What size generator for air con. in caravan.

the Heron 3.0 has a rating of 6.5 amp max for cooling and heating
which means it requires 1 560W max for input. The output rating is theoretical so it does not mean anything for the input with those aircons. They are quite lound and inefficient but the 2kva should run it fine though. I looked at it when I researched aircons for my slide-on but decided against a Heron at that stage because of inconvenient mouting points and noise. Nevertheless you should be fine..

good luck
gmd

Thanks gmd.So the 2 kva should be OK.The previous van had the smaller unit(Heron)cooled the 17 1/2 foor van in Darwin quite well.I will sell my EX 1000 gen. & buy a 2 kva.I must add never tried the Heron 2 with the generator as I thought it would be too small. Cheers Mate.

throw the generator away and open a window or better yet sit outside and get to know the other people around you,there is nothing more annoying than being in the wilderness listening to someone's generator

Rifleman,I guess it depends on the size of, the van,we:ve got a 4.2m millard poptop with a heron 2.2 mounted on top of the frig with the compressor on the other side of the van under the dinette seat,fits in perfectly and works a treat.When we;re free camped in summer I run it off our honda 20i and never have any problems,the honda will run the whole van including the air.It wont run the air and the microwave ,but we dont use the micro at all. the people at air-command will tell you what you need but I dont think the 20i will run the 3.0 heron Hope this helps. regards
K.C.

To macsurfer-To each his own,I am VERY considerate of those around me & I do make an effort to get to know those around me as I travel on my own since the passing of my Wife.
If I am that close to some one that a generator will annoy them it is hardly wilderness.
Some months ago I parked within 25 ft. of a bloke using a generator to run his TV,satellite dish & he was watching car racing or some such,This was in an area that most people would call "wilderness" I was not troubled by his genny.,he placed it a few mtrs. away in the scrub. Cheers

Try before you buy...

Some Herons will run ok with a 2kva generator but be aware that some will not even if anothe "identical" model will. Try your air con with your generator.

And don't be fooled into thinking that a Honda/Whatever model with 20 or 2000 in the name is a 2kva generator. They are more like 1.6kva. Some of them will deliver 2kva on a surge load, but may not be able to hold it long enough to start an air con especially in very hot conditions.


So, don't just go on the figures, try it out first.

All the best.
btw, My Honda EU20i does run my Ibis air con. even though a number of people report the combination as not satisfactory.

Ken

To Gottabjoaken,thanks for your reply.My brother has a 2 kva genny-I,ll borrow it & give my unit try. Appreciated-Mick.

Honda EU20 wont run my brothers Heron 3. Uses the Yamaha EF2400 which users said on the caravan forum was better unit. Ask there as heaps there have both. Yamaha is same price as Honda and Yamaha uses less fuel

i have a mate with a jayco caravan and we were just talking about this on the weekend. don't know what aircon unit he has but it's in a 16ft expander offroad model jayco van about 1 year old if that helps any. my mate said in order to use his honda 2kva genny to run the aircon. unit in his caravan he needs to turn off the eco switch on the genny or it won't work properly, think it dosen't deliver enough power to the aircon. unit quick enough when the aircon. starts up, from memory of our conversation. he said that whilst it would run the aircon. unit, it isn't something he would be keen to do, due to how hard the genny would be working and the amount of fuel it would use. i gathered from our conversation that he has tried running the aircon. unit off of the genny whilst at home just to see what happened.
hope that makes sense as i don't own one of those gennies and aren't familiar with all of it's features.

We have a Ibis A/C in our van, which is made by Air Command, the same as the Heron and there is NO way the 2kva Honda can run this unit. It requires over 30 amps to start the unit, and by that stage the Honda had died. Red overload light lit up like a Christmas tree.
Rod

Have a Carrier unit in my van and as long as I start the Aircon on low and then switch it up the Honda EU20i will run it Just dont try to start it on high