Generator Size Question

Folks

First off let me say I am a newbie to both Rv's and this forum.

My wife and I are in the process of selecting the Rpod model we want and I have few questions to ask this group.

We will be camping primitive to full utilities available.

That said, our new Rpod will have AC, micro wave oven, TV options. When camping primitive and running on batteries only, I am thinking of using a generator during the day to charge batteries and maybe power the outlets for other use such as charging cell phones and powering / charging my lap top. I would not run the AC.
Currently Cabelas (i live 14 miles from the Dundee Store) has a Yamaha 2000 on sale at $200.00 off the original $999.00

Will a 2000 watt generator be sufficient enough to power the items I mentioned? My math says it will however, I know there are some here whose experience is better than my math and I would like to hear from you.

Thank You for any and all help.
Patriot Dave

As long as you run the water heater on propane (not electric) you should have no problems.  You just have to make sure you don't have anything drawing too much when you run the microwave.  Some people claim that they can run the A/C with a 2000 watt yamaha.  That is pushing it, but it may work.

Welcome.  Your goal should be to run from your battery most of the time, including charging your small devices, as Charlie mentioned.  Run the generator every 2 days for an hour or so to bring the battery from 50% SOC to 80%, then every 7 days run the genset long enough to bring the battery back to 100%, which will take hours.  That will give you the most power per gallon of gas burned, not that the smaller Yamaha and Honda gensets burn that much, but you don't want to listen to run, either.

Thanks for the info.

After reading the comments here, I have checked the internet and learned the Honda may just be a touch more powerful.

Also learned the Yamaha has a few more goodies such as fuel gauge and fuel line shut off valve.

Qualified and certified service techs and their locations also seem to be important. I have a few more Honda service dealers near by however, there is a couple Yamaha dealers not that far away. One of the Yamaha dealers I have some good experience with regarding service on a motorcycle.

6V vs. 12V:
What I understad:
The group 24 12 Volt battery provided is usually a hybrid starting/deep cycle battery. It operates at 12 Volts, but should not be deep discharged below 50% regularly, or it will shorten the life of it. It is hard to find a true 12 Volt deep cycle battery. Capacity can be increased by changing out to a group 27 battery or wiring 2-12 Volt batteries together in Parallel (Positive to Positive and Negative to Negative). -------P             N--------
                                                                                                              |               |
                                                                                                              P             N

6 Volt batteries can be found as deep cycle batteries (AKA Golf Cart Batteries). Two of them can be wired in Series (Positive on one battery to Negative on the other battery with the trailer's positive and negative cables connected to the other terminals as appropriate.            ------------P                N-----------P               N--------------
This provides 12 Volts. Since the batteries are about the same size or larger than the 12 volt batteries, there is a larger total capacity. Since they are true deep cycle batteries, they are more able to tolerate deep discharge.

Starting batteries provide a lot of current very quickly. Deep cycle batteries do not provide the quick burst of current, but they can provide a steady current at low draw for long periods. This web site can provide more information:
http://www.trojanbattery.com/Tech-Support/FAQ/BatterySelection.aspx

Hope this helps.