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
When camping OFF-GRID I use my 2KW EU2000i Honda generator every morning at 8AM when allowed to run generators to power up my on-board PD9260C COnverter/charger using the RV30A-15A Long dogbone adapter cord to re-charge my 255Ah battery bank that has been depleted to its 50% charge state from the previous day/night run off the batteries. This takes around three hours generator run time to bring my battery bank back up to its 90% charge state where I can use the batteries again for the next day/night off the batteries.
Been doing this since early 2009 running my off-road 2008 Starcraft 14RT Camper...
I do NOT have a BONDING PROBLEM using my 2KW Honda Generator with my Shore Power Connections on my POPUP trailer. I do however have a bonding problem when I try to connect my trailer Shore Power cable directly to my 1500WATT Power Inverter and I have to use my Bonding plug at the power Inverter side to make it work.
My DC current demand from my batteries when being first charged with 14.4VDC smart mode charging is 52-53AMPS DC current for the first 15 minutes or so which then starts tappering back to around 8A DC current in one hours time. Then my smart mode PD9260C charger drops back to the 13.6VDC smart mode and continues charging the battery bank for an additional two hours to get me to the 90% charge state. Usually at the end of three hour generator run time period my DC Current demand is around 5-6AMPS DC current with the DC Voltage being 13.6VDC. Sometimes I see the DC Voltage drop back to the 13.2VDC Float charge level but quickly jumps up to the 13.6VDC when I use any appliances or lights etc...
There is no way for me to use the 12.0VDC 8AMP DC Current unregulated DC CHARGE coming from the 2KW Honda directly connected to the battery terminals to do much to my 255Ah battery bank as far as recharging goes even if I left it running for 24 hours... 12.0VDC is nothing more than a top off charge for me with my batteries that have been already charged-up.
Progressive Dynamics in their manual brochure tells us A 12VDC battery wants to see 14.4VDC with the capacity of around 20AMPS DC Current for the first hour followed by 13.6VDC for an additional two more hours to recharge from the 50% charge state to the 90% charge state. This is battery science at work here...
The main reason the 14.4VDC and 13.6VDC was picked by the industry to charge modern day deep cycle batteries is the batteries being charged will only produce minimal gassing out during this process... Anything lower than these DC voltages will not excite the batteries enough to get much of any re-charging and DC voltages higher will indeed charge the batteries at a faster rate but runs the risk of boiling out your battery fluids at a much higher rate and may perhaps get the battery cases very hot to the point of exploding...
I'm sure some of old timers still remember the battery charging procedures that went on in the 50s where the local gas stations would give you a one hour quick recharge using around 50VDC with the capacity of a 100AMPS or so. I personally have seen a battery case blow up doing this process...
This is what works for me when camping off the power grid with my setup.
Roy Ken
Been doing this since early 2009 running my off-road 2008 Starcraft 14RT Camper...
I do NOT have a BONDING PROBLEM using my 2KW Honda Generator with my Shore Power Connections on my POPUP trailer. I do however have a bonding problem when I try to connect my trailer Shore Power cable directly to my 1500WATT Power Inverter and I have to use my Bonding plug at the power Inverter side to make it work.
My DC current demand from my batteries when being first charged with 14.4VDC smart mode charging is 52-53AMPS DC current for the first 15 minutes or so which then starts tappering back to around 8A DC current in one hours time. Then my smart mode PD9260C charger drops back to the 13.6VDC smart mode and continues charging the battery bank for an additional two hours to get me to the 90% charge state. Usually at the end of three hour generator run time period my DC Current demand is around 5-6AMPS DC current with the DC Voltage being 13.6VDC. Sometimes I see the DC Voltage drop back to the 13.2VDC Float charge level but quickly jumps up to the 13.6VDC when I use any appliances or lights etc...
There is no way for me to use the 12.0VDC 8AMP DC Current unregulated DC CHARGE coming from the 2KW Honda directly connected to the battery terminals to do much to my 255Ah battery bank as far as recharging goes even if I left it running for 24 hours... 12.0VDC is nothing more than a top off charge for me with my batteries that have been already charged-up.
Progressive Dynamics in their manual brochure tells us A 12VDC battery wants to see 14.4VDC with the capacity of around 20AMPS DC Current for the first hour followed by 13.6VDC for an additional two more hours to recharge from the 50% charge state to the 90% charge state. This is battery science at work here...
The main reason the 14.4VDC and 13.6VDC was picked by the industry to charge modern day deep cycle batteries is the batteries being charged will only produce minimal gassing out during this process... Anything lower than these DC voltages will not excite the batteries enough to get much of any re-charging and DC voltages higher will indeed charge the batteries at a faster rate but runs the risk of boiling out your battery fluids at a much higher rate and may perhaps get the battery cases very hot to the point of exploding...
I'm sure some of old timers still remember the battery charging procedures that went on in the 50s where the local gas stations would give you a one hour quick recharge using around 50VDC with the capacity of a 100AMPS or so. I personally have seen a battery case blow up doing this process...
This is what works for me when camping off the power grid with my setup.
Roy Ken
