B190 Enthusiasts

Excuse my ignorance. In my '89, my 1400 watt generator is located in an exterior cabinet passenger side aft. Since this is hardly big enough to power a toaster, we are upgrading. I found a MicroLite 2800 but the only place I can find for it to fit is under the couch, as there is no space big enough under the frame. Is 'under the couch' where they typically are located (I hate to lose the storage)? Since I have to pull a car trailer everywhere we go, we are now looking at the Champion 3100 Electric Start to just leave on the trailer and run shore power to it. Any thoughts?

Yes, they are typically located in an exterior access box under the sofa directly behind the driver's seat. I have seen rear bumper boxes/mounts for Honda generators. Probably much easier than fabricating a box under the sofa?

Since storage is golden, we elected to go with an exterior generator. Most of the time we are pulling the car trailer, so our Champion 3400kw rides there. When we don't have the trailer, we use a cargo carrier hooked into the trailer hitch for the generator, cooler, chairs, and such. What's neat about this generator is that it has remote start so we just press a button from wherever we are and presto! Brand new, $800, and free shipping from electricgeneratorsdirect.com was tough to beat!

Oldbagpipe wrote:Since storage is golden, we elected to go with an exterior generator. Most of the time we are pulling the car trailer, so our Champion 3400kw rides there. When we don't have the trailer, we use a cargo carrier hooked into the trailer hitch for the generator, cooler, chairs, and such. What's neat about this generator is that it has remote start so we just press a button from wherever we are and presto! Brand new, $800, and free shipping from electricgeneratorsdirect.com was tough to beat!

Been looking at the same one, have a Honda 2000 but I would have to buy another to run anything and I can buy the champion for less. I just purchased an aluminum rack, 500 lb capacity, that mounts in my receiver, sounds like we are on the same page.

I have been very pleased with the Champion. Easy start and much more quiet than I expected, after reading many reviews. Nobody can argue with a Honda as they are always at the top. However, I felt I was paying too much for the name, and couldn't find anybody who would talk-down the Champion. I had decided I was going with the Champion for $900 and while I stalled, waiting to pull the trigger, they all of a sudden put them on sale for $800. Boom, I pressed enter. I couldn't find a better deal than online at egd with no tax or shipping.

So I would like to revisit this thread. I did previously purchase a generator and carried it around on my car trailer to the races, which worked well. However, I've now sold the race car and we plan to flat tow a vehicle, without the trailer. I just purchased an Onan 2800 microlite and am wrestling with location. This winter, I will be pulling the stove and reinstalling only a cook top. Is there any reason I can't use the space vacated from the stove for my generator? I realize I will have to install an exterior access door, but that's no big deal. It would sit just above the wheel well, just like the fridge does on the other side. Comments or critiques are appreciated.

Oldbagpipe wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:00 pm So I would like to revisit this thread. I did previously purchase a generator and carried it around on my car trailer to the races, which worked well. However, I've now sold the race car and we plan to flat tow a vehicle, without the trailer. I just purchased an Onan 2800 microlite and am wrestling with location. This winter, I will be pulling the stove and reinstalling only a cook top. Is there any reason I can't use the space vacated from the stove for my generator? I realize I will have to install an exterior access door, but that's no big deal. It would sit just above the wheel well, just like the fridge does on the other side. Comments or critiques are appreciated.

The 2800 is much larger than the oven, so I'm not sure exactly what you're planning there. But if you can make it fit and safely route the exhaust outside, it should work. FYI, the original location in the B190s is under the couch.

Thank you for responding. So rough measurements of the generator are 24" across the front, 17" deep, and 12" tall. Rough measurements of the stove cabinet are 25" across the front, 21" deep, and 18" tall. This is going to take some thought. I see where under the couch would work. I just need to find the path of least resistance. The storage gained would be fairly close to the storage lost, from my early analysis.

Any idea of what percentage of B190s have the microlite generator? Did it become a standard feature?

Oldbagpipe wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2024 3:33 pm Any idea of what percentage of B190s have the microlite generator? Did it become a standard feature?

Good questions. I'll have to look at flyers to see if it was always optional. It seems most of them do have it, but now and then we come across one that doesn't, and of course at this point some of them show up that likely did have it originally but removed it, for various reasons, so it might be difficult to pin down a percentage of B190s that actually came with it. All of them (well, except the very early Okanagan conversions) had the compartment for it, even if they didn't have the generator installed.

The large grill below the window is the generator compartment. I just picked that picture from the Gallery, there are plenty of other examples in there.

I would find a copy of the owner's manual before you get too deep into it - I'm pretty sure the specs ask for several inches of air gap around the generator and some air flow, and I'm pretty sure that the original B190 box is actually a touch small (and I'm not convinced that louvered door provides sufficient airflow). Also, I would plan for some Dynomatt or other sound deadening material to absorb the vibrations from the generator and tamp down the worst of the sound - it's definitely not a quiet inverter generator, by any means. In fact, I might add some to the box on mine, attaching it to the outside of the box inside the camper.

Finally, keep maintenance in mind - you'll need access to the bottom of it to do oil changes, and you'll want access to that removable side panel to change the spark plug, add oil, access fuse/circuit breaker, etc. For the oil changes, if you don't mind sliding it out of the installation box, that's a possibility. Early B190s like mine had no provisions for oil changes; I basically have to remove it to do it. I've heard later ones do have a hole cut in the bottom of the box, and some people have removed the generator and cut a hole with a saw.

My compartment door does not include a grille, so I'm pretty sure it was originally meant for storage, as well as access to the furnace which is located under the couch, directly behind the driver's seat, but ahead of the access door. I do have both manuals and they offer some different ideas on mounting, including under the rig. I'm in no hurry as I am planning on thinking this through. Guessing we only have a year or two left with this as we are in our latter 60's and navigating the ladder is beginning to challenge my wife.