Recommend a generator
Dear all to give us total flexibility we've been considering buying a generator to run the electrics in the van, Microwave is the big user as gas will cover the rest unless Ive forgotten something?
I saw someone use a Honda gennie a few years ago for all their needs. I have a Lunar Clubman ES.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Kind regards
Derek
Comments
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I’d get a decent sized solar panel and, maybe, an inverter and forget the m/wave if I was off grid.
Tbh, I doubt many people here have used gennies as they add a considerable weight to your payload and cause noise disturbance.
Have you worked out how it can be carried?
Good luck in your quest which, as has been implied, won’t be a popular move.
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We have a Honda i20 that we used for many years wild camping with the MH. Not used with the caravan as we always find a site / CL with EHU.
A particularly memorable wild camp was at Buttertubs on the 1st leg of the Tour De France where we wild camped for 3 days with no one else there on the first 2 days. When we awoke to run the jenny on the saturday morning the hillside was alive with people. Most asked question of us 'when did you get here?' Reply 'early enough to get the top spot'.
Should we need to use it, we would. But that hasn't happened so far with the caravan. Too good a bit of kit to be without come climate change and power cuts due to come to us all soon
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I hope you run it till fuel was empty and cut out as not doing so you will cause the fuel to crystalize in the carb and then have starting/running problems. with no lead in petrol now it can/does go off and smells like turps. Worked in hire industry and the number of machines brought in for repair after winter was massive and all because they left the fuel in.
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If you are off to Alaska ok otherwise get ready for some angry neighbours, Noise, smell, fire risk etc.
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I camped near a family with a Honda i10(I think it was), whilst talking to them I could hear a low humming sound, I initially thought it was a nearby pylon, it was the Honda generator. Things have advanced a lot over the years👍🏻
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These new 4 stroke are quite compared to old 2 strokes ,years ago up the Dales on a lovely non ehu site ,somebody started one up non stop , after being asked repeatedly to turn it of by several vanners , he ignored us , All of a sudden it kept stopping ,in the end he left it on site when he left , Dont know how it kept stopping ??
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Thanks all very helpful, seams like to much hassle, to much weight, to much money, and messing around with a bit of kit when pouring with rain is not my idea of fun so will stick to EHU's and love thy neighbours Much more civilised
Kind regards
D
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Good decision. 👍🏻
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A few years or so ago we spent a couple of nights for a stopover at a CL. One caravanner did have a generator in use. It was a good quality one and he did not operate it at night, but it still emitted an annoying whine even during the day - and we were not the ones closest to his outfit. We were then in our late 70's and, with our hearing not being what it was, it was still pervasive so it isn't difficult to appreciate that generators could be a major annoyance to younger folk with good hearing.
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What exactly is an "Inverter Generator"? I initially thought it was a self contained battery and inverter and wondered why people wouldn't just use an inverter off their leisure battery and maybe have a spare battery just in case.
Looking into it further, it appears they have a petrol engine and I wonder why you need an inverter which suggests it generates DC. Why not just generate AC as it's easier to use a transformer to get the correct voltage.
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Dont know about sugar in tank ,,but my mechanic mate was owed money and put salt in tank
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Is this an alternative?
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Have you seen the price of Honda generators? You'd need a modest win for one of those.
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you don't necessarily need EHU to be 'civilised'....a solar panel, a battery can be equally good....
charge phones, computers from 12v....run your TV, and your lights and water pump the same way.
use has for heating (if reqd) and hot water, along with the hob and the fridge...
if you want to get away from those 'lovely neighbours' no real need for a mains supply...
sites, CLs without hook up are still real bargains....
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And what about hair dryers, microwaves, electric heating? Solar panels are not really that good for those civilised items if you need them and consider them necessary.
I suppose we have have different idea on being civilised.
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hair dryers and microwaves can be run from inverters as can electric blankets if required. the power used is the same stuff: whether it's regarded as civilised or not I (obviously) wouldn't know.
and why would anyone consider trying to run electric heating without a hook up?...especially when gas does a better job.
personally, I'd describe vans that switch power supplies automatically from mains to inverter (and thus can operate fully and similarly in any environment) just by recognising the presence (or not) of an EHU cable as slightly more sophisticated (and, dare I say, civilised) that vans that don't.
but, I suppose we have have different idea on being civilised.
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you keep saying that gas does a better job but while you can change the laws of shoe making you canae change the laws of physics BB.
I have told you this many times. Electric passes on almost 100% while gas loses about 30% of its energy out the flue. Kilowatt for kilowatt electric heating is more efficient in terms of heating than gas, as a certain volume of air/water takes the same energy in heating it by 1C.
In using inverters, SP... all you are doing is being sophisticated in providing what EHU would do. It is a work around that is all. Of course if it was that good we'd have in it all homes (and that may well happen but not at present) and not the way I want to live while on holiday.
And all very sophisticated till the battery runs out, of course it won't because you have to be careful, again not what I want to do on holiday.
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Mmmmmm. ..are you by any chance related to the Bolero Boy who only this week posted (hang on, let me just consult my notebook, ah yes here we are
)"Enjoying the sunshine on my CS..."
immediately followed in the very next post by
"We're on a THS with EHU, no Bear Ghrylls here..."
Just asking!
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