converter/charger on board.

The idea being we can last the one day/night camping run from the batteries and then connect the trailer shore power cable to a smaller 2KW type Honda quiet generator and run that during breakfast for about three hours to recharge our battery banks back up to its 90% charge state so we could do all of this all over again for the next day/night run off the batteries. Adding solar panels really helps out keeping the battery banks up during the day when the sun is out.

This of course does not include the use of air conditioning or high wattage microwave unless you go for super size battery banks. Everything else however is pretty much usable. Running the furnace all night with the high current drain 12VDC blower is another challenge to overcome as well.

My biggest battery bank to date has only been around 380AHs and after losing one of those battery I have been using 255AHs of battery capacity for the past 3-4 hours years and we are pretty successful camping off the power grid and running most all of our 120VAC and 12VDC toys so to speak. I would think the best battery bank size for this style of camping would be around 450Ahs capacity. Some of the big full time guys on here are running everything in their trailers and have much more AHs in their battery banks and also have solar panels. If all planned out its a neat way to go.

Just food for thought.... There is a ton of guys with the big trailers that has the high wattage built-in generators so there must be ways to get around what I have described above. I have a feeling if they want to run their air conditioners all night long it will be be sitting on the side of a road somewhere haha... Every time I run my setup after 8PM at night I usually get a knock on the trailer door and there stands a generator noise sheriff with a big smile on his face starting out with the "Are you aware of the ....."

Just my thoughts.

Roy Ken
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Old 04-02-2013, 07:34 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyBraddy View Post
First I would check at all the places you think you might want to camp at in the BIG BEND area of Texas and see what their policy is going to be on generator run time restrictions. Most public camp grounds have generator run times only allowed from 8AM-10AM and then again 4:30PM -7:30PM. This will not give you alot of time to run your generator to cool things down. You will find some places that have extended hours but they are NOT the norm. Private camp grounds are a different story.

Nearly all of the Natl Forest places we got to on the East side of the US may have generator run times allowed from 8AM-8PM and I have never found a place where they allowed the generator to run all night long. Maybe at a NASCAR place...

Just something to consider before jumping into a big money hole...

After experiencing all of this I decided early-on to just beef up my trailer to run all of the 120VAC items we wanted to operate from an INVERTER and 12VDC items directly from the battery bank. Then installing a big enough battery bank to handle the load. This involved going "GREEN" everywhere we could like changing the high current incandescent light bulbs to LEDs and making sure we had a good smart mode charging technology converter/charger on board.

The idea being we can last the one day/night camping run from the batteries and then connect the trailer shore power cable to a smaller 2KW type Honda quiet generator and run that during breakfast for about three hours to recharge our battery banks back up to its 90% charge state so we could do all of this all over again for the next day/night run off the batteries. Adding solar panels really helps out keeping the battery banks up during the day when the sun is out.

This of course does not include the use of air conditioning or high wattage microwave unless you go for super size battery banks. Everything else however is pretty much usable. Running the furnace all night with the high current drain 12VDC blower is another challenge to overcome as well.

My biggest battery bank to date has only been around 380AHs and after losing one of those battery I have been using 255AHs of battery capacity for the past 3-4 hours years and we are pretty successful camping off the power grid and running most all of our 120VAC and 12VDC toys so to speak. I would think the best battery bank size for this style of camping would be around 450Ahs capacity. Some of the big full time guys on here are running everything in their trailers and have much more AHs in their battery banks and also have solar panels. If all planned out its a neat way to go.

Just food for thought.... There is a ton of guys with the big trailers that has the high wattage built-in generators so there must be ways to get around what I have described above. I have a feeling if they want to run their air conditioners all night long it will be be sitting on the side of a road somewhere haha... Every time I run my setup after 8PM at night I usually get a knock on the trailer door and there stands a generator noise sheriff with a big smile on his face starting out with the "Are you aware of the ....."

Just my thoughts.

Roy Ken
Thank all of you. The information you have given me has been very helpful and just what I was looking for.
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Old 04-08-2013, 02:12 PM   #8
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You can camp at Rio Grande Village in Big Bend National Park with full hookups:

http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/rgv_hookups.htm

Mid-October to early March is a great time to visit the park.
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