Another generator/charging thread and yes I have searched.

[PhilipA]

This is probably a stupid question; but would'nt the DC feed be the most efficient way to charge such a battery?
Probably the most efficient but not the necessarily the fastest -10A for the DC output versus more than that for a big charger.

Well yes that is why I would like a 15-20Amp charger.

The other issue is that I foresee that I would like to run the generator while I am out walking etc ,maybe chained to the front axle LOL.

I will need a regulated supply so that the charger goes to float once full charge is attained to protect the battery. AFAIK the 12v supply is unregulated so would go on full speed ahead regardless of teh battery charge level.

Regards Philip A

[PhilipA]

I emailed Derek from ABR about whether his 20 AMP switchmode battery charger would be happy with the non sine wave Yamaha and he replied yes no problem.
Regards Philip A

[PhilipA]

Well I picked up the generator today and fired it up.
The PO said , "Oh it takes a while to warm up so you have to leave the choke on for a few minutes."

Hah. The guy was economical with the truth.( Plumber with a 42foot Bertram. I was in the wrong business>LOL)

It would not run at all without the choke partly on so out with the tools and a carby clean/rebuild done.I also changed the oil and drained the fuel.

So then I rigged up a 500W QH light I bought at Bunnings, and the thing was just OK but surged quite a bit. So I added my 540W angle grinder and that certainly smoothed out the motor. It effortlessly ran over 1000W .

I put some injector cleaner through and fresh petrol. After about a hour or so it started to smooth out with the 500W load, so I think it is just that the thing has hardly been used.

I might check the tappet settings but looks OK.

BUT maybe I should have bought a new Pure sine wave at Supercheap for $399. At least I know that Yamaha quality is good and everything inside was virginal.
Any tips on reducing surge other than to run it near rated load?

Regards Philip A

[Blknight.aus]

give it a damn good clean out turn the eco throttle off and run it near nominal load with some high octane fuel and a little ethanol blend put in.
(we give them a sniff of avgas on base).

[Redback]

Was solar a thought?? seeing as your in the tropics, panels are very cheap at the moment.

Baz.

[PhilipA]

Well yes I guess, but I decided on a generator and charger as an all weather solution .

It should only need to be on 2hours max and then only on days when it is very hot overnight after camping for 2 days when I do not have to use the car as I have a second alternator and can get at least 40 amps in during 2 hours driving.

It may be irrational but I also saw a bloke at Ningaloo who had a solar set and had it attached to his van with an enormous and long chain. It would have weighed about 50Kg. It alerted me to how attractive they would be to a thief. If you wanted to go walking/fishing etc , then you also could not be in a position to move the solar set up constantly through the day.
On a good day with no clouds you would probably get 5-6 amps out of a 120W solar set for 4 hours, probably less if you were not around to move it and seeing optimum current is typically 6.8 amps.

The other thing is that you have to have a sunny camping spot and avoid shade! LOL. In the tropics!

I decided an old good quality generator is probably less attractive to thieves and could be chained to/under the car. Through a 20amp switch mode charger I will get 40 amps in two hours if the battery is very low and it will automatically taper. That is governed by the max safe current for my AGM of 20 amps although mine has surely seen over that often and has lasted 5+ years so far. So maybe I will get an even bigger charger though they get pretty expensive

In fact I will probably hardly ever use it like the PO. Looking back it was probably an impulse buy . I only had to run the car once on my 2 month trip to NT ( at Gunlom) and never in the 3 months in the Kimberley, but it was very tedious and I only ran it for 15 minutes and then worried about the fridge which did cut out at about 6AM the next morning.

If I had a generator I could have taken the car to the generator area and left it there with the generator on for a couple of hours . I would have had a problem with a solar setup as there are many tall trees at Gunlom which shaded my campspot regularly. Also , I would probably be game to start the generator at a parking area for a 3 hour walk if placed under the car and chained to the axle.

We have not done much camp and stay for quite a while and solar is more suitable for that type of camping IMHO, but then so is a gas fridge which I still have access to via the hand me down to my daughter of my 25 year old Groen.

Regards Philip A

[Blknight.aus]

the other advantage of a generator driving a battery charger that no-ones touched on is when you pull up into a van park you can just drop the charger onto their mains power and your laughing.

Some servos and truck stops have 240 posts you can tap as well.

If you find a really friendly reefer driver he might let you tap onto the output of the genset that drives the reefer.