charging house battery with generator

With our old 6300 Magnetek converter for a faster/cheaper charge I just fire up the 454. Now if we are cold at 4am I may fire up both so we can have electric heat. The dash heat is a plus when running the engine and the dog house will stay on the warm side for a bit if the 454 block reaches operating temp.

The 454 is more quite than the 5000 watt generator.

With low batteries I have tested charge rates to my 6-6v AGM house batteries and the amperage going to them increases with each additional charge source. I doubt it would work like that for everyone but that is proven to be how my systems work together.

Jim

jauguston wrote:
Charging batteries with multiple charging devices is perfectly fine. I often have as many as three charging my house batteries.

There many not be any issues with running multiple chargers in your case, as you're not really interested in charge time while going down the road. But the OP seems to be primarily concerned about minimizing the charging time when running the generator in camp.

Adding the extra charger probably won't cause problems, but also will probably not give you double the charge rate. Each charger will want to put out a certain charging voltage. The charger that puts out the highest voltage (probably the one with the greatest charging amps capacity) will do most or all of the charging, while any other chargers with lower charging voltages will likely do nothing.

If you want to charge your batteries as fast as possible, and your on-board converter charges them too slowly, then either replace the on-board unit with a multi-stage charger that will do a fast bulk charge then slow down when charged; or hook up a portable unit with a similar fast charge ability. But don't bother hooking up a light duty portable charger (one that's not many more amps than your converter) thinking that both it and the converter will charge at the same time and cut your charging time in half - it probably won't.

One caveat to hooking up a smart multi-stage external charger: if the converter is putting out enough voltage to make the smart charger think that the battery is fully charged, then the smart charger might switch into the float mode. When the battery is highly discharged, the converter might not have enough power to raise the voltage that high. But as the battery charges, the extra voltage supplied by the converter might cause the smart charger to turn itself down sooner than expected, and that could increase charging times.

So how fast will it really charge with your converter and your external charger hooked up to your batteries? There's too many variables to say with any certainty...

Charging batteries with multiple charging devices is perfectly fine. I often have as many as three charging my house batteries. Driving down the road on a hot day the engine alternator is charging the chassis batteries as well as the house batteries-thats one. The generator is running to power the house AC units so that also powers up the converter-thats two. I have 800w of solar on the roof so that is three. They all contribute to the total available charge amps. Likely they are not all needed but they do no harm.

Jim

Thanks everyone for the quick response and it'll ease my mind that I may do something stupid that might cause some damage.

Good to go, no worries.
Although I would recommend upgrading the converter and just keep the portable as a spare.

SWD wrote:
Now after re-reading your post I'd have to say you should have no concerns.

Don't confuse,....he is not talking of direct charging.

Now after re-reading your post I'd have to say you should have no concerns.

It won't hurt anything.

Start the other charger first and get it charging, then engage the converter. The other way might have the portable refuse to start.

They may or may not add their amps. If they do it may not be for long, or it could work just fine. Depends on the voltages of the two (or more) chargers. Should both be in the 14s for best results. So once the converter is going, if it is a PD, use the CW to put it in boost.

The battery capacity and its SOC will determine the max amps you can get in total.
If the battery will only accept 40 amps, and the one charger is doing 40, a second charger won't do any good. If the battery accepts 50 and you have two 40a chargers each will do 25a if they have the same voltage. Play with it and see how it all works in your case.