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Wanting to know of a small generator for topping up the battery when the solar cant keep in a bad patch of weather.
Smallest I can find is 800w.
Smallest I can find is 800w.
aggree wind generators dont get used enough i reckon, i made mine from a 12v boat motor that i destroyed the top section of but found a good use in the end, ie wind genny, made 3ft blades from 100mm water pipe from memory. works a treatRockhunter62 said:What about a wind generator?
Cheers
Doug
condor22 said:Mudgee,
I can only assume the following;
I believe you are wanting a small generator with a 12VDC output to connect directly to your battery, please confirm?
he mentions battery's
Also what type and size battery do you wish to charge? How much solar do you have? what kind of controller? This info will help you get the correct answer.
Aside from this, the 12VDC output of any generator is purely that, a 12VDC power supply. In most instances it will not charge any battery properly as a battery needs more juice to charge than it actually supplies.
the option is using a battery charger off the 240v output , dirty way to do it but it worx
i.e. an AGM typically charges at 14.5V, a GEL nearer 14.2V or in the instance of the small Li Ion 18650s some use in their SDCs, they are a nominal 3.7 (some 3.7V) but charge at 4.1V. Even your wet cell car battery charges at a minimum of 13.8V.
all modern vehicles bar those with 'smart' alternators charge between 14.4-5
A 12V deep cycle battery at 12V is flat and if its already had some solar charging, likely already above 12V. The better way to use a generator is to run a 240VAC charger from it to then charge your battery and of course you need to assess what it draws on 240VAC when charging to appropriately size the genny. I refer to a decent 3 stage charger, not the trickle charger used to recharge a starting battery.
a deep cycle battery is flat at 12.5 volts continued draw from that point is doing damage and severally lessening the batteries life :awful:
If you have a flat car battery a 12VDC genny output will most likely give enough charge to start your car, but will depend on battery condition.
no vehicle should leave home without one of these erfect: https://no.co/gb40
that is all you need on a bad day there is plenty to chose frommudgee hunter said:Thats fine. 240v to a battery charger is kool.
Sounded perfect till I saw the price tag!!!!Shep said:This will take up a lot less room then a generator and at 55 amp will charge a battery pretty quickly
https://www.macfarlanegenerators.com.au/products/150/Battery-Charger-12V-55A
i have a 240v toaster , coffee machine and soon a 12v travel buddy and there is no genny needed, solar mats are the duck nuts erfect:mudgee hunter said:Im happy to be able to use the 240v ac to run a compatible 12v charger to them.
As I dont use any 240v appliances when camping, I dont want to lug around a big geni
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