RV FEATURE
LOOKING AT LOADS
In order to determine what capacity generator you require for your needs , you need to look at the loads you are going to connect to it . Each appliance will have an individual power consumption rating in watts . It will be printed on the device or in the owner ’ s manual .
To give you an idea , the table below shows a typical rating for many of the appliances found in most caravans .
Device / appliance Power Rating
Admittedly , you will never likely run all these appliances at the same time , especially if you ’ re only relying on a small portable generator . Instead , just add up the power ratings of all the appliances you expect to run simultaneously .
As an example , you may want to run the airconditioner and the battery charger together and , based on the figures in the table , that ’ s a combined 2200W .
Ibis air-conditioner Suburban water heater CTEK battery charger 25 amp Thetford three-way fridge Space heater Electric blanket Two mobile phone chargers Laptop power supply Microwave Electric cooktop element Electric kettle Electric toaster Induction cooktop ( twin plate ) Turbo convection oven
1600W 1440W 600W 150W 1500W 120W 6W 60W 950W 1000W 2400W 950W 2400W 1400W
The power supply for these devices will likely have a power factor of 1.0 .
This small generator has a peak output of 800W .
Smaller generators are easy to store .
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