Temporary Generator for Skinny Conversion

[windtrader]

Here's some options. This is some from just the last week. You'll find one that suits you.
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/for/d/onan-emerald-3-genset-rv/6250941615.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/for/d/onan-generator-40-genset/6234492138.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/tls/d/generec-propane-generator/6245904801.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/hvo/d/kohler-10cce-stand-by/6252811433.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/hvo/d/30kw-kohler-generator/6239004941.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/tls/d/10000-watt-generator/6250505385.html
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/for/d/marquiss-gold-5500-generator/6245025074.html

[TomC]

Forget the idea of a "temporary" quickie setup for a Diesel generator. Spend the money now to get the correct (10-13kw) genset, set it up the way you want and then forget about having to deal with it in the future (my 10kw Powertech Diesel genset easily runs my 3-13,500 roof tops with power left over). The Diesel generator is the number one appliance that should not be cheapened on-since you will be using it any time you're not attached to a power pole.
Just to show how reliable Diesel generators is, I had a truck driver friend that put on over 23,000 hours on his Diesel generator before selling the truck with only one alternator head replacement (Powertech 8,000CD). Good Luck, TomC

[chessie4905]

Ok, you've found a great deal on a used high hour diesel generator. Works great for 5 weeks....then failure, no parts available or costs more than you paid for it to fix and two weeks till repaired, and bus full of hot barking dogs...... Now maybe you'll think you should've gone with new or low hour takeout. For something you are planning to live in regularily, I'd bite the bullet now.

[Oonrahnjay]

...  As far as running AC is concerned, people do manage it off solar. There are plenty people with websites about it.

     I disagree with that.  There are lots of websites where people put a 300-watt set of solar panels on a battery bank, flip the switch and run 1500 watts of AC for 15 minutes, and say "See!!  We CAN run our AC off solar!!!"  It's NOT running AC off solar unless your battery bank has the same or a higher level of charge once you've finished your AC run.
     I see videos where people have run their solar chargers all day, then run AC for 15 minutes and then their batteries sit uncharged all night -- and then they crow about how they've "run their AC off solar". 
     Solar has it's uses (if you're prepared for the expense) but running AC is NOT one of them.

Harbor Freight generators offer the best bang for the buck. ... 

       Harbor Freight generators have the lowest initial cost (and sometimes, not by much).  They have the worst specs for "quality" of power (regulation of voltage and Hertz, "cleanliness" of wave form, etc.), poor fuel economy, highest noise levels, and highest rates of breakdown and failures.  I'm going to guess that they're about the worst bang for the buck in the middle and longer term.
       Sorry but that's the way it is.  You don't always get what you pay for but you always pay for what you get.

[Oonrahnjay]

I think I am being reasonable, which is why I'm looking for a 5-10Kw diesel genset on the cheap. I want a 10-15Kw rig, maybe even 20Kw -- we do shows and stuff a bit too -- but I'd like to spend my money on something a bit more permanent once we get our $#!% together and I get my feet under me.

I've talked to Wrico and eventually, 2018ish, I'd like to go that route. But until then, I need 5-10Kw of power, minimum without shlepping gasoline or putting LP in the bus. Not AT ALL a fan of pressurized gasses.

Again, this will be our home in just a couple months. Of course, we'll be wintering in FL in a sweet mother in law suite, but we've got not much time to get ready to live in this thing.   

     I have had about 8 years of experience with this, I have nobody to please or take care of but me ("The Management" says that I'm on my own with this), and I came to this with 40 years of experience in the light-vehicle design and manufacture (and was woefully unprepared for "heavy vehicle" life").  I think that you're not being reasonable.  A bus/coach is a HIGH cost investment, with HIGH cost maintenance, HIGH cost installation of useful interior appointments, and HIGH cost of running, and requires HIGH input of time to prepare and keep running.
     After about five years, I said "Everything costs 10 times as much as I thought and every job takes 20 times as long as I'd planned".  And I've found that the best way to spend a lot of extra money is to try to go a cheap route when you're starting out.
     I hate to say it, and I apologize in advance for seeming critical, but I think your only "reasonable" way out is to sell this bus -- hopefully at a bit of a profit -- and start again with something that more "industrial" and ready for you to use as you need in your life.  I don't think that you have enough investment capital and time for this to turn out to be anything but tragic money pit that will leave you broke, frustrated, and discouraged.

      Just my viewpoint; it's your life to make your decisions, plan what you want, and do it your way.  But I think you need plain spoken advice and that's what you get from me.

