A 120 watt panel mounted atop a late model Airstream

The ‘New-To-Us’ Honda EU2000i Generator

This topic is very subjective and every RV’er has an opinion on what works best for them. The information here might be very rudimentary for a seasoned traveler but hopefully it will help some of the new comers to the RV lifestyle. This post does not attempt to sway people from one side to the other but rather to pose the pros and cons of each option and let the readers themselves make their own decision. 

I have asked this question to a lot of my Airstream friends I have met over the last few months. Most of them have their own reasons for why and which they have picked. Rich, from Airstream Life magazine, and I had a conversion about just this topic when he graciously invited us to his house on our trip to Tucson. He had recommended that the best first step is to increase our battery capacity before deciding which power source to choose. I could not agree more and it is part of the reason why I am going to make room and bring my portable battery bank along with us. My implementation of added battery capacity is the least costly option to extend a boondocking vacation. It does not require any modification to the trailer and with readily available parts, anyone can build one in a couple of hours.

Assuming your battery capacity is to your satisfaction, the next step is finding a way to fill them back up when they are low. A generator user might know that it is best to run the generator while the power usage is at its peak rather than trying to replenish the batteries after heavy use. The charging mechanism in trailers are not the most efficient when powered by a generator and you will probably get the most benefit by using the power that is being generated than trying to charge it back into the batteries. Solar panels on the other hand can be very efficient depending on the type of charge controller used. Most modern charge controllers today is of the MPPT (maximum power point tracker) variety and they are great at managing the power output of the panels to replenish your batteries. These are a couple of examples how the two options can be fundamentally different and someone using both systems can benefit differently from both if budget and space allows.

To best quaify which system might be ideal for those of us not made of money, I have outlined below the pros and cons of each. Feel free to add your own to the comments if you feel that any are missing. The solar option assumes a fixed rooftop installation and the generator assumes ample wattage for microwave and AC unit.

Generator – Pro:

• Works in the dark or shade
• Powers more equipment such as AC and microwave
• Portable so you can use it even when you are not RV’ing
• Less expensive than solar (when considering labor costs for installation of solar)
• Requires no installation

Generator – Con:

• Takes time to set up
• Needs storage space
• Needs refueling
• Requires regular maintenance
• Produces exhaust and carbon monoxide
• Can be very noisy
• Some campgrounds ban generators altogether for some of the reasons listed above
• Inefficient at charging batteries

Solar Panel – Pro:

• Easy maintenance
• Can be permenantly installed with no need for storage space
• No refueling trips on long stays
• Last a long time when taken care of
• No set up required when permenantly installed
• Completely silent
• Environmentally friendly
• Efficient at replenishing battery banks

Solar Panel – Con:

• Does not power any 110 volt equipment (without an inverter)
• Does not work, or work well, in shade or darkness
• More costly to purchase and install
• Requires ample roof top space
• Needs ladder access to panels to angle them for maximum performance

I hope this helps someone out there who is deciding where to spend their hard earn dollar in today’s tough economy. Being self-reliant in your power needs doesn’t just save you money in the long run to allow you to camp for less in regular sites. The most important benefit is that you will be able to visit many more beautiful places where electrical hook ups just do not exist. Speaking of beautiful place, I gotta start packing for a long weekend at the beach in the Airstream.

over and out,
dan

Solar panels and generators are great for creating portable power but you need more batteries to hold all those amps generated for when they are not pumping the voltage into our beloved puck lights. That’s especially true for solar panels since they obviously only work when there is day light. Our 25 ft Airstream International FB (Front Bedroom) model gives us the aftermarket option to store some additional batteries in the storage space under the bed. To store deep cycle batteries inside the living space of the trailer means they have to be maintenance-free, sealed versions of these batteries that can sometimes cost twice as much.

