Charging 6 V. batteries while boondocking?

Look to see what the output of your rig charger is and run the generator. Additionally be conservative with using the batteries. The water pump is the big killer. Run battery or little lp coleman lampsfor lighting at night. Everyday start the genny and charge the batts back up. We dry camp all the time and run the genny a few hours in the morning then the evening. We do the dishes and bath when the genny is running to continue to put amps back into the battery.

Eventually I will put solar up on the roof and will put in enough watts so I wont have to run the genny as much.

Duke-44 wrote:
Thanks everyone for the info. I will check some of this stuff out.
If anyone else has some advice please post it.

I'm a firm believer in solar. I have an 80 watt panel. Wish I had about 400 watts more. Then I could run more stuff.

I have a e2000i Honda and I would run it for 10 to 12 hours each day with a 40 amp Battery charger to recharge. I replaced the 7 house batteries with 2- 6 volts then found out my new inverter was bad. I disconnected the inverter Put in some LED lamps. Now I can run 3 days an batteries (with wife) and 4 days by myself.

Thanks everyone for the info. I will check some of this stuff out.
If anyone else has some advice please post it.

I would connect the trailer shore power cable directly to the generator 120VAC receptacle using a RV30A-15A ADAPTER (WALMART)

This is what the 30A-15A long "DOGBONE" type adapter looks like


This will allow your on-board CONVERTER/CHARGER to recharge your two 6VDC Batteries just like it does when you are on SHORE POWER.

Your problem may be however that the 1500WATT Generator may not be large enough to run your converter/charger unit especially if other items in the trailer are on when you connect to your generator. I would turn off (FLIP BREAKERS) everything except the CONVERTER/CHARGER unit while doing this. If your CONVERTER/CHARGER is a smart mode unit it will take about three hours of generator run time to re-charge your batteries back up to their 90% charge state if you had them discharged below 50% charge state.

This is what we do every morning when camping off the power grid starting at 8AM when we are allowed to run our generator at the camp ground.

We use a 2KW Honda Generator and our Converter/Charger is a PD9260C. My battery bank is three GP24 85AH 12VDC Interstate batteries giving me 255AHs of capacity.

Roy Ken

Seriously, the best method depends on how often & for how long of a time do you boondock ?

I also run a 6-volt system.

Solar ($$$) or generator. If you decide to use the Genny consider this:

Start with finding out what your convertor is capable of (charging mode) some,like mine, only output about 5 amps for charging. This amount of amps is too low & will not work.
Next, If the generator has a 12 volt charging output connection, determine what its capabilities are.
Also, what type of battery charger do you have ? manual or "smart"

a very good web site source for information is below:

http://www.trojanbattery.com/tech-support/battery-maintenance/

PS: IF CHARGING IS DONE USING A BATTERY CHARGER U MAY NEED TO DISCONNECT THE COACH FROM THE BATTERIES ( POS & NEG ) PRIOR TO CONNECTING & USING THE BATTERY CHARGER

Mootpoint wrote:
For a fast charge I use the battery charger. The charger will put out 10 amps, my converter puts out maybe 2.
When I boondock I set out my 120 solar panel and forget about the genny unless I need AC.

How old is your converter? A current model will put out much more than the charger on a Honda generator. My 89 Fleetwood Jamboree would only charge at 3 amps. That drove me crazy so I installed solar panels and used a portable charger with the generator.,

The built in Honda charger is about 3-5 amps output at 12 volts.

The trailer charger is probably 45+ amps output, so I would suggest using the trailer RV power cord to the generator, and let it run about 2 hours at a time, morning and evening. Perhaps 1 hour is enough? It all depends on your battery usage.

Want it hassle free? Install a pair of 150 watt solar panels, and forget about charging the batteries at all. You will make up the 35 amp hours that the CO meter, propane detector and refrigerator use, along with make up for some of your light usage, and other misc. loads.

SunElec.com THey sell some 12 volt 'nominal' panels, call and ask. Also look for a 20 - 30 amp PWM controller.

For panel mounts, I used 6" long 2" angle aluminum on each corner of the solar panel, with 3 #10 screws into the roof with some rubber roof sealant to make it leak tight. And a 5/16" hole for a 1/4" bolt into the solar panel frame, to hold it in place. It will also allow tilting if you want to give the best input, if you will be boondocking for a long time. . .

Fred.

For a fast charge I use the battery charger. The charger will put out 10 amps, my converter puts out maybe 2.
When I boondock I set out my 120 solar panel and forget about the genny unless I need AC.

Hard to tell without the converter model and portable charger rating.

To charge it is 1 neg on the one 6 volt and 1 positive on the other 6 volt battery. I'm not sure there is any fast way to charge 2 6 volt batteries but I suspect a charger would be faster than the converter.