Before U power up or off

We have had a long standing rule that the AC unit is off before we turn on the electric shore power or off. Same goes for the generator. We often are traveling on the road in hot weather and do not power up AC till we have full power on then we turn off AC prior to shutting down the Generator. This makes sure there is no surge and we have a clean power on and off. We hope this gives everything a good life span. And with the little generator we run only one Air Conditioner to keep Miss Elle riding in style in our Phoenix Cruiser Dog House.
P S I have an elec plug behind passenger seat and I have plugged into that an apparatus which lights to tell me when the power is up even though you can hear the system come on too.

It is surely good practice to start and run the generator for a few minutes before turning on the roof a/c or microwave.  It is also good to turn off your 110V appliances before turning off your generator.

Sometimes your thermostat will be set to immediately run the a/c without your knowledge because the temp inside the RV is so high.  It is good practice to make sure it is off before starting your generator.

Good tips there Patricia!

My Onan generator has a built in delay between when it starts and when it provides current to any thing. My surge protector has the same feature. It takes 2 1/2 minutes to supply current to the PC. 

I turn off the a/c and any other things before disconnecting from the post or turning off the generator.

Agree with Ron, the Onan on our rig will not provide power to the rig until it has run long enough to stabilize.  That is 30 to 60 seconds at least, you can hear it run irregularly for a bit, then stabilize then run different when the power is turned on.  After that the Progressive Industries EMS takes a bit to analyze the incoming power and only after it is satisfied does it make the switch, which can be heard with a noticeable 'clonk' as the contactor is engaged.  I've never timed the whole process and I don't think it is quite 2 1/2 minutes on my rig but its not a lot less than that.

Taking precautions by turning off the A/C and other items in the rig before starting the generator is not going to hurt anything but if your generator is modern it already has safety features built in for that.  There also seems to be a delay in the A/C coming on after 120v is provided.  The A/C definitely does not start immediately.  Perhaps that is a newer feature or a different thermostat but it takes another 2 or 3 minutes after the 120v is supplied before the A/C comes on in my rig.

Turning things off before disconnecting from the post is not required, but it makes good sense to not unplug when there is significant current flowing as that can arc and eventually burn your plug contacts.  Or the receptacle contacts on the post.  I suspect many post problems are actually caused by campers pulling the plug when the circuit is loaded thus arcing and pitting the contacts.  Over time this degrades the receptacle and increases resistance and the heat produced in the post.

It's not the generator that has the time delay, it's the transfer switch PC installs in the circuit.  Shore power comes on right away because it's the "normal" side of the transfer switch.

Yes, turning off stuff before turning the generator off or unplugging is a good idea as is throwing the breaker OFF on the shore power pedestal before plugging in or out.