Generator Ettiquette

[MidwestCamper]

Was dry camping at a really nice primitive camp in Michigan this past weekend. I would run my Champion 3500 watt generator (Its quiet but can be heard) a few times during each day to keep my battery charged so we would not lose heat during the night. I know its my right to do so but I really feel sort of guilty. Especially since I was the only one with the generator. How do others feel about firing up the Generator?

[Always-Ready]

I've only run mine when necessary. But It's never bothered me to hear a inverter gen run.

[TucsonJim]

Many of us run generators. Here are some rules I try to follow:

- Don't start the generator too early and wake up your neighbors. 8am at the earliest, and only if you've seen people up and about in nearby campsites.
- If you need to start it to operate a device like a microwave, make it quick and shut it back off.
- If you need to run it to charge your batteries, it will take 3-4 hours. So time it to finish up no later than 5pm. No one wants to be outside grilling or eating their dinner with a generator running nearby.
- Never run the generator after dark unless it's absolutely necessary. Sound travels long distances at night. And many people like to sit outside around a campfire. It's a real pain when another camper fires up their generator and goes inside to watch TV. If you need to run a TV at night, invest in a moderate battery bank and inverter.

These are my thoughts. Others may have differing opinions.

Jim

[DaveMatthewsBand]

We seem to attract people with the junky construction generators that run them all day long, even when they’re not home.

It would be nice if they had boondock areas where generators weren’t allowed at all.



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[MidwestCamper]

Jim, I too work off the same set of rules. I wait til 9 - 9:30am to fire it up to run the coffee maker. I will run it two hours at a time for three runs and try to work it into active times. I would really like to invest in Lithium but I'm not ready to do that. Next time I hit this place I will bring my solar panels to lessen the run time on the Inverter Generator.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Since we’re not talking about boondocking with the roof air running...
For the price of a generator and a year supply of gasoline, a person could easily setup a few solar panels, a solar charge controller, inverter and a couple AGMs that would be plenty sufficient for the typical weekender.



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[gordofuchs]

I want to throw out an idea that I saw a person utilizing on his generator at a craft show several years back. He adapted some type of flex tubing to his exhaust of the generator and ran it behind his assigned space where it was hooked to a small car muffler. I was amazed at how quiet it was. Someday, when I run out of projects, I am going to try it out.

[traveldawg]

I think all the suggestions about times are right on. Those are the rules I always followed.

My etiquette suggestion would be - NO LOUD GENERATORS (you know - they cheap ones sold at most places that probably weren't meant for camping) :roll eyes:

Once, while at a NASCAR race, I borrowed a generator. It was one of those cheap home improvement store things. It was not only LOUD but it ran awful, backfiring, reving and just plain bad. I ran it longer than I should have trying to figure out why it didn't run right. When I shut it off another 'camper' clapped. I didn't blame him. I was glad I shut it off. The next day I replace the fuel with fresh fuel and it ran fine, but it was still loud. Even though a lot of folks had those noisy generators I still felt bad running it. I bought 2 Honda 2000's when I got home - whew! - what a difference! I never feel bad running them.

[CWSWine]

Just from my experience, I have found when you pull into a boondocking site and there is an RV or group of RVs that have invested thousands of dollars into solar it's probably not a good idea to park to close to them or just find another spot to camp. They invest in solar so they don't have to listen to their generators and I'm sure they don't want to listen to yours either. Just trying to be polite and respectful of others.

Outside lights at night can also be an issue with some and the under/front led lights are not welcome in a lot of boondocking sites.

[Bamaman]

I took my old travel trailer to the Talladega 500 once. There were maybe thousands of RV's there. Nothing but cheap Briggs and Stratton powered generators going from 7:00 a.m. to midnight. Never seen so many ugly, drunk women in one place.

Last NASCAR race we ever went to.