Generator Blues

[Kim Gass]

Originally Posted by ggilbert

How much do you think the average camper spends on generator fuel a day or a week? no solar.

We run for about three hours a day for four days on 2.5 gal
Its way cheaper than paying gor a serviced campground
We pay about $15 a night at National Forest Campgrounds
We don't have need for air conditioning for the most part and our 2000i would need a soft start which we don't have.
I can imagine fuel consumption would vary wildly depending on what you run and for how long

[extrachrispy]

Originally Posted by ggilbert

How much do you think the average camper spends on generator fuel a day or a week? no solar.

It depends upon whether or not it's hot enough to use the A/C. I've dry-camped in places where it's in the upper 40s in the morning, but then it's high-80s to 90s in the afternoon. I burned through five gallons per day there (but did not run the genny at night), so $20/day? That's still way cheaper than a full-hookup campsite, and the scenery and location was way better.

Every year at bonus time, I want to make the case with Mrs. to do an off-grid-HVAC-capable solar setup. Every year, she finds something else she wants more.

[goducks]

Why limit yourself to elec only? I spend $11 a night in a Forest Service CG. (Senior Pass from BLM) I can go 5 nights with my tanks. I only burn about 5 gal of gas in the time. The average elec site would run $30 or so. Thats $150 for 5 nights. I spend half that for 5 nights without neighbors right next to me. Elec/water's great and we do that too. We just like the more open feel you get in the FS type CG's. YMMV

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by Bill Johnson

Most people that have CPAP turn everything off and run for days and days. If I used mine the way it is I would make it one night on one battery. If I go into settings and turn off the humidifier and the heated hose I can run it all week

Originally Posted by jimi1952

My wife and I have boondocked with our setup for two weeks at a time before moving on to our next campground. 320 watts solar and 2x100 amp lithium batteries. What we save on gas running a generator has already paid for our setup. The reason people need generators is because they need to have all the comforts of home with them, it's called camping for a reason.

I do not have solar and have a CPAP, run a single group 31 LA AMG battery. We are old backpackers when we were young. We are use to being power conscience, so it is no big deal for us to go minimalistic. Before my CPAP, we could go 5 days on a single LA group 24 battery. With the CPAP I probably can go 2 days on our group 31 battery. Batteries are kept in great condition. There is NO way I can go more than 2 days with all the CPAP settings turned off. We only use what lights we need and never just leave them on.

We have a 3500W dual fuel genny. We tend to use it twice a day, maybe up to an hour each time. I have been known when the genny is on to use the microwave or turn on the electric heat. This does put more load on the genny which in turns makes it run louder. What I really would like to find is a used Honda 1000w genny. We have seen/heard a few of these while out on walks, and you only start to hear when your less than 20-30 feet from it. They are so quiet, and it is more of a hum in the distance.

Really all we need is to top off the batteries. But when I was shopping for gennies I wanted a 2000W small genny that could be parallel but all that was available was this size.

As for solar, our next camper will have solar, but our issue is where we camp. Minnesota area is heavily forested. I do not have high confidence a solar system will be able to provide much energy to top off the batteries each day.

I will admit, I wish people would not be so cheap and buy an inverter genny for camping. We were out two summers ago and some lady was complaining in the bathroom (DW overheard). She booked the site and it had no electricity. She had her DH go buy a genny. A big open frame thing. We were camped probably 1000 feet way and it was way to loud in our site. Could not imagine being in that site, or all the tenters near them. It ran from 8 am to 10 pm (genny hours at that SP) the whole long weekend.

[campin]

Originally Posted by extrachrispy

…Every year at bonus time, I want to make the case with Mrs. to do an off-grid-HVAC-capable solar setup. Every year, she finds something else she wants more.

I have German Shepherd and agrees with everything I say!!