Charging a camper battery with a generator?

[oldfrat]

Does anybody here have experience with this?

I have a small Aliner camper with a 75 amp hour marine battery (will upgrade to 100AH when I replace). Now that I know my usage patterns with it, I have rejected going the solar route and am looking at the Honda EU1000 generator for recharging the battery on longer boondocking stays.

I'm wondering what the best way to use this generator is?

I can recharge via 12V DC direct to the battery. This output is not controlled to shut down when the battery is recharged if done that way. The generator puts out 8 Amps/96Watts at 12V DC.

Or I can plug my battery charger into the generator's AC outlet and hitch that up to the battery. The generator's 120 V AC output is 7.5A/900W. the battery charger puts out 6A at 12V, then goes down to a trickle charge when it reads the battery as being fully charged.

Which is best?

My electric consumption when boondocking in this camper is pretty low. I run a couple of LED interior light bulbs (1141 replacements) in the evenings for a total of 7.2W. My furnace operates on LP gas, but the electric demand for the fan is 41W. If it is warm, I might also run a 3A FanTastic vent fan for a max of 15 minutes/day. I think I am good for at least 2 nights on my current 75AH battery before recharging. If anyone has experience with a similar situation, I'd love to hear how long I would need to run the generator to recharge it after this. Or how often I should run the generator to recharge.

Many thanks!

Brad

[narcodog]

OF. I have a TC and when I have to charge my battery's I do it through my converter or with my three stage battery charger. I would recommend getting a 3 stage like a Shumacher, they are about $75.00. When you upgrade look into getting an AGM size 29 or 31 if it will fit your box. I would also recommend getting it from http://www.bestconverter.com. With an AGM you do not have to worry about putting water in the battery.

If you charge with the genset itself it will take forever and will not charge it full. One other thing besure to measure power usage in amphrs to get the correct amount of usage.

[sharps]

Plug your battery charger into your gen-set then hook it to your battery. No different than plugging your charger into a home receptacle. The only diference could be minor voltage fluctuations but as you mentioned a Honda, they won't be enough to consider. We've been doing that very thing for decades on equipment batteries in the field. I woudln't charge it directly from the 12V receptacle on the gen-set.

[hap]

That generator has a built in 12v charging system and unless it is an older model it should have a shut-down when the battery is charged. I have run marine batteries regularly with both charging systems hooked up when I needed juice NOW to start a boat engine...

[Jayatwork]

Plug your trailer into the 120V on the generator and let the converter charge the battery.

I have two 85 AH batteries on my trailer. With the water pump, lights etc. I can get through a three day weekend without recharging. Any longer or if I need the furnace, I run the generator to recharge. The fan on the furnace is the biggest draw I use.

[Trigg]

Went through the same evaluation when I bought my EU2000 last summer. Check the charging output of your converter. Mine was only 3 amps--really only a trickle charge. I could get 8 amps from the generator 12v outlet, or I could plug in the battery charger which outputs up to 15 amps. So that's the way I went. I since have acquired a new camper with a better converter with higher output. I think I'll just plug the camper into the generator and let the converter do it. That's definitely the easiest thing to do.

We run 2 80aH batteries on the camper. Fairly conservative usage like you describe, and we can go up to 4 days without needing to recharge.

BTW, it's hard to justify the EU1000 when the EU2000 is just a couple of hundred bucks more. Keep in mind the output is reduced with altitude. The 2000 is a little bigger and definitely heavier, though.

[oldfrat]

Hey folks, thanks for those very helpful responses!

I spent about an hour Googling to discover my Centurion CS 2000 XL convertor's charging amp output, but no luck. I'm going to assume it is not high enough and go the 120V battery charger route.

Trigg, sounds like you have been down almost exactly my path. What brand/model of battery charger did you use successfully? And I've been debating myself regarding the 1000 vs 2000. I wasn't aware of the altitude issue and will have to check this out. Plus, I need to find a dealer that stocks both so I can hoist them both up and figure out how much of an issue 29# versus 47# will be for a senior citizen who hopes to be able to use my camper for many more years.

I'll look once again at the AGM versus flooded options. I'm going to have to weld on a new battery box holder soon in order to put on a swing-away jack. That leaves me open to a bunch of battery options, but I think I will shy away from parallel golf cart batteries like the Trojan TJ 150s because of tongue weight issues.

[narcodog]

If you are near Henderson Colo. go by Five Star Camper, they should be able to help you

[oldfrat]

Man, am i debating this one! And spending lots of time on research. My current conundrum is that the model choice seems to fall on the borderline in all regards.

I went to a local dealer today and hefted both models. The Honda EU1000 is way easier to lift, but I also think I'll be able to lift the EU2000 for the remainder of my camping years. I figure I'm using a little over 17 AH/day max when dry camping so, if I upgrade to a Walmart Maxx 29 125 AH battery, I'm good for 3 days before needing a recharge. I'll rarely be dry camping for over 4 days.

Here's where I could use some advice from an expert. The EU1000 puts out 7.5A. The EU2000 puts out 13.3 amps. But my battery charger puts out only 6A. Does that mean I would be recharging for the same time with either generator? Is there an advantage as regards the generator's life span in using up only 45% of the generator's output with the 2000 versus 80% with the 1000?

Another question regards altitude. I live at 5500 feet, but most of my dry camping is done higher and I don't envision any under 5,000. In addition to recharging my camper's batteries, I am thinking this generator will be handy running lights, TV and a computer when the house power goes out. Honda generators can be set up with 3 alternative carburator jets. Factory is 0-5,000 feet above sea level. Next is 5,000-7,000. Then comes 7,000+. That led me to suspect I'd be best off getting the 5-7,000 jet installed. But the dealer folks I talked to today expressed a "don't worry about it" attitude. Any thoughts about this?

Many thanks for any feedback!

Brad

[Trigg]

OF...

The charger I use is a "Durabuilt Smart battery Charger." I recall that being about a $75 thing. I'm sure there are lots of similar ones out there. Re Altitude: The EU1000 owners manual says even with carburetor modification, engine horsepower will decrease about 3.5% for each 1000 ft altitude gain. Don't know how that actually affects electrical output.

The EU2000 puts out 13.3 amps. But my battery charger puts out only 6A. Does that mean I would be recharging for the same time with either generator?
Brad

Yes. Your battery charger probably draws about 1 amp or less at 120v. Keep in mind the DC output of your battery charger is at 12v, since power (Watts) = volts * amps, 6 amps at 12 volts is 72 Watts, which is the same as .6 amps at 120v.

Is there an advantage as regards the generator's life span in using up only 45% of the generator's output with the 2000 versus 80% with the 1000?
Brad

Dunno. But I decided that another reason to use the charger rather that the DC output of the generator is that the EU2000 owner's manual says if you use the DC output, you should turn OFF the EcoThrottle feature (so the generator runs at full speed). When I plug in my charger, I run with the EcoThrottle ON at much lower engine speed.

Wrt the carburetor jet modifications... I recall that if you go for the higher altitude jet, you can improve efficiency, but you then CANNOT run the engine at lower altitude or it can damage the engine. So be sure you're not going to use it lower than speced.

Also, you should contact Zackdog. He's got this down to a science, and I know he upgraded the carburetor jets on his EU2000. I think he just plugs his camper/converter into the generator, but he also charges his trolling motor battery.

Good luck!