With the greatest of respect for my learned colleague I don't like generators much either alas I don't like the ATO, the Prime Miniture, the ACT Winters ad nauseum but the other alternatives to power supply are still extortionatley priced,  A typical solar Electric system today costs a little less than $10 per Watt Peak. Prices have been historically been declining at around 4% per annum and this decline is expected to continue over the medium term. Therfore to get say 300 watts via solar will cost you roughly $3000 all set up and ready to go, simply add sun.....I need power to run a CPAP machine and I use a 150 watt inverter from ALDI works a treat untill I have to charge the battery so I either have to drive for 6 hours or plug it into the mains or top it up via my elcheapo ALDI generator which is 1200 wats 4 stroke $149....Yes in the still of the night (Cole Porter) it makes a din but I only run it through the day. From past experience I do think the second battery charged by either the tow vehicle, the mains or a part time generator is the way to go. I find the 1200 watter handles all my real needs the fridge and cooking is gas the lights now can be led which draw sod all current and your' away.... Just stay clear of Dave.... Perhaps find out where he will be and don't go there....

I free camp all the time, for many years, doing it right now and have yet to find a need for a generator even though I have a honda 1000 sitting in my shed, I run an engel 45ltr fridge, an lcd tv, a satellite dish, internet system and laptop plus a couple of lights all off my dual batteries, the only recharge they get is through my vehicle alternator via a solenoid dual control and my trusty 80 watt foldup briefcase solar panel, (cost me $940.00 through a caravan shop) I keep an eye on power usage through a voltage meter,($6.00 through ebay) simplistic and wrought with danger I hear the "experts" say but it has worked for a number of years now, dont ask me cost per watt hour or average daily power use, dont know dont bloody care, it works and if it didnt then I would get a bigger solar panel, these things get over exagerated and over complicated but my motto is "keep it simple" there is a number of things that I hate and most I escape from, thats why I go out,  but there are things that can be controlled and should be controlled and they are the things that are not necesary in the first place including generators, dont want em dont need em, spend a grand and listen to the birds and smell the flowers, not someone elses fumes. you can calculate your energy use and therefore approx. solar panel size by going to this website http://www.windturbine.ca/calculate1.html I calculated my use by the form shown here and the consumption badge on the rear panel of the appliances that I wish to run and found my energy needs were easily covered by an 80 watt projecta solar panel. my maths may be and probably are flawed and I hear the "experts" out there pooh poohing me, but I dont wish to waste money. I have seen some really elaborate systems and their camps look like a carnival at night but that is not for me, what I have is easily transported,  easily setup and best of all it works for me    oh and I am not the one to steer clear of with generators, i just pack up and go to another camp, I have seen a lot of arguments and a couple of blows exchanged over just this thing, once seen a man throw another persons genny in the river, so dont think that it is a frivolous subject, a lot of people get extremely annoyed with any noise, when I sell up and buy a motorhome I will have, apart from my solar system, an onboard generator for emergency use and only use it when there is nobody around or extreme emergency and with the close by neighbors permission, I tread very lightly around other people and I expect the same, good manners should not be dead just yet

-- Edited by dave06 at 16:11, 2008-07-20

-- Edited by dave06 at 17:07, 2008-07-20

I stand corrected, last night around the campfire with a couple of, now, close friends, and the occasional whiskey, the topic of generators came up, I of course in my lambastic manner berated all and sundry for ever creating such a horrid noisy fume belching device and damned eternal those that use them, my rather large friend sitting next to me, we shall call him bob, (is that all right if I call you BOb, Jimmy), then spoke very quietly and said "can you hear mine" which I answered "of course not you havent got one have you"? he then took me to his camp where he had the cutest of little toys that I had ever seen and the thing was actually purring, it had honda EU1000 emblazoned on the side with inverter technology printed next to it, I would never have believed these things existed, apparently (I am no expert on these matters believe me) the people that make these things do not use a generator anymore (too heavy) they instead use an alternator that produces 12 volts it is then fed through an inverter that gives one 240 volt, now because the alternater takes less power to drive they can downsize the motor and with a corker of an exhaust system one cannot hear this little feller at ten feet, fumes are non existant, this is what I would call "camper friendly", almost encourages one to purchase and give the cute little thing a home. the monsters of my memory are doomed to become a relic in a museum, and rightfully so, as these little toys errr umm generators find their way out in to the wild and start breeding and slowly make the dinosaurs extinct, one thing he said worth mentioning was "chain em up to the bullbar, people flog em" my large friend would be quite correct in this and a great deal of other matters. so I must apoligise to all those that have these little fellas, and a pestilance to those that do not

no Bas, not quite papal, I still wouldnt have one out with me, but if they must have one I would prefer it to be one of these new breeds, yamaha or honda whatever spins your wheels, keep them small and quiet and away from me, oh and I'll have two of what you are having, homefires burning indeed, not there long enough for that, camp fires and lots of friends for me thank you, next trip on the drawing board already, think I might head up to the gammon ranges for a week or two, wildflowers should be out, but I got to get home first, tommorow maybe, only 6 hours away now not far, gotta give little blue a service, rotate the windscreen wipers and brush up the double overhead foxtails, polish up the grease nipples, take the bugs off my long range aerial, check the mail, register the trailer, pack the trailer (fill er up with firewood and tucker) give my grand child a hug, (another one coming shortly), and off we go, tis a woefull life but one must endure must'nt one, it will be good to catch up with the northern clan of friends again, cant wait to do it full time, (2.11 months and counting) solar system went well all this trip so experiments over, all works as it should so no adjustments needed fingers crossed

dave06 wrote:

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the people that make these things do not use a generator anymore (too heavy) they instead use an alternator that produces 12 volts it is then fed through an inverter that gives one 240 volt, now because the alternater takes less power to drive they can downsize the motor

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Both the Honda and Yamaha produce 120v at around 300Hz depending on engine speed, and then use an inverter to 240v at 50Hz. Makes it a simple job to make for the world market.
The Yamaha EF1000is is slightly quieter than the Honda EU1000i/EU10i. While both the Yamaha and Honda are great units, the Yamaha is known for better longevity and importantly better motor starting characterisics.  Here is a comparison between the Yamaha and Honda 1.0kva units.  Owning both units, carry the Yamaha EF1000is purely for powering the air-conditioning in summer when extreme.