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On-board generators Revisited
I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that
might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B |
On-board generators Revisited
I'm confused about why there is some question about
running a battery charger off of a genset. I have run mine for several years with no problem. The battery charger runs off the genset the same as off of shore power. Doug s/v Callista "engsol" wrote in message ... I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B |
On-board generators Revisited
Doug,
you probably have a battery charger that puts out fewer watts that your generator supplies. If you have a battery charger that is trying to supply 100 amps to the batteries (1200 watts) and the generator can only supply 1000 watts, you have a problem. If you have discovered a way to do this, let me know. We will apply for a patent for perpetual motion. Kelton s/v Isle Escape Doug Dotson wrote: I'm confused about why there is some question about running a battery charger off of a genset. I have run mine for several years with no problem. The battery charger runs off the genset the same as off of shore power. Doug s/v Callista "engsol" wrote in message ... I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B |
On-board generators Revisited
Actually, I'd be happy to get 50 or 60 Amps, but some of the advice seems to be
25 Amps might be all I might expect. But the need is for 100 Amps-Hours or more, so a low current charger is not a good solution if I have to run the genset 4 hours a day. "Kelton" wrote in message .. . Doug, you probably have a battery charger that puts out fewer watts that your generator supplies. If you have a battery charger that is trying to supply 100 amps to the batteries (1200 watts) and the generator can only supply 1000 watts, you have a problem. If you have discovered a way to do this, let me know. We will apply for a patent for perpetual motion. Kelton s/v Isle Escape Doug Dotson wrote: I'm confused about why there is some question about running a battery charger off of a genset. I have run mine for several years with no problem. The battery charger runs off the genset the same as off of shore power. Doug s/v Callista "engsol" wrote in message ... I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B |
On-board generators Revisited
No, that's pretty much obvious. Don't know why anyone would
waste their time working around it. Doug s/v Callista "Kelton" wrote in message .. . Doug, you probably have a battery charger that puts out fewer watts that your generator supplies. If you have a battery charger that is trying to supply 100 amps to the batteries (1200 watts) and the generator can only supply 1000 watts, you have a problem. If you have discovered a way to do this, let me know. We will apply for a patent for perpetual motion. Kelton s/v Isle Escape Doug Dotson wrote: I'm confused about why there is some question about running a battery charger off of a genset. I have run mine for several years with no problem. The battery charger runs off the genset the same as off of shore power. Doug s/v Callista "engsol" wrote in message ... I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B |
On-board generators Revisited
It is actually worst then that. Gensets put out volts and amps. The
combination of the two is KVA not KW. Gensets are rated on KVA not KW. To get KW you multiply KVA by the power factor. A lot of manufactures assume a power factor of 1 and do this conversion for you. But in reality you seldom have a power factor of 1. By the way 1 is the best it can be. Power factor is a measure of the phase shift of volts to current. The things that cause a phase shift are inductive loads. Things like transformers, airconditioner compressors, fans, electric drills, or a battery charger (marine units are typically transformer isolated). Resistive loads like resistance heaters do not cause a phase shift. The inductive loads provide work by building and colapsing magentic fields. These fields requires some reverse voltage (back EMF) to compeletly colapse the field prior to building it in the oppsite direction. The back EMF causes the shift in voltage and current. To fight this engineers add capacitors to store some energy to counter this back EMF. Capacitors increase size and cost money. Not a lot but some. In this competive market most of us would buy a $1000 airconditioner vs a $1200 slightly larger AC. That said; I wish that the builders would offer power factor correction capacitors as an option. Then the folks with gensets could choose. (Mermaid A/C might by power factor corrected) You can add capacitors to adjust you power factor but it is complicated, requires test equipment that few people own, and requires disassembly of the electrical devices to properally install. If you add to much capacitance you can damage the genset. This requires the