Portable camping generators and fridges..which one?

[stevo]

Guys I'm just putting together some camping gear and I would like to know peoples thoughts on a good portable generator and fridge that would suit a camp site. would prefer a gennie that doesn't make a lot of noise and a 12v/240v portable fridge say about 60 litres or thereabouts.

 

[stevo]

Should add I don't wanna buy crap, I want well made and reliable and I'm willing to pay top dollar for quality gear.

 

[trenchfighter]

Genset
Honda
Engel
Yamaha

Fridge
Engel

 

[midlifecrisis]

Hi Stevo.Fridges you can't go pass Engel low power consumption can also use as freezer

Generators I have a Honda 2Kv cost heaps works great, I have mates with cheap ones and they are cheap enough to through away and get new one.that's OK as long as you not out the back of know wear and have days to travel to get new one.
My 2cents worth

 

[backcreek]

Hay Stevo,
Last weekend I had the opportunity to use a Kipor series 2 gs2000 2kw generator I borrowed from a mate.

He bought it to power his caravan when roughing it and has since found that he can run his van on inverter battery power charged with a solar panel so I have the option of buying it from him. Prior to borrowing the generator it only had a couple of hours run time on it.

I used it to power 2 submersible pumps with the outlets joined through a "Y" to supply water to my highbanker similar to Blaxy's set up in some of his youtube clips. 1 pump is 250 watt the other is 550 watt

It ran flawlessly for about 8 hours all up, nice and quiet, although not as quiet as running the submersible with an inverter and a battery as I normally do. It is very fuel efficient, I think it used about 2 or 3 litres.

All in all I was very happy with it the only issue I had is the weight. At 22 kg it's a bit to lug around and I could probably get away with a 1 kw generator which cuts the weight down to 14kg.

Hope this helps with your decision making.

Cheers
Mick

 

[charlie123]

In my opinion I think a gas optioned fridge/freezer will suit camping better than electric only, electric 12v/gas fridge freezer, they are not so good on electric mode, but switch to gas and adjust it properly they will last 1 month and half. Electric only is louder from the generator having to charge the battry, and the deep cycle battry is warranted to a couple hundred charge cycles anyway

 

[Guest]

Engel & run solar power 12v everything

 

[condor22]

Firstly work out what you want to do !! If all you are doing is running a fridge, some LED lights, charging your detector and phone etc, then Option 1 below. If you want to run a caravan with a microwave or Air/con, then option 2 below. Bear in mind that you will not run the fridge off the generator 24/7.

OPTION 1

Generator - a 1kVA is ample, I would only ever use a Honda or a Yamaha pure sine wave.
Battery - 100AH AGM deep cycle (AGMs are totally sealed and can recover from almost total discharge and need no maintenance.) An AGM battery's life depends on how deep you cycle it. Cycling is defined as drawing current ie 20AH and then recharging, if it is on constant charge it is not cycling. Cycling 10 to 20% of capacity gives approx. 1,000 cycles. Cycling to 50% reduces cycle life to approx. 300 cycles. So don't draw too much too often, or recharge at or about 20% discharge.
A solar panel ie 80 to 120W will extend life, but bear in mind that it only charges with sun and needs to replace what is used overnight.

OPTION 2

Generator - you need a 2kVA again Honda or Yamaha
Battery - Same as option 1 but you could use 2 in parallel giving you 200AH
Solar as per option 1

GENERAL

To charge an AGM you need a smart charger at least 3 stage preferably a 5 stage of 20amps. AGMs don't take kindly to charging to quickly or too high voltage.

Fridge - Personally nothing but Engel, but Evacool or Waeco are other options. Gas fridges are good re gas as said above, but I have one in my van and regulating the temp is a pain on a daily basis.

Myth - "You can charge a battery from a generator." - "You can't". Generators have a 12VDC output, that is all it is, a 12volt source. 12 VDC batteries are charged nearer 14 VDC, so you need to plug a smart charger into the 240 VAC outlet.

 

[condor22]

Inverters - Here are some facts and figures, hopefully I won't bore with the science, but it is important. The figures below are actual, off my own inverter.

The inverter is a 300W pure sine wave (all I would ever use) running from a 200AH AGM battery setup.

To use all 300W (using Ohms Law) - 300 W @ 240 VAC produces 1.25 Amps, however the cost on the 12 volt system is this; 300 W @ 12VDC requires (300 divided by 12) 25 Amps, theoretical. However there are efficiency losses, my measured current draw was 27 Amps.

That's 27 AH or 27 Amps in 1 hour, which is a large amount when you compare the average of my Engel over 24 hours at just over 1 AH per hour (@ 20deg C ambient).

I've seen, people on this Forum and others talking about 1000W inverters. It is simple math to work out that a 100AH battery might last between 30 to 50 minutes if you pull 1000W.

Camping Inverters are intended for brief infrequent use ie an electric drill for 5 minutes not running an appliance constantly. Or something low current like a phone charger.

 

[Westaus]

I can't offer any personal uses, however M&D have been travelling around the country in a caravan and Dad commented that most people use Honda genies and that they are definitely the quietest that he noticed, my $0.02c worth.

