Portable generator on truck??

It's not a big deal,usually when you park you want to stretch your legs anyways. I just carried two - 2 gallon cans on my old truck. easy to walk with. My gen wouldn't hold 4 gal, but I could alwaysfit the rest in in the morning when I left so my cans would be empty again.

I got a fancy pants 25 gallon tank now, not so much too eliminate walking but because I park at customers a lot and it sucks if you run out and can't get gas.

 

I'm a big fan of the Yamaha EF3000iSEB 3,000 Watt Gas Powered Portable Inverter Generator w/ Boost. The battery boost feature and remote start make this generator an attractive purchase. I've been keeping an eye out for one to pop up on craigslist on the cheap.

 

I'd love to see a pic of the setup.

 

The AC unit you need is a house wall unit. These have an outside shell and you can remove the guts like a draw. Your biggest problem will be drawing the outline to cut so it's perfect. At least it was for me. I hate things that are not straight. Drill a hole near a corner and use a sabre saw or jig saw.

Chances are your back wall is made of thin steel. Behind that is honeycomb about 4" thick. It's a perfect shelve for the unit to rest on. Just like a window sill. The wall will come out first then you will have the interior wall covering. Cut that a lot smaller then the opening. Then when you slide the AC enclosure in from the inside it will suck in the interior material and look nice.

You can see in the picture I had some aluminum supports made by a local guy. It's made of 2x2". Drill holes big enough for 1/2" bolt to go through on both the support and wall. Put bolts through on top and bottom then attach the wall molly wings. Here is a pic. They sell really big ### ones.



Just like at home your really not counting on the supports to hold the AC. Most all the weight is in the front resting on the sill. Once those are in you can slide the AC enclosure in and screw it to the supports. Slide your AC in and it locks in place. Caulk around the seam on the outside also. Plug in and turn it on.

You need this also. It's a Xantrex prosine 2.0 inverter/shore power/charger. This will charge your batteries when the generator is running without over charging them. It's a pure sine wave inverter also. When you get home in the winter just plug into house and it switches over to house power so leave your Espar running without worrying about your batteries.

The nice thing about a shore power inverter is that it detects when 110 is on and makes the transition from battery power to shore power and starts charging. Your TV will not even blink an eye. They also sell an external display for the inverter that's pretty slick. This is what sail boats and others use.

The 110 output from the generator will plug into the inverter and the AC direct.



You can also buy this for about $15.00. It's a settable voltage alarm you can plug into a cigarette outlet near your bed. If you have remote start on your generator you can crank it up when the alarm goes off.



So, stop being a ##### and cut that hole

 

Also, my Rigmaster starts up automatically when my voltage falls below 12.2 volts. It was set at 11.9 but that took it's toll on batteries so I set the threshold higher. My APU runs for 20 minutes then shuts down.

There is no way for any computer to know how long to charge batteries before they are charged up again. Sort of like your laptop. One second it's at 98% then 10 minutes later it's at 25%. Like having truck batteries that are almost dead then starting your truck for 5 minutes and shutting it off they are now at 13.2 volts for about 2 minutes then drop fast.

There are devices out there that measure a batteries capacity and give a true percent indication but it's very hard to do. Requires a computer to do what is called a hysteresis by measuring the jewels used. The more times a battery is discharged and charged the plates get thinner and thinner.

 

If you want to p_ _ _ off a lot of people buy a noisy diesel generator. I think you will hate yourself for buying a diesel. Quiet is what you want. IMO A gas generator and a window unit are the way to go if you don't need fancy and believe in KISS. I couldn't keep the window unit from tearing up. One window unit per year is cheap in exchange for good a/c.

 

Has anyone on here cut into the back of a Volvo cab? Or are they all about the same as described above? I am thinking that this window unit is the way to go. I have a nice cabinet on the passenger side of my truck (Volvo vt880) under the steps that is empty and fairly large... I am quite sure I could get a decent size generator in there,, I already have a 2000 w inverter, and it is also rigged up with a separate battery charger that works when you plug into shore power.

 

I cut the back of my Western Star and put a through the wall unit in. Pretty easy.

 

Before you do, investigate Callaway Engineering, Old Lyme, Conn. They don't do diesels or generators but what they have done is built a SuperVette-the Top Gun Sledgehammer Corvette. Bear with me here. The A/C unit is NOT run by the engine. The A/C unit is all electric and sits under the passenger seat. Transfer that tech idea to a diesel. Convert your rigs A/C to electric and take it off the engine belt. Increases your engine power. Now advanced that line of thought to your alternator. Why can't the batteries be re-charged from an onboard diesel generator that draws fuel from your tanks? There is another increase in engine horsepower and at a greater engine mpg. I'm not for certain but I think the water pump can also be electric and taken off the engine and run through an electric pump. If this is correct, then all your engine is actually pulling is itself, the fan and the power steering pump. I've see cabovers that don't have engine fans. They run electric fans like these newer small cars. Callaway Engineering is the place to start. The Sledgehammer ran a street legal 350 cu in engine that put out 898 horses to the ground GETTING 21 mpg at a cruising speed of 235 mph. They have turned them all down but that's where I would start looking. (http://www.callawaycars.com/) If you search (Top Gun Sledgehammer Corvette) you can read about the changes they made that gives the engine so much horsepower. That tech should convert to a diesel.

 

If you get in touch with Callaway Cars, Inc, Old Lyme, Conn.(http://www.callawaycars.com/) their service dept can put you onto an electric style A/C that is connected directly into the rigs A/C unit but it is all electric and isn't connected to the engine. In their Sledgehammer Corvette, the cars A/C unit sits under the passenger seat. If you run an onboard auxiliary diesel generator, you can literally take everything off the engine: the A/C, the alternator, the power steering pump, fan and water pump-running all electric drivers which will almost double your mpg. There is a cabover running around that did that and he gets 9 to 12 mpg.