Looking for some help. I bought a Honda 3000is generator from Camping World. Made a deal with the salesman that if it wouldn't run an air conditioner, that I could bring in back. It runs the air conditioner just fine..... BUT, it will not run the battery charger to charge the house batteries. With OR without the air conditioner on.Anyone ever dealt with this issue?I shut off power at the pedistal. I drained the batteries to 11.3 volts, (voltmeter at the batteries themselves). Hooked up generator..... no battery charger. Unpluged from generator, plugged into 30 amp on pedistal, battery charger immediately kicked in (13.5 volts) at batteries. I have 4-6 volt battery system. I have HeartInterface Source Manager 20. The only thing different between the connections (generator/pedistal), is the 3 pin yellow adapter required to plug into the generator, for the 30 amp connection. I am stumped. What made me notice there was something wrong in the first place, was, the monitor in the cabinet was not showing a charge with the generator, but does with 30 amp shore power.Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

I don't know, nor is it easy to find how many amps that Heart thing charges at. Sometimes chargers can pack a whallop of a surge. Have you tried it with Eco off?

Yes, I never turned the ECO on. The output of the generator, marked right on the front of the case is 23.3 amps. The Source Manager says "AC Input 23 amps". Perhaps the generator doesn't put out enough amps?

That is one monster charger, but I can't imagine it actually drawing 23amps. That would indicate a charge rate of somewhere around 200a! That said, it appears it is drawing that much.A couple things: does the generator surge/sputter then give up and turn on the Overload light? That definitely says it's too much for it.Can you turn down the charge rate on the charger? Perhaps there's an "Ac breaker size" setting like on my old Prosine unit.

The Honda has a floating neutral which is different from shore power.Some RVs have a power management gizmo that thinks something is wrong if it is on a floating neutral.Without that gizmo, the RV shore power cable can go into the Honda and everything is fine. If you have such a gizmo, it can be by-passed when on the Honda (I don't know how, don't have one) or you can make a funny adapter to go in the Honda receptacle that makes it look like regular shore power to what you stick in the funny adapter.

BFL13 wrote:Some RVs have a power management gizmo that thinks something is wrong if it is on a floating neutral.But why would the air run?

Honda 3000is powering a 1999 American Tradition

BFL13
Explorer II
May 13, 2013
The Honda 23 amp (30a) receptacle has different blades (twist lock) from the regular pedestal RV 30amp receptacle. Needs a 30/30 adapter for that. How can you use the same adapter for both?

The bank selection was for the charger to two different battery banks, such as engine and house.
mikestock
Explorer
May 13, 2013
I have used an EU3000is to power my 15k air conditioner, with lights and charger. My charger will pull 1000 watts for the first 15 minutes if the battery is very low. I know this can create a problem if the charge is at 1000 watts when the ac starts up so I sometime turn the converter off to give the ac a chance to get going.

I use the yellow adapter to convert from the twist lock to the RV receptacle. 1000 watts is quite a lot to run a charger. If yours pulls more than that, something is wrong, for sure.
BFL13
Explorer II
May 13, 2013
I wonder what this "yellow adapter" is that everyone has :)

I wonder if the OP can plug his into both the twist lock Honda 30a receptacle (good for 23) and also the 30a campground non-twist lock receptacle.

I wonder if the shore power from either if working ok, can supply the air conditioner but not pass through the inverter to run its charger component.

Which leads to the question just what 120v items the OP's inverter/charger does supply via sub-panel or main panel whatever it has going on.
AprilWhine
Explorer
May 14, 2013
Hi.

Similar situation. We have two Heart 2500 inverter charges in a 50 amp configuration. Taking one leg out with the 30 amp adapter pigtail, NO way will it power up on 30 amp. Spent a couple of nights at a free Casino campground with only 30 amp hookups.

The initial inrush current to the charger/inverters would pop the breaker every time. Disconnected one charger, either one would pop the breaker. Full 50 amp two leg hookup, everything is great.

Was a Navy electrician, so I am not going to debate this issue. Just thought the info might help.

The starting current for the ac is less than the inrush on the charger in my bus.
BFL13
Explorer II
May 14, 2013
The OP never said anything about popping breakers. That would have made it easy to figure out.
Rqse7
Explorer
May 14, 2013
More to the story: I borrowed 2 Honda 2000's. (One 2000 and the other the companion). Makes 4000 watts, 26 amps. The batteries this time were down to 12.0. When I pluged my RV in, by way of the 50 amp (4 blade) to 30 amp (3 blade) cord reducer, and then the yellow adapter to convert RV receptacle to the twist lock: Inverter charger appeared to start on "low", 6 volt battery bank went from 12.0 to 12.2 volts immediately. After a few minutes I turned on the overhead air. RV shut both 2000's off high idle and lit the red "overload" lights. Test over.

Again, when I am plugged into 30 amp shore power, everything works fine, as it always has.

I need a much larger generator. The onboard generator is a 7500 Onan. I think I have found out why.
mikestock
Explorer
May 14, 2013
BFL13 wrote:
I wonder what this "yellow adapter" is that everyone has

That's just a small adapter that plugs into the 23.3 amp twist lock receptacle seen in one of the above pictures. The standard three prong RV pigtail plugs into it.

To the OP: You can try using the companion cables, pairing the EU3000is with the EU2000i (not the companion). Draw from the 30 amp receptacle on your 3000. They will pair up just like the two 2000's. I've done it many times to run two ac's. This may give you enough juice. That's a total of 4200 watts or 35 amps.

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