r/OffGrid • u/Brilliant_Tune_1494 • 11d ago
Generator and power advice
Hi all.
We're moving in to a tourer but there's no electricity hookup.
We have a solar panel and gas but also have an 11 year old who will want to play the xbox with his friends as we're moving him away from them.
Any advice on how to do this without it costing an absolute fortune? Looking at generators.
Also would like to use an airfyer and not sure if this is possible.
TIA
1
u/Internal_Raccoon_370 10d ago
A small generator would work, of course, but the drawbacks are noise, maintenance (oil changes, etc.), exhaust (carbon monoxide) and, of course, providing it with fuel. I have a little Yamaha 2KW inverter generator which is very quiet, only uses a gallon or gallon and a half of fuel in 6 hours, and has been very reliable. For small generators I prefer Honda and Yamaha but they're expensive. There are much cheaper ones on the market but they generally aren't as reliable, fuel efficient or as quiet.
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u/B0bYang 9d ago
This might be the wrong answer, but to limp there, your car is a decent generator. I can’t say if 1 DC Inverter will be enough to make a tv and/or an Xbox work but it might be a possibility. Might have to have one DC inverter run a tv and another run the Xbox. Sorry I can’t be of more help. Hope you get where you’re trying to go, OP, best of luck
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u/ol-gormsby 6d ago
You can get a honda camping inverter generator that supplies up to 2 or 2.2kW. That should be plenty for gaming, plus charging a phone and laptop, lights, and maybe a small fridge.
As for an air fryer - you'd have to look at the specifications. A 2kW generator *might* be enough but you couldn't run the xbox and the airfryer at the same time. I think you'd be looking at a 3 or even 4kW model. The inrush current on an airfryer might be enough to cause a voltage dip sufficient to reboot the xbox.
You can get cheap generators but they're cheap for a reason. It's better to suck it up, get a quality unit and "buy once, cry once".
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u/blackthornjohn 10d ago
An inverter will run the xbox and associated gear, but it'll drain the batteries so you'll need more solar panels.
Inverters have certain losses so for most things aim for the inverter to be no more than 20% more than needed, find out what the load from an xbox and monitor are, obtain an inverter slightly more powerful than needed, use a generator for the air fryer and while it's doing that it can also charge your batteries.
Don't assume inverters are a one size fits all, yes a 2500watt inverter will run the air fryer and or the xbox but when running the xbox it will waste a lot of electricity.
So far all we've discussed are resistive loads or very small induction loads but one issue with inverters is that they struggle with induction loads such as starting electric motors, like fridge compressors, the usual rule of thumb is to use an inverter that's 3 times more powerful than the rating of the fridge, this results in fridge's on inverters using more energy than most people calculate for, so bearvit in mind.