danielA solar setup in it simplest terms is a battery charger. The panels purpose is to charge a battery bank that provides the energy you need through DC or AC (via an inverter). I want a backup charging option if the weather conditions do not cooperate, if we are in a wooded/shaded site, or would like to run the A/C for extended time periods. A small inverter generator paired with the 120 amp charger in the Multiplus can make quick work of charging the battery bank.
A small generator with battery bank is a lot more interesting then just a generator. I even see use cases where you may skip the solar panels. With a battery bank to store power you would just need to run the generator a few hours a day and still have power available all day. It makes running a generator for a couple of hours during “generator hours” enough to last the whole day. In New York state parks the generator rules are as follows electric generators may be limited to no more than 5 hours per day and fall between the hours of 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily. You could easily run few hundred amp hours of usable capacity with just a small generator running for a hour or two in the morning or afternoon.
Since my use for the generator is not as a primary power source, I looked for an inexpensive (Chinese 80cc Yamaha clone) inverter generator. I picked up a WEN 56225i 2250w/1800w generator direct from WEN with a magnetic dipstick for less then $400 shipped to my door.
If you try to use one of these inverters with a RV that has a surge protector with power protection they will not work. The floating neutral will cause an open ground error. To solve this a simple fix is to use a ground-neutral bonding plug. They are easy to make or can be purchased for around $10. Southwire makes the one I use. The RV is plugged into one outlet and the other has the ground-neutral bonding plug.
This generator did not include a hour meter so I added an inexpensive one from amazon ($10). I also ordered an iridium spark plug for better and more reliable running. The original plug was a Torch A5RTC the replacement I am using is a NGK 7120 CR5HIX Iridium IX spark plug ($12).
Generator break-in seems to be a hot topic. Using traditional SAE30 oil I ran a hour of no load in eco mode, then changed oil. There was lots of junk in the oil and on the dipstick magnet. I then ran another hour in eco mode while running a 800w load for 5 minutes on and 10 minutes off. I again changed the oil. I did another hour, half in eco half not. I again ran an 800w load for 5 to 10 minutes and then turned it off for 5 or 10 minutes. I will continue to run intermittent loads until i hit 5 hours and change the oil again. After break-in I will switch to synthetic 5w30 for oil.
