generator for emergency

[DutchDan]

Hi,

planning a to Corsica and Italy. We will anchor a lot, so i need a way to use the Mastervolt charger, just in case the battery's will run out.

what type of generator is small and good for this purpose?

Dan

 

[Talbot]

If you are going to use it with the mastervolt charger, it is probably wise to check with them whether their charger can take square wave AC, and whether it can accept a fluctuation of voltage and frequency as a big load comes onto the system. If the answer to all these is no, you might be forces to go for a Honda - but at least that will be a lot quieter!

 

[Anonymous]

I think most people agree that the Honda 1000i and 2000i are the nicest and quietest of them all (1kw and 2kW) but they are more expensive than most others. My Mastervolt MASS 12/80-2 manual says that there is no inrush current so, for example, if it is an 80 Amp charger then the max power is approx 80A x 14V = 1120 Watts BUT, they claim an efficiency of 89%, so for the rated output power, the input power must be higher by a factor of 0.89. So the max power = 1120/0.89 = 1258 Watts. You can do the same calculation for the size of your Mastervolt but do check that it is a modern one that doesn't have an inrush current.

If you have flooded lead acid batteries, and your Mastervolt is the same as mine, you can adjust the dip switches to put it into a 'traction' mode which increases the bulk and absorption phases, resulting in faster charging. This is ideal in the season when you are using the boat a lot but it's best to set it back to normal when in a marina for a long time. I think that traction mode possibly results in gassing from the cells and I wouldn't personally try this with any sort of sealed battery as you can't replace the water.

The problem with charging batteries from generators is that to get them fully charged you really need to keep them on charge for many hours, which is why many people have solar and/or wind power as well.

 

[mainshiptom]

I have a master volt and an Onan generator it works fine but the previous owner linked all the oulet sockets through the mastervolt, which is fine when generator is off and also when generator is on a nd using low wattage appliances !

But when using high wattage appliances the master volt will stop charging the battries !

So My soultion was to have double socktes eevry where the left is from master volt the right is direct supply Marin/Generator.

Tom

 

[iangrant]

I just bought onme of these - perfect!, it's onboard with us across the Atlantic vacumn wrapped for emergency charging.

2 Stroke Genny



Ian

 

[pheran]

Makro are doing a very similar 850 watt 2-stroke gennie for £42 +vat

 

[Koeketiene]

Got that one - not great, but good enough