I'm sorry for such a newbe question. We have just purchased a 1999 29' Aljo 5th wheel. My wife and I are talking about buying a 3000 watt Honda generator in the future to run A/C. For the time being we have a 1000 watt Yamaha generator from our pop-up days. Can I use my Yamaha to charge my battery during the day when we go dry camping? Is it big enough? I stress that I do not intend to run anything with the generator, I just want to be able to top off whatever battery we use during the night. Will this work? We will be buying the Honda in the future, but we'd like to know if what we have will get us by.

If your converter doesn't overdraw the 1000w, yes.

Thank you for the reply. Is there something I can do to prevent that? Or, something I can keep an eye on while it's charging? Again, sorry for the newbe questions. Our 5th wheel is a big step up from our tent trailer.

110V 1000W.....about 9ampsGood for maintaining a charge but not going to recharge a low battery

Post the model number of your CONVERTER/CHARGER unit and we can figure out what the 120VAC INPUT power has to be. If the converter draws more then lets say 800WATTS then your 1KW Generator will not be strong enough to operate the converter/charger.If converter/charger draws more than 800WATTS and a quick three hour charge is not desired than you may be able to bring along a portable smart mode 10 or 20AMP AMP charger and just plug it into the small generator and connect it directly to your battery terminals. But here again the 120VAC INPUT POWER of the portable charger unit has to be less than around 800WATTs.You may be able to get away with running a generator for longer periods of time in CA campgrounds but here on the east side of the US almost all of the camp ground have generator run time restrictions in place which means we have to re-charge our batteries in the quick three hour time period while we are allowed to run our generator... Just something else to have to worry about...Roy Ken

All we are going to run off the battery at night is minimum amount of lights, my C-Pap machine and a small fan. All we can do is try it and see how it goes. I'm thinking a night spent sleeping in it here in the back yard and see how it goes is in order! :)

Will a 1000watt Yamaha generator charge battery?

32 Replies

BigChris99
Explorer
Sep 09, 2013
Peg Leg wrote:
You've got the idea, driveway try outs. If you check the CPAP machine and fan for the wattage ratings. Then plug in some lights that equal the same watts and you can get a close real life test on the unit.

Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. Worst case, plan B or back to the drawing board.

We are going to pull the trailer out and park it on the driveway next weekend. We are going see how all of this works out for us. Thank you all again for all of your input.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Sep 09, 2013
First a 1,000 watt generator may or may not be a 1,000 watt generator..

now a Yahama 1200 ((I think that is an EF1200i)) should be enough to power a Progressive Dynamics 9180 with charge wizard... I used to run mine with a Genrac 1,000 (Which is a genuine 1,000 watt geneerator type generator)

However a Honda 1,000, Which is not a full 1,000 watt (It is 1,000 peak) WILL NOT run that same converter, it will, however run a 9160 with wizard (or a 9260Z)

Odds are, if you have a trailer you have either a 45 or 60 amp converter and the 1,000 should have no problem at all powering that box.
69_Avion
Explorer
Sep 08, 2013
I took my old 1995 Yamaha 1000 watt generator with me on a 5,000 mile trip this summer. Most of the time we were off the grid. I also took my Honda 2000i companion generator. I was able to run my 5,000 btu AC, and my automatic battery charger at the same time with no issues. I never even started the Honda.
time2roll
Nomad
Sep 08, 2013
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
With a standard charger a thousand watt Honda is worth 20-amperes maximum charger rate.
I think your Honda needs a tune up.
Peg_Leg
Explorer
Sep 08, 2013
You've got the idea, driveway try outs. If you check the CPAP machine and fan for the wattage ratings. Then plug in some lights that equal the same watts and you can get a close real life test on the unit.

Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. Worst case, plan B or back to the drawing board.
darsben
Explorer II
Sep 08, 2013
I hook a harbor freight battery charger/starter to my thousand watt generator and charge the batteries directly. No muss no fuss.
jauguston
Explorer
Sep 08, 2013
I use a 12v power cord for my Resperonics System One Auto C-PAP when in the RV. I use the Humidifier and a Heated air tube. The total amp draw is 5a. 12v power cords are available for most all C-PAP machines as they all run on 12v. The brick in the AC power cord converts 120v AC to 12v DC. cpap.com has the 12v cords.

Jim
joeprinter
Explorer
Sep 08, 2013
I have heard many have tried the 12V setup for their cpap machines, too only find out they really need the 2 6V higher amh to work though out the night. Great idea to try it in the backyard under your exact application you will be using while dry camping.
BigChris99
Explorer
Sep 08, 2013
Again, thank you all for the wealth of information. I do not know what size my converter is, I didn't get a chance to look today, got too busy around the house. I'll try to get out to the trailer tomorrow and see what I can find out.
2oldman
Explorer II
Sep 08, 2013
RJsfishin wrote:
What a bunch of BS info !!!There is the straight skinnys on the subject !!
Thanks for straightening this all out for us.