Recommend generator for battery charge

Nogridsister

Hello,

I need help choosing a generator for charging my battery bank - (4) 12V 200NC batteries (48V).  I have a Noco G 15000 Genius battery charger.   I would like to charge separately from my solar inverter - just generator to batteries.    I am looking at the Honda EU3000is or Honda EU7000is.    I would probably need to charge batteries once a week in the winter.   Anyone have experience or opinions here?
I would really appreciate the help!

mike95490

This charger https://no.co/g15000 ?
15A, up to 400ah bank ?  12 or 24V   yet you state a 48V bank.   How do you think that is going to work ?

 Calls for 250W, so a generator speced for 400W cont duty should work, even a honda eu1000 would do it,

BUT, this would be a wasted charger,  When charging from a generator, you only need a simple charger to bulk your battery to 80% or so, and let the solar finish topping it off.  Running a 3000 w generator (even honda eu) to charge a battery the last 15% or so, will waste fuel and add many hours to the engine,    You should be looking at a simple 48V charger like the http://www.iotaengineering.com/dls5413.htm    48V 13A output   700w output x 1.3 eff = apx 900 watts to drive it, more than the eu1000 can do.   But wait.  because these have a heavy starting surge, a small inverter generator may not be able to start the supply for the first charging cycle of the internal switching caps.

Estragon

The small hondas have an eco mode that throttles back under lighter load, so a bit more efficient (and quieter) to run partly loaded. I really like my eu2000. Yamaha and others make similar units.

IIRC, the iota chargers have a low power factor, so aren't great for regular generator charging. I have a couple, but they get used so rarely it doesn't matter that much to me. If I was using a charger weekly, I'd spend the $$ for a better power factor.

jonr

178AH AGM battery bank? - I'd charge at around 25A with an EU2000i.    Generators are most efficient at high, not partial loads.  I suspect that engine wear per kwh (for a given generator) is also lower, but that's hard to find data for.