How to power RV with a Portable Generator / Full Hookup Process
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 26 фев 2021
- Learn how to use a generator to power your RV in this Rockin' & Roamin' video. We will show you how to power your RV, Fifth Wheel, Travel Trailer, or Motorhome with a portable generator. We will show you the full hookup and start up process. We also touch on some helpful hints and tips for using your generator efficiently. We discuss how to pick the right size generator for your RV briefly but you should definitely use a online power calculator to figure out exactly how much electricity you will use and then buy a generator based off your needs.
We live travel and boondock(camp with no hookups) full time in our 30 foot travel trailer. For power we rely on our trusty Honda EU2200I portable inverter generator. We love our little red generator and it has been a real workhorse powering our RV in rain, snow, mud and whatever else we run into. We definitely love how quite and reliable it is and highly recommend it.
If you want more great "How to RV" content as well as outdoor and travel content please like and subscribe. We hope to see you again soon and have a blessed day.
*A quiet **Generater.Systems** , love the dual fuel capabilities, camper is 50 amp but the adapter helps and found it still handles the load. Haven't taken a camping trip yet, that's in a couple of weeks. Will see how well it does over a long weekend.*
I subscribed. Just because I want to see how you guys enjoy your experience. I'm 56, and boy was my camping experience different. 13 years old living in a canvas tent. Helping my family build a log cabin in the caribou of British Columbia. And still going to school on my dirt bike. I think I met all the species of bugs in that 2 years..lol.. Have fun, make some good memories!
Great video for the newbies. I think you hit everything vital to the subject. Very knowledgeble PPL you are
more information than I found on 6 other posts...Thanks!
So glad it was helpful Robin :)
Outstanding video! Much info, clearly presented. I have a similar Honda generator and this was a great help. Many thanks to you both!
So glad to help :) have a great day.
It came up in the algorithm for me... Just love you guys you did a great job explaining what I needed to know
Excellent instructional video ... thank you both!
Your welcome :)
Thank you! Exactly what I was looking for, nice explanations. And, bonus for me, I have the same generator!
I'm so happy it was helpful to you :)
Excellent presentation.
Perfect! Have this same generator and needed to know how to properly use with my 2007 Eagle Cap truck camper. All questions answered! (Hi from Kanab boondocking!)
I'm so glad to be of help :)
Thank you for the review on the Honda Genny, just purchased a new off grid RV and I'm definitely going with the Honda, new scriber here, it's been awhile since you did this it's very appreciated 👍 safe travels
outstanding! clear explanation. straight to the point. keep it up!
Thank you :)
Thank you for your great video! We just bought a 34 foot rv and recently bought the same generator. I'd love to get more tips and tricks from you guys . Looking to start boondocking regularly.
I am so glad it helped you guys :) check out our "how to" playlist. We have been getting footage to make a how to boondock video and I would love to know what questions you would want that video to answer.
Thank you so much for a clear, easy to understand video! ALL of the others have me lost when they start talking watts/amps. You simply told us that the gen. will adjust to the draw of electricity! God bless brother!
So happy to be of help :)
This was really helpful! Thank you.
I'm so glad we were able to help :) check out our channel for more rv how to videos
Thanks so much, exactly what we needed to know!
So happy that this video was able to help you :)
Thank you for a great clear easy to understand video. I have the Honda 2000i which I bought second hand from a reliable source so it did not come with a manual. Have been reviewing video's and manuals and your video is very clear to understand. I like the fact you showed what would happen if you overload the generator. Have subscribed and looking forward to reviewing your other video, especially camping with a dog, as I have a mini dachshund. Your dog is absolutely adorable.
Great video, thank you!
Very excellent video
We have 2 Honda generators for our RV, they work great. No regret in buying them as they are the best second to none in my opinion. Good job on the video.
