So you have just purchased your first RV. Now you need to figure out how to power all the things inside the vehicle when you go on your first trip. You do not want to run the engine all the time to turn your lights on in the middle of the night or just to use the air conditioner. After all, this is why you need to look at some portable RV generators. There are certain things you should consider before shopping for one of these generators. And for goodness sakes, do not buy the first or cheapest one you come across.

The first question is just how much power do you need? Portable RV generators come in several different sizes, which obviously means that some of them has much more power than others. If you have a small vehicle without a lot of electronic devices, you probably do not need as much power. Of course, the more power you get the more costly it will be. So take a quick inventory of everything in the RV that will need electrical power and figure out many total watts you need. Do not forget about the air conditioning and any televisions or game systems you might bring along on a typical trip.

After you have determined just out how much power you will need, you should estimate when and how long you would need to run your generator. For instance, will you just run it at night when you are sleeping or do you think you will need it throughout the day as well? Portable RV generators take gasoline and some of theirs tanks are larger than others; generally they will contain one to five gallons. Obviously, you will run for longer periods of time on your generator if it has a larger tank, but you will also pay more for the generators with the larger tanks.

Can you sleep with the generator noise going on? Some portable RV generators are quite loud, but there are generators being manufactured now that is very quiet, too. Check the decibel level of the RV generators you are shopping for and see how loud they will be. Higher decibels mean louder generators.

How will you carry your generator? Does your new vehicle have a place to attach it on the back? While some of them do, others may require that you build a lift. Some people will put their portable RV generators in the back of their pick up trucks to get them to the camping site. This is fine, but if you plan on doing this, you will need to make sure that you have ramps. You will not be able to easily lift the generator because they can weigh as much as 200 pounds.

Ease of use is another thing to consider when shopping for portable RV generators. Some of them are started with a pull cord while others have an easy electric start using a key. An electric start generator will be much more expensive than the pull cords type, but they are very convenient, and they can also be converted to a remote start generator without a lot of problem.