Generator Fuel Consumption
We dry camped at our daughter's over the Christmas Holiday. Always wondered how much fuel the generator used. Nine days of dry camping with six to eight hour brakes daily and some wabasto assistance took 100 gals of fuel for nine days. The generator logged 165 hours with one oil change at the 100 hour mark. Obviously 100 gallons of fuel at todays diesel price exceeds the cost of campground fees.
Generator Fuel Consumption
Ray, You did the math right. After the first day I watched the Auto Start crank up the generator at 12.2 volts. I was surprised the voltage got that low after eight hours. I have 6-4D batteries and they are two years old. Some of the draw was from running the Wabasto I think unless it is supplied power from the engine batteries. I was unable to use A.C. heat pumps at 17 to 20 degrees. The Bus sat outside the entire time and perhaps the temps lowered the performance level of the battery bank.
Mike, Happy New Year to you and Karen. We are glad to be back in the Florida warmth. I like having to turn on all the AC 's to stay cool ! That is why I reduced the charge rate on my Inverter. It takes longer to charge the 4D's but I think it is better than hitting them hard each time I charge them. While traveling in the South I noticed Three AC 's, the oven, and misc other items plus the Inverters charging full rate was to much for some of the 50 amp outlets in some campgrounds.
And Jim C. You are correct. I told our daughter to hire a contractor and send me the bill !
My and my aux gen (again)
I won't keep reposting the same thing about my aux. generator fixation but I use it and like it. The link below will suffice for those interested. To add a comment or two, most small inverter gens have a 12volt charger built in and you use cord with two alligator clips and the other end plugs into the gen. If I just want to keep my batteries topped off to keep up with the fridge, TV or using the Aqua Hot, I open the battery bay and connect that to the battery bank. Ultra quiet, uses less fuel but mostly give me peace of mind if I want to keep my batteries up all night, like if I'm using the Webasco. I'm had the turbo burn up on the gen one time about 10pm at night and ambled out of the coach and happen to see the smoke. Ever since then, I can't sleep well with the gen on and my batteries wont' make it through the night to keep above 12.2 for the Webasco or to keep the fridge going. Most would say that I'm not maintaining the batteries right and that may be the case. I bought new Interstate batteries, made sure not to abuse them.....kepping them above 12.2 and they still suck. Had them load tested recentley by independent (not Interstate) and they said they were ok. My battery issues getting off topic, but that's why I gave up on getting a good cycle out of them and toss the small aux gen on them when I want to keep them up. I can also plug it into the shore power cord, turn down the charge rate on the inverters/chargers and run one A/C all night long on 2 gallons of gas. The only drawback to all this is keeping a couple 5 gallon jugs of gas in the bay but so far no explosions. Still here.
More details below.
http://forum.prevostownersgroup.com/...nerator&page=4
Newbie question about battery/generator/inverter usage
Ok a newbie question: No one ever explained this to me (threw me the keys) so....
When you stop at night (say at a rest stop) enroute do you run the generator at night when you have the air conditioners on or do you (assuming no shore power) just let the inverters run the whole thing until the generator kicks on (auto position) to charge them? If that is the case doesn't the constant discharging and recharging of the battery banks cause a shortening of life of the batteries? What do most of you do in this case?
Thanks again
Mark