Wandering Free.com

Rv – Motorhome Essentials: Generators

No matter what type or style of motorhome or RV that you decide on there are a couple of things that you will need to think about taking with you on your wanderings. Weather you have the best solar panels that money can buy and a battery system to backup all the appliances that you are running, the best thing to take with you is a good quality generator.

Now there are a lot of generators on the market and many types of them as well. The most common types in rv`s and motorhomes are run on Petrol or Diesel.

Finding the right Generator for your needs:

Make sure that you consult a dealer for the best generator to choose for your needs.  One of the main things to consider is type and watt size of your generator. All you need to do, to get this right, is make a list of your equipment you are running in you motorhome and show this to youre local generator dealer and they will find the best unit to suit your needs.

But here is a rough guide to help you in the right direction. Please check the lists below for types and general uses of each of the types listed:

I have the Scorpion 2300watt pure magnet generator in my bus, it is not the quietest generator on the market but compared to the GMC there is a major difference. The 2300 watt that I have will power all LCD tvs and powertools alike. It has a 10 litre petrol tank and will give you 10 hours of running on a tank of fuel.

The motor in my scorpion in the 6.5 HP mitsubishi and this is very easy to start compared to the GMC version of the same type. I purschased mine from Repco, but there are other dealers if you dont wish to purchase from them.

Make and Types of Generators:

Some of the more well known house hold brands of generators are Honda, Dunlite, Yamaha, Scorpion and GMC.

Most of these produce the pure sine/pure magnet types.

Pure/sine wave – pure magnet Generators:

If you are going to run equipment like laptop and desktop computers, set top boxes, LED/LCD TVs, Vcr`s and DVD recorders  it is best to have what is called a pure magnet/Pure sine wave generator, without getting to technical this just means that it will give your equipment a constant power supply at 240volt.

Modified sine wave generators:

These types of generators are used primarly for fridges, rear projection tvs, power tools that are not so sensitive to a rise or fall in the voltage. Some of these types of generators have AVR (auto voltage recovery) this system will try and keep the voltage as close to 240 volts as posible, but it still not as good or as reliable as Pure sine wave.

The other thing to have with these types of generators is what’s called a uninterrupted power supply (UPS for short) this will maintain the power supply and stop any other damage being caused by the generator running out of fuel.

Using and storing the right fuel for you generator:

And that brings me to the next important thing on the list FUEL weather that be diesel or petrol, you will always want to carry at least 20 litres of either fuel handy just incase you find yourself in the middle of no where (which happens quite a lot in Australia). The containers are well marked now a days with yellow and or red.

The Red containers are for Petrol and the Yellow are for diesel.

This makes the likely hood of putting the wrong fuel in your generator or heaven forbid your RV,  much less likely.

Hope this helps you chose the right generator for youre rv-motorhome.

Simple steps to cure or season your cast iron camping oven before use

In order to cure or season your camping oven all you will need to do is follow the 3 simple steps below.  The oven will need to be cured prior to use, as this stops any of the internal surfaces from rusting and contaminating the food within.

Why do we need to season or cure our camp ovens from new?. Good question, the answer is curing  the surface of the camp oven is very important in order to stop any rusting of the cooking surfaces. This will ensure that youre oven lasts for many happy cooking years.

Step 1) Seasoning or curing youre Camp oven:

Wash the camp oven with hot soapy water in order to remove the any packaging firm, this will prepair the camp oven for the heating stage.

Step 2) How do we season or cure our camp oven for use:

This is a very simple step indeed, all we need to do is remove the camping ovens protective coating, to do this we place it in the oven at 250 degress celcius (remove after 10 minutes with oven gloves) then  cover with solidified oil both inside and outside of the oven, put it back in the oven at 250 celcius until it starts to smoke and changes colour the colour you are after here is a nice burnt black.

Note: If you don`t have an oven or you are  in the great out doors just place it in the fire to complete steps 1 and 2.

Step 3)   

Make sure that you cover the entire camp oven with the grease supplied by the camping store after you have compled the above steps. This will lubricate the surfaces and stop any degrading both internal and external.

Once you have done this step you are ready to cook. 

My review of this product

Which brings me to another must have when you’re out there enjoying your camping experience and dinner time rolls around. I like to break out the 4.5 quart camping oven. In my opinion it has to be one of the best things for cooking a full roast meal in just hours, while still enjoying the wilderness, wandering and exploring.

One of the things I have found with my oven was that you can put them on the fire and walk away, see the sights and when you get back you have a full roast meal there waiting for you, truly awesome. The only down side that I have found is that they are a pain if you don’t clean them straight away or just plan don’t want to.  But the food that they produce and the taste are out of this world.

For prices and availability please check out the site below:

Click Here To Enter Camping R Us And View Products.

When Nature Calls use a Thetford Porta Potti 365:

Why do I use the thetford porta potti 365?  Well no one likes to be caught short and no where to go,  and when you really need to go, there is only one thing you should be thinking about, the Thetford porta potti 365 is a must for your camping kit. 

 The Thetford is compact enough to sit in any postion and is very descrete, although it havs a compact design the creature comforts of a full size (home) tolilet are still there to be had, I have this Porta Potti in my motorhome and have found it to be very robust and easy to use and clean.

When it comes to breaking down the waste, Biomagic seems to be the best product that I have used to break it down, it has a lovely smell that does kill those odours and it is safe for the environment and septic tanks. It seems to have this uncanny ability to lubricate rubber seals of the system too.

How to use your thetford Porta Potti 365:

After you have removed your Porta Potti from the box locate the release tab and separate the two tanks and lid assembly, Remove the thetford sample bottle and put aside if you are using Biomagic. One you have separted these two tanks follow the steps below:

1: With your finger place a small amout of biomagic around the seal on the top of the waste tank. (to do this pull the handle at the front of the unit) once you have lubricated the seal make sure to close the handle again. 

2:  Then simply grab the lower tank and remove the screw lid from the waste exit pipe (should be located on top of the waste tank) then twist the pipe towards the outside of the tank. Place the tank on its end with the waste pipe facing upwards. Pour 2 litres of water in to the waste tank exit pipe and then add up to 100mils of biomagic.

3: Screw on the waste pipe lid, twist pipe back into the centre of the waste tank and lock together the waste and rinse water tank.

4: Remove the plastic from the seat. Remove the rinse water tank screw and fill with 15 lirtes of water and up to 50 mils of biomagic. Note: the more you use here the less smell you will have, and it will help keep the seal lubricated as we did in step 1.

5: Replace the rinse lid, test the flushing plunger and wawy you go.

Thetford Porta Potti 365 Features:

- 15 litre rinse tank capacity

- 20 litre Waste tank capacity

- robust plunger flusing system

- split body and Rotating empting spout

- ergonomic carry handle for that trip to the dump site

 (all parts are available from your local Thetford dealer camping stores)