pnichols
Santa Cruz Mountains
Senior Member
Joined: 04/26/2005
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0.7 gal/per hour is what another reported here quite some ago on V10 consumption at idle and it's the figure I use.
I believe many Ford V10 powered emergency vehicles, shuttle buses, etc. are run long periods at idle speeds so the engine can probably take it fairly well, by design. For added care, I use Mobil 1 synthetic oil in my V10. You can even use better oil, like Mobil 1 Extended Service synthetic in it, and I plan to start using ES soon, myself. If you're concerned with engine wear when idling, I'd recommend contacting Ford Customer Service to get their official position on this.
Since my Onan 4KW Microquiet consumes about 1/5 to 1/4 of it's power when fully powering and only powering my RV battery charger, it's consumption is probably around 0.30 to 0.35 gallons per hour when charging the batteries. Since the V10 is so quiet when idling - even quieter than the little Hondas - I use it in "highly noise sensitive" camping situations when other campers are close by. In other situations I start out idling the V10 for maybe 30 minutes (quietest), and then finish up using either a Honda EX650 I carry along (louder but still very quiet), or our built-in Onan 4KW (loudest but quite tolerable as installed by Winnebago).
Your idling V10 is the quietest and most expensive way to charge your batteries, but your Onan is the loudest and a less expensive way to charge your batteries. It will help when using your Onan if you use a very good multi-stage charger with large gauge cabling to help minimize run time of the Onan. Of course the cabling from your V10's alternator to your RV batteries should also be large gauge (Winnebago installed 6 AWG gauge cabling for this in my rig).
Here's a good link (ignoring the actual RV manufacturer who published it) that talks about various ways to get electrical power into your RV that applies to any type RV. Note that they openly advocate idling of the engine as part of your power mix:
http://www.sportsmobile.com/1_heating_ac.html
* This post was
edited 11/07/09 07:57pm by pnichols *
Phil, 2005 E450 Itasca 324V Spirit
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