120 volt van engine generator

[booster]

All the talk about the e-trek got me thinking, which is a bad thing according to my wife. In particular it relates to the van engine driven generator they are using. We have seen here that the generators are pretty well available, but it also seems like you could do your own pretty easily, if you could find the room. A Honda 2kw inverter generator is pretty small, and if you could adapt it to mount to the engine, and drive it with an air conditioner clutch setup so you could turn it off and on, it might be a nice setup. Most folks say the 2000 Honda will drive a class b AC, and when they do have trouble it is killing the motor, when the compressor starts, which sure wouldn't be an issue with the van engine.

Feasible?

[gerrym51]

Originally Posted by booster

All the talk about the e-trek got me thinking, which is a bad thing according to my wife. In particular it relates to the van engine driven generator they are using. We have seen here that the generators are pretty well available, but it also seems like you could do your own pretty easily, if you could find the room. A Honda 2kw inverter generator is pretty small, and if you could adapt it to mount to the engine, and drive it with an air conditioner clutch setup so you could turn it off and on, it might be a nice setup. Most folks say the 2000 Honda will drive a class b AC, and when they do have trouble it is killing the motor, when the compressor starts, which sure wouldn't be an issue with the van engine.

Feasible?

UH NO! we are getting whackier

[markopolo]

That is beyond my skills............

I wonder if the under the hood generators use your clutch idea to engage / disengage?

For me, it is the van idling that is still the problem. A stand alone generator can run for as many hours as you want or have fuel for.
I've set up the fast idle in my van to power my inverter from the alternator and can see it being useful on rare occasions maybe up to 2 hours but I just can't see running the engine for longer.

My older diesel doesn't have the emission controls that can foul up new diesels but I just don't know how comfortable I'd be idling it for a long time.

I'd probably stick to the alternator + inverter way of doing it though as it is easy.