Predator 3500

 Our predator 3500 works well with our fifth wheel on one AC.  It holds 2.5 gallons of premium leaded gas.  In real world usage I get about 6 hours run time at an altitude of 4000 feet.  It averages a current of 15 amps on my RV, which is 60% of its running amps 25/3000 watts.

I need to clean the spark arrester every 50-100 hours, takes 5 minutes.  Change the oil every 100-200 hours for best run.  Basically I can get 24+ hours run time on 4 tanks of gas or 10 gallons.  Many larger generators burn throughout more fuel than this in 24 hours running at the same amperage.

Legally in my county In Wyoming in town I can only store 25 gallons of gas at my city home. That’s just over a two day run time. You also want to keep a few extra spark plugs so you have replacements. Also a couple quarts of engine oil for the generator.

Stanley 17 oz thermos

 I gave my son my Stanley regular size thermos. Recently I picked up a smaller one on line as with all Stanley products it works great even if you do not pre heat it for 5-10 minutes with boiling water before you pour in the coffee.  I filled it yesterday day at 5am and opened it today 26 hours later it is still very warm of course I drank it🤠. Normally I drink it all unless then 12 hours and it stays piping hot for me the whole time.

On the road again

 

Last morning in Wyoming on my morning walk.

Getting ready to head south

 Packing up so we can start our travels south in a month or so.

All systems checked on the fifth wheel will check truck hookups this week.

Will put our generator on the back cargo carrier rack. I have 10 gallons of spare diesel in the bed and five gallons of premium gas for the generator.

Tested new sm. generator

 Since our primary generator is in the shop I bought a small backup.  All I want it to do is charge our batteries and run the heater blower, the propane refrigerator thermostat and some lights. Tested it today and it ran well.  I also ran 2 drop lights and tried the TV, the TV turned on the overload light but didn’t shutdown the generator so I know it’s limit.

Ran the heater blower with no problem, as well as lights and frig.

                                    Thermostat 

Ceiling lights and I also was running our 30 quart portable refrigerator/freezer.

Parked for the winter

 For medical reasons we will spend the winter and summer in NE Wyoming with family.

Winter battery test

 Winter battery test 16 Nov 23.  I cut shore power at 0700 MST.  My three LAS batteries read 13.4 before shore power was cut, after power was cut dropped to 12.3.  At 0800 read batteries they settled in at 12.4 so I turned on my solar at this time.  Note sun is about 30 degrees above horizon.   My 3 marine batteries are going on 5 years old each with 109 amps each.  Battery compartment is 52 degrees. I have 500 watts flexible solar panels glued to my roof.  Also the front AC will have shade over at least two panels throughout the day.  Since they are in parallel should only impact panels a bit.  Last summer my best drawl with clear skies in northern Texas produced just over 50 %.  This is not the best solar setup but is acceptable to me with fixed panels and a PWM solar controller.

Above is a screen shot of my phone just after system is turned on. At 0930 amps going in up to 4.7 amps below.

Above photo of rig at start and below is the sun at start.

Note today’s temperature range is 32 to 54 degrees.

Six hours in unplugged.  At 1 pm 4.7 amps coming in and batteries at 13.7.  Heater, ref still on plugged in portable freezer to Jackery.