New to retirement and 5th wheeling

[M&J 2012]

Just wanted to know about a few things.
Looking at the Alpine 3651 for FT living and traveling.

Does anyone have an onboard genny... I noticed the Alpine has the shore power cord at the rear of the 5ver. Was thinking about keeping a genny in the back of my long bed but think it may be hard to drag that thing in and out.

I have been researching for about 6 months or so and have lots of good info.

Planning on some heavy duty travel for a year or so , boon docking and NP / BLM and then maybe some campgrounds for a month or so at a time.

How is the Keystone warranty and service. Hopefully the quality of the Alpine will be up to snuff, but problems do occur. I am pretty handy at the honey-do's.

Mark and Julie 2019 Ford F350 Diesel LB 5ver TBD soon I hope

[roadglide]

Nice fiver . I dry camp when possible and invested in solar this year it was best money spent . I purchased a 2000 watt champion that keep my batters charged wile boondockin it wouldn't run the microwave. I have 5500 on board onan it's 4 years old 250 hours we don't use it much and no the road 7 months year.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by roadglide

Nice fiver . I dry camp when possible and invested in solar this year it was best money spent . I purchased a 2000 watt champion that keep my batters charged wile boondockin it wouldn't run the microwave. I have 5500 on board onan it's 4 years old 250 hours we don't use it much and no the road 7 months year.

Curious??? If you have the onboard 5500 why do you haul a smaller one around that won't run everything?

[roadglide]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Curious??? If you have the onboard 5500 why do you haul a smaller one around that won't run everything?

The champion is quit and runs 6 hours on a gallon of gas for tv and battery charging. I suspect my 5500 uses 1 gallon every hour to watch tv and keep the batteries charge .

[chuckster57]

Roadglide: your gen is most likely gas. An alpine would most likely use an LP fueled gen.

I have installed a few in Grand Designs Solitudes. Just finished one last week, they don’t seem to burn that much fuel.

[Tbos]

I have a 2019 3651RL and a 2016 version of the same truck. We lived in the Alpine for 4 months last year and go full time in 11 months. There have been minor quality issues but nothing major. My dealer has done a great job getting Keystone to honor warranty work. I bought a 15’ 50A extension cord so I can run a generator in the truck bed if desired. I have not boondocked yet. The addition of solar and a bigger inverter connected to more than just the fridge would be handy. Even the best solar systems usually won’t run an AC. I have a Westinghouse IGen 4500 I’ll use for that when needed.

[Roscommon48]

as for generator just go with a 2200watt honda. you can even run your front a/c






enjoy retirement.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Roscommon48

as for generator just go with a 2200watt honda. you can even run your front a/c






enjoy retirement.

2200 watts is NOT enough for AC startup without possibility of damage to the compressor.

[Blackrock]

As for quality I don't know anything about your specific model but I bought a new Keystone Laredo in May of 2016 and immediately headed out for a three month trip to Alaska. Other than needing to tighten a few loose screws all the appliances plus water and electric worked no problem the whole trip And I did drive some nasty roads on that journey.

[Dennydj2]

Tom, I also have an Alpine 3651RL (2017) and have been researching inverter generators. You say you have the Westinghouse iGen4500. Was wondering how well it works for you, should be plenty to run one air plus other things. I have seen some reviews where folks complained about starting issues, all with the automatic electric choke. Have you had any issues with yours, are you satisfied with the power for your Alpine ?

[Fishsizzle]

Originally Posted by M&J 2012

Just wanted to know about a few things.
Looking at the Alpine 3651 for FT living and traveling.

Does anyone have an onboard genny... I noticed the Alpine has the shore power cord at the rear of the 5ver. Was thinking about keeping a genny in the back of my long bed but think it may be hard to drag that thing in and out.

I have been researching for about 6 months or so and have lots of good info.

Planning on some heavy duty travel for a year or so , boon docking and NP / BLM and then maybe some campgrounds for a month or so at a time.

How is the Keystone warranty and service. Hopefully the quality of the Alpine will be up to snuff, but problems do occur. I am pretty handy at the honey-do's.

Mark and Julie 2019 Ford F350 Diesel LB 5ver TBD soon I hope

If you swap in a magnum hybrid inverter, it will draw on the batteries to get the AC fired up and once running, a 2000 gen will keep on going and run other stuff.

It’s in my list to do. Upgrading batteries soon, to have the reserve needed for an extended period of time.

[Tbos]

Originally Posted by Dennydj2

Tom, I also have an Alpine 3651RL (2017) and have been researching inverter generators. You say you have the Westinghouse iGen4500. Was wondering how well it works for you, should be plenty to run one air plus other things. I have seen some reviews where folks complained about starting issues, all with the automatic electric choke. Have you had any issues with yours, are you satisfied with the power for your Alpine ?

I haven’t used the IGen4500 generator while camping. I performed a test running the main AC/HP, converter , Microwave, etc... it never even hiccuped. Before I bought it I corresponded with the guy that’s tested and run it on generatorpowersource.com and he has no issues. When he finally did an oil change at 20+ hours it had little to no filings in it. Other brands have had quite a bit. I believe the issue with the choke has been resolved. The fix is online if it does become an issue. It’s a bad connection. I started the generator yesterday after several weeks and it started off the battery and the remote right away. I am very happy with the generator and the Alpine. My plan is to haul the generator in my truck and possibly run it from there too if possible. I just need to find a good cover for it.

[Tbos]

Originally Posted by Fishsizzle

If you swap in a magnum hybrid inverter, it will draw on the batteries to get the AC fired up and once running, a 2000 gen will keep on going and run other stuff.



It’s in my list to do. Upgrading batteries soon, to have the reserve needed for an extended period of time.

If you upgrade the inverter to let the ACs start off the batteries you will also have to have it wired into the fuse panel differently. Currently the inverter only runs the residential fridge.