Auxiliary generator questions

[joe_blow]

Hi,

I have a somewhat technical question for the electrical gurus.

I have a 5500 ONAN house gen on my 2008 WW 5th wheel and do a moderate amount of dry camping in the desert.

I recently bought a yamaha 2000W inverter/gen 30A that I want to use for the cold nights to power the trailer lights (LED) and also energize the outlets for running two small LASKO heaters and charging phones overnight. Most of my friends do the same and it really saves propane and battery use, from cycling the heater all night.

Anyway, my question is this:

Is it possible to add a 30A plug/junction box that ties into the 50A house junction box, so I don't have to constantly unplug the 50A house cord to run the small generator?

Obviously both generators would never be run together, but I am concerned with either one back feeding into each other and ruining the small generator's inverter or my main house inverter.

Hopefully the question makes sense.

Thanks for the help

Joe

[trikeflyer]

You don't need to do anything special. Just get a 50amp to 30amp adapter and plug in the 2k gen. I have a similar setup with an onboard 5.5k and run twin honda 2k gens with an aux tank. The Honda's burn a lot less fuel especially during the nite where I will only run one.

[joe_blow]

Thanks alot for your suggestions and I am glad your poor doggy wasn't hurt.

I will look into those

dedmiston wrote:
Hey Joe - Have you ever looked at the Buddy Heaters? Two of those can really put out some heat. You can set those on Low and let them burn until they run out, which is usually most of the night. And then your furnace thermostat can kick on like you said.

I think the fuel for those is about $7 for a two-pack, which is totally worth it when you're cold.

The only downside is that they have an exposed flame. Our dumb old dog (bless her heart) caught her tail on fire one night. That was an attention getter. She wasn't hurt, but boy did it stink in there.

Anyway, I like your thought process. Either a small portable gen or some space heaters should do the trick. It's too bad that you have to manually switch the plug on the WW. That bit me a couple of times when I forgot to plug the cord back in and the generator was just burning fuel and not charging anything.

[dedmiston]

Hey Joe - Have you ever looked at the Buddy Heaters? Two of those can really put out some heat. You can set those on Low and let them burn until they run out, which is usually most of the night. And then your furnace thermostat can kick on like you said.

I think the fuel for those is about $7 for a two-pack, which is totally worth it when you're cold.

The only downside is that they have an exposed flame. Our dumb old dog (bless her heart) caught her tail on fire one night. That was an attention getter. She wasn't hurt, but boy did it stink in there.

Anyway, I like your thought process. Either a small portable gen or some space heaters should do the trick. It's too bad that you have to manually switch the plug on the WW. That bit me a couple of times when I forgot to plug the cord back in and the generator was just burning fuel and not charging anything.

[joe_blow]

Propane conservation is key when I am in the middle of nowhere and I am not sure how big your trailers are, but the weekend warrior is TALL and at 39' the heater works hard to heat the sleeping/cargo area where the kids are.

The gen is for pre-heating the trailer. Once the fuel runs out the house heater kicks on....very simple idea. My two 7.5 gallon tanks last, but not with the heater running for nights on end.

I set my t/stat at 60 when we sleep and bundle up.

[jackxclan]

One small electric heater will work that genny, it will run on high rpm and run out of gas during the night. Ive got an electric heater in the trailer we dont use it much for those reasons.

[Bedlam]

The Weekend Warriors used two 30 LB or three 20 LB removable propane tanks.

[pianotuna]

Perhaps, like me, he has fixed tanks. That means filling propane tanks only in moderate sized cities, so using less means longer boondocking times.

2oldman wrote:
I don't get why the need to conserve propane.

[colliehauler]

Two small 1500 watt electric heaters plus additional loads out of a 1700 watt generator?

[KD4UPL]

You could install an auto transfer switch to select between your two generators. You could set the priority to the onboard unit or the portable, your choice. You would need to have the 30A 120v input from the portable power both of the hot legs in your 50A service but that is easily done by someone who knows what they are doing.
The real problem is your generator will be maxed out running one standard electric heater. They pretty much all use 1,500 watts on high and about half that on low. Your generator, I'm pretty sure, isn't rated for 2,000 watts continuously, only for a surge.

[Dirtclods]

So you have a onboard 5500 ONAN house gen running on Propane right? Why don't you just buy larger propane tanks?

[Y-Guy]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
I would be very annoyed at anyone running ANY generator after 10 PM, maybe even 9 PM in winter when the son is down before 6 PM.

Keep in mind he said "dry camping in the desert" in CA you don't camp next to each other unless you're in a group, there if you pulled near him to camp it's on you. If you are in a established campground you would have a point, but in the desert not so much.

[theoldwizard1]

I would be very annoyed at anyone running ANY generator after 10 PM, maybe even 9 PM in winter when the son is down before 6 PM.

If you are boondocking and want/need heat, use propane. Two 6V golf cart batteries should get you through the night, even including a movie and portable electronics charging.

[2oldman]

I don't get why the need to conserve propane.

[dmck413]

Why not get a catalytic heater. No power required for that.