this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
1 points (66.7% liked)

Living in vans, cars, RVs, etc

307 readers
12 users here now

[email protected]

We're not homeless, we're houseless! By choice or by circumstance we are living in our vehicles. Don't worry about us -- it can be a very good life.

Anything that affects us as vehicle-dwellers is probably on topic.

external resources

fedi resources

rules of engagement


vandwellers vandwelling vanlife urbancarliving

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I use this guy to supplement my solar panels in the winter. It does 30a, I haven't had an issue running the microwave and ac off it simultaneously. I just finished my second year with it, so far it's just needed an oil change.

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We may be in the golden age of gennies: cheaper, quieter, more available. There have been days when I wished I had one.

Are you running it on gasoline or propane? I hear the latter is cleaner in gens and requires less maintenance (like carb rebuilds).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whatever I happen to have extra of. The land where I use it has some propane heaters, and I try to keep 5 gallons of gas on hand.

This year was mostly gas, a 5 gallon tank lasted about a week running 4-8 hours a day, averaging 10 amps or so.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whatever I happen to have extra of

A man after my own heart.

running 4-8 hours a day, averaging 10 amps or so

Have you observed a power output level where the genny is most fuel-efficient ($/kWh or whatever)?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I never did the math that far down. There aren't many weeks where I needed to run it every day. The lower your draw the better has been my rule of thumb.

I have a couple jackery batteries that I keep topped off in addition to my solar system. The jackery stuff has it's own solar panels that I can run through a window in fair weather. That stuff, $/kWh, is the ay cheaper. But of course it has a huge up front investment.

[–] tallwookie 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

wew that looks like a beast! thanks for the link. have you had any issues with it at all or is it just a solid, dependable generator?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A few hundred hours in and it's been great. I'll probably do some deep maintenance on it this fall, just to be safe.

[–] tallwookie 1 points 1 year ago