Can I charge the house battery with a generator in an hour

[heyobie]

We are going camping in our 1988 Class C toward the end of
September for 3 nights. There are no hookups so I will be running off of my 12V house battery. The fridge, water heater and furnace will run off of propane and we should have enough to make it. All lights are LED. The furnace fan is the big item if we need the heat. One cold night can do a good job on the battery.

So I was looking into solar and by the time you get done, you are in it $200 bucks and a bit of effort.

I have an ONAN generator which runs great. I figure I can run the generator for an hour and charge the marine battery. It costs me about a gallon of gas per hour to run the generator.

The question is, will the slow charge battery be charged after 1 hour of generator time?

Thanks,

Obie

[pianotuna]

mowermech,

But you don't run all the burners on the stove flat out for 24 hours at a time. So chances of CO production are low.

[mowermech]

SoundGuy wrote:

heyobie wrote:
Last year I used the kitchen stove to take the bite out of the air.

SoundGuy wrote:
A dangerous practice to be sure. :E

Muddydogs wrote:
Why? In the spring and fall I do it all the time, trailer is a little cold in the morning its time to make some coffee and as a side effect the heat takes the chill off. Throw some biscuits in the oven for breakfast and she warms right up. Running the oven to cut a little chill is no different then cooking something or using the oven as a warming tray with the door cracked open a little while finishing up a meal.

A little late to reply but I just saw this and find it hard to believe anyone could be so naive. :R A burning propane flame generates CO which can kill you ... recommend this practice and one could wake up dead one morning. :E There's a BIG difference between running a propane furnace which is vented to the outside world and using a stove / oven which is not externally vented for heating the interior of a camper. The difference is venting - whenever you run the stove / oven you want to vent the trailer by ensuring windows are open and the stove vent fan is venting any CO produced to the outside, not the inside where it can concentrate and ultimately kill you. 😞

If that is true, we should be dead, due to all the cooking and baking we did while living in an RV during a Montana winter. When it is below zero outside, the last thing one wants is any open windows!
By the way, burning (oxidizing) propane (or any other hydrocarbon) creates carbon dioxide and water vapor. Carbon monoxide is created only when the oxygen level is low enough that normal combustion can't occur. Since we never had a CO monitor alarm, I guess that didn't happen.

[SoundGuy]

heyobie wrote:
Last year I used the kitchen stove to take the bite out of the air.

SoundGuy wrote:
A dangerous practice to be sure. :E

Muddydogs wrote:
Why? In the spring and fall I do it all the time, trailer is a little cold in the morning its time to make some coffee and as a side effect the heat takes the chill off. Throw some biscuits in the oven for breakfast and she warms right up. Running the oven to cut a little chill is no different then cooking something or using the oven as a warming tray with the door cracked open a little while finishing up a meal.

A little late to reply but I just saw this and find it hard to believe anyone could be so naive. :R A burning propane flame generates CO which can kill you ... recommend this practice and one could wake up dead one morning. :E There's a BIG difference between running a propane furnace which is vented to the outside world and using a stove / oven which is not externally vented for heating the interior of a camper. The difference is venting - whenever you run the stove / oven you want to vent the trailer by ensuring windows are open and the stove vent fan is venting any CO produced to the outside, not the inside where it can concentrate and ultimately kill you. 😞

[tatest]

No. Safe charge rate for marine dual-purpose batteries is amperage at 1/8 to 1/10 amp-hour capacity, so eight to ten hours for a 80-90% charge (100% is going to take days of trickle). Charge rates are high at the start, taper off as charge builds, so an hour might get you 30-50% charge coming up from almost full discharge, or add another 20% if coming from 50% discharge.

The charger will be self-limiting (constant voltage, amperage limited) to start with, then as the battery charges, amperage is limited by the battery pushing back as its voltage rises. If you want fast charging, you need a whole different battery technology, like some of the lithium technologies, which require more sophisticated charging systems.

[Lwiddis]

“Why would you suggest 6 volt golf cart batteries ”

Oh boy. You need to do some reading on RV electricity.

[pianotuna]

Hi John,

16.5 volts = gassing voltage.

[full_mosey]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Another NO.

You might be able to use 16.5 volts to charge with the "right" equipment But even then the charge acceptance rate is limited by the chemical reaction. For example, at 85% state of charge the battery can accept only 15 amps--anything more than that merely causes the cells to gas (bubble) excessively.

I

Gassing is caused by Volts, not Amps.

If Volts are set correctly according to the temperature of the battery, you could supply UNLIMITED Amps without any gassing. Gassing is wasted energy unless the purpose is to stir the electrolyte of an FLA battery.

HTH;
John

[wa8yxm]

Multiple answers. Most of them NO

IF the battery is like 95% full.. Perhaps you can.
If the battery is 50 percent full. and you have the proper size 3-Stage converter (Roughly 1/3 of the battery's C/20 (20 hour) amp hour rating) then it takes about 6 hours. perhaps a bit more or less.

Now in theory you could put a big whomping battery charger on it and give it a fast charge. But this is damaging to the battery.

Best opton.. Spring for say small inverter generator someone in the 1200-2000 model number range. That same gallon your ONAN (and mine) burn every hour will last you all day.

[azrving]

Muddydogs wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

heyobie wrote:
Last year I used the kitchen stove to take the bite out of the air.

A dangerous practice to be sure. :E

Why? In the spring and fall I do it all the time, trailer is a little cold in the morning its time to make some coffee and as a side effect the heat takes the chill off. Throw some biscuits in the oven for breakfast and she warms right up. Running the oven to cut a little chill is no different then cooking something or using the oven as a warming tray with the door cracked open a little while finishing up a meal.

