Time to charge a bank of 8 6v batteries using a generator

BFL13 wrote:

jrnymn7 wrote:
Acei,

Have you looked into the powermax converters on sale at AdventureRV? Shipping will be a little over $60, but you could get a pm3-100 non-pfc for about $215 u.s. delivered. And a simple mod would give you a real kick-a$$ charger.

AFAIK all the PM3 100s and 75s are PF corrected.

http://www.adventurerv.net/powermax-100-amp-converter-power-max-pm3100-p-28103.html

http://www.adventurerv.net/powermax-100-amp-converter-power-max-pm3100-pfc-p-30709.html

I'm not sure what to make of it?

jrnymn7 wrote:
Acei,

Have you looked into the powermax converters on sale at AdventureRV? Shipping will be a little over $60, but you could get a pm3-100 non-pfc for about $215 u.s. delivered. And a simple mod would give you a real kick-a$$ charger.

AFAIK all the PM3 100s and 75s are PF corrected.

Acei,

Have you looked into the powermax converters on sale at AdventureRV? Shipping will be a little over $60, but you could get a pm3-100 non-pfc for about $215 u.s. delivered. And a simple mod would give you a real kick-a$$ charger.

lol, yeah, i know the feeling. I split my 430 into two 215's at lease 3 weeks back, and I still get confused on the numbers. That's why I like doing the calculations for others here... it's like a good technical exercise for my brain!

jrnymn7 wrote:

Eight Costco T-105 clones have a combined Capacity of 880Ah at 12v, correct? If so, your average daily usage of 370Ah’s would bring them down to a 58% soc. Using a Honda 3000i to power a 100a charger, set at sufficient voltage to max out the charger’s 100 amp current limit, it would take 2 hours to replace the (-)193Ah’s of a 58-80% cycle. It would take about another 1-1/2 hrs to do the next 80-90%.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought 8 batteries would add up to about 440Ah, not 880Ah at 12v?

EDIT: Never mind, my math is really off... lol.

Using a typical converter would take more like 2 1/2 hrs to do the 58-80%, and about another 4 1/2 hrs to do the next 80-90%. To do the remaining 90-100%, you'd best be away from anyone who doesn't appreciate listening to a generator run all night. ;)

That's a lot of power, battery and solar.

Paralleling more that two banks can be a issue keeping the charging and discharging in balance. You could run them in series for a higher voltage inverter and then convert down to run the trailer.

Our loads, bank and solar are half of yours at least but our 720w solar is on the ground so far. That'll give us 50a any time the sun is out. The 100a or so you will see will not only work on charging, but once you get to a point it will start running the rig with what the batteries don't take. The only time our batteries are out of float is over night when we use little power.

New to solar, I would think using 1440w of solar alone, those (-)193Ah's (58-80%) could be replaced in under 3 hours; assuming 5 amps per 100w of solar. The remaining 20% would likely take upwards of 6 hours.

Acei wrote:
This is all hypothetical but lets say that I have a bank of 8 6v Costco golf cart T105 batteries, hooked up to produce 12v output. With the right converter, how long would it take to charge this setup using the right generator?

And what would these 'right' converters and generators be?

Simple answer, there is no right 'converter' for that application. You need a two stage ‘charger’ with boost/cc & abs/cv.

Like many of the boondockers here, if you can manage to do your 'charging' in the morning, the genset and 'charger' will do most of the heavy lifting, i.e; the 50-80% portion, at the higher boost/abs rate. Then your solar would take over and finish off the remaining 80-100%. Weather permitting, of course.

Eight Costco T-105 clones have a combined Capacity of 880Ah at 12v, correct? If so, your average daily usage of 370Ah’s would bring them down to a 58% soc. Using a Honda 3000i to power a 100a charger, set at sufficient voltage to max out the charger’s 100 amp current limit, it would take 2 hours to replace the (-)193Ah’s of a 58-80% cycle. It would take about another 1-1/2 hrs to do the next 80-90%.

It means is the rest of the generator charging capacity workup still valid