Charging the battery with generator issue
I'm not new to using my little Honda 2000i to charge my battery while boondocking, but on a recent outing at a music festival I ran my generator for nearly 2 hours and my battery didn't charge. Then ...
Forum Discussion
This reads like a case of the charging source, deciding that 13.6v target voltage was fine and dandy as well as falling into the dreaded "just fine" category.
So .... the 2 hours of generator run time did little.
Next morning when battery was flat as could be, the whizz bang charging source saw the extremely low battery voltage, and only then, sought to achieve 14.x volts at its maximum output, and then the battery obviously charged to some well undercharged degree.
A very possible case of 'automatic' being too dumb to do the job its marketers and purveyors claimed it could do.
A charging source seeking 13.6v might only have to produce 12 amps to bring a ~65% charged, 100Ah partially sulfated flooded battery to 13.6v and hold it there while amps taper and very little is actually done. But if this same charging source were trying to bring the battery to 14.4v, 35 amps might be required and 66% more would be accomplished initially, before amps inevitable started to taper once 14.4v was approached at the charging source output terminals.
Can you control what battery voltage is sought when you are running the generator?
Not without a charging source which can be instructed to do so. Otherwise you HOPE it chooses to do so, but only if you know to hope for the near impossible in the first place.
BUT, It won't, and you get to waste fuel, sniff fumes and make noise for the privilege of an automatic charging source deciding what is right when it is just Soo wrong. It might even have a soothing green light just to let you know it is smarter than you..
Forcing a charging source to seek 14.4v or higher on a depleted battery at maximum output, is a wonderful thing, especially when a generator is involved and there is also a time limit.
Relying on it to do this automatically is practically insanity at its finest. Unless ignorance is involved.
So ignorance is temporarily acceptable until failure, insanity is not, unless you believe insane ignorance is bliss, then more power to you, you will need it, unless of course you have lots of money to throw at the problem, then you can brag about just how insanely ignorant you are and people will be in awe.
Don't forget to revel in their awe, either way.
This is an attempted humorous poke at human nature, not the Original poster.
The problem lies in your charger and its charging circuit to the battery, and your battery is likely sulfated too because of the charger and the too thin cabling between it and the battery.
Go kick your RV manufacturer in the balls, and get a new charging source which can be forced to seek 14.4v or higher whenever you fire up the generator to charge the battery, or you can repeat your unpleasant experience.
So .... the 2 hours of generator run time did little.
Next morning when battery was flat as could be, the whizz bang charging source saw the extremely low battery voltage, and only then, sought to achieve 14.x volts at its maximum output, and then the battery obviously charged to some well undercharged degree.
A very possible case of 'automatic' being too dumb to do the job its marketers and purveyors claimed it could do.
A charging source seeking 13.6v might only have to produce 12 amps to bring a ~65% charged, 100Ah partially sulfated flooded battery to 13.6v and hold it there while amps taper and very little is actually done. But if this same charging source were trying to bring the battery to 14.4v, 35 amps might be required and 66% more would be accomplished initially, before amps inevitable started to taper once 14.4v was approached at the charging source output terminals.
Can you control what battery voltage is sought when you are running the generator?
Not without a charging source which can be instructed to do so. Otherwise you HOPE it chooses to do so, but only if you know to hope for the near impossible in the first place.
BUT, It won't, and you get to waste fuel, sniff fumes and make noise for the privilege of an automatic charging source deciding what is right when it is just Soo wrong. It might even have a soothing green light just to let you know it is smarter than you..
Forcing a charging source to seek 14.4v or higher on a depleted battery at maximum output, is a wonderful thing, especially when a generator is involved and there is also a time limit.
Relying on it to do this automatically is practically insanity at its finest. Unless ignorance is involved.
So ignorance is temporarily acceptable until failure, insanity is not, unless you believe insane ignorance is bliss, then more power to you, you will need it, unless of course you have lots of money to throw at the problem, then you can brag about just how insanely ignorant you are and people will be in awe.
Don't forget to revel in their awe, either way.
This is an attempted humorous poke at human nature, not the Original poster.
The problem lies in your charger and its charging circuit to the battery, and your battery is likely sulfated too because of the charger and the too thin cabling between it and the battery.
Go kick your RV manufacturer in the balls, and get a new charging source which can be forced to seek 14.4v or higher whenever you fire up the generator to charge the battery, or you can repeat your unpleasant experience.
