RV FEATURE
Don ’ t operate a generator in the rain – a tarp such as this might be a good idea just in case .
WEIGHT AND SIZE
There ’ s one other thing you need to consider when deciding what generator will suit your needs . The higher the output , the larger and heavier it will be .
Our example Gentrax 3.5kVA generator weighs about 28kg – more than two slabs of beer . It takes a fair effort to lift and carry that weight , especially over the type of difficult terrain you may encounter when free-camping .
You will also need to carry sufficient fuel to run it and , if you intend to run the air-conditioner all day , you will need at least 20L , or another 22kg just in fuel and jerry can alone .
THE DECISION IS YOURS
The ideal generator for you will depend on what you expect to run from it , whether or not your caravan payload can cope with it or , more importantly , you can physically live with it .
To my way of thinking , a smaller generator is the way to go . Our style of camping is to freecamp whenever we can . We use a small 800W generator to run the battery charger in the event the weather prevents our solar panels charging our batteries .
If the weather is hot and humid , we ’ d rather pull into a caravan park and use its 240W power to run our air-conditioner and have nothing more to worry about .
A typical 800W generator will weigh about 13kg or less . It will happily run for five hours on about 4L of fuel , so you don ’ t have to carry nearly as much as you would for a larger unit .
There is a huge range of generators available on the market .
Smaller generators are also a lot quieter so you won ’ t be disturbing your neighbours nearly as much , if at all . To me , that makes sense .
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