Charging question concerning generators.

Rics68

When charging my cart at home the charger runs at 15 to 14 amps and then goes down till the batteries are charged. At the one deer camp I have, I have a 10.000 watt generator out of a motor home. The most the charger will charge without the AC on is 4 amps. Without the AC It will run 8 amps. Is this normal for generators?

BGW

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pachanga90

The generator isn't sensing enough load to ramp up amperage.The A/C gives it load,then you see your charger raise as well.Larger generators aren't always as sensitive to small loads,since they are built for high-demand.Hope this helps.

Rics68

Thanks for the info. Yah I understand what you are saying. I guess it's just going to take longer to charge the batteries. It's 83 out side right now. I going to turn on the AC to get a good night sleep. I don't how the people back in the day delt with these temps in south Texas.

jdunmyer

There's something about the peak voltage from generators not being as high as "factory" power. Although that doesn't really sound right from a technical standpoint, I know that RV'ers who try to charge their coach batteries with a genset are often disappointed at the very low rate of charge.

Rics68

Yah that's what I'm seeing. Brought my cart home and the charger jumped right up to 14 amps when plugged into the wall.

Rics68

With the AC on it's 4 amps. Without it's 8 amps

Sergio

Unless the generator has a "pure sine wave" output, you will have strange problems like that. Square wave and modified sine wave, which is still a square wave but pauses longer at 0volts, don't translate well to the same rms voltage the charger rectifier circuit was designed for. It can also cause the charger transformer to heat more due to the prolonged constant voltage of the square wave. You may not be getting the full charger DC output voltage, and that is why it is only using 8 amps. Most good inverter type generators will produce a pure sine wave output, but they are more expensive.

jdunmyer

Sergio,
A standard genset should produce a pure sine wave, it can hardly help but do so.

I've run my golf cart charger(s) (2 different ones, both ferro-resonant types) from a WWII military genset and they worked normally. However, the genset in question is a 6-pole unit, operating at only 1200 RPM. I wouldn't think that'd make a difference, but...

I have observed that the output of the charger will fall off if I dial the generator voltage back, even just a few volts, going by the meter on the control panel. Perhaps the O.P.'s genset is a bit low on voltage..??

pachanga90

I've had trouble running a regular battery charger for cars on a standard 5000watt generator(older Homelite(early 90s').It didn't sense the draw,so it wouldn't charge properly.

Rics68

A friend of mine has one of those small Honda generators that make almost no noise. It may be 1000, 2000 watt? I'm going to give that a try and see how it works.