Ryobi 900 Watt Propane Generator
I am interested in any experience with the Ryobi 900 watt propane generator. I generally run on solar only, but am looking at something to top off the batteries after a few cloudy days. Would probabl...
Forum Discussion
When figuring out if a given small size generator will power a battery charger trying to charge a given state-of-charge battery bank at a given voltage at a resutting current demand from the battery bank - the situation changes quite a bit if you adjust one "given" ... the battery charger's output voltage.
For instance, when our RV's AGM 230 AH battery bank is around 50% discharged, our little 650 watt Honda will power our RV's 45 amp converter just fine for charging of the batteries ... because the converter's output voltage is only around 13.6 volts ... which means that the battery bank is only wanting 10-12 amps from the converter - which of course the little Honda handles just fine.
HOWEVER, under the above conditions one 5-6 hour run of the little Honda (1/2 gallon of gas per tank) will only partially charge the battery bank. This means we will have to fully charge the battery bank some other way every 3-4 charge cycles so as to properly care for the batteries. Since we're not squatter campers, every few days we fully charge our battery bank via the engine's alternator when going to the next camping spot.
I guess the ultimate would be a charger with an adjustable output voltage, so that you could adjust downwards it's output voltage a bit under 14.XX volts to the point where a small generator doesn't quite stall from current overload. This would allow a small generator to be used for partially charging of any size battery bank between full charges via some other method. ;)
For instance, when our RV's AGM 230 AH battery bank is around 50% discharged, our little 650 watt Honda will power our RV's 45 amp converter just fine for charging of the batteries ... because the converter's output voltage is only around 13.6 volts ... which means that the battery bank is only wanting 10-12 amps from the converter - which of course the little Honda handles just fine.
HOWEVER, under the above conditions one 5-6 hour run of the little Honda (1/2 gallon of gas per tank) will only partially charge the battery bank. This means we will have to fully charge the battery bank some other way every 3-4 charge cycles so as to properly care for the batteries. Since we're not squatter campers, every few days we fully charge our battery bank via the engine's alternator when going to the next camping spot.
I guess the ultimate would be a charger with an adjustable output voltage, so that you could adjust downwards it's output voltage a bit under 14.XX volts to the point where a small generator doesn't quite stall from current overload. This would allow a small generator to be used for partially charging of any size battery bank between full charges via some other method. ;)
