Generator (1 Viewer)

[Vlad The Impaler]

Link Removed


Hi all posted before regarding 240 power use and wild camping.Just seen the item in above link and wondered what all u in the know think about it.Would this an invertor and a 110 battery be sufficient to survive in the wilds or can u see any drawbacks.Only want power for lights and telly for the kids,no microwave hair dryer or such

 

[pappajohn]

it will do the job but for similar money you could buy a proper 230v generator and have the best of both worlds....230v inverter power (clean power) and the ability to charge your battery via your onboard charger.

very much over priced for what it is and this 'generator' will be quite noisy as well, as it has no sound deadening cover to 'quieten' the engine.

and for that sort of money i would expect a Honda engine......not a cheaper copy.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Thanks for your reply papa John ,I have an autotrail apache so limited storage space does the genny u mention come in suitcase style. The thing that I liked the look of was the charging time quoted ,thus not having to have a genny chained to the van for long periods of time.

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[chrisgreen]

i have one:thumb:
just trying to deside weither to take it to shrewsbury tommorow,might need it for an hour over the weekend:thumb::thumb:

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Power

Thanks Christ could u elaborate. Ie what size battery ,invertor and usage

 

[pappajohn]

Thanks Christ could u elaborate. Ie what size battery ,invertor and usage

the one Chris has is a little different....same thing but he built it himself for a lot less money :thumb:

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[haganap]

Personally I would go for the sterling battery to battery charger , but all funsters know that's because I have one neater better option in my opinion :thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

Thanks for your reply papa John ,I have an autotrail apache so limited storage space does the genny u mention come in suitcase style. The thing that I liked the look of was the charging time quoted ,thus not having to have a genny chained to the van for long periods of time.

yes, they are all suitcase models....which is more than can be said for the one in your link.......that is just a small generator.

These (HERE) are all suitcase gennies...they look a bit like a suitcase.

just to charge batteries and run a TV you only need a little one........1kw maybe.

 

[motorhomelover]

it is expensive for what it is
i put solar panel on works great, five weeks wild camp No EHU still worked every thing

Link Removed


Hi all posted before regarding 240 power use and wild camping.Just seen the item in above link and wondered what all u in the know think about it.Would this an invertor and a 110 battery be sufficient to survive in the wilds or can u see any drawbacks.Only want power for lights and telly for the kids,no microwave hair dryer or such

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[Gromett]

He is using a marketing trick there. No one in their right mind would plug a 240V sine wave generator directly to the battery when the 240V output gives a lot more power and uses the 3 or 4 stage on board charger.

Link Removed I bought and I plug it into the EHU socket on the side of my van. Rather than an alternator which can't fully charge a battery it goes into my 25amp 3 stage charger.

I will probably upgrade this to a Sterling 50Amp 4 stage charger.

My batteries are in a storage area that is a pain to get to. This device would be seriously difficult to connect to my batteries. Where as my genny sits outside and plugs via a short EHU lead to the socket on the side of my van.

Please note a battery should not be charged faster than 20% of its capacity.
If you have a 110AH battery this is 22Amps. Doing it faster than this will result in boiling of the electrolyte and a reduced lifespan.

Either this device won't charge your batteries at its advertised 50Amp rate in which case whats the point. Or if it does charge at 50Amps it will damage your batteries. I think the seller is using marketing speak to confuse people.

If your on board charger can't charge at the full rate your batteries are capable of being charged at money spent on a better charger would be better spent.

I am not knocking Chris Green who is a huge fan of these devices having built a few. I just think that at this price they are extremely expensive and won't fulfill their promise.

My personal view is that a proper generator and an upgraded on board charger is a much wiser spend.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Battery to battery charger

Thanks hagnap any idea how much total cost of an installation like this would cost me.Got nothing but 85 amp battery at minute ,would need everything plus fitting

 

[haganap]

Thanks hagnap any idea how much total cost of an installation like this would cost me.Got nothing but 85 amp battery at minute ,would need everything plus fitting

Hi my blog will be updated in a day or two to show the install. My set up consists of two 110 amp batteries, an 80w solar panel and my b2b charger. I also have a Honda eu10i Genny that will rarely now be used. Contrary to belief the b2b 4 stage charger actually conditions the batteries..