Man does it ever heat up that coffee pot when I put it on and fall asleep in the recliner. What's that odd smell? It's overheated aluminum!! Lol

[Muddydogs]

SoundGuy wrote:

heyobie wrote:
Last year I used the kitchen stove to take the bite out of the air.

A dangerous practice to be sure. :E

Why? In the spring and fall I do it all the time, trailer is a little cold in the morning its time to make some coffee and as a side effect the heat takes the chill off. Throw some biscuits in the oven for breakfast and she warms right up. Running the oven to cut a little chill is no different then cooking something or using the oven as a warming tray with the door cracked open a little while finishing up a meal.

[Fresno_Tundra_D]

heyobie wrote:
Where do you use Coleman sportcat? It seems so small. I assume you place it in the bedroom.
Last year I used the kitchen stove to take the bite out of the air.

Does anyone use kerosene heaters. I have a large one I used to use to heat my daughter's grooming shop. It can heat.

We put it in the kitchen area below our bedroom in our fifth wheel. Too worried that blankets during the night would touch the heater to use in our bedroom. We really only use it when camping during spring break in Yosemite and it doesn’t make a ton of difference but it helps. If the outside temperature gets down to low to mid 30’s, inside it will stay about 10 degrees warmer(43-45) with the heater as opposed to around 38-40 without. That’s why extra blankets are a must. But if I’m dry camping a week and have limited generator hours I can make it no problem. In the morning when I wake up I turn the heater blower on with the generator going to heat up the RV for about 15-20 min.

[Harvey51]

We have had a $200 solar system for several years (Renogy via Amazon, 100 watts). We live in northern Alberta near the beginning of the Alaska highway. We find it too hot in summer and rarely use the furnace. We have two batteries but they never go below 80% charge so one would be adequate. We are just modest users of electric energy. The solar system is the best thing we added to our little motorhome. We always boondock, never plug in, no generator. The $200 was a terrific bargain. So nice to enjoy camping without a generator occupying valuable space when driving and making noise while camping.

For cool nights, use a comforter. For coffee, use a kettle on the propane stove. Turn off the fridge defroster.

[RoyB]

valhalla360 wrote:

mowermech wrote:
Another possibility is to buy a high output (not one of the little 6 amp units) battery charger, hook it to your house battery and plug it in while running the generator for an hour or two.
More batteries will help last overnight, but the re-charging problem remains the same.

Actually a larger bank really helps out because it can absorb greater amps.

If your batteries are only absorbing 10amps from the 40amp charger...adding a 6amp second charge won't gain you anything.

I like your use of the word 'ABSORBING'... I am always saying the batteries are drawing current when being charged verses absorbing DC current. That is what I see on my MAIN DC CURRENT meter at any rate hehe... If I look real hard I can see my +/- symbol change hehe... I see 53-55AMPS when first hit with 14.4VDC for the three batteries in my setup so they should be 'absorbing' 17-18 DC AMPS for each of the three batteries. In 15-20 minutes this MAIN DC CURRENT METER tappers back to around 8-10AMPs DC Current. My PD9260C Converter however won't drop down to 13.6VDC Source for around an hour or so then eventually drops to 13.2VDC source after running at 13.6VDC for a couple of hours in about three hours total time telling me I am at the 90% charge state... That is what I am reading at any rate. Never did get out a Hydrometer reading...

It is working for me as I can make it until 8Am the next morning and not be below 12.0VDC on my master DC Voltmeter setup...

I need to work on that in my description of whats happening...

Roy Ken

[RoyB]

We did this all the time when I was camping off-grid in my setup... I ran my batteries down to their 50% charge state by 8AM the next morning most often. Then i would hook my 2KW generator up to my shore power connection to run my on-board Converter/charge unit to recharge my batteries.

This would typically take three hours of generator run to get from the 50% charge state to only the 90% charge state. Some places doesn't allow you run your generator this long so that presented a problem sometimes.

My batteries want to see around 17-20AMPs of DC current for each battery when first hit with the 14.4VDC Boost charging from my converter. It showed 53-55AMPS on my main DC CURRENT meter setup when first starting to charge. This would settle back as the charge continued and eventually would get the batteries to their 90% charge state. I would have almost 99% of full performance running at the 90% charge state so was good to go for the next 50% to 90% charge cycle the next morning. I could do some 10 or 12 of the these 50% to 90% charge state without doing damage to my batteries. After that they wanted to see a 100% charge state which in my case would take are 12 hours or so. No way could I find a camping spot that would allow running a generator that long here on the East side of the US...

I never had any luck just running a charge for short periods of time as it would get dark on me around 9PM at night. I would never use my batteries when they dropped down to the 12.0VDC readings... For me this is the approximate 50% charge state.

Just me - I'm sure others do it differently. My three 12V 85AH Interstate was installed in 2009 and lasted up until just a couple of seasons ago before they gave up the ghost. I am presently building up a new battery bank...


Roy's image

My on board converter/charger is a PD9260C 60AMP DC Smart Mode setup...

My Generator is a Honda 2KW EU2000i model sitting in the tail gate of my truck bed

Roy's Image

Roy Ken

[valhalla360]

6 volt golf cart batteries are deep cycle batteries. While there is no harm in using them to start a motor, they won't have as any CCA as a dedicated starting battery. They use thick plates to hold more energy but they can't release it as fast.

Starting batteries (including most dual purpose) use more thin plates. The extra surface area allows them to discharge more quickly (ie: more CCA). Great for starting a big diesel but they don't hold as much energy and they won't hold up as well to deep cycling (ie: they will have a short life).

As someone else mentioned, generally a bad idea to add a new battery with an old battery. The old weaker battery will constantly be trying to pull the new battery down to it's level.