Charging batts. with gen. - which way is better?

[tinkerreknit]

I have a TT and I installed a basketball - sized 2 cycle generator on the bumper to juice me up when boondocking. The generator puts out 350W and has a built-in 12amp battery charger. I hardwired that charger directly to my batteries through a double pole switch. My other option is to flit that switch to "off" and plug up the 120V cord to the gen and use the TT's built-in power converter to charge the batteries in a more normal way. The power converter says "5A charging rate". I have done it both ways and can't tell which is faster or better. It would seem that the generator's 12 amps would be faster. Does anyone have any input as to which way is better, and why is it better?

[tinkerreknit]

I have a TT and I installed a basketball - sized 2 cycle generator on the bumper to juice me up when boondocking. The generator puts out 350W and has a built-in 12amp battery charger. I hardwired that charger directly to my batteries through a double pole switch. My other option is to flit that switch to "off" and plug up the 120V cord to the gen and use the TT's built-in power converter to charge the batteries in a more normal way. The power converter says "5A charging rate". I have done it both ways and can't tell which is faster or better. It would seem that the generator's 12 amps would be faster. Does anyone have any input as to which way is better, and why is it better?

[xc-mark]

unless its a good gen set I would stick with the trailer chargeing system . I would think that its poss to over charge the batterys if its puting out more then 14 volts . over charging boils the fluid and shortend battery life.

[tinkerreknit]

Thanks xc-mark - that makes pretty good sense. I never thought about the amps varying from the generator. It is a very inexpensive unit and the rpm changes often, but it works well for my purposes. At first I used to plug up the 120V power cord, but then I got lazy because it took at least 2 minutes.