Portable Generators

[BeatBeat]

Anyone any experience of quiet (!) portable generators?

The Honda EU10i has been recommended to me, but it looks very expensive. Any thoughts?

Pat

 

[Rod_5041370]

Excellent generator, better still if you can stretch to the EU20i.

 

[trevor123]

Hi, Do you leave the portable generater running all the time when you are on site to keep the fridge cool, how long do they last before you refill them, any problem with the televison while running the generater, handy for CL/CS site out of now where, I don"t known if my wife can sleep thro this, she a very light sleeper, a bottle or two of wine will help I hope, Trevor

 

[Rod_5041370]

I only run my generator between 08.00 and 21.00 in consideration of other caravaners, although the Honda EU20i is very quiet. When the generator is off I run the TV from an inverter and use gas for the fridge and to boil the kettle if necessary.

One tank of petrol usually lasts all day. but when the microwave, oven and kettle are used a lot I may have to refill (tortoise & hare mode).

 

[Chris4]

I absolutely hate generators. They're completely unecessary. They're noisy, smelly and antisocial. Why not save a bit of money - invest in a couple of GOOD solar panels and run what you can on gas. The comparitively small amount of electric you generate using a highly inefficient genny costs a fortune. Caravaning is actually a very "green" pastime. You use small amounts of water and energy compared with living at home and you produce relatively little waste for the sewage farm to treat. Why spoil it all with a generator. The biggest energy user is your TV. Why not switch to a flat panel.

 

[Rod_5041370]

Ihave a 55 watt solar panel on the caravan roof with a 220A/H battery.

I have a 2000 watt inverter and a 15 inch LCD TV and I will still run my generator and ingore "Luddites".

 

[BeatBeat]

Rod,

On the premise that no question is a stupid question....if you don't know the answer........ ;-)

What's an inverter? and how/why would you use one?

Pat

 

[Rod_5041370]

Patricia,

No, not a stupid question.

An inverter is a device which converts 12VDC from a leisure battery to 230/240 VAC.

Small ones such as 150/300 wats are relatively cheap and could be used to power low wattage devices such as a mains TV, cd/radio etc. when you are not on mains electric or when you do not want to disturb your neigbours by running a generator.

Larger ones of 1000 watts upwards tend to be expensive but I use my 2000 watt one to power the microwave oven and the electric kettle.

As an aside, I spent the last bank holiday weekend on a CL and 4 of the 5 caravans were running generators, 3 Honda & 1 Robin and they could hardly be heard over the ambient bird song, cackling geese and other livestock sounds.

 

[BeatBeat]

Brilliant. Thanks.

I spend about a 20/25 long weekends away each year without elec hookup so a generator/inverter sound useful pieces of kit.

Just about decided to opton for the Honda generator so will also 'look into' an inverter. I only want to run flat screen TV for a few hours each night so it sounds like a low wattage would be fine.

Thanks again.

 

[BeatBeat]

Just looked on internet and found a 300W for

 

[ERICA1]

Patricia,

No, not a stupid question.

An inverter is a device which converts 12VDC from a leisure battery to 230/240 VAC.

Small ones such as 150/300 wats are relatively cheap and could be used to power low wattage devices such as a mains TV, cd/radio etc. when you are not on mains electric or when you do not want to disturb your neigbours by running a generator.

Larger ones of 1000 watts upwards tend to be expensive but I use my 2000 watt one to power the microwave oven and the electric kettle.

As an aside, I spent the last bank holiday weekend on a CL and 4 of the 5 caravans were running generators, 3 Honda & 1 Robin and they could hardly be heard over the ambient bird song, cackling geese and other livestock sounds.

Hi Patrica,

I have an electric scooter I use on site but have heard of inverters. Would one charge may scooter battery up and if so what size inverter would I need.

Erica. ( Leigh)

 

[ERICA1]

hi Patrica, I have an electric scooter which I can only use on site until the battery runs out, would an inverter charge my battery up and if so would wattage would I need. Erica.

 

[Rod_5041370]

Patricia,

That,s about the right price for a 300watt inverter but you must decide how to top up your battery charge after using this, either a generator or a solar panel would do this.

Erica, an inverter on it's own cannot charge your scooter battery.

You could use your caravan battery to an inveter to a battery charger to your scooter battery but the losses would be significant, probably better to use a small petrol generator or a small solar panel.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Rod.

I appreciate that you are trying to be considerate by only using your generator between certain hours. May I offer what I hope will be constructive criticism based on your posting of 2 Jun 2005 08:01 PM.

You state that you use gas for your fridge and water heater when the generator is off, but does that mean you run the generator to power these items at other times?

