Charging Rate of Honda 2000

Using the boast mode on the converter is good, the addition of a Trimetric battery monitor will help manage the batteries, the voltage method is for a resting battery ie no load or charge.

RoyB wrote:
NOTE That Progressive Dynamics doesn't even list using DC Charge Voltages around the 12.0VC range as this would take alot more than 100 hours to achieve a 90 or 100 percent charge state.

Excellent post.
The real reason for this is that 12.0 is not a charging voltage for a 12.6 Volt battery......it would reach 90 or 100 percent ......NEVER.
;)

Plug your 30AMP Shore power cable into the generator 120VAC connector using a RV30A-15A long Adapter (WALMART) to use your on-board smart mode converter/charger to charge your batteries.

Or purchase a smart mode 120VAC Battery charger and plug that into your generator. Then connect the battery charger cables to the battery terminals...

The point that everyone wants to pass along is you cannot use the "BAT CHARGE" pins on the front panel of the Honda Generator to charge your batteries... It will take TOO MANY hours to get your battery back up to its 90% charge state doing this...



You want to start each camping off the batteries session with them charged up to at least their 90% charge state otherwise the batteries will quickly discharge on you. Continuing to do this will do internal harm to your high dollar battery.

Trickle charging your batteries for 30 minutes or so and then running them down below their 50% charge state will quickly do harm to your batteries... Always start out with at least a 90% charge state. Getting your battery to its 90% charge state using smart mode charging will take around three time.

This is what we do at any rate and my 255AH battery bank was installed back in late 2008.

Roy Ken

HoppyPoppy,

Your post reads:

"I connected my generator directly to the batteries".

The above is quite easy to understand. It can also be posed as a question.

RoyB wrote:
You should use the generator to power up a smart mode converter/charger unit or good smart mode battery charger to charge your batteries.

The "BAT" output terminals on the generator is useless to charge batteries.

This is what PROGRESSIVE Dynamics states in their operating manual on how long it takes to charge a battery using the DC VOLTAGEs listed below: "Progressive Dynamics ran this test on the amount of time it took a PD9155 (55-amp) converter/charger set to three different output voltages to recharge a 125 AH (Amp Hour) battery after it was fully discharged to 10.5-volts.

14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode) – Returned the battery to 90% of full charge in approximately 3-hours. The battery reached full charge in approximately 11 hours.

13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode) – Required 40-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 78-hours to reach full charge.

13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode) – Required 60-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 100-hours to reach full charge."

This is based on having 17-20AMPS DC current available for each battery in your battery bank... NOTE That Progressive Dynamics doesn't even list using DC Charge Voltages around the 12.0VC range as this would take alot more than 100 hours to achieve a 90% or 100% charge state.

Roy Ken

Thanks Roy, but you lost me at "You", lol.

sch911 wrote:
Charging with the 12V generator output or by connecting to the RV's converter?

Connecting shore power to gen. If I used a regular charger between the gen and batts, would that help?

Your question is impossible to answer with the information you have provided.

We need to know the amp-hour rating of the battery bank

We need to know what the resting voltage is before starting charging.

We need to know the type and size of charger (converter).

We need to know the ambient temperature.

After all that is known some sort of guesstimate might be made.

However, voltage is a poor way to judge state of charge.

It is generally thought that approximately 12.8 volts is fully charged and that 12.2 is 50%. So if you are starting from 11.8 volts the bank has been deep cycled and the batteries may have suffered permanent damage.

You should use the generator to power up a smart mode converter/charger unit or good smart mode battery charger to charge your batteries.

The "BAT" output terminals on the generator is useless to charge batteries.

This is what PROGRESSIVE Dynamics states in their operating manual on how long it takes to charge a battery using the DC VOLTAGEs listed below: "Progressive Dynamics ran this test on the amount of time it took a PD9155 (55-amp) converter/charger set to three different output voltages to recharge a 125 AH (Amp Hour) battery after it was fully discharged to 10.5-volts.

14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode) – Returned the battery to 90% of full charge in approximately 3-hours. The battery reached full charge in approximately 11 hours.

13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode) – Required 40-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 78-hours to reach full charge.

13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode) – Required 60-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 100-hours to reach full charge."

This is based on having 17-20AMPS DC current available for each battery in your battery bank... NOTE That Progressive Dynamics doesn't even list using DC Charge Voltages around the 12.0VC range as this would take alot more than 100 hours to achieve a 90% or 100% charge state.

Roy Ken

Charging with the 12V generator output or by connecting to the RV's converter?