Charging camper batteries with generator?

We put on 240 watts of solar and don’t use the generator much anymore. It’s much easier than messing around with the generator anyway.

deltabravo wrote:

fitznj wrote:
Plug the shore power cord into the generator; Turn generator on.... done

Ditto.

This is how I do it.

That's a good recipe to fry electronics you might have in the camper.
Starting generator creates voltage spikes, that is why designated transfer switches have time delay to let generator stabilize the current before the relay gets turned on.
I would start the generator and on give it at least 30 seconds in warm weather before plugging in TC cord.
Or flip the main breaker in TC off, go start the generator, come back and by then it should be safe to turn the power on.

JRJR wrote:
The camper is a 2017 Northern Lite.

It has to have some sort of converter in it to provide 12V and charge the batteries while on shore power. Being a 2017 it should have a far and away more advanced converter than my 2000 Palomino model, and my old converter does a fine job at keeping the batteries topped off.

plug camper into generator and let RV charger do the job.
If Camper has a Progressive dynamics some models have a connector where you can plugin a dongle to manually change charger modes. by putting it in bulk mode you can force it to charger even faster.

the on board charger will bring the battery back into the upper 80% lower 90% charge pretty quick, but from that point it takes a lot more time to complete charge, so as others have said, don't try to charge it back to 100%, find that point where it charges up to quick and see if that is enough.

Than let solar finish the job :)

fitznj wrote:
Plug the shore power cord into the generator; Turn generator on.... done

Ditto.

This is how I do it.

JRJR wrote:
The camper is a 2017 Northern Lite.

The converter charger is multistage.

Simply start generator and then plug shore power cord into it.

Done.


- Mark0.

2017 can have very advanced charger, but manufacturers often put old, discounted part on the production lane as buyers routinely don't do their homework and will buy something that shines, not something with advanced technology.
So check the manual, or email manufacturer what converter you have.
For last decade advanced converter are hook up parallel with battery, what makes other choices difficult to use. If you want to use other charger, you should flip the breaker on converter, but that brings hassle to the operation.
Than read what is the converter output and continuity rating.
My older converter is rated at 40 amp, but some kind of "smart" system splits the 40 amp between battery charging and camper operations.
Meaning I have no idea what that "stupid" thing does.
Either way you should have calibrated voltmeter hook up in your TC to monitor those things and reality can be full of surprizes.

The camper is a 2017 Northern Lite.

KD4UPL wrote:
I can't think of any reason to use the "12v output" from a generator. It's very low amperage, not regulated, and not very well filtered. It's put there as a marketing gimmick. Don't bother using it.

Use only if the 120v charging system is dead.
Just a temporary patch until a fix or portable charge can be acquired.

JRJR wrote:
How do you all hook up the generator to charge camper batteries? Hook generator directly to batteries with the battery cables or just plug the shore power cord into the generator? Speaking to a Northern Lite camper and a Honda generator.
Thanks
John

What is the age of the camper? Older campers had horrible charges. Newer ones are a lot better and will charge faster.