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Old 05-01-2006, 10:48 AM   #1
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Hi,
I own a 13' Scamp with the original side enclosed AC unit. I currently own a 3,000w generator but it's too heavy to drag around the nation. I was wondering if anyone could answer this question; what is the smallest generator I can get away with while using my AC? Thanks in advance for your assistance.
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Old 05-01-2006, 12:56 PM   #2
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Be prepared for a plethora of answers. Honda, Yamaha, Kipor, McCulloch.

Buy American, Buy Jap, Buy Chinese. How long one lasts over the other. Pay twice as much for a name or ˝ as much for basically the same item from another country.

To answer this question the person will need to know the wattage of the air conditioner. A generator with a 2000W starting load and a 1500W-operating load should run an air conditioner that has 1500W or less load.

Noise level is a “MAJOR” concern when camping.

Tool King McCulloch brand 2000W Digital for a fraction of the cost of a Honda. The McCulloch is an American Branded generator that is manufactured in China by Kipor.

Purchase a Kipor branded machine for more than the McCulloch branded one. Go Figure.
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Old 05-01-2006, 01:45 PM   #3
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You will probably need an absolute minimum 2K generator. Here are some common wattage usage for RV AC units. 7,000BTU-1700 watts startup-600 steady running, 10,000BTU-2000 watts startup-700 steady running, 13,500BTU-2700 watts startup-1250 steady running, 15,000BTU-3500 watts startup-1500 steady running.
I have a Honda 2000watt that weighs a mere 55lbs gased and ready to go. It runs a 6,000BTU AC with ease. Honda's are a bit costly than than the other units out there but worth every penny. If you consider that it will last 15yrs at normal use then the little extra spent up front amounts to pennies a week. Honda's are manufactured in Swepsonville, North Carolina right here in the good old USA if that sort of thing matters to you, it does me. Honda's are quieter than any gen-sets I have seen in operation. The manufactures play a decible numbers game but you should check out sound levels for yourself, I think you will find Honda is noticeably quieter. Very easy to start, one pull. The best price I have heard is right here on Fiberglass trailers, someone posted a price of $860 for a 2K shipped to your door. The cheapest brand X of any quality is $600 I hear. Yikes, I sound like a honda salesman. But seriously the Japanese design an excellent generator with quality second to none.
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Old 05-01-2006, 01:54 PM   #4
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This is all GREAT information. I currently own the Honda 3k and love it; talk about quiet. OK, here is yet another question which will further prove how uneducated I am at electricity and wattage; how can I determine how much wattage my current AC requires? It is not written anywhere on the unit itself. Oh, and yes...I am staying with the Honda line. It is more exspensive but considering the performance, maintenance records, and lack of noise, I'm not budging from the Honda line.
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Old 05-01-2006, 04:38 PM   #5
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Provided you can find the BTU output of your AC unit. There is a formula to convert BTU's to watts. I will dig around and see if I can find it again. I can tell you from first hand experience, a honda 2000watt gen. can run a 10,000 BTU AC very well and up to a 13,500 in a pinch, although it was laboring under the load. As you know running at higher loads makes for more noise. We have a small window AC unit that we plan to install in our Scamp. It is 6,000BTU and the2K gen. runs it with ease. I would guess that if you have an older side mount AC (closet mount) that it is smaller BTU (5,000-7,000) output than a typical roof mounted AC. You should be fine.
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Old 05-01-2006, 04:59 PM   #6
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The best price I have heard is right here on Fiberglass trailers, someone posted a price of $860 for a 2K shipped to your door. The cheapest brand X of any quality is $600 I hear.
Here is the Specal Price I was able to get for us. [b]Honda Generator Special
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Old 05-01-2006, 05:45 PM   #7
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I looked around at various generators.

We decided on the Honda 2000. It will run the AC on my 2002 17' Casita.

It's very quiet. It's light. It works like a dream.

Yes, we could have bought a cheaper generator. But we decided to go with Honda because we think it's a better machine.

I'm not saying a McCullough or a Kipor is not as good...it's just that we comparison shopped and we figured the Honda was a better generator, and more quiet. I really don't like the idea of disturbing other campers with my generator (I only run it a couple of hours a day...at least so far), and the Honda is that quiet. No one notices it.
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Old 05-02-2006, 09:00 AM   #8
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The deal Mike Sanders worked for the fiberglassRV.com group with Wise Sales worked like a champ! Thanks Mike. I called one of my local dealers here in town and priced the same Honda 2k unit. The best price they could offer a "repeat customer" (I have already purchased a Honda 3k for my home - I live in Hurricane infested Florida), was $899 plus Tax. Wise Sales sold me the same unit for $860 - no tax or shipping charges.

Wise Sales ships the unit in a plain, double sided box, complete with peanut foam. They ship via Fed Ex so the only additional charge you will receive will be $5 for insurance. You gotta check them out at www.wisesales.com. If you make the purchase, have ED take your order.

Thanks again Mike.
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Old 05-02-2006, 03:59 PM   #9
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I bought mine from Wisesales.com. They were great. It arrived at my door three days after I ordered it. Paid on Sunday, it came on Tuesday.
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Old 05-03-2006, 06:19 PM   #10
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...how can I determine how much wattage my current AC requires? It is not written anywhere on the unit itself...
If the A/C unit does not list power consumption in watts (W), it will list current requirement in amps (A) - assuming the legally required label isn't missing. Multiply the current (in amps) by the voltage (in volts, V, you can assume 120) to get power in watts. The electrically astute may point out that this assumes a power factor of one, but anyone who has no idea what a power factor is (that's most people) can ignore that and use the conservative assumption that amps times volts equals watts.

Generators may specify how large a load they can handle with qualifications about whether the load is "resistive" or a "motor load", since electric motors are nasty things to get started. An A/C unit is mostly a motor.

While generators are usually described by their power output (the number of watts is usually built into the model name), when you get down to specific units the specs are often given in terms of current (amps) anyway, such as in the Honda generator specs (Canada) and Honda generator page (US).
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Old 05-03-2006, 07:27 PM   #11
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I have a very used and very noisy 1200 watt McCulloch generator powered by a 3 HP Briggs and Stratton engine (http://www.n0kfb.org/homepage/genera...loch/index.htm). It will run the stock roof A/C on my Scamp, but it is a bit too small for the job. I agree that a 2KW unit would be the minimum size to buy if you want to use your A/C.

-- Dan Meyer
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Old 05-07-2006, 02:00 PM   #12
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We purchased a ProForce 2500 running watt generator (3125 maximum load) from Pep Boys for $269.00. It's reasonably compact, made in Nebraska, and very well built. A friend of mine needed to run medical breathing equipment all night that did not work off of RV batteries, so we used the generator. One tank full of gasoline lasted over 8 hours. The generator is reasonably quiet, although we moved it away from our parked RV (on private land) about 25' to mitigate the sound.

Check out Pep Boys for other options. They had about eight different models when I was at our neighborhood store yesterday.

Brent
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