Reply With QuoteSolar panels - a lot quieter as well.
Remember when all else fails you have that big generator in your - engine and alternator so really between your car and solar you do not need a noisy generator.
Garry
Master
My camper trailer has a 12v deep cycle battery. It can be charged via the usual 240v AC and the three pin plug or via a 12v DC Anderson plug.
I have a beaut little Honda 10i generator/inverter (10A) which has both 240v AC and 12v DC outlets. I have used both methods to recharge and they both work, but from an energy efficiency view, which is better?
Last edited by Fred Nerk; 8th April 2012 at 03:05 PM. Reason: Spelling
LordRover
SupporterSolar panels - a lot quieter as well.
Remember when all else fails you have that big generator in your - engine and alternator so really between your car and solar you do not need a noisy generator.
Garry
REMLR 243
2007 Range Rover Sport TDV6
1977 FC 101
1976 Jaguar XJ12C
1973 Haflinger AP700
1971 Jaguar V12 E-Type Series 3 Roadster
1957 Series 1 88"
1957 Series 1 88" Station Wagon
Master
I knew someone would suggest solar and this is on my agenda. I agree it is good for the purpose. I also want to charge up quickly at night and in bad weather etc. The Honda is pretty quiet (on par with running the D4 diesel) and I never use the generator if any one is around.
RoverLord
the Dc side of your genny might be rated at 10A but most likely its 8A a kick ass battery charger will take the 5a 240V ac (which from memory is all the 10i can push long term and potentially punch 50 amps (in theory you could go as high as 90A with a really good switchmode charger) into the battery (assuming the battery can handle that charge rate).
10A versus 50A, which ones going to charge the battery faster?
Dave
"In a Landrover the other vehicle is your crumple zone."
For spelling call Rogets, for mechanicing call me.
Fozzy, 2.25D SIII Ex DCA Ute
TdiautoManual d1 (gave it to the Mupion)
Archaeoptersix 1990 6x6 dual cab(This things staying)
If you've benefited from one or more of my posts please remember, your taxes paid for my skill sets, I'm just trying to make sure you get your monies worth.
If you think you're in front on the deal, pay it forwards.
Wizard
Hi , i use a battery isolator and an anderson plug , always keeps 105 amp batt at around 12.4 / 12.6v or so . The trick is not to have too many volt guzling things in your van . Only use my genny via a 3 stage charger and solar when need but most times the anderson is sufficient for my needs for a couple of days .
Master
I only run LED lights and a water pump of my trailer battery. Backed up with a hand pump and pressure lantern. Battery will last a week or more. I would support the Anderson Plug option.
Wizard
Fred - the 12V outlet in the generators aren't regulated in any way as far as I know. I've always been advised to use a proper battery charger when using the generator.
Solar is a good idea, albeit expensive.
Charging from the vehicle works well, although I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't driving anywhere.
Personally I have a combination of all three on my trailer. The vehicle charges the trailer when we are travelling. The solar panel charges the trailer when we aren't on the move, and the generator is the emergency back-up if all else fails (I also carry the generator for the kids asthma machine).
Cheers
Chris
The MOD Father
X2Originally Posted by cewilson
"How long since you've visited The Good Oil?"
'93 V8 Rossi
'97 to '07. sold.
'01 V8 D2
'06 to 10. written off.
'03 4.6 V8 HSE D2a with Tornado ECM
'10 to '21
'16.5 RRS SDV8
'21 to Infinity and Beyond!
1988 Isuzu Bus. V10 15L NA Diesel
Home is where you park it..
[IMG][/IMG]
YarnMaster
Chris - very interesting point about the use of a battery charger in addition to a generator. I have a Honda 20i, but don't understand the intricacies of electricity, but if I understand correctly, I should also carry a suitable charger for my battery type/s and interspose that between generator and the battery being charged. I wonder if this is a should do, or a nice to do to keep batteries operating at peak efficiency/longevity? Cheers
RoverLord
Should do...
if you run a cheapy genny the 12V socket is unregulated so the voltage goes up and down as the genny hunts and its worse with the genny under load. the 12v Tap is actually the internal excite for the generator.(unless you have a permanent magnet type genny)
a decent multi Stage charger will filter out the bad surges and provide a nice clean 12V charge so you dont risk cooking the battery or frying electronics. You'll also pick up a faster charge rate...
lectrons 101... (are brushing a lot of it to the wind while making quite a few generalisations)
generators usually come rated in Watts... Watts is voltage X amps
so a 240V 2400W genny will power up 10A worth of AC gear (excluding power factors and other fun calculations)
if you had a 2400W 12V genny you could push 200A into a 12V load.. Thatd charge your batteries very quickly, so fast they'd probably boil off unless you had a really big bank of batteries.
soooo lets look at watts and V X A for a bit. now as a very very rough rule every time you change electricity from one format to another you're going to loose a chunk of it (hello entropy my old friend, I'm sure you'll beat us in the end) lets call it 20% as thats the old school number for kick ass wire wound trandformer battery chargers so with the biggest battery charger you could buy plugged onto a 2400W genny you would effectively get about 160A worth of charge onto the batteries.
so let say you dont go and get a stupid big battery charger but you get a decently effecient switchmode charger that can push 20A flat rate into the battery (which will still charge you batteries twice as fast as the 12v 10A supply from the genny) if you go backwards on the calculations you can work out how big a genny you need to comfortably run the charger
20Ax13.8 (13.8 is the nominal charging voltage for 12v systems)= 276W (bout 1/3HP) plus your losses 276+20%=331 round it up and 350W...
so any genny that can push a consistant 350W (350w/240V=1.45A call it 1.5A) will run a 20A battery charger quite happily.
Dave
"In a Landrover the other vehicle is your crumple zone."
For spelling call Rogets, for mechanicing call me.
Fozzy, 2.25D SIII Ex DCA Ute
TdiautoManual d1 (gave it to the Mupion)
Archaeoptersix 1990 6x6 dual cab(This things staying)
If you've benefited from one or more of my posts please remember, your taxes paid for my skill sets, I'm just trying to make sure you get your monies worth.
If you think you're in front on the deal, pay it forwards.
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