Honda eu2000i And charging battery array

bobby1one

Hi everyone, I seen a few posts on this subject but am new to the entire game of power. Anyways I have a Honda eu2000i and am looking to use it to charge about 2-4 car batteries as I will be in the desert running lights and sound for 12 hours straight. I was going to just use the normal plugs and run things off that but at times I don't want to hear the generator so going off the battery is my best bet. With that said what would be the recommended setup? I hear the D.C. Connector will take forever to charge the batteries or can I just keep it charging even while I have load?

jonr

I'd look for a fairly large charger (depends on batteries, but also limited to 1600W).  With the input and output voltage to match your EU2000i and battery bank respectively.    And with a good (say .9 or better) power factor.

Marc Kurth

Yes, you can charge batteries while supporting AC loads. You are correct that the DC output from the Honda is very low at only 8 amps per hour - quite small when talking about charging multiple batteries. The best way to achieve your goal is to bring along a 120v charger plugged into the generator.

You did not say how big your loads are, or how big the car batteries are, so I cannot guess what size charger you will need.

For what it's worth, I use a 60 amp Xantrex TrueCharge 2, 12v battery charger fed by my Honda eu200i but that is an expensive and very efficient charger.

Be aware that some battery chargers with the same amperage ratings will draw much more power than others. This is due to efficiency and power factor. Definitely test the setup before deployment in the desert.

Thom

I use 2 black and decker smart 10amp car battery chargers. 

Thom