 

[Diggerdude]

If money isn't a option get the LiPoFe battery. They can handle a huge charge and discharge rate, can be discharged a lot further then AGMs giving you more actual usable power instead of a 100ah agm that you should only discharge 30ah. There just pathetic.
A LiPoFe can be discharged to 90% still delivering 12v and can handle a recharge of 40-60a no worries. I don't have the exact figures on me , but battery life is about 10years compared to 3-5years also.
You can pick a 120ah LiPoFe battery up for about $800-$1200 dollars and a good 100ah AGM goes for about $450 so very acceptable in price.
One other advantage is that lithium batteries do not need complicated multistage chargers, a simple $80, 2 stage charger will do fine.
My 110L Waeco draws about 4a , in summer this can run for up to 16hrs a day. This means you need to be able to produce at least 64amp to cover this each day. Without going into wiring and other inefficiencies, I need at least one 200w solar panel just to keep up with my fridge. Yours being smaller will probably be covered by a 120w panel.
The worst thing about both brands of genies Honda and Yamaha is that they required to be run under load. Do not get a 2.0kw gennie to run a 500w charger, it is the same as running on Eco throttle for extended periods. It will glaze your cylinder and rings, and wreck your gennie in no time. Trust me , I've done it both models. Because of this you need to run the gennie at higher revs , using more fuel, and making it lots better to spend more on solar panels.
And as the other guys said, Engel are the best for fridges.

DD

 

[charlie123]

If you can see the electronic specifications on the paper for battries, generators but when you are out bush for a few weeks you will soon find gas, fridge, stove, only electrics are lighting. and if realy soft tv, and air con. All the generator i have owned have only had 12 direct current output, and 240 alternating (pure sine wave). 14 volt charging current is only messured under load. You put 12 volt direct current to a battry with out load it will charge

 

[Goldtarget]

Engel have done some pretty sweet deals at times at Rays if your looking for to range but at the best price. Picked up one for the old man who's a grey nomad whenever there's a chance atnear $200 off the rrp. I think generators have been well covered in the above posts.

 

[condor22]

I stand by what I said re charging from the 12 VDC output of a genny. This link is one of many on the net that advise against it as a waste of time. Forgive my ignorance I'm only a retired electro/mechanical designer.

http://www.fridge-and-solar.net/gen_charge.htm

 

[Diggerdude]

If you can see the electronic specifications on the paper for battries, generators but when you are out bush for a few weeks you will soon find gas, fridge, stove, only electrics are lighting. and if realy soft tv, and air con. All the generator i have owned have only had 12 direct current output, and 240 alternating (pure sine wave). 14 volt charging current is only messured under load. You put 12 volt direct current to a battry with out load it will charge

I actually wired my 12v outlet on the gennie to a Morningstar 20a charge controller then to the battery. I know it's not meant for that but works well.

DD

 

[Diggerdude]

I stand by what I said re charging from the 12 VDC output of a genny. This link is one of many on the net that advise against it as a waste of time. Forgive my ignorance I'm only a retired electro/mechanical designer.

http://www.fridge-and-solar.net/gen_charge.htm

I use it all the time on mine can charge a 100ah in about 5-6hrs. Don't know where all these websites get the idea it doesn't work. I've done it nearly every day for years.

DD

 

[condor22]

Food for thought - If you try to charge a 12 volt battery with a 9 volt charger, the current will attempt to flow backwards ie from the battery to the charger. (not withstanding diode protection). So logically if you charge with a potential higher than 12 volts, ie 14 volts, the current will flow from the charger to the battery, which is what you want.

So given that the following table indicates the State of Charge a charge output of 12 volts exactly, will equalise a battery to approx. 25% charge. It's a bit like "water doesn't flow uphill"

100% = 12.7
75% = 12.4
50% = 12.2
25% = 12.0
Discharged = 11.9

If I use about 20% of my 100AH battery, it takes about 1.5 hours to recharge with my 20Amp charger.

I think running my genny for 1.5 hours is less wear and tear and much cheaper than "5-6hrs".

 

[slowflow]

3 way fridge -NO. Have one in the camper & it's a pain switching and temp control is hit & miss. performance on 12v is dismal @ best can maintain temp. On gas or 240 the cooling is ambient temp related and therefore variable.

My son has an Engel & I have a cheapie 12v compressor fridge, both 60ltr. Seems the performance re cooling is about the same however his uses about half the power. Go the engel.

120 amp AMG in the car with 240 watt solar and a ctek 250 dual, works well. 2x90 with 120 watt solar and 15 amp mains charger in the camper which is marginal.
Both chargers are multistage and AMG capable because AMG requirements are different to flooded cells.
Depth of discharge needs to be managed and wiring needs to be of the correct size for current v distance v acceptable voltage drop.

LiFe batteries need charge/discharge control on each cell of the battery to achieve max. potential. Deep discharge has the same effect as on lead acid, it shortens service life. LiFe are fabulous but we are being ripped of for them. Google Life batteries to see what the direct purchase price is currently, is is very different to the Aussie cost. A cheap charger will work but you risk unbalanced cells which shortens battery life. A good lithium battery charger manages individual cells.

 

[kleinman98]

Fuji micro 4.4kva inverter generator, 28kgs, remote control and bought for $600.

 

[midlifecrisis]

Just one point an Engel fridge will cut off when the power gets below 10.5 volts