Generator for the tractor

Condo will take a lot more BTU's than a mid roof will. That is why I always buy midroofs.

 

what I like best with that homemade apu unit is the fuel tank made out of ten gallon air compressor, that's certainly dot compliant, by the way Beethoven what kind of apu do ya have and hows it going at crst?

 

I'm very pleased with my Honda EU3000is. You'll need 3000 watts or more if you ever decide to run a roof mount AC. I got mine off of Ebay from someone who only used it during Katrina, still like new $1600.

 

at one point and time i used to have a small portable a/c. wished i woulda kept the darn thing. sold it new in box at a garage sale. can't find em that small anymore. it pulled 350 watts, 800 peak. it was on display at sears and seemed to blow cold. i was going to use it for a mack dump truck i was running at the time. but i got lucky and was given a different, newer mack truck that had working a/c.

if i get one again. my idea is to put it on the floor with the curtains closed and windows open. so the heat can blow out the windows while the cold blows in the sleeper.

harbor frieght sells an 800 watt generator 2 stroke. once in awhile it's on sell for 80. right now they've got a 4000 watt for 330. no tax in montana.

i'd like to buy the yamaha some day. but right now i don't have an arm and a leg to spare.

 

OP, do a search on the subject, it's been covered before.
I run a Honda EU3000is, Dometic Commercial 10,500BTU rooftop ac, interior heater, battery charger, etc etc etc. Saved an absolute fortune thus far.
I installed the AC myself, made the mount for the Honda etc. It's on industrial slides, so just slides out for service etc.
Installed a wireless remote to start and stop it from inside the truck.
Runs the AC or heat @10-12hrs on 2 to 2.5gallons of gas. The 3000is is perfectly capable of running a rooftop AC unit BTW, as evidenced by my own setup.



Martin

 

Last year, I bought a Champion 3500, and it worked good for the year. It started getting issues in late fall, and I put it out of commission. I intend to get a new one before summer really hits again and do a better job of making airtight to keep dust/dirt from getting into it.

Even with $300'year, it's way cheaper than an APU. A/C and Generator cost me about $500 including wiring, bracket, etc. It ran a 5000btu A/C, laptop, etc for about 18+ hours on it's 4 gallon tank (never ran it all the way out). So, just over 2 gallons for ten hours. Didn't cool the whole truck, but the sleeper was good with the curtains i hung from the top bunk down to the bottom bunk (Freightliner with the double-bunks). That's all I needed it for. Especially when it was 100+, I could still sleep comfortably during daytime hours. Which was the motivation for it. And fuel savings, too. Big help.

 

Just got a used Ryobi 2000 inverter gen for $325 off Craigslist.

Been getting tired of the noisy 3000 rpm lawnmower type gens although my new Generac 6500 runs all four and more of my heaters in the winter.

Summertime just calls for A/C and battery charging so I had been looking for a bargain inverter gen for a while.

The Ryobi is basically a Honda copy dressed in yellow. It has a 7 amp 12VDC outlet I still need to make up a cord to run it directly to my batteries instead of using my Craftsman charger in the cab which makes unnecessary heat.

Ran the yellow silent one for 12 hours using bat. chrgr and microwave a few times before the 1 gal. tank emptied out.

Ran my 6500 BTU window A/C all afternoon yesterday and burned up a half gallon of gas.

It's a fuel sipper and quiet. I wish I'd have gotten my hands on one of these many summers ago.

My advice is shell out the extra premium for an inverter genny versus a cheapo 3000 rpm lawnmower type gen because the gas saving will make up for it no time and sleeping next to a lawnmower running full bore is not most folk's idea of getting a good rest.

The Ryobi fits right in the side box and I just wheel it up front and set it on the trailer, plug it in and put a chain through the handle with a lock.

My $100 window A/C unit sits on the floor where the Passenger seat used to be. I set it up in the window when I run it.

I saw Walmart had some even smaller 5500 BTU units for a super low price.


What I really want is a diesel inverter generator! I haven't seen any though.

 

Where did you get the little a/c unit from and what kind is that? What you've done is awesome.

 

I wont waste money on an apu unit. the cost to run and maintain them is greater than the cost of idling your truck. now a proper sized geneator can offer some savings but still not great. And I know someone is going to say it, that a generator and an apu is the same thing. yes to a point they are but a nice size generator is what a grand vers a new apu that is 10 grand....I am looking at doing what a friend of mine did and that is mounting a diesel generator to the frame like an apu and taping my fuel tank. than cutting a hole in my back wall for an ac unit. he even wrapped is ac in stainless to make it look real nice. than a small heater for the winter. he is showing a slight fuel savings this way with less cost than an apu. Now he also had an apu on the truck that he bought new and had installed and with the cost of the apu and the fuel it used after 5 years still had not broke even on the cost vers the fuel savings which was very little at best....