Cheap 15A Portable Charger?

Greenrvgreen,

I have the Schumache.

Doug

Powerhouse 500wi, shown at the top here:

http://www.powerhouse-products.com/products-recreational/

This is an inverter gennie, reasonably quiet on eco mode, surprisingly audible when not. It weighs 21 lbs and runs for 5-6 hours running my computer+sat reciever+a lilttle recharging of batts. I am VERY pleased with it.

I'm curious ... what little 450 watt inverter genny do you have?

We have a little 650 watt non-inverter Honda that is very, very quiet and we use it to charge our coach's AGM battery bank. It's priceless for use when drycamping/boondocking in shaded spots, under cloudy skies, or for when powering the TV/DVD player in the late evenings while charging the batteries then instead of draining them.

A single 100 amp battery limits you to, at most, 50 amp hours in a 24 hour period. 120 to 140 watts of portable, aimable, solar panel, with you having only one battery, and a good charge controller that's adjustable in voltage to 14.4 to 14.5V at the battery terminal, not the charge controller, after wiring voltage losses, should get that back for you.

Note also, that AGM batteries like high charge rates, see the manufacturer's charge rate recommendations, before you buy a charger.

More than likely I will go with the Schumacher 15a, here is the link again:


http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SSC-1500A-CA-SpeedCharge-Charger-Battery/dp/B000H961YI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406678767&sr=8-1&keywords=15+amp+battery+charger

Good suggestion on the PD9245 (or similar), but I really want to keep this as cheap as possible, and I've alrady got Iota dls 45s as backup chargers for the TT.

Why not a PD 9245 w/ the pendant,.....grab a lower gear as needed ? Then when you change out to a 1000 watt, you can utilize the full amps/power

I have 800+ watts of solar, 600 on my TT and 200 for tenting, which is the application we're discussing here. I already have a 30a PWM controller for my upgrade to 400 watts for tenting, but I am asking about maximizing my gennie-fed top-off charge in the evening--currently it is 60 watts or 4 amps for a 100ah bank. That doesn't get the job done.

Again, my constraint is the 450watt capability of my gennie.

Doug, you didn't link the 12a you liked, you just talked about it. Which one?

I've have had the 12 Amp version of this charger for about 5 years. I don't use it often, but I'm very satisfied with its performance.

Like others above have said, think about solar!!

Doug

I would rather spend $400 on a solar system that is completely quiet, no gas, and no smell or noise.

SunElec.com

I figure that the $3000 that I spent on my solar system between 1994 and 1999 is money well spent, and saved me at least $10 a night in camping fees by allowing me to dry camp in wonderful BLM and National Forest campgrounds all over the United States. The $10 a night saved more than paid for the solar system and inverter/charger in 300 nights of dry camping between 1994 and 2005. Again between 2005 when I stared living in the RV and 2008 when I went back into a campground, and again in the years since that time.

Now I could replace my 400 watt solar system and 50 amp MPPT controller for about $600. My question is why not solar? It is so much lower cost than in the 90s. Remember back in the 90's it took more time to earn $3000, like two or three months pay, now I earn $3,000 in 4 weeks. Solar is so much lower cost than back then. And my 400 watt panels put out power now, just like when new! I think they will last another 20 - 30 years, if I am around, I will post how long they last in 20 - 30 years. Your generator will probably only work 5 years, give or take 4 years.

Fred.

The old style Vector charger 1090A (?) was/is a 20a smart charger that drew 320w (VA) from the gen. I have some measurements that suggest those are about 0.8 PF. Now they are sold by Black and Decker.

So it would seem you could look at a 20 amper instead of a 15?

My 1092A same style but 35 amper, draws 600w (VA) You might just be able to run a 25 amper, don't know.