I'm researching for someone else. The RV isn't where I can look at it. What do I need to know about generators for these things? Three prong is evidently 30 amp and four prong is 50 amp. An inverter type generator is preferable to the others. I'm thinking dual fuel is better and would be worth the money in a real large area disaster. What else?
Thanks, gentlemen
Some of the old ones that I've seen at auctions are a smaller size-profile than the ordinary portable generators - I presume to fit a dedicated compartment in the RV <?> If so - for your friend - it might be an important factor - have him measure the compartment. The common inverter generators do not offer 230 volt outlets until you get to the 5 kw + range. I was looking at a cheapo 3.5 - 4 kw models and they were 115 v only.
usenet group alt energy homepower is ~ dead lately but perhaps there's an old lurker there with some experience.
John T.
Three prong? Four Prong? The number of prongs has no relationship to the amperage of the circuit.
What would you need 230v for in an RV?
Lots of things. Some generators will put out only 120 volts, some both
120 and 240 volts. The nunber of prongs does not mean much, you just need to match it to the RV or get an adaptor.Some are dual fuel. Duromax makes a dual fuel generator that has a switch on it so if your RV is 120 volts only, it will generate that but at double the current. If you need 240 volts, you flip the switch.
Right now Amazon has this one on sale for $ 399. It is even electric start and dual fule. DuroMax XP4400EH Dual Fuel
I have one and use it at home. It has worked well the 3 times I used it. I only use propane so I do not have to worry about the gas getting old and clogging up the carborator.
You need to ballance the output you want to the ammount of fuel you use. The larger generators use a lot of fuel even if you do not have it under a lot of load, unless you get one of the inverter types.
The ammount of noise may be a factor. If so look at the Hondas, but be prepared to pay a high price for them.
Sorry - silly me - when the OP mentioned 4 prong
50 amp connector - I just assumed 230 volts. John T.
Resistance heater, air conditioner, etc.
Note that most RV campsites have 240v RV connections.
They may be planning on using it at home for an emergency generator. Sometimes it is just because they want 240 volts in addition to the 120 volts.
in North America requires a 4 prong plug and are GENERALLY 5000 watts and up. Pretty much anything without a 4 prong plug will be 120 volt only and 3300 watts or less.
Drier or big-assed a/c come to mind - but just about anything over
5Kw is 240 capable,providing 2.5KW and up per "side" just like a house panel.
You can tell I'm not an RV guy. When I go outdoorsing, it's tent/sleeping bag/campfire...not Ritz-Carlton/Four Seasons on wheels ;-)
It does relate to whether something is 120 or 240 only or 120/240. In RV and boat shore power world 4 prong generally means 120/240 50a Three prong will be 15 or 30a 120v. They have somewhat standardized these configurations
Air conditioning. Some of the bigger land yachts might even have two 50a 120/240 cords.
I am not an RV or camper guy. I was searching for a small dual fuel generator for the house a few years ago and ran into the problem of most of the smaller ones were only 120 volts made for the camping people. Finally found one that was about 3500 watts that had the 240 volt outlet and 120 volts outlets. I have a larger gas only generator but with the power outages here for short periods of time the smaller propane gets me all the power I need most of the time. I don't have to worry about draining fuel or the carborator getting gummed up if I only run it for a couple of hours or less.
I wonder what these adapters are for:
This is for a redhead who plans to live in it full time with her son. She will be in northern Georgia for awhile. She spent a couple months in Arizona a few years ago. Union painter working on nuclear power plants.
There is no fixed relationship, but three prong is 120V only and four is 120/240V, so lower amperage ones are likely to be three, while higher amperage ones are likely to be four.
The inverter ones, while more expensive, are also much quieter when running low loads which typically tends to be most of the time with these. That's because the engine speed is decoupled from the output frequency, so they can run slower at low loads. Regular generators maintain the constant 3600 RPMs on most, the other speed is 1800, but that's usually on more expensive, larger ones.
LED lighting has opened up the possibility of using a battery and inverter during periods when all you need is lighting and some small loads, to avoid the noise. But IDK of any integrated system like that, where you can easily go back and forth.
They are used to adapt from the receptacle you find someplace you're visiting, versus what your RV, boat or whatever cord has a plug for.
That makes sense. We had portable welder/generators at work. Noise wasn't an issue. Those ran at 3600 rpm if my memory is working.We finally put inverters in our pickups when they became more common. I've thought about putting an inverter in my personal pickup. This is for a 2013 Sun Valley Evergreen RV. No word yet what it has for options. I spent part of one day looking at RVs so this is all new to me. It always made more sense to me to just stay at a motel.
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