Charging battery with Honda 2000

BlueBoy wrote:
Will my Honda 2000 charge the battery as fast on eco as it will fill throttle?

Depends on how you are charging.
The cables to plug into the honda and clamp on the battery. Toss 'em

A small converter (Say 45 amp) will charge much faster and may well work in ECO mode. 60 I'm not sure if ECO will do it. 80 likely Eco won't. but .. it might.

And that's all there is to it. Depends on the size of your converter. Plug the RV in and see if the Unit hangs in there in ECO mode. if it stalls.. then switch to full for an hour and try ECO again. Odds are after 1-2 horus Eco will hold. Takes about 6-8 to fill the batteries no matter the mode.

NOTE: Why does ECO mode work after an hour or two if it won't first blush.. As the batteries fill up the current slows down and thus the converter does not draw as much power .

BlueBoy wrote:
Will my Honda 2000 charge the battery as fast on eco as it will fill throttle?

You said 'the battery', which implies you have a single 12V battery. I assume either a group 24 or 27. The direct answer is YES, you can leave it on eco.

What others are referring to is depending on the converter you use to charge the battery or how you are connecting the generator to the battery, there may be a quicker, better, or more efficient way to do it. I use a 30A Megawatt power supply similar to what Mex mentioned. You can buy one for $50 +shipping. And there is no need to go down to Mexico to get your fuel.

15% alcohol will yield 12% less power than 100% petroleum. None of you are factoring this into your hairbreadth power calculations.

It may save someone from wasting a lot of money to offer tried and proven recommendations for prime mover compatibility. Yesterday I connected a 150 amp Meanwell charger to a 3,000 watt Honda inverter generator and on economy low, it stalled the engine 5 out of 5 times. New generator, sea level 22c

The owner dumped the USA gasoline and at 5:00 PM after refilling with Chevron Mexico gasoline instead of USA Chevron gasoline with the alcohol-gasoline the Honda lugged a bit then continued running ten times in a row. Tomorrow morning the generator departs for Bahia de Los Angeles.

Neat huh?

Some folks use multiple 120 volt charging devices. The Honda is best powering a decent charger with eco mode turned on.

The best "beast" for charging may be an inverter/charger. Mine will do 127 amps (but I throttle it to less).

It is important that there be a way to control the voltage set points.

Another excellent addition is temperature compensated charging. Sophisticated inverter/chargers and solar charge controllers often have probes on the battery bank.

That said, most of my charging happens from the solar panels.

KD4UPL wrote:
If you are using the 12v charging output of the generator stop. It's weak and unregulated. Plug your AC charger into the generator. When it's charging hard it will pull the gen off of eco mode. When the batteries are nearing full it may go to idle. Letting it run wide open all the time won't help anything.

but it will make more noise and use more gas.

Hint, if the batteries are discharged and the honda stays at low rpm when charger is on, you likely have a WFCO and aren't getting much charge at all and will take days (literally) to charge the battery. A PD60A charger will draw about 1000+VA (crummy power factor) and if it is charging the generator will NOT be idling, it will be running reasonably hard. The WFCO should do the same, but rarely does. it usually stays at 13.6V or around 15A, generator running at idle.

If you are using the 12v charging output of the generator stop. It's weak and unregulated. Plug your AC charger into the generator. When it's charging hard it will pull the gen off of eco mode. When the batteries are nearing full it may go to idle. Letting it run wide open all the time won't help anything.

FLY 4 FUN wrote:
Your onboard converter will "demand" as many amps as it needs to charge your batteries. Should you be on eco mode it may ramp up the Honda if the converter pulls a lot of amps initially. Once the battery begins to get a decent charge it will spool down again so no harm done.

Ditto - not sure about the sugar beets.

Using the 12v battery cord or are you plugging in the main RV cord to the generator?
12v needs eco off
120v eco does not matter

If you have a WFCO converter plugging in will be a trickle charge either way.

READ THE CHARGER'S MANUAL

Most everything I've read has the charger coming to a near screeching halt when the batteries arrive at 80% charged. Then to fill the remaining 20% it may take weeks or forever connected 24/7.

An absurdly perfect way to sulfate the battery to oblivion. Mixing the electrolyte to avoid stratification? Well, that would happen only if you got into an accident and your rig overturns.

99% of today's "battery chargers" are children's play toy "Tickle Me Elmo" frauds. Smart? A three-toed sloth would kick their ass.

The government ethic is to have you burn 400 gallons more of gasoline and buy three batteries instead of one to save .0001% on hydrogen and sulfur pollution. The same people who want to poison the entire Mississippi River drainage with fertilizer and deadly insecticides with corn growing pollution. Mexico flatly refuses to use food to cause environmental destruction.

Answer me this. SUGAR BEETS render twice as much alcohol using an eighth of the farmland area, a tenth of the pesticides and a truckload yields twice the alcohol. Ask your failed lawyer congressperson why this is...

BlueBoy wrote:
Will my Honda 2000 charge the battery as fast on eco as it will fill throttle?

Better question is; how aggressive is my on board converter / charger?

Some folks put the gen in eco, and it putters along for 12+ hours because the on board converter never kicks into high gear.