IMHO - your problem relates to the wave shape from the generator - most
inverter/chargers use only the very top portion of the wave shape for the
charger circuit - An irregular wave shape (which is very likely from low
cost genset) will result in lower than expected charge rates - for example -
using a Trace 2000 unit on shore power I can charge at any rate desired;
however, when using a Phasor 3600 rpm 3.5 KW genset I can achieve only about
30 amp rate into a 620 AMPHour house bank and it decreases rapidly to about
20 amps as the genset windings heat up.

See the Trace Engineering/ XANTREX site and read the owners manuals for
Trace 2000 sB12 unit for full explanation. Your generator is most like
"construction grade" not aux power grade and does not have a well regulated
output - if you are electronically inclined locate an oscilloscope and look
at output wave form you will be very surprised how bad it looks compared to
"house power"
"David Q. King" wrote in message
news:AE%jb.162135$%h1.158052@sccrnsc02...
So the Xantrex inverter I have, DR1512, is a 1500 watt inverter with a
maximum of 70 amps charging capacity. There is a knob to adjust the
maximum
rate of charge. Perhaps Heart does something similar? A quick look at the
heart data sheet on the Xantrex web site says the Freedom 10 inverter
charger is 50 amps. http://www.xantrex.com/support/docserve.asp?id=269

The manual http://www.xantrex.com/support/docserve.asp?id=431
says you have a two bank charge capacity. The "echo-charge" bank charges
at
15 amps and is intended for the starting battery. Perhaps you want to
review
how the Heart is setup.

Good luck!
David, KJ7PF


"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
That's all the CHARGING circuit of your Heart is capable of putting
out. The 1000W is for the INVERTER in it, not the little 10A charger.
1000W/14V= 71Amps. That's gonna be one BIG charger!



On 9 Oct 2003 19:10:53 -0700, (mitch) wrote:

Can't believe I'm the first person with this problem, but did a couple
searches and turned up nuttin...

Have a 1000 Watt Gasoline Yamaha generator connected to a Heart
Interface Freedom 10. Batteries are a pair of 8D gels in parallel,
old but servicable. Monitoring system by Ample Power.

Hook 'em all up, and with batteries at about 50% (12.1 to 12.2) I get
a MAX of 15 amps DC, call it 180 watts into the batteries. Swapped
generators, EXACT same output. A visiting cruiser suspected that the
Heart is REALLY inefficient at generator-based power charging. Maybe,
but 20% efficient sounds a bit loony...

I am currently at anchor for awhile, so the purpose of the Yamaha was
to not require using my Perkins 4-108 with 150 amp alternator in order
to keep my beer cold; I'd rather save my engine for propulsion. But
when I do use the engine to charge, it works as expected based upon
state of charge - 130 amps initially, 3 stages, yada yada.

Ideas?

SV KOMFY
American Samoa


Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?