Thank you :)
awesome video guys. NM brothers, stay warm and safe travel
Thank you rocky :)
First time here gotta check out all other videos you have up👍 subscribed
Thanks you, glad to have you:)
Hi. I just purchased a Champion 2500 for my travel trailer after spending way too much $$ on RV parks this year. This video was perfect for me to learn more about how I need to use a portable generator. You both are great instructors. I just subscribed and hope to learn more. Thanks.
So glad to help :)
THANK YOU! I have a small generator. Didn't really know the missing piece which for me is 15 to 30 amp dogbone. With a hurricane headed my way, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!
I am so happy this video helped you, stay safe!
Hi. What size generator? I just bought a 1400w just to run my fridge and keep my batteries topped off in my 30amp camper. I know about the 30 to 15 amp plug but just checking if it will work to power up everything in the camper minus the a/c and microwave without tripping. Thanks
Awesome, well done video.
Thank you so much :)
Very good explanation, thank you . 2024.
Good job
Great video!
Thank you Sherise :)
Thanks very much, no A/C required so you have answered all my questions about thne size I will need and how to hook it up. Can't wait to get started on my lot by the sea.
Best of luck Donald
Good video❤
So much help
Awesome :) glad to help
You explain everything super clearly and well. Thank you
Thank you for watching:)
Great video thank you! :o)
Your welcome :)
Be sure to point the exhaust away from the trailer for less noise and smell. I had a small 3X3 piece of plywood I would lean against the side between the generate and trailer to help with noise. I found my Honda 2000i would run for 8 house just on one gallon gas.
Great video. You two young people sort of remind me of the wife and me back when we started to camp (with a tent) some 37 years ago. We've had our RV for two years and we (along with our Aussie/Lab mix pooch) do boondocking two-dayers. Have relied on the batteries (charged before leaving) and propane for all our needs. Ready to go more than a couple of days next summer and want a little generator to charge the batteries (will probably discover other things to run with it). Thanks for the helpful video!
I'm so glad it helped! Where do yall usually boondock?
@@rockinroamin1958 National Forrest in Wyoming
@@michaelquillen2679 we have only passed through Wyoming a few times but would love to know the best place to visit. What is the forest called?
@@rockinroamin1958 The Medicine Bow National Forest, between Laramie and Saratoga, WY. One can truly boondock (say in the Cinnabar Park area) or, use the primitive Forest Service campgrounds (but they cost a few $$)
@@michaelquillen2679 good to know we will definitely check that area out!
Thanks for the helpful video. We have an older travel trailer that doesn't have a/c and is really only comfortable for vacations of a week or two. As a writer I need some minimal power for laptops and other communication devices, so your video helped answer that important question: how big, and can a 2000w inverter still power some elements of the trailer such as the refrigerator. A tip for you, in return: your audio is being affected by wind; put a "dead cat" or "dead mouse" sock on your microphone. (Not your don't-wanna-be-held kitty.)
I'm glad it answer some of your questions. Thank you for the advice, we definitely need to get one of those. :)
Great video thank! My T@B teardrop much smaller than your rig… so I think a similar size gen/inv will work great for when we need to recharge batteries. Question - do you use a surge protector with the generator? Maybe rig has one already…or maybe not needed because the generator power is more stable (and won’t spike)? Again - thanks for such a detailed explanation and hope you are still rockin’ and roamin’
I broke down and decided I'd buy one of those Honda 2200s. Looked on Home Depot's website and wah lah! OUT OF STOCK. Welcome to Amerika 2022......
Ok thats a dope hat
Thank you it's insanely warm and even keeps the back of the neck and ears warm.
Thanks for the video! What size battery bank do you have? Our camper is only 15ft so we have 100watt solar panel to charge a 100ah lithium battery. We wanted to get this generator to assist the solar during the day
Love your videos. Where are you guys now?
Honda is the best.
Is that a Catahoula pup? Love 'em!!
Great eye Blake, Tacoma is full Catahoula and Artimay is Catahoula and blue tick. They are our babies :)
@@rockinroamin1958 I know them because Bailey is our 11 year old Catahoula "puppy." Your dogs are gorgeous.
