Charging battery with a generator.

[kbrian]

In preparation for my first ever week-long camping trip to a campground without power hookup, I bought a 1,000 watt Honda generator. My camper has a battery, and my question is: What's the best way to charge the battery..Charging directly from the generator, and if so, how do I determine for how long, or, do I need to bring along my battery charger? I'm pretty inexperienced regarding use of a battery with my camper (Palomino pop-up), so I would greatly appreciate any assistance!

Thanks!
Brian

[kbrian]

In preparation for my first ever week-long camping trip to a campground without power hookup, I bought a 1,000 watt Honda generator. My camper has a battery, and my question is: What's the best way to charge the battery..Charging directly from the generator, and if so, how do I determine for how long, or, do I need to bring along my battery charger? I'm pretty inexperienced regarding use of a battery with my camper (Palomino pop-up), so I would greatly appreciate any assistance!

Thanks!
Brian

[Medorg]

Hello Brian, welcome to the best web site in town !!,, I would use your Generator with a 110v Battery charger,, time for full charge will depend on your charger and battery size, normal for me would be not more than 2 hours. But this web site has real folks who have forgotten more than I will learn..so again... welcome.

[George Miklas]

I have a Honda EU650 and was wandering the same question. At 5 amps AC, I don't know if mine would operate a battery charger--haven't tried it.

George

[zetron]

I have a Honda 1000 watt generator too, as a backup. You will probably get only 8 amps of DC out of the DC section of your generator. At that rate it will take some time to recharge your batteries.

When I use the EX-1000 I run an intellegent Iota 30 amp DC power converter/cherger. This puts a heavy load on that generator. The EX-1000 probably like most 1000 watt generators only delivers 850 watts on a continous basis.

30 amps X 14.2 volts = 426 watts. This is within the power range of the generator. I have a Heart Inverter Charger and the EX-1000 will not run the 50 amp charger in this unit, it trips out. 50 amps X 14.2 = 710 watts. I would guess this is too high an output for the EX-1000 to be comfortable delivering.

To figure out how long to charge the batteries, if you do not have an automatic charger you need to figure out how much 12 volt power you have used. This is measured in AMPHOURS, which is the amps used X hours of use. So if you ran something that took 1 amp at 12 volts for 5 hours you would have a drain of 1 amp X 5 hours = 5 amphours. Similiarly if you ran something that used 5 amps for one hour it would also be a drain of 5 amphours.

If you are using the generator's DC output, probably 8 amps, then if you charged your batteries for 3 hours you would have put IN 8 amps X 3 hours = 24 amphours.

It is important that the voltage of your batteries reach 14.2 volts. A automatic charger will keep pumpin in amps till the voltage rises above 14.2, then it will gradually cut back, and finially it will maintain the batteries somewhere around 13.2 volts.

David/zetron

[Mike4947]

Most under 3kw gensets are limited in the amps their 12 volt connections produce.
The good news is even a 650 watt genset can supply a really large battery charger. It's the old watts equal amps X volts.
30 amps @ 12 volts from a battery charger only needed 3 amp @ 120 volts from the genset. That's only 360 watts.

[gritz]

Your trailer battery may be charging through it's connection by the towing vehicle alternater as you are driving, so in an emergency it seems you could just plug in the connecting cable and run the tow vehicle engine for 30 minutes or so. (If your rig is wired this way). I've done this after 4 or 5 days of hunting and it buys me a little extra battery life for the trip. Another possibility might be to have a short cable with appropriate plugs made up to connect your generator directly to your trailer connector, matching the charging 12V vehicle leads output to the trailer 12V battery input leads. Plug that into your trailer .... fire up, and you should be able to use a light or two while charging the trailer battery. I made one up, but I'm usually moving after 4 or 5 days and haven't had a chance to use it yet ....