Welcome to the world of power quest

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[haganap]

Forgot to add less than 500 including a NASA battery monitor

 

[flatpackchicken]

Link Removed


Hi all posted before regarding 240 power use and wild camping.Just seen the item in above link and wondered what all u in the know think about it.Would this an invertor and a 110 battery be sufficient to survive in the wilds or can u see any drawbacks.Only want power for lights and telly for the kids,no microwave hair dryer or such

Hi, I would say the Honda eu20i as this has a 5 year guarantee and this thing has only 1 year, also this is only a battery charger not a Generator, with the Honda, you can run the battery charger, run all the lights you want to, use most appliances, ie hair dryer, microwave, electric travel kettle and most things that require up to about 1800 watts of power, and you will never be without power ever, but this thing only charges your battery, that can only run lights and tv and maybe an inverter for very small things, all i can say is that penny wise is pound foolish in this case (with all due respect) the Honda is king with me, although i have solar power as well and very good it is to, i love the backup that my Gennie gives me, and have you thought about all the gizmo's that the kids will want maybe on a rainy day, ie play stations, computers etc, all power hungry machines that will knock out your battery in no time, as you have to be very sparse with your power consumption with only 1 battery as a computer needs about 3.5 amps per hour output to recharge it for about 3/4 hours and this will knock any battery. Honda is KING and they hold there price very well, Regards Garry Flatpackchicken

 

[pappajohn]

got to agree with grommet.

the seller is relying on confusion....

all small gennies with an additional 12v output function are around 8amp@12v and should be run at full throttle. so his comparison to other generators only point to 12v operation.
run the gennies on 12v and you are wasting the 230v it is still producing...his cant produce 230v so no true comparison.

using a genny at 230v, your onboard charger will do the job and the gennies 'smart throttle' will keep revs very low just charging.

a 'smart throttle' regulates the engine speed and torque depending on the load imposed....light loads = low engine speed and low torque, and importantly..lower noise......heavy loads = higher speed and more torque.

the 'SUPER-CHARGER' will only produce 50amps if your battery is completely flat and run at full speed all the time.
as the battery charges up the amps will reduce to just 1 or 2 ....no different to your onboard charger.
if you discharge the battery to 50% (recommended minimum) it will charge at maybe 20a/25a reducing to a trickle at full charge....again, no different to what your onboard charger does now.

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[Wildman]

you could add a second battery and solar panal for much less than that. A generator uses about 1/2- 1 litre an hour at £1.40 per litre work out the running cost for yourself. We have the TV on 6 hours a day every day and never run out of power, don't carry a genny or stay on sites.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Power

How much does a 25 amp 3 way charger cost and what size leisure battery do u have grommit. Also how long does genny have to run to charge battery . Just trying to work out cost of kitting out my motorhome from scratch.thanks for the help..........steve

 

[Gromett]

I have just re-read his page and I am pretty angry at his blatent marketing ^&%it.. I am toning myself down to avoid getting Jim involved in a slander accusation..

How long does it take to put charge into a 70 AMP Leisure battery from 50% empty ie, needing 35 AMPS.?

MODEL 12 VOLT OUTPUT AMPS TIME TAKEN IN MINUTES
THE SUPERCHARGER 50 42

If you were charge a 70AH battery at 50Amps you would knacker it.
This battery should be charged at no more than 14Amps on a regular basis. For a one off you could maybe get away with 17Amps.


It is my opinion that either his figures are wrong and he is misleading potential purchasers or his device will damage batteries....

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[Gromett]

How much does a 25 amp 3 way charger cost and what size leisure battery do u have grommit. Also how long does genny have to run to charge battery . Just trying to work out cost of kitting out my motorhome from scratch.thanks for the help..........steve

I paid £80 for mine. It is an Amperor. I can't find the 25Amp one on sale at the moment only the 18Amp.

The one I am looking to upgrade to is a really expensive 50Amp one by sterling.

I currently have 2 x 250Amp VRLA batteries which are now about 5 years old and still going very strong. They are about 50% heavier than equivelent batteries due to their huge plates... They are built to take abuse but I look after them.

I also have a 50Amp Sterling B2B charger and 240Watts of solar panels.

The B2B charger is great if you are moving regularly. The solar panels are great if you are stuck in one place for weeks at a time and have good weather. The Genny and high capacity charger are great when everything else fails.

I must point out that I am a heavy power user due to work... However I can usually go about a week off hookup..

This is the charger I am looking at
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[chrisgreen]

I have just re-read his page and I am pretty angry at his blatent marketing ^&%it.. I am toning myself down to avoid getting Jim involved in a slander accusation..