@@blakeberlin6295 thank you so much :)
I have a Honda 2200i but didn't know how to use it with my RV. Your video had the answers I needed with some good tips thrown in. Well done!
Are you worried about getting yours stolen? If so, what steps have you taken to keep it secure?
You can purchase an anti-theft device from a Honda dealer. It's a metal piece that covers the handle and makes for a very secure system when you lock the generator to something with a chain or cable.
Did you have to make a bonded plug to insert into the unused socket of the generator to get it to power the RV or do the adapters handle that for you?
Where are you all at??? We miss your videos!!!!
I just bought the Predator 2000, mainly for charging the battery for the odd time we boondock. Don’t think it would power the microwave or A/C, but it’s nice for battery maintenance.
That's great to hear, come back and let us know how it dies after your first test run
Hi. I’m buying the 1400w predator for the same thing. Just to maintain the battery for now. The new RPod camper fridge doesn’t run on propane. Crazy huh? So I just want a small generator I can fit in the compartment when not in use. I’ve had the Honda 2200i for my last camper but just making sure even the small 1400w won’t trip automatically when plugged in. I won’t run the microwave or a/c of course.
Excellent video! A couple of questions please. How long is you power cord from RV to generator and do you notice any voltage loss when it comes to charging your battery due to cord length and adapters? Also, how long does it take to charge the battery from say 12.3 volts back to full charge? Thanks.
I would say the cord is probably about 30ft and I haven't checked for voltage drop or for charging time exactly but you can use an online voltage drop calculator if u are worried but it shouldn't be much of an issue. Also it takes at least a few hours to charge up.
You explain well. Mine is only a 1000 but I could run fans, lights and dash cookers. And charge batteries. My Honda guy says I should use sea foam and run it to empty for storage. Way too much ethanol in gas. Bad for storage. I have had mine for several years. My camper is small and I find the 1000 is all I can handle for weight.
Hi question. Im going to buy a small 1400w generator from a friend just to keep my battery topped off and run the 12v fridge. I can’t believe these new 2024 Rpods got rid of the propane refrigerator. I don’t need the a/c right now obviously so I’m just wondering when you plug yours in.. assuming it’s a regular 30amp camper.. does it trip the generator automatically? Of course I’ll have the 110 adapter to plug into the small generator.
Just making sure before I buy it from him. It’s only $200 bucks for a small 1400 predator and best thing it fits in my compartment. I’ll get a bigger one come the spring/summer to run the a/c. Thanks in advance
Do you think it’s worth getting a trailer that requires a generator? I’m between a surveyor and an ember. But the only reason I’m torn is because the surveyor would require the generator. It might be a pain in the butt to have to deal with the generator… but I’m in love with the rv… is the generator really worth it?
great vid! could you perhaps share where you got the plugs to convert 50A cord to 30A to household power?
Hey Chester I found them in the rv section of my local Walmart you can also find them on Amazon by searching "rv dogbone converter".
@@rockinroamin1958 that's exactly the term i needed to know. thank you so much!
Good video. We just bought a 26’ RV and still learning how things work. With crazy housing markets right now. We decided to try living out this new RV adventures for awhile and see how it goes. Are you guys living full time in your RV? Do You both have remote jobs?
Hey salty, we have been full time for 2 years now. We originally had a detailing shop and then started doing online creation. The online creation didn't make money though so now we have a trucking company and just work from wherever we happen to be. There are lots of different ways to make money on the road, you just have to find the right one for you.
@@rockinroamin1958 You have a trucking company?
