An electric heater may not work with a 1000 genset, even on its low setting (definitely not on its high setting), since they have a startup surge and the converter will use some of the available power.  It is possible if you plugged the heater in directly via an extension cord with nothing else plugged in to the genset it might work, but your only safe option is to move up to a 2000 watt generator.  Again cheap + noisy or quiet + expensive options are available.

Solar would often be an option in TX, but not where tree cover is the norm.  I'd love to use it with my camper but trees are usually in the equation where we camp, which is true for many others, too.  Hope to get solar installed at my house some day...

 

You can make the panels portable, but that introduces new challenges. 

Security - you need to babysit them as long as they are sitting out or they will walk. 

Wiring - at the voltage levels used by PV (around 18 volts in parallel, maybe 2-3 times that if in series and using MPPT) to feed a 12 volt system you need some seriously thick wires from the panels to go more than 10 feet away from the battery.  Forget extending out beyond 50, so while the pod can be in shade it would have to be right on the edge of full sun anyway. 

Weight - going with more panels or fewer large panels to get into the 100-200 watt range starts to get heavy, lugging them out, setting them up, putting them back.  If you have large gauge wire that gets heavy, too. 

Fiddle factor - similar to the weight problem, you are introducing that extra setup/teardown into your routine, and maybe even moving them several times a day to chase the one patch of sunlight you can reach.

 

Using the TV with a good set of jumper cables (not the Bargman connection) is useful in a pinch.  Run it for 30-60 minutes every other day - not every day.  You get more electrons for every gallon of gas burned that way.

Thanks,

Viki

 

hogone - with 2 batteries in series or parallel, connect the jumper cables to the + on one and the - on the other.  This is absolutely required if you have two 6 volt batteries in series unless you want to see just how big of an explosion a lead acid battery can make (trust me, it is a big explosion and you don't want to be there).  For two 12 volt batteries it is good practice so both batteries get an equal charge.

 

There are no stupid questions around here! 

 

+ 1 on all of this.  While it is impossible to lift my Honda 3000 watt genset by myself... neither can a thief.  I do miss the ability to lift the Yamaha 2400 watt genset that I had before, but I worried more about it walking away.

 

This is the primary argument for using two 6 volt batteries in series, since it removes that problem from the equation.

 

water pump and led lights just fine. Ya we use the heater in the summer time here in Idaho. Have only camped for 3 days at a time but suspect the battery would go 5 days. I will be hooking up a solar panel that has self adhesive tape and will go on top of the pod this winter.  Kind of like fuel in the tank, nice to keep the battery charged up as much as possible. This helps the life span also. Another year or 2 and the lithium batteries for RV's will be a decent price point. Considering the leading edge technology lithium batteries have a longer life span over a SLA battery, the cost is nearly the same per cycle now. Though the up front cost is