Just to back up what other members have advised, don’t let house battery voltage to drop below 12.2 v, because at 12v they are more than half discharged, not a healthy circumstance. With careful use of lighting, electronics, and other house devices, we usually only need the genset to run an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. At an average of 0.5 gallon per hour, that’s only a gallon a day; but obviously run it for high demand stuff like air conditioning, microwave, or other AC devices. You should have some panel or Aladdin that shows you the house battery state of charge, even if you don’t have generator autostart. If needed, using a direct-read voltmeter can offer confidence, and you should carry one anyway for other situations, such as checking for faults at an older RV park power post.
One caveat I’ll reinforce also, don’t run your generator too early or late and disturb other campers; 10pm is a generally accepted quiet time start, but common courtesy to adjoining pads in evenings is representative of this club’s, or any thoughtful person’s, philosophy. A peaceful, enjoyable lounge on the patio doesn’t deserve noisy, smoky interruption from an adjacent exhaust. And be aware if wind direction may be blowing exhaust down range into others gathered ‘round an otherwise leisurely campfire… been there, done that, regretted my carelessness. So be extra discrete in Forest Service or Canadian campgrounds.
Joel