Cost for cost, the fridge and the water heater are far more economical to run on gas except where you have a mains hook-up. Gas appliances must be at least 70% efficient at converting gas to useable heat. Compare this to a portable generator, where small internal combustion petrol engines are at best 15% efficient fuel to mechanical energy and then about 80% mechanical to electrical (15% x 80% = 12% best overall and typically only 8 to 10%). The actual electric heating elements in the water heater and fridge are virtually 100% efficient, thus they do not influence the above estimate of efficiency.

In addition to the above, the water heater (assuming either Carver or Truma models) will stop using gas when the water reaches temperature, where as the generator will continue to run albeit at no load. So there is yet another saving when using gas over generator power.

I would strongly recommend that you run your water heater and fridge exclusively on gas (except where a mains hook-up is available), and perhaps limit your generator usage to the occasions where only 230V ac will provide the power you need.

 

[Chris4]

Not all inverters are equal. An inverter converts 12v DC to 240(roughly) volts AC. BUT the AC you get is only an approximation to a true AC sine wave. The cheaper your inverter the "dirtier" the sine wave will be. Some equipment like flat TVs and PCs don't like them - might even cause damage. They are also inefficient.

I still don't undertand why people want to use them (and gennies). You put a gallon of petrol in each day to produce AC current. The caravan electronics converts that back to DC to charge the battery. You then plug in an inverter to convert it all back to produce a dirty AC current. It's so wasteful, inefficient, dirty, smelly and noisy.

I use an Elecsol 110 AH battery on board plus a 85AH battery (under the van) that I use to run the telly. I use a good quality solar panel for charging and I have NEVER run into difficulties. The panel produces about 2amps and is enough to keep the onboard battery fully charged. A lot of people I know use cheap 650watt generators, producing about 3.7 amps AC. Goodness knows what damage they are doing to their caravan battery charger. I've also been on CC rallies where people have almost come to blows over these damn things - you certainly DON'T need them for a long weekend. Personnaly I can manage without extra power for about a week very comfortably. Obviously, if your world caves in if you can't use your micrwave, plasma TV and satelite dish then you will just have to irritate the neighbours, I suppose. Pity though.

 

[john_5068653]

As I have recently bought a static caravan on a small site without mains electricity I am looking at my options for 12v power. I note you are using a solar panel. can you advise what type and size etc as they all seem confusing (to me)

Thank you

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John,

The size of Solar panel that is appropriate depends on what you want to power, and how much battery capacity you have. It is is impossible to quote you definitive figures for panel sizes without the other information,

However several people claim success with 55 to 60Watt panels when used with a touring caravan and a 110Ah battery.

 

[Rod_5041370]

Hello Rod.

I appreciate that you are trying to be considerate by only using your generator between certain hours. May I offer what I hope will be constructive criticism based on your posting of 2 Jun 2005 08:01 PM.

You state that you use gas for your fridge and water heater when the generator is off, but does that mean you run the generator to power these items at other times?

Cost for cost, the fridge and the water heater are far more economical to run on gas except where you have a mains hook-up. Gas appliances must be at least 70% efficient at converting gas to useable heat. Compare this to a portable generator, where small internal combustion petrol engines are at best 15% efficient fuel to mechanical energy and then about 80% mechanical to electrical (15% x 80% = 12% best overall and typically only 8 to 10%). The actual electric heating elements in the water heater and fridge are virtually 100% efficient, thus they do not influence the above estimate of efficiency.

In addition to the above, the water heater (assuming either Carver or Truma models) will stop using gas when the water reaches temperature, where as the generator will continue to run albeit at no load. So there is yet another saving when using gas over generator power.

I would strongly recommend that you run your water heater and fridge exclusively on gas (except where a mains hook-up is available), and perhaps limit your generator usage to the occasions where only 230V ac will provide the power you need.

John,

I did not say that I use gas for my water heater as I do not have that option. My water heater is a Truma Electroboiler, 14 litres capacity, 240VAC only, 850 watts. This retains it's heat for up to 9 hours.

 

[PaulA3]

I can not understand why people need to spoil other peoples peace and quiet just so they can watch TV. With a bit of thought you can avoid using a generator I know because I used to spend 6 months living in the van on a site with no electric hook ups.

I acheived this by using a solar panel and also having a battery in the boot of the car connect to the battery charging pin of the 12s plug, Once the caravan battery started to run down I would connect the 12s plug, this meant the 2 batteries were connect and the carravan battery would take charge from the battery in the boot. Every time I used the car it would give some charge to the battery in the boot, and with the solar panel I never had to charge the batteries from mains or a noisy anti social gennerator.

 

[BeatBeat]

Thanks everyone for your comments. They are all very much appreciated.

 

[Chris4]

Reply to JOHN>

There's a company based near Hereford called Wind and Sun. They sell quality solar panels and associated equipement. Well worth a visit. Have a website of the same name. DO mail order. The stuff you get at caravan shows is nowhere near as good. Go for a well know make like Bp. The best types can be identified by their bright blue panels

Chris