@@RastusMcbride we did last year but covid messed it up and so now we are living in Dallas Texas and working normal jobs to save money and travel again :)
Rockin and Roanin I would love to know how you run a trucking company on the road. I am thinking of doing something similar like hotshotting
@@nathanrascon4846 Hey Nathan so what we did was we created our own authority and had our own DOT and MC number. Then we joined truckstop. com's load boards and we would simply look at the areas where loads were plentiful move the RV there and then we had a second truck that we would use to pull our goosneck flatbed and then we would just leave the RV while we went out on some trucking trips and then when we could we would catch a load home take a week or 2 off and then do it again. The issue that we found was all of the good loads are in major city areas and some city areas and so you're not really going to be in the wilderness like we liked and then with gas inflation and everything else that happened the Profit margins became very small. We felt that it might have been better if instead of opening our own company with simply bought a truck and worked for someone else's company. But what really probably would have been the best is if we had just done semi trucking rather than hot shooting. It was a great way to see all the rest of the States though and we enjoyed it while it lasted. We did end up quitting that though selling our truck and settling in Dallas for a while ,now we are working normal jobs while trying to find a way to finance traveling again.
Excellent information, thank you. How long does it take to charge your batteries? I have 2 6volts and looking to buy a generator now.
Hey Mary I'm not completely sure on the answer to that. especially because different RVs charge at different rates and it depends on how drained your battery is and your battery size. We have two deep cycle batteries one is 100 amp hours and one is 200 amp hours and I believe it takes us most of the day to charge them if we haven't charged them in a few days but I know that six volt batteries act differently. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to help answer this question for you but hopefully someone will chime in that knows more than I do. the good news though is that the generator will charge them and you should have a button on your control panel in your RV that will show you what charge level they're at once you unplug from the generator.
@@rockinroamin1958 thanks for the feedback! Always lots to learn, makes it fun!
Great video! Did you know you can get a 50-15amp dog bone so you only have to use one adapter?
Great tip!
? While your running your Generator and Will it Charge Your Batteries with The Battery Switch “OFF” ? Thank You
I think you might want to unplug the trailer before shutting down the genny. Possibility of a surge or spike when it shuts down?
That's a great suggestion John it might not be bad to do just for safety purposes.
That Honda 2200 generator will power everything AC heat fridge convention microwave ???
Great video! Does the AC run at all on a small generator like that? Or does it kinda half way run if it needs more wattage than the generator provides?
Hey Trevor, the ac will run on the generator. You can't run any other big appliances though and you can only run 1 ac.
P.s. our ac is 15000btu
@@rockinroamin1958 Thanks for the reply. We just got a small travel trailer for our first camper and I'll definitely be following your channel to learn more!
@@tfwoodcraft thank you so much Trevor I'm glad it helped. Let me know if there is a topic you would like us to make a video about so that we can help more people.
You didn't mention the app for the generator. Also I use an extended fuel system.
Be sure to turn off, or better yet, disconnect the load before you shut down the generator. A short cool-down without a load will help as well. 👍
Great point thank you for chiming in :)
As a generator technician i agree! Kind of surprised there’s no breaker to easily and safely shut off/on the load
Lucked out , i thought you were about to say 500 bucks or something. Lol
Do you open the slide using the generator only? We have a 5th wheel and would like to be able to open both slides without fear of overloading the batteries and blowing a relay. Thanks
You should have no issues, if you wanted to be extra careful I would open one at a time.
@@rockinroamin1958 Got it. thanks. Thanks for your videos.
Excellent. Is there anything in your RV that is 220VAC?
Nit as far as I am aware
Would this power a 30A small rv such as the Salem fsx 179dbk?
Like fridge and ac
It should
How do you achieve earthing (grounding) when plugging into the RV?
From my understanding the connector has a "ground pin" that provides a low resistance path back to the generator in case of a ground fault.
Can you run parallel different makes and watt generators?
That's a great question, I'm not sure though.
How do you feed all your breakers on your 50amp panel? In using those dog bones doesn't it feed only half your breaker panel?