capacitance to come on when the load comes on. Therefore it must be mounted at the load after its on-off switch. Not a job for the weekend boaters but for a highly skilled electrician who does this sort of thing. Not to many people do it so not to many electricans do it. Why should they invest thousands in test equipment for something they may never do in their lifetime. Just a guess but some boats may lose 20% or more of their genset capacity to lousy power factor. For genset sizing I like to use the x2 factor (minimum). Add up all your loads and x2 to get the genset size. Remember to start the biggest load first. When adding up loads look at the input power not the output power. A 100 amp battery charger may have an output of 100*12 = 1200 watts but the input power can ge significantly higher. It would not suprise me if it was 15 amps worst case. That's 1.8 KVA. I don't think that this type of load requires a high surge (or a high sudden in-rush) to start up so the x2 factor would oversize. But I would think that the Honda 2000 would be wide open if your charger is pulling 100 amps. Sometimes power factor gets worse a load drops so don't expect the Honda to have an easy time it the charger is putting out 50 amps. "Kelton" wrote in message .. . Doug, you probably have a battery charger that puts out fewer watts that your generator supplies. If you have a battery charger that is trying to supply 100 amps to the batteries (1200 watts) and the generator can only supply 1000 watts, you have a problem. If you have discovered a way to do this, let me know. We will apply for a patent for perpetual motion. Kelton s/v Isle Escape Doug Dotson wrote: I'm confused about why there is some question about running a battery charger off of a genset. I have run mine for several years with no problem. The battery charger runs off the genset the same as off of shore power. Doug s/v Callista "engsol" wrote in message ... I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B |
On-board generators Revisited
On Sat, 29 May 2004 07:23:37 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote: Actually, I'd be happy to get 50 or 60 Amps, but some of the advice seems to be 25 Amps might be all I might expect. But the need is for 100 Amps-Hours or more, so a low current charger is not a good solution if I have to run the genset 4 hours a day. ======================================== The Xantrex Prosine inverter chargers claim to be corrected for power factor. I'd call their customer service group, discuss what kind of generator you intend to use, and ask them to guarantee performance. http://www.xantrex.com/support/docserve.asp?id=237 In my experience you're much better off with a sine wave inverter regardless. |
On-board generators Revisited
"Wayne.B" wrote in message
... On Sat, 29 May 2004 07:23:37 -0400, "Jeff Morris" wrote: Actually, I'd be happy to get 50 or 60 Amps, but some of the advice seems to be 25 Amps might be all I might expect. But the need is for 100 Amps-Hours or more, so a low current charger is not a good solution if I have to run the genset 4 hours a day. ======================================== The Xantrex Prosine inverter chargers claim to be corrected for power factor. I'd call their customer service group, discuss what kind of generator you intend to use, and ask them to guarantee performance. http://www.xantrex.com/support/docserve.asp?id=237 In my experience you're much better off with a sine wave inverter regardless. Yes but that means replacing an expensive piece of equipment with an even more expensive piece. Frankly, I don't use the inverter much to worry about it - the microwave seems to do OK, and so does the coffeegrinder. Of course, on the next boat ... Actually, it would be neat would be to have a version of the EU1000 that put all its power out at 14+ Volts, with intelligent charging, of course. Maybe I should write a letter to Mr. Honda. |
On-board generators Revisited
Take a look at;
http://www.homepower.com/files/mark8.pdf might be a place to start. Mike ----------- Actually, it would be neat would be to have a version of the EU1000 that put all its power out at 14+ Volts, with intelligent charging, of course. Maybe I should write a letter to Mr. Honda. |
On-board generators Revisited
"MIDEMETZ" wrote in message ... Take a look at; http://www.homepower.com/files/mark8.pdf might be a place to start. Mike Thanks for the reference to a great site! Good food for thought. surfnturf |
On-board generators Revisited
"Kelton" wrote in message
