Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum > GENERAL DISCUSSIONS > Boon-docking
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 04-13-2021, 06:52 PM   #21
JimIrish7
Established Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Alparetta
Posts: 44
M.O.C. #26805
ok- thanks
Could I go with one and would it give me enough power to run at least one air conditioner and fridge?
 
JimIrish7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2021, 07:10 PM   #22
JimIrish7
Established Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Alparetta
Posts: 44
M.O.C. #26805
ok and do you use a soft start capacitor?
JimIrish7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-14-2021, 07:37 AM   #23
RickyRobert
Seasoned Camper
 
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: Olathe
Posts: 65
M.O.C. #27598
If you decide on going the route of outboard generator(s), be sure to take all performance and reliability characteristics into account: price (of course), fuel consumption (long term costs of differences in burn, plus carrying the extra fuel one unit needs over the other to have it last for the length of your stay), running amps (not a lot of difference between 25 and 23.6, so add your numbers up), cleanliness of output power (both good, but onboard electronics like best over second-best), reliability (many, many real-world reviews out there on the internet), weight (if the difference between manufacturers is significant), noise factor, etc. In other words, do your homework with respect to your needs - many of the commentators above have chosen the right unit for their budget/use; how does yours match up? (And you do need to decide if you're going with one larger or two smaller generators.)
__________________

2020 3931FB (every option but exterior kitchen)
2019 RAM 3500 DRW 4X4, HO Turbo Diesel, 4.10 Axle
B&W Companion 25K OEM Puck System
RickyRobert is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-14-2021, 07:55 AM   #24
mlh
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Salem
Posts: 7,528
M.O.C. #2283
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimIrish7 View Post
ok and do you use a soft start capacitor?

No I don’t use one but I would like to have one. They are a definite benefit. Some members here have an Onan portable generator 4500 watts that seams to be an excellent value. The Honda is a great generator but they aren’t the only one. For the money I’ll buy something else. Don’t forget generators have a start up wattage like the 3500 Harbor Freight and a running wattage. The 3500 Harbor freight running watts is 3000. As far as I know all generators are that way. When you decide what size generator you need to buy the running watts.
Lynwood
__________________
www.harrellsprec.com
Lynwood Harrell
323 RL HC 2008 F250
mlh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-14-2021, 08:02 PM   #25
JimIrish7
Established Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Alparetta
Posts: 44
M.O.C. #26805
Great information- thank you
JimIrish7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-16-2021, 11:08 AM   #26
traviswayne
New Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: agra
Posts: 4
M.O.C. #25045
1st, hope you enjoy your new 5er. I see on a previous post (from feb) its new, and appears to have the residential fridge.

We have a 2018 high country 365bh and have camped a bit boondocking, including a couple of two week stints in colorado at altititude as well as traveling with the odd stop in truck stops, wal-marts etc getting to destinations.

A thing to consider is your fridge. Even with 2 lead acid batteries, w/o shore power you'll need to recharge the batteries every 5 hours or so if you use nothing else. If you run the heater, then it will be shorter.

In our experience, traveling in hot climate and pulling off to sleep, you'll need to run at lease one AC to cool down the rig enough to sleep in. We use the champion dual fuel (3500 watt?) and it will run one AC fine (no soft start), charging the batteries and such for about 5 hours on one tank. Pulling off around 10 p.m. and firing up the genny, this gets us to about 3 a.m. which is fine most of the time, it runs out of gas and we are cool until we wake up, then fire it up again for an hour or two to fix coffee/eat and recharge the batteries and hit the road again.

camping above 8000' feet in colorado last in july, we never have to run the AC. Had to run the heater at night most every night.

I've since added 400 amp hours of additional battery for a total of 600 amp hours, this runs the rig almost all day (no AC) with about 3 hours of generator per day to recharge. I've added a 2nd 3000 watt inverter which i simply plug the rig into, simulating "shore power" to run tv's, coffee makers, dishTv, microwave etc. (have to manage what we turn on, and turn off the on-board charger at the breaker box)

When camping in heat above about 90 degrees, one AC is going to have a hard time cooling the rig. We boondoced last year in June on the beach in South texas, temps about 90 and one AC running full time barely brought the inside temps down about 10 degrees below outside temps. By 10 p.m. it was cool enough to sleep.


hth
Travis
traviswayne is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-19-2021, 07:24 AM   #27
GreG L.
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Jacksonville
Posts: 381
M.O.C. #21993
We went with an onboard generator (had a 3500 portable before) for several reasons. This is just about me, your needs will be different.

Don't have to carry gas in the bed of the truck (it fills up quickly without gas cans), changed to taller propane tanks fore more capacity.
Don't have to go to two places to get diesel and gas.
Don't have to carry 1 or 2 generators in the bed (space issue). No lifting
Don't have to lock up the generators (in the bed and when in use while away). No lifting
Can run both air's and other things without issue.
Feel much better leaving the pets alone with an onboard generator. Thieves don't care if you have pets onboard or not.
Maintenance on one generator, no lifting.
Did I mention no lifting?
__________________
I was once intelligent beyond my years. Now, I’m years beyond my intelligence.
2020 Montana 3561 Legacy, everything except paint.
2018 Silverado 3500 DRW, 50Gal Transfer Flow, Andersen hitch.
GreG L. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-20-2021, 05:14 AM   #28
suny07
Montana Fan
 
suny07's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 355
M.O.C. #21337
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimIrish7 View Post
ok- thanks
Could I go with one and would it give me enough power to run at least one air conditioner and fridge?
Hi,

with a plus 3000watt Generator you can run 1 AC and the rest of your camper.
When you install the soft start devices you can run 2 AC's of it.

I personally like the Champion 3500 with remote start so I do not have to crawl out all the time and crank it https://www.championpowerequipment.c...tart-inverter/

Mike
__________________

Montana 3123RL Legacy 'Boon-docking Edition'
RAM 3500 Mega Cab Cummins Diesel DRW
suny07 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-20-2021, 07:49 AM   #29
JandC
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Frostproof, FL USA
Posts: 2,362
M.O.C. #13272
I'll just throw one other thing out there when it comes to making the decision on having an on-board gen set installed or hauling one around in your truck bed.

When we started we had two Montana fivers in a row. We didn't have gen sets in either one, but when we purchased the second one we decided to start carrying a large generator in the truck (we were full timing).

I think we used it once. It ended up being a pain and was just easier to go ahead and book where we could get full hookups. The next three RVs all had OEM generators and we never fail to run them when we want/need to run them. It is nice to be self contained with little or no effort, especially when it is raining.
__________________
Previous: 2008 Montana 3400RL & 2014 3725RL
Current: Full Time 2022 SOB TT Toy Hauler
JandC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2021, 08:20 AM   #30
Hit The Road
Seasoned Camper
 
Hit The Road's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: So Cal
Posts: 62
M.O.C. #27454
We went with that option. Push the button and you are in business. We are going to upgrade the propane tanks in the future!
__________________
Louie n Debi
2021 3121 RL Legacy package with onboard generator.
Pulled neatly by a 2019 Chevy 3500 HD DRW
B&W 20k companion hitch
Hit The Road is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Montana RV, Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:39 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.