Running genset while driving

[Knucklehead]

Have a raptor and was wanting to know if the last hour of the trip stopping and turning the gen on to cool the trailer down before arrival at cg would hurt it or the ac Tried to use search and either dont understand how to use it or there were no answers Thanks for all replies to this(tx)

[Festus2]

Have a raptor and was wanting to know if the last hour of the trip stopping and turning the gen on to cool the trailer down before arrival at cg would hurt it or the ac Tried to use search and either dont understand how to use it or there were no answers Thanks for all replies to this(tx)

I did a search (typed in "genset") and found that 3 members have done this and have reported no issues doing that. Jim & Kay, jje1960 and geo indicated that they run their Onan or other generator mainly to keep the unit cool for their pets.
Note- there were about 5 pages of posts that you have to look through - not all of them deal with running the genset while towing. Browsing through these to find the few that do talk about it will give you something to do and out of mischief. ;)

[Ken / Claudia]

I have done it while driving a motorhome when the engine a/c was not cooling the rest of vehicle. I ran both rv a/cs, do not think there would be any problem in a trailer.

[SAD]

Have done it. Was nice to arrive at camping spot and have the RV cool inside. When it was 104 degrees outside.

[Knucklehead]

Thank you for the info i guess i typed in too much stuff when searching any way thanks for the replies(tx)

[jje1960]

Yup, have done this many times. Have the inverter generator running in the truck bed and a cord run to the unit. We actually figured out that ol' Lenard didn't give a hoot if it was about 95 deg in the unit, have opened windows and vents and it stays cool enough. BTW, Ol' Lenard is our cat.... Not an Uncle or something we throw in the 5Ver while driving...:)

[Essness]

Just did it this week. Trip from Hilton Head to Asheville, NC temps were in the 90's. Stopped for gas, fired up the Onan, turned on the air.
worked great and also chilled the beer in the garage fridge real good:)

[justlkn]

I have been wondering the same thing but I have a silly question. Running the generator while towing should cause the inverter to charge the battery as if it's running off shore power. Doesn't my TV provide charging power to the house battery as well? Wouldn't this cause an issue to have two power sources trying to charge the same battery? I am not familiar enough with the electrical system to know.

[jje1960]

Never really thought about it, both have overcharge protection, not sure if it even matters. At any-rate, didn't notice any problems when we did it.

[JRTJH]

The tow vehicle will charge your RV battery. It provides about 13.6VDC. When you apply "shore power" or "generator power", the converter will monitor the battery voltage and charge it if necessary (at a high rate) or go into "trickle charge" mode if the battery is charged already. With the tow vehicle providing 13.6 VDC, the converter will "sense that the battery is charged" and will go into trickle charge. As long as the tow vehicle doesn't "overcharge the battery" the converter "trickle charger" won't either.

We're not talking "days of charging" here, we're talking an hour, or maybe two, so it's not likely that any battery damage could occur if both the TV and the RV converter are operating properly. Now if one or the other is damaged or malfunctioning, that's a different situation. However, that "battery damage" would occur if it were the converter as soon as you plug into shorepower overnight or if it were the TV alternator/charging circuit, the damage would occur even if the genset were never used. Of course, you'd likely be damaging your TV battery as well.

So, I'd suggest that if things are working "normally", no you won't damage or overcharge your battery while towing with the genset on for an hour or so.

[justlkn]

Ahhh... Now I understand. Thanks for the explanation. I tried to search that topic but could not find the "right" search words to produce the results I was looking for.