.. . Doug, you probably have a battery charger that puts out fewer watts that your generator supplies. If you have a battery charger that is trying to supply 100 amps to the batteries (1200 watts) and the generator can only supply 1000 watts, you have a problem. If you have discovered a way to do this, let me know. We will apply for a patent for perpetual motion. Kelton s/v Isle Escape You also have to bear in mind that most generators is typically rated at peak. It should not be run continuously at peak current draw. I have been told that you should have atleast 1/3 excess generator capacity, especally if you are running appliances with automatic start sequences and heavy loads such as air conditioner motors. -- Public Fishing & Boating Forums Fishing Link Index www.YumaBassMan.com Doug Dotson wrote: I'm confused about why there is some question about running a battery charger off of a genset. I have run mine for several years with no problem. The battery charger runs off the genset the same as off of shore power. Doug s/v Callista "engsol" wrote in message ... I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B |
On-board generators Revisited
"Doug Dotson" wrote in message ... I'm confused about why there is some question about running a battery charger off of a genset. I have run mine for several years with no problem. The battery charger runs off the genset the same as off of shore power. Several reasons: 1) As others have said, the battery charger can represent a significant load to the generator. The point that several people are making is that many battery chargers have a very poor power factor, which could create significant issues to the generator, especially a generator that uses inverter technology to get more horsepower out of a smaller engine. 2) The voltage output of a generator can often vary considerably. A cheap battery charger can have its charging rate drastically reduced if the voltage is low. 3) The frequency of a generator can vary quite a bit. Many marine battery chargers are the "Ferro resonant" type which rely on the AC input being exactly 60 Hz. Any deviation from this and the output can be drastically reduced. Rod |
On-board generators Revisited
Kelton wrote in
: Doug, you probably have a battery charger that puts out fewer watts that your generator supplies. If you have a battery charger that is trying to supply 100 amps to the batteries (1200 watts) and the generator can only supply 1000 watts, you have a problem. If you have discovered a way to do this, let me know. We will apply for a patent for perpetual motion. Kelton s/v Isle Escape Unless you're all using submarine 6250AH cells, I doubt you'll ever see 100A coming out of a 100A charger, especially these new computerized-charge models. If the battery is THAT dead, there's no sense charging it. Run the batteries down to what you normally do, then watch the charging current curve on that 100A charger. 1200 watts will simply boil the electrolyte in a lead acid battery that cannot dissapate that much heat (the batteries in these boats). Sounds great in the sales brochure and if you turn every light in the boat on you might get it up to 50A, but that isn't reality. If you boys want to see a hard charger, there's an original equipment Amel 40A manual charger in my stepvan service truck out of my buddy's Amel Sharki ketch. IT will boil any battery you have in a couple of hours, right out the top caps on every cell. That thing is DANGEROUS. Glad to be back on r.b.c, by the way. Had a great time in Florida cruising and in the Gulfstreamer Race from Daytona to Charleston out in the gulf stream. We had the Amel Sharki heavy old cruising ketch up over 12 knots with the help of the Gulf Stream....(c; Larry |
On-board generators Revisited
"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message ... Kelton wrote in : Unless you're all using submarine 6250AH cells, I doubt you'll ever see 100A coming out of a 100A charger, I suppose that the amp meter on the remote panel of my Heart inverter might be lying, but it at least claims that it pumps out 100 amps into my 450 amp-hour battery bank. especially these new computerized-charge models. It would be only the "smart" chargers that would drive that kind of current into a battery bank that a recreational boat is likely to have for more than a minute or so. If the battery is THAT dead, there's no sense charging it. Why? Run the batteries down to what you normally do, then watch the charging current curve on that 100A charger. If it is a "smart" charger and rated at 100 amps it should drive the full 100 amps until the end of the "Bulk" phase, which is when the battery voltage reaches 14.4 volts. If you have a simple "taper" charger then the current will start to drop off as the battery voltage increases. 1200 watts will simply boil the electrolyte in a lead acid battery that cannot dissapate that much heat (the batteries in these boats). If you charge at high rates you certainly need to monitor the electrolyte level in the battery closely. To maximize the service life of the batteries it is advisable to limit the charge current to no more than 20% of the capacity; if you have a 100 amp-hour battery don't charge it at a rate greater than 20 amps. Rod |
On-board generators Revisited
"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
