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Old 08-04-2011, 03:26 PM   #1
Longwell
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Power outages and/or brownouts?

Due to the high temperatures this year, we were wondering if anyone had suffered outages or low voltages at campgrounds (or if they occured even in normal temperatures)?
We are investigating generators. Information about how often and where the above problems occur would help us.
Thanks for any inputs.
Larry and April
 
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Old 08-04-2011, 03:51 PM   #2
DonandJudy_12
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Over the past 60 years I have been camping, I have found most campgrounds to have marginal electricity- We have had various electrical failures of our equipment over the years due to poor power- The failure may not be immediate, but inevitable- We have had several generators over the years and they have come in handy from time to time- Currently, we have no genset and have no plans to acquire one- We do have 4 6 volt golf cart batteries and a 2k inverter which allows us to make toast and coffee or use the micro- Follow your instincts and y,all will be ok- JHMO- Don
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Old 08-04-2011, 04:11 PM   #3
HamRad
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Larry and April,
Like Don we have often found that CGs tend to have marginal electrical. But it is usually enough. I think we have only had a couple of actual power outages in all the time we've been camping. And I don't think even then that it was out for very long.

If you don't have a generator then you might consider getting one. They are really nice to have along. You never know when you might need one for those dreaded power outages or for that really nice boondocking place you just spotted. Good luck, Dennis
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Old 08-04-2011, 04:29 PM   #4
bncinwv
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As soon as I get the thing figured out, I feel that the system I have invested in will have the best of both worlds. As a precursor, we do not boondock (something about teen-age girls and the Stackable Splendides being in perpetual use - at least it seems that way). On the new rig, we went with the factory option Onan 5.5 kW generator, primarily for the comfort of the furry kids (cat and dog) who travel in crates in the rig. Since we do have experience with power outages, power drops, etc. I invested in a wireless auto-start generator switch which is designed to sense a drop in the shore power and automatically start the generator and stop it when the shore power returns. With the added Progressive Industries EMS system, which drops power on low or high voltage, this provides what I feel is an acceptable backup system for those times when there are power interruptions in excessive heat conditions (as in Myrtle Beach in August). In addition, for energy conservation (the generator absolutely loves to drink propane - which resulted in an upgrade to dual 40 pound tanks), the auto-start switch has a internal thermostat which can be used to maintain the temperature in the rig, by starting and stopping the generator while maintaining a set temperature range. I will be playing with the system at the Mid-Atlantic rally since I just got it installed last week.
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Old 08-04-2011, 04:31 PM   #5
Mudchief
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I have experienced both brown out and outage due to storms. We have ran on generator from 1 hour to 9 hours. We also have the auto former and some times you see it working 1 phase of the ac power and sometimes both. Wednesday it was 111 here and the power went out for 4 hours. Sure glad we had a generator plus 2 ac units. However I have a remote start on the generator and start it about 30 minutes before we stop and the unit is nice and cool in hot weather when we stop for the day. I use it more for that than for power outages.
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Old 08-05-2011, 05:12 AM   #6
Delaine and Lindy
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While crossing Oklahoma in early July we were in a park that lost power and it was a KOA. The owner are great and we stay there in the past and will stay there on our return in late Aug. However we hooked up and was in Amarillo by morning, which was our next stop... We will have a Honda 3,000 or a Honda 6500 before our winter trip to Florida. Our issue without a Generator is we can't lower our roof mounted Satellite dish or lower the pop up TV. We have had no electrical outages since Oklahoma. We have been in several RV parks in Colorado and are now in Red River New Mexico... Happy Trails...
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Old 08-05-2011, 05:57 AM   #7
Mrs. CountryGuy
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We have had brown outs and we have had outages (due to storms AND hot weather overloading the campground equipment, oh, and there was the time a palm tree came down on the power company lines) and we have had 30 AMP service that provided continuous power at less than 108 volts and nothing would run, monitor kept turning on and off, electric heaters would go off, could not run frig on electric, bunches of fun stuff. We departed that campground a day early, it was 35 to 45 degrees and that was during the day and they were chatting about snow. First time we have ever left a day early like that. Was a very smart move!

Having a generator for back up emergency situations is a nice idea.
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Old 08-05-2011, 08:06 AM   #8
richfaa
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There was time when C/G power was bad even for 30 amps. I would say in the last 10 year maybe more that has improved, Most C.g's ungraded to survive and new C.G's installed proper power when built. We have not had to use our generator in over 5 years of travel in the Montana due to a C.G power failure.
Over the 4th this year we did have power problems at a out of the way C.G but the C.g had upgraded the sites but the local power company had not provided the proper transformers.
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Old 08-05-2011, 06:37 PM   #9
Waynem
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Bingo, I'm interested in that auto switch. Can you send me some information on it? Thanks.

As to the OP, we had a 5.5kw generator in the Montana. We had a few occasions to use it and I'm glad we had it, even though it took up the forward compartment. One of our saving graces was the Progressive Industries, PT-50C, power management system. It saved our equipment several times over the years, and continues to do so with the SOB. The SOB has a generator, and I'm fortunate that I just push the button on the dash and it comes on. DW gets up and turns the house air on and we continue down the road. All of you in your pick up trucks can maintain a cool inside cab temperature with just your dash AC, but us poor SOB's have to have some help when the ambient temperature running down the road is 100+ degrees.

Larry, as I previously posted, we just completed 4000+ miles, but most of it was in moderate temperatures except for our last 800 miles or so. During those last miles we never ran into a problem at any of the campgrounds with shore power. However, I'm still glad we have a generator as an "insurance investment."

Good luck.
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Old 08-09-2011, 06:02 AM   #10
RickW
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I consider the Progressive EMS (or similar product) a must. We have experienced very few power issues in the past 5 years, but we do plan on adding a diesel genset to the truck this winter. Diesel is the one fuel we always have plenty of since the truck can carry 250/gal when full. We feel that the genset will give us more options and would have been helpful like the time we could not find a overnight spot and stayed in the Wal-Mart overnight. Had to sleep in the truck because it was just too hot in the trailer with out A/C.
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