Charging Battery from Suitcase Generator

[JustMelfort]

Having only an outboard with limited DC output, I want to charge my domestic battery (190Ah) from a suitcase generator. I'm looking at a kipor IG1000 with 1kvA output. Would I be better off charging direct from the DC output (quoted as 5 Amps - presume it is for charging....?), or using a mains charger. I'm expecting the latter as the DC output would probably take days.

What portable battery charger would you recommend? I was looking at a Ring 16Amp Smartcharger but I can't work out what the AC load within the kipor's capacity would be and I want to optimise my generator running time so my little 4Amp charger is going to have to go. Has anyone had there own experience to enlighten me?

 

[mattnj]

Having only an outboard with limited DC output, I want to charge my domestic battery (190Ah) from a suitcase generator. I'm looking at a kipor IG1000 with 1kvA output. Would I be better off charging direct from the DC output (quoted as 5 Amps - presume it is for charging....?), or using a mains charger. I'm expecting the latter as the DC output would probably take days.

What portable battery charger would you recommend? I was looking at a Ring 16Amp Smartcharger but I can't work out what the AC load within the kipor's capacity would be and I want to optimise my generator running time so my little 4Amp charger is going to have to go. Has anyone had there own experience to enlighten me?

sounds good, you have it all worked out, you cant charge from the 12v supply really, takes for ever.

the load on the generator (using your 16amp example) is (roughly) 14volts x 16amp = 224watts, the genny will do 1000watts (all this is theortical max) so you are well inside for what what you need.

i did have a 1kw suitcase previously, connected to a Sterling 30amp charger, worked like a charm, and genny wasnt screaming either, they also do an IG770 now i believe which is very small and would do.

 

[JustMelfort]

Many thanks for the quick reply - now to find a charger........

 

[VicS]

According to the Operating manual the 12 volt output from the IG1000 is intended specifically for battery charging and can deliver 8.3 amps . However a spec I read elsewhere says 5 amps!

The Ring Smart Charger is not a bad bit of kit ... (I have the 8 amp one) .. and gives multi-stage charging (+ reconditioning) if that is what you want combined with a max output of 16amps.

The only question I have is whether or not the output from the Kipor is suitable for the Ring charger.

 

[Freedom]

Having only an outboard with limited DC output, I want to charge my domestic battery (190Ah) from a suitcase generator. I'm looking at a kipor IG1000 with 1kvA output. Would I be better off charging direct from the DC output (quoted as 5 Amps - presume it is for charging....?), or using a mains charger. I'm expecting the latter as the DC output would probably take days.

What portable battery charger would you recommend? I was looking at a Ring 16Amp Smartcharger but I can't work out what the AC load within the kipor's capacity would be and I want to optimise my generator running time so my little 4Amp charger is going to have to go. Has anyone had there own experience to enlighten me?

I have a cheap chinese suitcase 1000w generator for sale with a leaky fuel switch. You would be welcome to try it if your not to far away.
See for sale post
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258887

 

[Heckler]

According to the Operating manual the 12 volt output from the IG1000 is intended specifically for battery charging and can deliver 8.3 amps . However a spec I read elsewhere says 5 amps!

The Ring Smart Charger is not a bad bit of kit ... (I have the 8 amp one) .. and gives multi-stage charging (+ reconditioning) if that is what you want combined with a max output of 16amps.

The only question I have is whether or not the output from the Kipor is suitable for the Ring charger.

I am facing the same situation, have had a new 40 amp Sterling charger down the chimney this year to replace my long suffering Dolphin 20amp charger. My simple mind says that the most important thing to compare like for like is watts. So if we say that the Sterling is producing 40 amps at 14.6 volts that gives 584 watts, OK I know that we should take in to account inefficiencies BUT I reckon (hope!) my SDMO genny, which outputs 900 watts continuously will be able to cope and maybe power my tele as well!
Stu

 

[VicS]

I am facing the same situation, have had a new 40 amp Sterling charger down the chimney this year to replace my long suffering Dolphin 20amp charger. My simple mind says that the most important thing to compare like for like is watts. So if we say that the Sterling is producing 40 amps at 14.6 volts that gives 584 watts, OK I know that we should take in to account inefficiencies BUT I reckon (hope!) my SDMO genny, which outputs 900 watts continuously will be able to cope and maybe power my tele as well!
Stu

I'd think so too but once we get into power and AC and power factors and the like I'm lost.
in the above discussion I was wondering about the the waveform output by the Kipor

 

[red beard]

I have that exact set up a Kipor 1000 and the 16 amp ring charger and am impressed with both to varying degrees.

