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Best Generator to take on Kimberly's Trip?


Ecoranger

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After many years of searching and much advice from various people, it appears that the Yamaha 2800i is the best generator for all round performance and reliability. In particular to run an Aircon up north.  Many manufacturers claim their cheaper generators will do the job, but I am not convinced. Any other opinions or experiences out there??

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Also, is it even worth taking a generator on such a trip? I have 3 solar panels and 3 AGM Batteries with backup Redarc chargers in both van and vehicle?

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We have the Yamaha 2.4 Kia and find it is reliable and competent.  Do you need it?  We have just finished a 12 month tour through Vic, NSW, QLD, WA and SA, and had to use the generator about five or six times for air conditioning.  It was baking hot at times and the cooling made all the world of difference.  Obviously it is helpful to have a means to recharge the batteries if you have days of overcast conditions.

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I have run a Honda 2.0i for 10 years, it has excellent voltage regulation and has never missed a beat. Over that period we have run the AC probably a dozen times and interestingly it will do so at sea level but will not hang onto the load at any altitude over 1,000 ft. One of the larger capacity Honda or Yamaha machines will hang onto an AC load somewhat better.  On a recent caravanning trip with friends I saw a brand new Honda 2.0i fail to start after it had been servicing a light load for 2 or 3 days (that is all the work it had done). I did the usual things - changed fuel and checked the plug to no avail. The problem turned out to be a failed " ignition initiator", in other words an ignition coil timed by the flywheel. 

After this 10 year experience I have come to the conclusion that our main generator need is as backup for the batteries and I am now carrying a Yamaha 1.0i which easily runs my charger at 40A for 30 mins if it has to, but more importantly gives me a weight saving of 18kg.

 

ATV2 towed by 200 Series

 

Grahame 

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Hi Ecoranger.

 

Generators......a much discussed subject during Happy Hour.

 

We carried a Honda 2 around for over 12 years or so, and rarely used it.  We can't see any point in running a noisy generator at the free camp somewhere just to run the airconditioner. If it's that hot that we need to run the airconditioner, we go to a town and book a powered site in a caravan park and use their facilities, the pool, camp kitchen, endless power and water etc. 

 

As for charging our 360 amp Lithium battery pack, we have 1040 watts of solar, a 50 amp DC to DC charger, and a 60 amp AC charger. Our 1800 watt inverter easily runs our microwave.

 

We usually travel in the cooler months and for 5 to 6 months a year in northern Australia and have not taken our generator with us for a few years now. We are even thinking of selling it.

 

Cheers from Pete.

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We sold our generator last year for similar reasons as Pete has said. The extra room, weight, fuel that it took was not worth it. Even when it is hot we rarely use our air conditioner as it is far too noisy. Love our 12 volt fans. Over the years we have gone back to basic caravanning. Two solar panels, two batteries, 3 way fridge, no washing machine. We probably spend 20 weeks a year travelling, last year was 27weeks.

Clive

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Thanks for all your replies...so much variation!!  Still not sure if we should have a generator, just in case, anyway, maybe a smaller one will be adequate?

Cheers,

Kym.

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22 hours ago, Ecoranger said:

Thanks for all your replies...so much variation!!  Still not sure if we should have a generator, just in case, anyway, maybe a smaller one will be adequate?

Cheers,

Kym.

 

The smaller one is of course adequate if all you need is to recharge batteries.  

 

We found that the Kimberley area can get hot during the day in Summer but not so much in the Winter months.

 

Peter (ATV42) says he would prefer to go to a caravan park for air conditioning if it is hot.  That is well and good if a caravan park is available :)    The times we have used a generator for cooling has been either on a very remote road, camped up after a day’s travelling, and only needing cooling for a couple of hours until the sun sets, or say crossing the Nullarbor.  Recently we pulled into a delightful camp off the Nullarbor and at 2pm it was nearly 40 degrees.  We ran the aircon until 4pm when a cool breeze came up.

 

Even if a caravan park was available we would much prefer that lovely bush camp anyway, despite needing a generator for a couple of hours.  And much cheaper to run a generator for two hours than paying for a caravan park for a night.  Plus the attendant nuisance value of booking in, unhitching etc.  

 

The generator gives you options.

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Thanks for all your replies. After a long and serious consideration and much research, we have decided to purchase a Yamaha 2800i....just in case and for those hot days in the middle of nowhere! As it is more powerful and therefore will run effectively in the heat, nearly as quiet, revs lower, has larger fuel tank, fits into a pre-built box in van and is slightly cheaper than the Yamaha 2400i. I just need to get a special slide made up for the box to make it easier to move!

 

Regards,

Kym.

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Hi, I am new to this forum.  Have you considered the Redback 4KVA generator from iteckworld?  They have received some very good reviews, very quite particularly if you remove the wheels which tend to vibrate on high load.

 

Macca.

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