Battery Charging Question
I have been running my Cummins/Onan 4000 generator to charge the batteries on my coach a couple of hours a day when boondocking; is there any advantage to using the motor on my motorhome to do the sam...
Forum Discussion
Micpib,
Just for starters, there is nothing good that happens to an idling engine. So, cross that one off now. You might also consider that the main engine's alternator will not put out rated load at idle. It can also abuse the house bank as that was never a consideration in the design.
Now, Forester was smart enough to include a Progressive Dynamics converter/charger. They don't get any better than that (there are others as good). That is what the APU (genset) will use to charge the house bank. It will never abuse the house bank. It should be a XX60 something. That makes it good for a 60amp charge if the house bank can take it.
It will still take a couple of hours to get a 50% bank back to 80%, but that is the nature of lead/acid batteries and has been that way with little change for over 100 years.
Before the depression, I did a lot of work on other people's expensive boats. This was a common issue and there are some small thing that can be done about it, but not very much.
Matt
Just for starters, there is nothing good that happens to an idling engine. So, cross that one off now. You might also consider that the main engine's alternator will not put out rated load at idle. It can also abuse the house bank as that was never a consideration in the design.
Now, Forester was smart enough to include a Progressive Dynamics converter/charger. They don't get any better than that (there are others as good). That is what the APU (genset) will use to charge the house bank. It will never abuse the house bank. It should be a XX60 something. That makes it good for a 60amp charge if the house bank can take it.
It will still take a couple of hours to get a 50% bank back to 80%, but that is the nature of lead/acid batteries and has been that way with little change for over 100 years.
Before the depression, I did a lot of work on other people's expensive boats. This was a common issue and there are some small thing that can be done about it, but not very much.
Matt
