Living in a travel trailer requires energy. If you go from RV park to RV park, the power provided by the 110V, 30A (3600 watt) plug in pretty much provides everything you need. The house battery gets charged by the converter/charger when plugged in and maintained when towing thru the 7 way cord.
But, if you intend to stay at places without plug in power, things get much more complicated.
You need 12 volt power to run the interior LED lights, the refrigerator and the furnace fan. The standard group 24, 50 amp hour battery will quickly be depleted, especially if you use the battery to raise and lower the tongue jack. And, the 7 way cord will take more than 12 hours to recharge the house battery.
One way to help this is to add a battery or batteries to increase capacity. And then recharge this house battery "bank" with Solar panels and a DCtoDC charger from the truck.
You need 110 volt power to run the microwave, air conditioner, the trailer converter/charger and TV. (The TV can run off of an inverter, but will still drain the house battery over a few hours.) The microwave requires around 1000-1100 watts of power. The converter charger another 500 to 800 watts. So a small 1600 (2000 peak) inverter generator fits the bill.
But, for the 13,500 BTU rooftop AC, you need 1400 watts to run with 3000-3100 watts to "start".
If you only use the AC at RV parks, the 1600/2000 small inverter/generator will do fine. There are many, many choices with a wide price range from Harbor Freight to Honda. (They all weight around 50 pounds.) My favorite is the Champion Duel Fuel. I like the idea of running on propane, and it fits inside the bed of the pickup, below the closed Tonneau cover.
If you want to run the AC when boondocking (in parking lots or public parks) you will need more power. To get 3000 or more watts requires a much larger unit or a "companion" small unit that runs in parallel with another small one. Honda, Champion, Harbor Freight and many others offer this combination. The 3000 + watt single units weigh in at nearly 100 pounds. (less without electric start) So, with one or two units, it takes 100 # of generator to run the AC.
Most "parallel combo" setups require both units to be the same brand and output. In other words: (2) 1600-2000 watt units or (2) 2200 watt. So to run the AC you have both running.
I am leaning toward going with the Champion Dual Fuel 3100-3400 unit.
This unit, by itself will start and run the 13500 BTU AC unit and then run everything else too. So normally only one generator running at a time. I would choose the electric start model and would carry a lift assist device to move it to and from the truck bed where it can be stored under the tonneau cover. (At age 70 I may use this for the light 50# generator as well!) Most times it can run placed on the tailgate of the truck. The electric start is much more convenient. Will run about 8 hours on a tank of gasoline, and 20 hours on a 20# propane tank.
On the other hand (2) two of the 1800-2000 running in parallel is also a very good choice. Wresting with that 100 pound electric start unit is a bit intimidating at my age. I would only need to be running the second unit in parallel when running the AC as the single small unit will run every thing else by itself. The smaller unit is significantly quieter vs the larger---53 vs 59 dbA. And dbA is a bit misleading as 53 dbA is 6 sones and 59 is 9 sones or 50% "louder".
Finally, there is some merit toward the standard deep cycle house battery supplemented with an independent lithium iron phosphate bank and small inverter. This could be charged by a DC to DC charger, from solar panels or from the truck DC to DC Charger and/or a battery charger running off a generator. This would allow a much quieter "generators off after dark" setup with maximum flexibility to run the TV and air circulating fans without the risk of completly discharging the main house battery that is running the fridge and is powering the hitch lift needed to hook up the truck.





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