REF Aldi gennys, will they run a boat battery charger?

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Heckler

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My 3-4 stage battery charger puts out 15 amps at 12v if necessary, 180 watts? does this mean that the 650 watt at 240v cheapo Aldi genny will drive it?
Stu
 
Thanks for that, what I was after was how to convert 650 watt/240v connected to the mains input on my charger that gives 15amps at 12 volt
Stu
 
Maybe yes, maybe no. Some of the "3-4 stage" battery chargers are VERY sensitive to the input and are easily damaged by voltage spikes etc.

I bought one of the "cheapo" varities of gennies a few years ago and promptly returned it after talking to the tech help line bloke - the instructions that came with the genny stated it was not suitable for running any "electronic" devices. I questioned this (solid state charger) and was told in no uncertain terms not to do it due to the PROBABILITY of damaging the charger. He went on to advise not to plug any electronic devices into the genny.

Let's see now, use a cheapo genny @£65 and risk damaging a £4~500 charger unit or buy a genny with a clean output (suitable for running sensitive electronic equipment)? A no brainer really. Alternative was to buy a cheapo "dumb-ass" charger for a quick boost.

Power wise the genny you mention should have enough output to run your small charger but do you really want to risk damaging the charger?

If you do go that route may I suggest you install a surge protector / filter between the genny output and the charger. (and an ELCB / RCB)
hammer.gif
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.
 
Should do it easily. Don't bother trying to charge batteries from the 12 volt DC output (if it has one) but just connect the mains voltage AC output to the battery charger. There is enough output, in theory, to run about a 40 amp charger and easily enough for a 15 amp unit. Just be careful to ensure that the generator is earthed, you should find this described in the instructions.

EDIT: Cliff makes a good point, I would use it connected to a cheap car charger, rather than the expensive boat one.
 
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Just be careful to ensure that the generator is earthed, you should find this described in the instructions.

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Just to be a bit troublesome /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif What would you earth it to if you were charging at anchor, or on a mooring, (buoy)? I am presuming that the OP has power at his normal berth, so wouldnt need a genny.
 
Bought a Honda one last year .. Supposed to be quiet .. Have used it on the boat but have to run it up by the pulpit otherwise you can hear it .. Charges the batteries , Lights work and 240 volts on board .. We are on a swing mooring and I was very aware of the noise and other boats near by .. Not the sort of thing to run at night and defiantly not in a marina .. Ours is now used to power the jet washer when she needs a scrub .. We run the engine to charge the batteries if required ..
 
In terms of power, no problem. But, as Cliff says, some cheap gennies give a horrid waveform out. This could damage some chargers. However, some chargers are designed to accept really bad mains -- if you're sailing in some parts of the world the mains is terrible. Have a look at the charger manual and see what they say about limits on the mains supply then check that against the Aldi spec (see if you can have sight of a manual before buying -- or look online?). It's probably noisy, tho'. Won't make you Mr Popular with neighbours or Mrs Stu. Some gennies leak oil. A nice little Honda might be the way to go, but an entirely different price league -- unless you can get one cheap on Ebay?
 
As Clif and others advise - not good to try with expensive gear that is sensitive to spikes etc.

But I can charge batterys using my cheapo Wolf using cheapo charger. The old cheap Gunston / Halford / you-name-it basic chargers don't care as they really are step-down jobs only. No sensitive electronics gubbins.

Way I see it - if you are using a genny - you won't be leaving it unattended - so a bog standard cheapo set-up is not a problem.

One final point .... I use my Wolf 700 to power reasonable house stereo for parties when well away from house down by river and that has survived it fine.
 
I have a similar one £50 out of B&Q a few years ago, great for power tools and simple things but as suggested the waveform is not good so would never use with anything that cost more than the generator.

If I wanted to run the on-board sterling charger I would want a proper sinewave generator
 
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.. Supposed to be quiet .. Have used it on the boat but have to run it up by the pulpit otherwise you can hear it ..

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At anchor that will generally put the genni/noise upwind of you; if instead you put the genni into the dinghy and hang that off the stern, the noise gets blown away from you.
 
I had a 700W gennie from focus and it would only charge at about 2Amps through on my 10 amp charger, even though this was way below the rated wattage! Drove 7/800watt power tools fine.
My older (and heavier) generator will produce 10amps through the same charger.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Bought a Honda one last year .. Supposed to be quiet .. Have used it on the boat but have to run it up by the pulpit otherwise you can hear it .. Charges the batteries , Lights work and 240 volts on board .. We are on a swing mooring and I was very aware of the noise and other boats near by .. Not the sort of thing to run at night and defiantly not in a marina .. Ours is now used to power the jet washer when she needs a scrub .. We run the engine to charge the batteries if required ..

[/ QUOTE ]

Really ? This is not our experience with a Honda. We brought the expensive Honda Genny - the Eu10i. Is this what you had? It's the quietest Genny I have ever head. It's certainly MUCH quieter than our engine/most engines I have ever heard. I deliberately rowed around to neighbouring boats and nearly always you could barely hear it on the next boat. Certainly anyone with a wind genny on their boat will never hear our petrol Genny.

I am still very careful when I use it but often find that it can't be heard from very far away at all and is drowned out by ambient noise. Especially when used on the Eco setting which turns down the revs to when possible to match the load. Also very reliable.

We don't use it in a Marina (but surely nearly always you then have shore power available ?)

Sadly not cheap though !
 
Mr D
thanks for that, have bought it to experiment with, am on a pile mooring, humans at the mo are conspicious by their absence, at the mo I have to run the donk for an hour daily at least to charge the batteries after a night of eber at 4 amps, tv at what ever for swmbo, plus the domestic lights, my thinking was to use the genny to run a couple of 240 v lights plus the tv OR maybe see if the shore charger will accept the device and use it to keep the batteries topped up.
PS have got a 1.2 kva ancient honda, side valve genny but it is big and heavy and starts with a rope pull, hjave also got a honda 4.5kva but that is a two man job to lift and actually is my home backup.
Stu
 
I used to have a little MASE two-stroke 600w that would give 20amps at 12v. Brill for charging, very light and quiet. And once used it to power the group's music amps at the bar when a lightening strike took out the substation. The beer eventually got warm, but the takings were huge. Lots of candles used. Rest of town was dead.
A
Sadly I note they no longer sell them.
 
Dunno whether you saw the other post BUT the end of the saga is: I bought one, I started it up, all was looking good, I tested a few tools, it started to charge a dead 110amps battery, I ran it a bit more, then it stopped, I restarted it and noticed smoke curling out of the plug sockets, I looked around the back and the control panel was on fire!. A swift shut down and puff and bash with a cloth and it went out, I got my money back this morning! Discretion better part of valour etc!
Stu
 
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