As we get closer and closer to hitting the road full time, we are trying to be very careful with budgeting our traveling funds. That means we have to make use with what we already have versus buying more gear unless its absolutely necessary. In my old days as a sailboat owner, I gathered a lot of sailboat cruising related gear. After selling the boat to make room for the Airstream, I kept a couple of lightly-used deep cycle batteries thinking that they might come in handy one day. Unfortunately they were not the sealed versions so they will not be going inside and under the bed.

After some measuring and scrounging in the garage, I came up with an old Igloo cooler that fits these 2 batteries perfectly. With a few holes drilled for ventilation, the batteries dropped in and were wired up in parallel with some 10-gauge wires.

The weight of the batteries make the cooler a chore to carry but the handles on the side work well to bear the load with 2 people. A 7-amp solar charge controller connected to the system allows me to maintain these batteries with a small solar cell to keep them topped off in between trips.

A little terminal block with dual bus plates is used to connect everything to a heavy duty marine battery switch by Perko. The 4-position switch gives me the option to use 1, 2, both or none of the batteries as needed.

You might be wondering now how this homemade contraption allows me to run any of the electrical systems in the Airstream. If you own a travel trailer with a 7-pin hitch connector, you know that the car sends a 12-volt charge to the trailer’s batteries through one of the pins in the connector. The diagram below shows you what each one of those 7 pins do.

By connecting the 12-volt pin and the ground pin to the matching position in a female plug purchased from a trailer store, I mounted them on the outside of the cooler. By simply plugging the trailer into the box, I am now able use the electricity stored in this magical Igloo cooler. What’s even cooler is that it will even charge these batteries the same way when I have a 30-amp power hookup or by running our new-to-us Honda EU2000i generator. In one of the little holes I drilled out in the front of the cooler, I placed a cigarette lighter adaptor that will also allow me to use the power output for things like a 12-volt air compressor while airing up the tires or running a laptop through a small inverter while sitting at the picnic table.

We have yet to try this setup with the Airstream but it should come in handy at a dry campground to help run that power hungry furnace fan at night when we are not allowed to run the generator. If you decide to build one of these for yourself, be sure to get the heaviest gauge wires you can get your hands on and be very careful not to draw too much load through the trailer harness. Refer to other electrical experts other than just what you see here. You wouldn’t want an electrical fire on your hands. I would keep the extinguisher near just in case.

over and out,
dan

After scouring Craig’s List and eBay for the last 6 months, I finally came across a local seller with a lightly used Honda EU2000i generator. He was asking $900 for the unit that has maybe 10-20 hours of use. Relying solely on my negotiations skills, I walked away with it only $775 lighter in my back pocket.

Here she is, my first generator. She runs beautifully on first pull. Even though it won’t power our air conditioning unit, it will pretty much run everything else in the trailer, including the microwave oven.

The Honda EU2000i is arguably the most popular generator in the Airstream community. Maybe even in the entire RV community. It runs extremely quite and sips gasoline like a British gentleman with his tea. With a parallel kit, you can even run a couple of these together to get twice the power to run everything in the trailer.

Some of my challenges with a generator has to do with our trusty tow vehicle. Not having a pickup truck means we need to store the generator on the inside of the vehicle. With the van powered by a diesel engine also means that the gasoline we carry for the generator will not serve double duty as emergency fuel for the car. One of the upgrades you can make to the generator is to convert the unit with a trifuel carburetor to run on propane, natural gas as well as gasoline. Since we already carry 2 large tanks of propane for the Airstream, the trifuel conversion will be a welcome addition to the portable power system. It will also allow the generator to burn the fuel cleaner than gasoline as to minimize the smell of fuel while carrying the unit inside the van.

The conversion is about a $180 do-it-yourself upgrade and will allow you to run the generator for up to 20 hours with a single 20 lb tank. Many owners of the trifuel Honda EU2000i have reported great experiences with the conversion. We will see how this works for us in our upcoming trips and see if the upgrade will be worth our while.

If you think I am excited about my new toy, check again. Here is Ava doing a little chicken dance to celebrate the occasion…

over and out,
dan