[k9disc]

     I have had about 8 years of experience with this, I have nobody to please or take care of but me ("The Management" says that I'm on my own with this), and I came to this with 40 years of experience in the light-vehicle design and manufacture (and was woefully unprepared for "heavy vehicle" life").  I think that you're not being reasonable.  A bus/coach is a HIGH cost investment, with HIGH cost maintenance, HIGH cost installation of useful interior appointments, and HIGH cost of running, and requires HIGH input of time to prepare and keep running.
     After about five years, I said "Everything costs 10 times as much as I thought and every job takes 20 times as long as I'd planned".  And I've found that the best way to spend a lot of extra money is to try to go a cheap route when you're starting out.
     I hate to say it, and I apologize in advance for seeming critical, but I think your only "reasonable" way out is to sell this bus -- hopefully at a bit of a profit -- and start again with something that more "industrial" and ready for you to use as you need in your life.  I don't think that you have enough investment capital and time for this to turn out to be anything but tragic money pit that will leave you broke, frustrated, and discouraged.

      Just my viewpoint; it's your life to make your decisions, plan what you want, and do it your way.  But I think you need plain spoken advice and that's what you get from me.

Thanks for the check. Will give it some thought.

I thought going with a good runner and modern motor was a smart deal.

I'm not thinking about making money on flipping the bus. We are very spartan, we have a hot plate in our factory after 5 years, and it's cool. We have been living in a van for a couple years as well.

The plan is to get a generator that will run our ac units. I would really like to have a strong genny in our rig, as HVAC is so important for the dogs, so I'm a bit leery of going with a beater genny. But I don't have the money at this time to get something that is highly likely to be reliable over the long haul.

Thanks again for the advice.

[DoubleEagle]

Again, this will be our home in just a couple months. Of course, we'll be wintering in FL in a sweet mother in law suite, but we've got not much time to get ready to live in this thing.

This bus might be a mistake. It is not likely that you will be able to make it livable for you and dogs in a couple months. Cooling a bus with windows that is painted black (with a white stripe) with a cheap generator is not likely. You are starting totally from scratch with a seated bus with maybe no prior experience in converting. It takes time to put roof airs on, run wires, install a generator, and provide cooling for it, let alone strip the seats out and put in minimal living accommodations with holding and supply tanks. Most of us have spent years doing such things. It's easy to visualize things in your brain and grossly underestimate how long it will take to do things, but in reality, it takes a lot longer. You should consider a bus that already has a lot of this stuff done if you want to travel soon. Don't shoot the messenger of bad news.  

[k9disc]

Thanks. 

[luvrbus]

You are better off with a older Onan 7000 gasoline unit and deal with the gasoline for temporary use they can be had for 400 to 600 bucks with low hours and last forever without problems.
The propane units use about twice as much fuel,I have a propane Onan in the Trek and it loves propane under a load like over a gal per hour where the gasoline version are about a 1/2 gal per hr under a load and the same generator same engine on gasoline has more KW   

[k9disc]

This bus might be a mistake. It is not likely that you will be able to make it livable for you and dogs in a couple months. Cooling a bus with windows that is painted black (with a white stripe) with a cheap generator is not likely. You are starting totally from scratch with a seated bus with maybe no prior experience in converting. It takes time to put roof airs on, run wires, install a generator, and provide cooling for it, let alone strip the seats out and put in minimal living accommodations with holding and supply tanks. Most of us have spent years doing such things. It's easy to visualize things in your brain and grossly underestimate how long it will take to do things, but in reality, it takes a lot longer. You should consider a bus that already has a lot of this stuff done if you want to travel soon. Don't shoot the messenger of bad news.  

Well, now I feel as if I have to defend myself a bit... Perhaps my congeniality was mistaken for ignorance.

I know solar ain't gonna run roof airs. At least I thought I did until someone mentioned it. Rather than argue, I find it better to ask a question. Much like I did about the big truck rigs that someone mentioned in jest in another thread.

I know that I don't want a cheap generator, and that harbor freight stuff is crap and won't hold up it's value on retail. Which is why I am looking at reasonable solutions that will have some residual value. If I were to buy a $2000 generator today and sell it for $1500 or $1000 later, that's fine. I need AC and power.

I cannot buy this bus right now and drop another $6000 on a generator at this time. It can't happen. We're stretched thin on the purchase until we can get out from under our substantial rent.