If you were charge a 70AH battery at 50Amps you would knacker it.
This battery should be charged at no more than 14Amps on a regular basis. For a one off you could maybe get away with 17Amps.


It is my opinion that either his figures are wrong and he is misleading potential purchasers or his device will damage batteries....

iv heard all the reasons for not useing a fast 12v charger and none hold trueoh:
his advertiseing is spot on true:thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

iv heard all the reasons for not useing a fast 12v charger and none hold trueoh:
his advertiseing is spot on true:thumb:

Yes Chris, it is true.....but he's implying it will charge all day at 50amps......you know it wont, i know it wont and he knows it wont.

once the battery voltage rises, the charge current drops....otherwise we would all need a new car battery every couple of weeks due to the battery boiling dry..

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[chrisgreen]

Yes Chris, it is true.....but he's implying it will charge all day at 50amps......you know it wont, i know it wont and he knows it wont.

once the battery voltage rises, the charge current drops....otherwise we would all need a new car battery every couple of weeks due to the battery boiling dry..

true,it will only put in what the battery needs,but quickly:thumb:

 

[Gromett]

iv heard all the reasons for not useing a fast 12v charger and none hold trueoh:
his advertiseing is spot on true:thumb:

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one I think. There is a difference between fast charging and over charging.

I looked into charging a number of years ago when I was buying my 1000AH battery bank and 120Amp charger I bought top of the range VRLA batteries and a Victron multiplus. 3000/12/120. Back then I had the budget to buy the best of everything and was cautious about knackering stuff up.

I still go by the data I researched back then which is that C/5 (20%) is the best charge rate to protect your batteries and an occasional charge at C/4 (25%). Anything quicker than this was not recommended by the manufacturers of the batteries and I tend to believe their advice. This advice was consistent across a range of manufacturers.

 

[pappajohn]

true,it will only put in what the battery needs,but quickly:thumb:

quickly at first......

but once it has charged to a point where it equals the onboard charger, then it wont charge any faster than your onboard charger due to the charge current reducing.

onboard charger putting in 20amps
super charger putting in 20amps

20amp charge is 20amp charge...no matter where the source is from.

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[chrisgreen]

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one I think. There is a difference between fast charging and over charging.

I looked into charging a number of years ago when I was buying my 1000AH battery bank and 120Amp charger I bought top of the range VRLA batteries and a Victron multiplus. 3000/12/120. Back then I had the budget to buy the best of everything and was cautious about knackering stuff up.

I still go by the data I researched back then which is that C/5 (20%) is the best charge rate to protect your batteries and an occasional charge at C/4 (25%). Anything quicker than this was not recommended by the manufacturers of the batteries and I tend to believe their advice. This advice was consistent across a range of manufacturers.

i disagree,your research is flawed

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Power needs

All getting a bit technical for me boys,remember I'm still a newbie. Just looking for in laymans terms a simple way to power my van,an idea of what I need and how much it costs .only want tv and lights powered for around 4days ish .many thanks and Mabey 1 day I'll understand thr last few posts.

 

[chrisgreen]

a sterling b2b 50amp charger is the way to go:thumb:
In a nutshell it charges your extra battery system about 5 times faster than it would otherwise charge and puts about 50% extra use full power into them as well as increases the life of the battery by de-sulphating them .
For best effect use open lead acid batteries, avoid gel, sealed and A.G.M.. batteries. (even though open lead acid batteries are by far and away the best for fast charging and longer life using advanced charging units ,there is some times no choice but to use gel or A.G.M.; the unit has the settings to enable these to be charged within their charging curves).

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[Vlad The Impaler]

Power needs

Thanks Christ any idea of cost

 

[pappajohn]

All getting a bit technical for me boys,remember I'm still a newbie. Just looking for in laymans terms a simple way to power my van,an idea of what I need and how much it costs .only want tv and lights powered for around 4days ish .many thanks and Mabey 1 day I'll understand thr last few posts.

Dont worry.....

its normal for threads to go walk-about like this.
you'll soon get used to it and it make the forum FUN.

wait until we get on to the subject of A frames, towing and gassing. oh:

just read what you understand and ignore the rest. :thumb:

 

[chrisgreen]

MLE00171 :thumb: go to bottom of page and clic link to sterling products
www.marcleleisure.co.uk/Sterling/SterlingBatToBattCharg02.htm

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