guido4475
Not a Member
Ideally, you'd have both a generator and a house battery. The generator can recharge the house bank when it's running. For small loads, running a generator is incredibly inefficient, so that's where running off a house bank makes more sense. Firing up a generator to run a fan for a few hours or watch TV is crazy when you can do that off a battery bank.
Yes, you are correct, running a generator for a few hours to run just the lighter load objects is....But for periods longer than that, I think not...I would rather wear a generator out than the van engine, regardless how long the periods are of running either.That's what I bought the generator for....to take the wear and tear of idling away from the van's engine.....They say one hour of idling a diesel engine is equivalent to like 72 miles of driving..I'm sure it really isn't less for a gas engine as well....but anyway, a generator is alot cheaper to replace than a van engine, by far. Idling is just plain ludicrous in my book.