We will be working on the bus in MI to start, and then in St Louis this fall. In MI we have a couple of carpenter/classic car guys who will happily slave away with me (brother in law and pal), and in St. Louis we have a tremendous shop and many talented wrenches and fabricators who will assist.

This reminds me of when we moved to NY with 15 dogs into a factory in the city -- like urban, urban. All the realtors and normal people were really freaked out by what we were trying to do, "You can't live in the city with that many dogs..."

Ironically, the city limits are often the only place you can legally live with as many dogs as we have. Kind of crazy right? 20 acre property 10 dogs. City? No limits.

I think that's kind of what's happening here. We've been on the road for about 5 years now, exclusively for the last 2. We're fairly experienced on that front. What we don't have experience with is driving and maintaining a coach.

I appreciate the advice, good information is what I'm here for. So... what would be a better move for our budget?

RV won't really work, as we can't fit the dogs and can't afford anything at all new. We can't really afford an entertainer, which is about the only coach design feature that readily accommodates the dogs.

I'm paying $7500 for this bus. OTR air and everything else works. It's got a pre-egr 4 stroke motor.

I have 1 15,000 roof air and a line on another. We've put them on our other vehicles.

That's about it.

Thanks again.
peace

[richard5933]

We just spent about $2500 just for a generator head (13k). It will be paired with our old Perkins diesel.

Then there is about $4000-$6000 I'm going to spend getting it reinstalled. Lots of new wiring and controls to redo. Has to be connected to the cooling.

All this to replace what mice destroyed.

I think I have to agree with the others. You're seriously underestimating what it will take to accomplish this. If you're going to invest in a generator, you might as well wire up the 120v systems too, etc. Project creep will certainly occur.

1964 PD4106-2412

[k9disc]

We just spent about $2500 just for a generator head (13k). It will be paired with our old Perkins diesel.

Then there is about $4000-$6000 I'm going to spend getting it reinstalled. Lots of new wiring and controls to redo. Has to be connected to the cooling.

All this to replace what mice destroyed.

I think I have to agree with the others. You're seriously underestimating what it will take to accomplish this. If you're going to invest in a generator, you might as well wire up the 120v systems too, etc. Project creep will certainly occur.

1964 PD4106-2412

This is the reason that i was looking for a temporary solution.

Plumb and mount the breaker box and shore power; attach the generator to the bus, the box, and fuel; create airflow. That would give me shore and remote power for a couple of outlets and AC.  We will need to drive this a few places rather soon and will need to spend time in it a few days at a time while we're between guest homes.

Is that not correct?

I'm pretty leery of doing a whole bunch of stuff before we have some time existing in the rig. I think I'm doing that so we can avoid project creep.

Again, the thing I'm really worried about is the bus running well and keeping it cool.

[luvrbus]

He has a plan but not the funds is the way I read it ,he purchased a 20 year old bus that could be a money eater too, buses are not like wine they don't get better with age,like paying 500 bucks a pop for a tire on the road or a $40.00 sensor on the series 50 that ends up costing $1200.00

[k9disc]

He has a plan but not the funds is the way I read it ,he purchased a 20 year old bus that could be a money eater too, buses are not like wine they don't get better with age,like paying 500 bucks a pop for a tire on the road or a $40.00 sensor on the series 50 that ends up costing $1200.00

So what can I do to get two rooms rolling down the road?

I need to roll with 2 rooms.  Can't be a trailer because the dogs can't ride in the trailer. We can't travel in a van any longer.

[buswarrior]

"cheap, reliable generator"  you and every other person are after the same mythical thing, and the risks are larger for you.

Who sells a good generator? Those get put on the shelf for a rainy day...

What happens when you have power failure, and some do-gooder calls the local SPCA?

Run with the BIG DOGS, or stay on the porch?

If you buy the right generator from the start, it goes with you, and you move on to the hundred other things that need done.

Buy a crap one, you will keep going back, over and over.

Dig deep, install something properly from Wrico, (or another reputable vendor of your liking), and it is finished, done, case closed, no more mental activity required, no more anguish, move forward.

You cannot afford the time, both physical and mental, or funds to lose and have to go back again and again.

Failure has huge costs that are not only measured in dollars, to having unreliable power, emotional, initiative decay, partner failure and distraction from your core business, which is NOT the coach. The typical busnut is mission focused on the coach; we have nothing else to think about. You, however, are using this coach as a tool to another end. Completely different circumstance and thinking required.

Who is thinking enthusiastically about the next revenue stream, if your mind is wrapped up in the negativity of equipment failure?

Desperation does not make for good decisions?

happy coaching!
buswarrior