2011 hurricane 30 q - new owners

[Barrhavencobra]

Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself and my wife. We are in Ontario, Canada, and are big into boating and decided a bit a go to look into the rv life. After looking at many we just purchased a 30 q with less than 2000 miles. We have a lot to learn the first question I have is that it did not come with a generator but we want to add a permanent one, verses a portable, please provide me any advice or recommendations. Thanks, jim

 

[saddlesore-THOR]

Greetings & Welcome aboard.
I find it odd that your unit did not come equipped with a gen set.
If there is a bay for a gennie should be fairly easy to have one put in as the wiring and fuel pumbing should be already in place.. unless the previous owner used the gen set delete option.
You really do not want to have to deal with a portable gen..It's a royal PITA... permanent mount is the way to go.
And go with the larger gen set that was an option when coach was built.

https://thormotorcoach.com/media/documents/2011_Hurricane___HA_Sales_Sheet.pdf

 

[Barrhavencobra]

Hello saddlesore and others. We picked up our coach Friday and brought it home about 1.5 hours. Good trip, then today we did a little road trip of 3 hours to get use to it. We are still working and have not yet planned out first big adventure, but we are taking little trips to get use to it. I have to ck tonight to see if wiring is there for the not there generator.

Jim

 

[winder1]

Generator

Check out a website called Handy Bobs Blog. He is a great source of info for installing solar battery charging systems. He does it in conjunction with generators for those that want them, but he is a big believer in solar for everything.

He has several diagrams for basic installs of solar with generators, and I would follow his recommendations for solar equipment to a T. He lists the equipment he has tested, and recommends, solar panels, generators, solar chargers, inverters, wiring, fuses, and circuit breakers.

His blog takes a couple of hours to read, but its worth it. Our coach came with a genset, and inverter, and we are adding 400w of solar panels. Combined with our 4 deep cycle golf cart batteries, I should be able charge the batteries on a sunny day to 100% in 4-6 hours. That will save 2-4 hours of genset time per day, or 1-2 gallons of gas, or $2.50 to $5.00 per day. The initial investment is about $1600.

At $2.50 per day it pays back in a year and a half. Plus, your batteries last longer, and are never discharged.

 

[saddlesore-THOR]

The problem with solar is that even if you have a full suite of batteries you will not be able to use the A/C....I would still go with a permanent gen set

 

[winder1]

The problem with solar is that even if you have a full suite of batteries you will not be able to use the A/C....I would still go with a permanent gen set

Not being able to use solar for A/C is not a problem. Its true you can't power an A/C off of solar, but you can still get a full battery charge in 4-6 hours, for essentially free, after the initial capital investment. Also, most people don't use A/C every day, or even most days.

Lastly, and this is very important, you can combine battery charging between your generator and solar, and utilize the genset to charge to 90%, then let the solar take over. That last bit of charge from 90% to 110% is what preserves the life of a deep cycle battery, and it is very expensive/ineffecient to burn gasoline to run a genset to get that last bit of charge.

 

[Chance-THOR]

Sportsmobile makes a good argument that the main reason to own a generator is so campers can run the air conditioner without shore power.

Sportsmobile Custom Camper Vans - Generators

The need therefore depends entirely on how the motorhome will be used.

It seems to me that if you need a generator anyway, then the economic justification for solar is significantly reduced. On the other hand if the air conditioner will mostly be run from campground electric power, making the generator a luxury more than a necessity, then the cost of a generator can be applied towards solar and additional battery bank capacity.

The trend with smaller Class Bs that are custom designed (i.e. -- owner has input) seems to be towards deleting the generator in favor of larger battery bank, some solar, and engine charging off alternator. But Class Bs tend to get driven daily, so it makes more sense than for motorhomes that stay in one place (and without shore power) for long periods.

Perhaps the original owner of this motorhome felt he/she didn't need air conditioning very often in Canada and therefore didn't need a generator. In any case the new owner wants a permanent generator.

I would first try to identify under what conditions I expect to need the generator, and then go from there. I wouldn't necessarily oversize the generator because it adds initial cost, weight to RV, and consumes more fuel at reduced partial load.