New legislation could ban the use of RV portable generators we're going to break
down what that means for rvers in this video so you're going to want to stay tuned we're Charity,
Ben Dakota and Trinity we decided we didn't want to wait for a life of adventure so in 2017
we bought our first rv and set off to live a life of travel in the usa
we've visited over 38 states in three years and have many more to go
follow along to learn all the best places to see rv and travel tips and much more
there is legislation that would compel the California air resources board to adopt
regulations by this coming july to prohibit emissions from all small off-road engines
including portable generators now assembly bill 1346 in california is intended to push the use
of battery-operated lawn and garden equipment but it's also going to result in banning the sale of
portable generators in the state of california as soon as 2024. now according to the definition
of the proposal this bill will ban the use of generators installed in most motorhomes
and other motorized rvs our viewers who travel with trailers and fifth wheels would also be
unable to use portable generators this proposal is not designed to leave rvers and those who rely on
off-grid power high and dry now of course not you'll just need to switch over to something
called a z generator so what is a z generator well z e e stands for zero emission equipment so before
we talk about what z generators are we did want to take just a quick minute here to thank the
sponsor of today's video campgroundviews.com campgroundviews.com is our new go-to tool
when booking campgrounds especially those campgrounds in national parks national forests and
other areas where reservations are booked through there website because campsite descriptions are
not always helpful we've showed up to many a campsite to realize there's obstacles in the
way of our slides or found out that if we had only known that site 3 on loop c had a lake view well
we would have booked that site instead well campgroundviews.com is like google street
view that takes you on a virtual tour of the campground and lets you see the campsite before
you actually book it we can now make sure when we book a campsite it is the best site for our size
rv you can learn more about campgroundviews.com at the link in the description below now back
to more about z generators if you can really even call them a generator because they're really more
of like a super large battery bank that rely on electricity for charging and if you have no access
to electricity like during a power outage or in the case of a natural disaster you'll need to find
a different source to charge these generators like a solar setup these z units are typically
5 to 10 times the cost of a gasoline or diesel-powered portable generator now i actually
did some research on these generators just being curious and a good full setup with solar panels to
charge it run like in the 8 000 range and there's also a time difference between these battery bank
generators versus fuel power generators as the batteries can drain faster depending upon the
power demand so if you're in your rv and you're using the microwave or the fridge you'll probably
run out of power in about six hours using one of these types of generators and remember most
of these portable z generators are going to take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to charge on solar
so if you plan on rving in the state of california in the next one to two years you're gonna have a
couple of different options option one make sure you book a campground with electrical hookups
and make sure you're looking at those reservations as soon as possible because 2022 is set to be
another banner year for rving and campgrounds will continue to stay full option number two if you're
going to be boondocking or off-grid camping in the state of california you might want to go
ahead and get that big elaborate solar setup that maybe you've been thinking of and maybe just a
backup battery bank just in case so for most rvers who are not full time option one of having to stay
in a campground will probably be your best option and why we love the thought of the big solar setup
we've not been able to quantify the return on investment for us since we do have a home base
where we can hook up to electricity when we're not traveling and not that we wouldn't love to
have that type of setup we just can't justify the roi for us at the moment and who knows that may
change someday and since i'm one of those people who don't like to box myself in with just option
a or b i always like to think that there's an option c and a d and this might be something like
choosing some place to rv other than the state of california or visiting sooner versus later before
these regulations take effect this coming summer and i'm going to leave some links below where you
can do more research on this subject for yourself and if you're looking for a portable solar power
bank we do love our unit from to go power which works great for powering things like laptops and
charging cell phones and you can learn more about to-go power on our partners page which we'll leave
a link below for that as well also while you're there check out the new merch experiences over
things available just in time for christmas and our hashtag greatfull shirts i'm going to put
some videos about rving in california right up here and you can subscribe right over here we
don't see you at the campground or out on the road we'll definitely see you in the next video