It still feeds the whole panel, No matter what size panel you have you're still going gonna have one line and one neutral bar. 30 amps versus 50 amps just means how much total power your RV can handle so a 50 amp RV can still run off 30 amps but if you have a 30 amp supply of power you just won't be able to run all of your appliances at once (for example you probably couldnt run 2 ac units and the microwave and and electric water heater on 30 amps but you could probably do it if you turned off one of the ac units) whereas a 30 amp RV cannot use 50 amps because the main 30 amp breaker would trip once you got past 30 amps of demand
Dude, leave your 50 amp chord at home. It's way too heavy and you'll never need it boondockin. Besides, that shrimp size gen will never come close. Get a 25' 10ga 20A chord. It's all you need. Yes the shrimp might start your AC but don't do it. Save your 50a chord for a 50a post in an rv park when you want AC. Remember, your 50a chord is really 2 legs of 115v, way over kill to run a single AC unit. But no worries, your still young and lots of time to learn. That's why RV ING is so fun right?😊
Care to explain how he hooks up a 20amp cord when the camper only has a 50amp hookup?
Will this generator power my fridge as well?
Yes it will :)
Will this actually run one ac with some lights as well?
Most likely your lights are led (very low power consumption), and run off your battery/batteries. Once your gen has fully charged your battery. The low trickle of power needed to run your lights will not effect your gen much at all. Even if you have no battery's (12 volt lighting), the led lights will still not be a problem.
Oh and btw. I always keep a 12 pack of solar lights in my storage compartment. Y'know the ones you would put on a walkway outside a home. I find these really handy inside and out of my rv when I travel. Just in case I need them.
How does this have 21k views but only 797 subscribers? Man ppl greedy with free video. Just sub ppl! Lol
Haha thank you
We have a 3000 watt generator from Honda, what will that power in an RV?
Mine is only a 2200 and can run all my lights and plug and propane furnace and one large appliance. I would assume a 3000 could probably run everything except 2 ac units at the same time. There are calculators online called energy use calculators that will tell you how much electricity each thing in your rv uses. You can then compare that to the rated output of your generator to get a more exact answer.
We have used the ruclips.net/user/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
Great idea
Does TV draw a lot of power?
TV does not draw very much power.
How many hrs on it now? Has it run into issues that require repaire?
Over 1000 hours and still no issues. Starts first pull everything usually.
Rockin' & Roamin' how many hrs did u use it per day, i mean very roughly on average
@@tomzhang8675 I would estimate 10-14 hours a day 3-5 days a week.
@@rockinroamin1958 omg
Do you need to ground your generator?
Cooperation request:
Hi dear Mr.Roamin, could you tell me how to contact you, we want to cooperate with you.
Look forward to your reply.
Thanks and best regards!
Hey Stephen, leave me your email in the comments and I will email you :)
What's with the music video
Why does Honda called this an inverter. Seems to be a straight power generator. I thought inverters converted 12 VDC to 120v AC.
I thinknits is not a true inverter but it turns direct engine power into 30amp ac power
It produces 12VDC, then the inverter in it changes it to 120AC, Hence the name "Inverter Generator" and also why it can run various speeds depending on load.
hmmm New Mexico. I graduated from UNM but can't stand the state anymore. cool video though.
It is the land of entrapment, it does have its beauty though and thank you :)
thanks but this video has nothin to do with a full hook up , your only plug and play process loL thanks anyway should check and fix your titles Am0
You're not powering your RV you're charging your phone. Those little Honda generators are so overpriced and you get practically nothing you can really power with it just small things very small I have a 75 00 Onan generator and even that they suggest you don't run both air conditioners at one time I'm not dogging you I'm just saying people got to just face the facts unless you're plugged into a hookups boondocking is next to Impossible or at the very least super costly. Even the solar panels by the time all is said and done you've just spent maybe 10-15 Grand. However I know you can power your laptop and you could charge your phone and you could probably get the lights working but really there's not a lot more you can do than that you can't power the air conditioner and I don't even know about the water pump and stuff like that if it will handle it.
Great video, but lose the hat.
Never put your generator on the ground. Always put it on a plywood surface. This will help to keep dust out of geberator