path1 wrote:
(little bit long but I don’t want to miss any details)
I pull my 29 foot(30 amp)cord from the left rear of trailer to the hitch area where the generator is located at the back of my pick up and then I plug in 30 amp cord.
Then elec goes 29 feet through 6 awg wire to a progressive dynamics convertor also located in rear of TT, but on right side of TT. So add another 7 feet. Then the convertor sends the elec back again 29 feet to the 12 volt batteries on the front hitch.
Wouldn’t it make more since to just hook the generator up on the DC side to batteries and save 65 feet? Or through a portable battery charger?
One person said it is better off charging the batteries through the converter/charger. Because you are running AC to the converter, voltage loss is not generally an issue.
Another person told me, elec routing is always the shortest trip the elec will have to make.
Could I charge batteries faster using the 30 amp cord and a portable battery charger?
As you can tell I’m confused. What are your thoughts on best way to charge batteries?
Thanks
The 120 volt power cord from the generator to the circuit breaker box and on to the converter/charger is going to be about 75 feet of #10 and #12 wiring. It probably will be such a low voltage drop that it would be difficult to measure the voltage drop at 4 amps @120 VAC. In other words if there is 120 volts at the generator you should have 118 - 119 volts at the plug where the converter/charger is located.
Once through the converter and it is putting out 14 volts, then the amperage might be 30- 40 amps, and having this low voltage wire as short as possible will enhance charging. Yet unless you are charging a significant number of batteries, the amperage will quickly fall below 30 amps as the 2-4 batteries start to fill up.
I noticed that my charger quickly went from 55 amps to only 35 amps as the 4 deep cycle batteries started to fill up, so I never ran my generator more than 1 hour at a time to recharge the batteries. Normally I would only run it 1 hour, then let my 400 watt solar system finish the charger.
Check out solar pricing here.
SunElec.com They had a 140 watt 12 volt panel there a month or two ago for $229. It is fairly easy to install it yourself, and they can not be beat for a silent way to charge the battery.
Fred.
