Installing a generator in 1999 Roadtrek 190 Pop

[Tim C]

Hi,
I'm new to this and I found a Roadtrek 1999 Popular 190 im interested in buying.
It has no generator and I will be in Florida often so I need AC at night .

Any suggestions ?

How difficult / expensive is it to :
have someone install an Oman generator ?
Or Solar / Lithium ?

Thanks in advance ! Tim

[sparkyfourhire]

While I can't answer your questions directly, I will ask if you have been in a Class B (van) with a generator so you have a sense of how loud they can be? While it may not be particularly louder than the AC itself, having noise coming from above (A/C) and below (gen) might be challenging for sleeping. Also, pay attention to where you will be staying since a lot of places do not allow generators to run during quiet hours (typically 10pm-8am or something like that). Also, keep in mind that generators need to be serviced like any other engine (oil and filter changes, etc), which can be challenging while mounted underneath the vehicle.

If you can't tell, I am not a fan of generators. I understand that they can offer a much longer power-supply time than batteries, and might even cost less to install than an appropriate-sized battery system, but I still don't like them for the noise (primarily) and maintenance (secondarily). If you haven't experienced one in person, I highly recommend looking into it before paying to have one installed.

[Donbosch@sbcglobal.net]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Hi,
I'm new to this and I found a Roadtrek 1999 Popular 190 im interested in buying.
It has no generator and I will be in Florida often so I need AC at night .

Any suggestions ?

How difficult / expensive is it to :
have someone install an Oman generator ?
Or Solar / Lithium ?

Thanks in advance ! Tim

Hi - I have a 2000 Roadtrek 190 Popular. It doesn’t have the Onan but I have added a solar generator. I use a Bluetti 200MAX. It has enough surge power to operate the A/C and microwave. It fits in the clothes cabinet. I have a portable solar panel rated at 200amps. I also can charge it from the 20amp outlet while driving. For boondocking you would need to be careful and use the propane when you can and hopefully have good sun/or add another portable pane. We love our RT. It only has 32K on it now and we already have done a cross country trip, LA to Vermont and back.

[honeyboy]

Originally Posted by Tim C

Hi,
I'm new to this and I found a Roadtrek 1999 Popular 190 im interested in buying.
It has no generator and I will be in Florida often so I need AC at night .

Any suggestions ?

How difficult / expensive is it to :
have someone install an Oman generator ?
Or Solar / Lithium ?

Thanks in advance ! Tim

Hi,
I installed a new Onan 2800 generator in my 2001 last year. Not very hard if you have the parts. You will need an adapter bracket and maybe the remote start harness and the hour counter. Plan on around $4k.

[honeyboy]

PS, the new Onan generators are whisper quiet. People who say they are loud don’t have one. Original generators were horrid. New ones are fuel Injected and don’t have the problems of the old ones.

[GallenH]

I don't know the situation in Florida. But we did a trip in the late spring which took us through Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. We had a few days where we needed AC in late afternoon until cooler evening temps hit. We don't like commercial campgrounds like koa and stayed in state parks and local parks. Every one of those had electrical hookup and we didn't need a generator to run AC. What's it like camping in Florida?

[RT-NY]

Originally Posted by Donbosch@sbcglobal.net

Hi - I have a 2000 Roadtrek 190 Popular. It doesn’t have the Onan but I have added a solar generator. I use a Bluetti 200MAX. It has enough surge power to operate the A/C and microwave. It fits in the clothes cabinet. I have a portable solar panel rated at 200amps. I also can charge it from the 20amp outlet while driving. For boondocking you would need to be careful and use the propane when you can and hopefully have good sun/or add another portable pane. We love our RT. It only has 32K on it now and we already have done a cross country trip, LA to Vermont and back.

From what I see online the Bluetti 200MAX has a battery capacity of 2000Wh -- I would think that even with a solar panel even on a sunny day it would not be able to run the A/C or microwave for very long.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Donbosch@sbcglobal.net

Hi - I have a 2000 Roadtrek 190 Popular. It doesn’t have the Onan but I have added a solar generator. I use a Bluetti 200MAX. It has enough surge power to operate the A/C and microwave. It fits in the clothes cabinet. I have a portable solar panel rated at 200amps. I also can charge it from the 20amp outlet while driving. For boondocking you would need to be careful and use the propane when you can and hopefully have good sun/or add another portable pane. We love our RT. It only has 32K on it now and we already have done a cross country trip, LA to Vermont and back.

That solar generator is a 2048 watt hours so about 170ah and that won't run and air conditioner very long, maybe a bit over an hour as long as it doesn't cycle and trip out from low voltage after the battery gets low.


I seriously doubt you have a portable solar panel that gives 200 amps as that would something like 2400 watts.
It is probably 200 watts that with good sun and efficiency will give 10-12 amps in most cases on average and 60ah or maybe a bit more ah per day on average.


Probably OK for an occasional microwave run and other loads in the van. Vans with propane frigs usually seem to use 15-40ah per day depending on how you live and use power, so frequent charging from shore power or driving is probably need as the solar probably won't keep up if an AC or more than a few short microwave runs. The solar will likely keep up with your use without the high drain AC and microwave uses, though, unless you get a few days in a row of bad sun and no driving.

[otr]

We have a 2000 RT 190 V, the generator is horrible, and also is located where the spare tire belongs, so the spare is mounted elsewhere. Our spare is now mounted on the rear bumper, the original rear door/hinge mounted spare rack caused the door to sag over time, the door was simply not engineered for an 80 pound wheel.

This said, we have never used the generator, bought the van in 2018, have upgraded to 2-6 volt AGM house batteries and 2-100 watt solar panels, only use the AC on shore power. If we needed a functional generator I would buy a Honda 2200 and connect it to the shore power cord from 50 feet from the van. I have seen similar generators in a hitch mounted box. The generators can be had for around $750 used, whisper quiet, easy access, no installation cost!
Solar generators are really a misnomer, a battery bank, and as others have said not really a way to run an AC functionally.