Inverter/Generator Issue

[brianfowler]

I recently aquired a small inverter generator (900watt) to keep my batteries charged in my 19' Passport travel trailer. The generator will power everything except the converter. It was tripping into overload and it took some playing around with breakers to figure out the culprit. The genny will run the hot water heater no problem, but not the inverter, the only thing I wanted it to run. Does the converter draw that much power? Or could there be an issue with my converter?

[WayneAt63044]

The 12V output from the genny may not charge the batteries. Some of the small gens put out 12V but not enough over 12V to charge a battery which minimally would rest at 12.6V fully charged.

[RoyB]

Give us the model number of your CONVERTER/CHARGER unit. Then we can look it up on the internet and see what the specs say... Also would like to get the model number of the Generator as well... when you say 900WATTS you don't get to use all that much... It probably tells on the front panel how many watts are usuable- I'm guessing around 800Watts is all that is usuable...

I Have a PD9260C 60AMP converter/charger and it takes a good 1000WATTs on the 120AC side to run it at full power...

Hopefully your converter/charger is much less then a 60AMP Converter/charger...

When you are doing this you will need to have everything else turned off when just using the generator to feed your converter/charger. My PD9260C unit uses a standard 120VAc Wall receptacle plug so it is easy for me to plug it into the generator 120VAc receptacle... My generator is 2KW model and has around 1850 Watts of usually wattage output...

Roy Ken

[brianfowler]

Yardworks 950 Watt. Supposed to have pure sine wave. I am starting to think its not the wattage that is my issue, but rather the amps. I think I may use the 12 volt option on the unit to directly charge my battery.

[SoundGuy]

brianfowler wrote:
I recently aquired a small inverter generator (900watt) to keep my batteries charged in my 19' Passport travel trailer.

So why the secret? :h ... what make / model of genset is this? :@

[Boon_Docker]

If you have a 55 amp converter it will draw maxed out about 8 amps. Your genny will put out about 7.5 amps.

[CA_Traveler]

There should be a label on the charger indicating it's AC power needs and it's DC battery charging amps.

[CA_Traveler]

brianfowler wrote:
I recently aquired a small inverter generator (900watt) to keep my batteries charged in my 19' Passport travel trailer. The generator will power everything except the converter. It was tripping into overload and it took some playing around with breakers to figure out the culprit. The genny will run the hot water heater no problem, but not the inverter, the only thing I wanted it to run. Does the converter draw that much power? Or could there be an issue with my converter?

Very unlikely your charger is drawing that much power. For example IF you have a 50A charger it will draw about 5.5A AC which is well within the gen capability. I would guess your charger has less than 50A capability.

Are you sure the gen is a inverter gen and are you sure it's a pure sine wave (PSW) gen? If it's not PSW your charger may not "like" your gen power and trip the CB.

[brianfowler]

I don't have an inverter in the trailer. The genny I'm running is the inverter type. I have everything running on propane that I can as well. Does anyone know how many watts the converter draws? Didn't think it was more than 900W.

[brianfowler]

A typo yes. I don't have the equipment to measure the Ac current draw. The batteries should be fully charged as I just unplugged from the outlet in my house and plugged directly into the genny. Also I tried running with only the converter breaker turned on. Same result.

[WayneAt63044]

Another thought if you do have an inverter. Anything that requires 1 amp @ 120V (television, computer)from an inverter will draw roughly 10X that (or 10 amps)from the 12V circuit. A 900 watt genny probably only delivers about 7.5 amps. When using the genny, run everything else off of propane that you can.

[WayneAt63044]

I assume your one reference to the inverter is a typo. Your converter AC current draw will depend, in part, upon the condition of the batteries if they need a large charge. Also the current supplied to the 12V loads like lights, frig, etc adds to that. Do you have a way to check the status of the batts or a way to measure the the AC current draw with & without the converter enabled?