Thor Forums

[Chance]

Yep. Even so, when electrical power requirements are very low, like around 100 watts or less to power a TV or refrigerator, it's very inefficient to run a generator. There is no doubt that a 2,000-watt Honda inverter generator is much more efficient than a 4,000-watt Onan when powering a 100-watt load, but even the Honda is way too large to run efficiently with such a low load.

That's partly why larger battery banks and solar are becoming so popular. With LED lights and TVs that use so little power, it's more efficient to store energy in batteries and then recharge them (if needed) with generator over a shorter period. But that too is very inefficient and needs to be improved drastically.

Obviously the entire system has to be evaluated as one, because batteries have resistance which reduces efficiency too, as do converters, etc. And adding weight to motorhome with heavy batteries uses more fuel too. I'm sure in a couple of years all this will get sorted out as lithium batteries and larger inverters become more affordable.