Kipor starts first time, great on fuel, has been reliable so far. Bad points are bit noisy (dont believe the db specs from china think they are made up, someone beside me had a honda and I was very jealous at the noise level)
The choke lever will def break unless treated very gently.

The ring charger is excellent and works perfectly with the Genny however I am on to my third now in about a year, first one died after 6 months then replacement one didnt work out of the box so was returned. Maybe bad luck not sure.

 

[DogWatch]

Having only an outboard with limited DC output, I want to charge my domestic battery (190Ah) from a suitcase generator. I'm looking at a kipor IG1000 with 1kvA output. Would I be better off charging direct from the DC output (quoted as 5 Amps - presume it is for charging....?), or using a mains charger. I'm expecting the latter as the DC output would probably take days.

What portable battery charger would you recommend? I was looking at a Ring 16Amp Smartcharger but I can't work out what the AC load within the kipor's capacity would be and I want to optimise my generator running time so my little 4Amp charger is going to have to go. Has anyone had there own experience to enlighten me?

If you're the chap ahead of me on the trot, be aware... if you run your genny at 0700 on a Sunday morning again it might just bounce off your aft deck and into the drink while you are sitting pretty all quiet in your forward saloon. Of course it must help that the exhaust is pointing away from your saloon and probably seems quiet, not so for the poor muggins downwind of your cheap kaboto multi DB cheapo genny.

Odd, I don't feel better after that... anyway, bouncy bouncy bouncy splosh!

 

[Cliveshep]

VicS has raised a valid point about waveform. It's all Chinese to me like the generators but.......I have 3 gennies made in various parts of the world, at least one of which is an expensive UK make, and NONE of them make my charger work.

At the time I was told on here about waveform characteristics which I have to say might also have been Chinese as I only understood it to be a techie reason as to why the charger performed perfectly well in a wall socket but would not operate from a generator.

 

[CaptainBob]

I charge our bank of 4 batteries using a Honda EX650 and a Sterling 40 Amp smart charger. Sometimes it _just_ trips the overload protection on the Honda when the batts are quite low and I'm also running the 12V fridge or something. A couple of resets and it then is fine again.

My Honda is an old one with no pure-sine output but I guess it might be a sine output anyway if it's a dynamo driven output.

 

[JustMelfort]

If you're the chap ahead of me on the trot, be aware... if you run your genny at 0700 on a Sunday morning again it might just bounce off your aft deck and into the drink while you are sitting pretty all quiet in your forward saloon. Of course it must help that the exhaust is pointing away from your saloon and probably seems quiet, not so for the poor muggins downwind of your cheap kaboto multi DB cheapo genny.

Odd, I don't feel better after that... anyway, bouncy bouncy bouncy splosh!

Sorry mate - not me! Not sure why I get the broadside but I share your sentiment for time/place places to run gennies. No doubt yours is stuck somewhere much more appropriate.

 

[Heckler]

If you're the chap ahead of me on the trot, be aware... if you run your genny at 0700 on a Sunday morning again it might just bounce off your aft deck and into the drink while you are sitting pretty all quiet in your forward saloon. Of course it must help that the exhaust is pointing away from your saloon and probably seems quiet, not so for the poor muggins downwind of your cheap kaboto multi DB cheapo genny.

Odd, I don't feel better after that... anyway, bouncy bouncy bouncy splosh!

Jools
Thats not very nice!
Stu

 

[DogWatch]

Jools
Thats not very nice!
Stu

Neither was starting a genny at 7am on a Sunday morning 15ft from my saloon!

 

[mcframe]

Sorry mate - not me! Not sure why I get the broadside but I share your sentiment for time/place places to run gennies. No doubt yours is stuck somewhere much more appropriate.

It's a fair point, mind.

I guess you've worked out your usage profile and considered solar/wind?

*My* requirements (run heating & fridge for a long weekend with ~30 mins motoring a day) are met by an alternator reg & 25W solar to top up when I return the next weekend - that's different from a friends "sail for ten days running fridge/freezer/heating/autopilot/lecky toilet without starting engine" requirement.

I've got 170 Ah, he's got nearer 500...