... Unless you're all using submarine 6250AH cells, I doubt you'll ever see 100A coming out of a 100A charger, especially these new computerized-charge models. Nonsense. I have 425 Amp-hours (4 6-Volt golf cart batteries). My Heart 2000 always puts out 100 Amps even if the batteries are only moderately discahrged. If the battery is THAT dead, there's no sense charging it. Wow, I've been running 5 years now on dead batteries! Amazing! Run the batteries down to what you normally do, then watch the charging current curve on that 100A charger. 100 Amps, bang on. 1200 watts will simply boil the electrolyte in a lead acid battery that cannot dissapate that much heat (the batteries in these boats). When I charge with the alternator thats at about 80 Amps. I do have to check the water every month, but in 5 years it hasn't "boiled off." Sounds great in the sales brochure and if you turn every light in the boat on you might get it up to 50A, but that isn't reality. You have to get out more, Larry. If you boys want to see a hard charger, there's an original equipment Amel 40A manual charger in my stepvan service truck out of my buddy's Amel Sharki ketch. IT will boil any battery you have in a couple of hours, right out the top caps on every cell. That thing is DANGEROUS. Glad to be back on r.b.c, by the way. Had a great time in Florida cruising and in the Gulfstreamer Race from Daytona to Charleston out in the gulf stream. We had the Amel Sharki heavy old cruising ketch up over 12 knots with the help of the Gulf Stream....(c; I did 14 knots once ... in the Cape Cod Canal. |
On-board generators Revisited
100A x 14.4V = 1440 watts. Simply amazing it hasn't boiled them over or
melted the plastic cases or melted the internal structures causing an explosive short in the process. All this going on in a "battery box" that seals in all this heat even worse..... How long does it charge at 100A? minutes? hours? I've never seen a good battery that, if you jacked 100A into it, wouldn't rise up to 14V in no time at all, which should make the charger stop hitting them so hard. You simply CANNOT charge a lead-acid battery in an hour. That's as crazy as those idiots at the service station "quick charging" someone's car battery while-they-wait.... Larry I'll ignore the crack about getting out more, having just come in from the Gulf Stream last Sunday. "Jeff Morris" wrote in : "Larry W4CSC" wrote in message ... Unless you're all using submarine 6250AH cells, I doubt you'll ever see 100A coming out of a 100A charger, especially these new computerized-charge models. Nonsense. I have 425 Amp-hours (4 6-Volt golf cart batteries). My Heart 2000 always puts out 100 Amps even if the batteries are only moderately discahrged. If the battery is THAT dead, there's no sense charging it. Wow, I've been running 5 years now on dead batteries! Amazing! Run the batteries down to what you normally do, then watch the charging current curve on that 100A charger. 100 Amps, bang on. 1200 watts will simply boil the electrolyte in a lead acid battery that cannot dissapate that much heat (the batteries in these boats). When I charge with the alternator thats at about 80 Amps. I do have to check the water every month, but in 5 years it hasn't "boiled off." Sounds great in the sales brochure and if you turn every light in the boat on you might get it up to 50A, but that isn't reality. You have to get out more, Larry. If you boys want to see a hard charger, there's an original equipment Amel 40A manual charger in my stepvan service truck out of my buddy's Amel Sharki ketch. IT will boil any battery you have in a couple of hours, right out the top caps on every cell. That thing is DANGEROUS. Glad to be back on r.b.c, by the way. Had a great time in Florida cruising and in the Gulfstreamer Race from Daytona to Charleston out in the gulf stream. We had the Amel Sharki heavy old cruising ketch up over 12 knots with the help of the Gulf Stream....(c; I did 14 knots once ... in the Cape Cod Canal. |
On-board generators Revisited
"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
... 100A x 14.4V = 1440 watts. Simply amazing it hasn't boiled them over or melted the plastic cases or melted the internal structures causing an explosive short in the process. Just a hunch, some of that energy (about 85%, I think) actually gets transformed into chemical energy in the battery. Isn't that the whole point of a charger? All this going on in a "battery box" that seals in all this heat even worse..... Now that you mention it, the box does warn up a bit, kind of like if it had a light bulb inside. How long does it charge at 100A? minutes? hours? I've never seen a good battery that, if you jacked 100A into it, wouldn't rise up to 14V in no time at all, which should make the charger stop hitting them so hard. Funny - I've never bothered to watch carefully. It seems to hold the current fairly high until its aorund 90% charged. However, I have watched many time while running the engine and charging off the large Balmar with a Link 2000R regulator. It starts at about 85 Amps, but settles to around 75 after about 20 minutes, and continue decreasing slowly. By the time the bank has been recharged from 50% to 80%, the rate in the 60's - still fairly high but "diminishing returns." You simply CANNOT charge a lead-acid battery in an hour. That's as crazy as those idiots at the service station "quick charging" someone's car battery while-they-wait.... I agree, but this is a 4-hour charge rate we're talking about. Larry I'll ignore the crack about getting out more, having just come in from the Gulf Stream last Sunday. Wow! That's a long shore power cable! ;-} |
