BCinWI
Wisconsin
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Joined: 10/28/2003
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I finally took the plunge and bought one of those Honda EU2000i generators. I've rented one several times and it was time to stop giving my money to the rent-it-shop. Anyway, I bought the little accessory cables that allow you to charge a 12V battery. The problem is, no where in the directions does it tell or show how to know when your battery is fully charged. Has anybody used a generator to charge a battery? Does the generator sense it and go to a trickle charge?
Thanks for any help or advice you can offer.
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rvnutts
Hampton, Arkansas
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BCinWI I don't have the answer to your question. But reading your post made me think of yesterday when our electric went out for several hours with triple digit temperatures. There was our Outback, sitting next to the house with no generator  If only I had listened to dh when he said we could really use one!
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SKnight
Georgia
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The genset shouldn't overcharge it, you can use a volt meter to check it's state of charge. Holding over 12.65V disconnected from the genset is 100% charged.
What I would do is get a battery charger (I use a Shumacher charger I got at Wally World.) with a status meter. It'll tell you what percent of charge the battery is at during charging. Only about $30 and up, it's worth it. Just plug it into the genset, glance to see exactly where it is.
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bldrbuck
Boulder, Colorado
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The battery will charge faster using your converter. The current through that accessory cable is pretty low. If your converter won't charge it buy a good battery charger and plug that into the generator.
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BFL13
Victoria, BC
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The gen does not charge the battery, a battery charger does that. The EU2000's 12v is only 8 amps which is useless for charging. You want a charger that will do 35 or 40amps at least to start with before it tapers.
First choice is your rig's converter if it is a good one that will do the charge at 14plus volts. Plug the shore cable into the gen (via an adapter as required --15AC is plenty for battery charging)
Or as above you can get a portable smart charger such as a Vector 1093. Be careful the first amp number advertized is not just the booster number, and get sucked into buying a charger with too low a bulk charging amps (under 35)
Eg, two 6v or two 27s will charge up from 50% SOC in a couple hours to 80% SOC using a smart charger with 40amp bulk stage, and then you stop the charge to save gen time. Be sure to do a full charge as soon as you can after getting real shore power so the batteries will not get permanent sulfation on you from too many days of 50-80s. (only takes a couple weeks of 50-80s to get a good sulfation going)
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Peg Leg
Anderson, IN
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The output on the Honda's 12v is 12v. Most battery chargers have a 13.8 plus or minus a few tenths. You'll never get a good charge using the generators output. As others have pointed out use the rigs converter or a battery charger pluged into the generators 110v AC output.
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smkettner
Southern California
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Converter will be better. Just plug the RV main cord into the Honda with an adapter.
Post the make and model of the converter to know how much better and if it is worth upgrading. The Honda is half the equation the converter is the other half.
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THE BIGPUNN
west michigan
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reminds me of a few weeks ago. a storm took out power for 4 days in our area. instead of using the generator for house we stayed in the camper in the driveway. i figured we'd save gas by the camper using less energy. anyway, i just plugged the camper to the generator and the camper battery charged fine.
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tvman44
Southwest Louisiana
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Let your trailer converter charge the battery, It will do it a lot faster and probably safer.
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lv2rom
Kansas City, Missouri
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tvman44 wrote:Let your trailer converter charge the battery, It will do it a lot faster and probably safer.
Good grief...now there's a knowledgable, informed answer....
As previously said the direct charge off of the generator, or through your converter will take forever. Just pick up a simple three phase battery charger, plug it into the AC output of the generator, hookup to the battery, and charge her up. The charge is higher, it is direct, it is modulated and regulated. Plus you got yourself a nice charger for other uses....Brian
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