 

[William_H]

Alternators

Just to waffle on about alternators often called generators. (language is a fluid thing) Alternator used to mean an AC generator then came the car type alternator which generated Ac then rectified to DC output to confuse everyone.
Anyway an old style alternator has a rotating either field coil or actual pick up coils which pass the opposite filed coil or pick up coils and in rotating will produce an alternating current. The speed of rotation and the number of sets of field coils determines the frequency. Now if we are to emulate the mains power then that frequency must be 50 hertz.(cycles per second) or 60 if you are in USA. In practice this means that the alternator must rotate at 3000 RPM (or 3600 RPM for USA) or if you double the sets of coils 1500 RPM.
Now this is doable with a small engine. However for a light load the engine is racing at high speed and noisy while when you put on a large load you need the engine to maintain that speed. For most uses it really needs to be near 10% accurate speed. It does produce a true sine wave in exactly the same way the power house does it.
Then with cheap technology of transistors etc we got the inverter which nicely produces 240VAC 50 hertz from 12 or 24vDC battery. A cheap inverter produces square wave AC while an expensive more complex one produces something closer to a sine wave. The generator manufacturers realised that they could use the inverter technology to have their generator produce DC at a range of voltages depending on engine speed and load and engine speed was not a concern.
The advantage is that at light electrical loads you can run the engine at low speed low power. At max electrical loads you can run the engine at a speed which gives best horse power.
The down side is that to produce a sine wave is more expensive and possibly less efficient than to produce a square wave.

So you can guess what kind of generator you have from the speed of the engine under various conditions.
Unfortunately a square wave contains large amounts of power at higher frequencies. ie harmonics of the original 50 hertz. The higher frequency component causes overheating of induction motors like refigerators and fans and seems to cause problems with some switch mode power supplies as in computers TV and some types of battery chargers. This I suspect because they fit bypass capacitors across the mains which are OK at 50 hertz but bypass and so get hot with the harmonics.

So we end up with a lot of uncertainty AFAIK about what works oK and what doesn't and unless something fails how do we know if it is inefficient or not.
If I were looking for a generator I would be looking for an old alternator type as opposed to the cheap Chinese ones whose best forte is running incandescent lights .

Anyone got any better advice olewill

 

[catalac08]

I had a cheap generator that was rated at 850W and would run 2 power tools ok to this rating BUT would not power a battery charger to provide any more than 1/2 amps into battery banks. Tried 2 different chargers and the same on both. I have an old Briggs and Stratton 1.5KVA that runs both chargers to 10amps each-but breaks my back each time I use it. As they say no gain no pain!

 

[cliff]

If I were looking for a generator I would be looking for an old alternator type as opposed to the cheap Chinese ones whose best forte is running incandescent lights .

Anyone got any better advice olewill

Kipor are not that cheap, the wave form is as near pure sine wave as makes not a damn bit of difference, frequency 50Hz, easy to start, about 1/3 the price of the honda clones.

I have a 3000ti which runs the chargers (60A Sterling and an old 60A Lucas), fridges, freezer, immersion heater, TV, DVD etc without any problem. The "smart throttle" is good as at low demand the engine does little more than tick over burning SFA fuel.

 

[richkiddy]

Kipor

I have 2 of these yellow thingies, a 2000 and a 2600. Both of them cut out after about 1-3 hours use. Seem to be overheating? Happens more on a warmer day... I only run a laptop and a printer from them so went over to using a leisure battery and an inverter which lasts a day nicely. Any ideas or suggestions? they dont seem to over-rev, as it's obvious that the smart throttle is a lot lower that moving it to non-ST.

Ideas anyone?

 

[CaptainBob]

I have 2 of these yellow thingies, a 2000 and a 2600. Both of them cut out after about 1-3 hours use. Seem to be overheating? Happens more on a warmer day... I only run a laptop and a printer from them so went over to using a leisure battery and an inverter which lasts a day nicely. Any ideas or suggestions? they dont seem to over-rev, as it's obvious that the smart throttle is a lot lower that moving it to non-ST.

Ideas anyone?

The laptop is drawing probably a maximum of 150W from a generator designer to kick out more than ten times that. Definitely a better option to use the generator to top up the battery once a day for an hour, and use the inverter solution with the generator off most of the time. Quieter and far more fuel efficient too. 150/12 = 12.5A for 8 hours (assuming that's your daily use for the sake of argument) = 100Ah which is returnable by the generator @ 40A in ~2.5 hours. If you run the laptop off the generator also while recharging the batts then this also helps as you're then only taking 6 hours out of the batts - if you see what I mean.