On-board generators Revisited
On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 13:43:14 -0000, Larry W4CSC
wrote: Unless you're all using submarine 6250AH cells, I doubt you'll ever see 100A coming out of a 100A charger, especially these new computerized-charge models. If the battery is THAT dead, there's no sense charging it. ================================================== ==== Larry, with all due respect, that's total BS and you of all people should know better. It is safe in the bulk charge phase (below 80% of full charge) to recharge at 25% of the battery banks Amp-hour capacity. That means that any run of the mill battery combination that yields 400AH of capacity can safely accept a 100 amp charge rate. My old boat had 4 golf cart batts in series-parallel equaling 440AH of capacity. My 3 phase Heart Interface charger routinely recharged at 100+ amps during the bulk charge phase with no heating or excessive electrolyte consumption (the generator was straining however). The batteries were routinely recharged this way 50 or 60 times a year over a 4 year period. The battery bank was still in excellent condition when I sold the boat. |
On-board generators Revisited
"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message ... 100A x 14.4V = 1440 watts. Simply amazing it hasn't boiled them over or melted the plastic cases or melted the internal structures causing an explosive short in the process. Are you suggesting that all 1440 of those watts gets converted into heat? Gosh, I would have expected at least some of it to be stored. After all, that is the purpose...... How long does it charge at 100A? minutes? hours? Well, that depends on how deeply the battery was discharged to begin with and the size of the battery and how much you lose to heat. If you assume it is a 100 amp-hour gel battery (after all, that was the assumption at the start of this thread) and it was 100% "dead" then it would certainly take more than an hour. At that charge rate you would be losing a considerable amount to heat so I would guess it would take closer to 90 minutes. You simply CANNOT charge a lead-acid battery in an hour. It is certainly not a good idea, but you can do it. To treat the battery kindly you need to divide the charge up into two phases, BULK and ACCEPTANCE. You could easily get the "bulk" phase completed in an hour or less. The "acceptance" phase, which accounts for the last 25%, usually takes a lot longer. If you didn't care how many cycles your battery would last you could just hit it with enough amps to saturate it in an hour. Rod |
On-board generators Revisited
The Honda EB3000c puts out 12amps at 12vdc, max, continuously. It has a
special circuit w/plug&cable just for this purpose. The generator itself has a rated power of 2.6kVA, weighs 68 lbs. and have sold on Ebay for $1K. Might be worth your consideration. engsol wrote: I spnt a bit of web time googling marine battery chargers that might work with the Honda EU1000 or EU2000 generators. Here are some URLs...not an exhaustive list by any means... http://www.charlesindustries.com/main/ma_chargers.html http://www.newmarpower.com/ http://www.mastervolt.com/chargers/index.asp http://www.progressivedyn.com/ http://www.majorpower.com/newmar/p3bc.html (interesting) http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/...o/dual-pro.htm I like the specs shown by majorpower.com. They give a figure for power factor, which sems to be missing from other manufs. As a trial...assume a 100 AH gel battery. A PT14 charger will charge 28 to 140 AH batteries at 14 amps maximum. 14 amps times 1.1 (efficeincy of 90%) times PF of .95 (spec at 115VAC) equals about 16.2 amps. Adjust to 115VAC input and you get about 2 amps, or 230 VA. A 25 amp charger might work even better without over stressing the generator. I called a couple of the charger manufs, and they concur with the numbers. The trick is to get a charger with a rated output compatible with the available input power. A 150 amp charger ain't going to work with a EU1000. But of course the trade-off is longer charge times. Hope this helps. Norm B -- s/v Mutiny Rhodes Bounty II lying Oriental, NC WDB5619 |
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