Generator

penrosefred
penrosefred Registered Users Posts: 7
New guy. I have a 24' pull camper. I ordered a Kyocera 135 watt panel and a 10 amp controlor. I will hook up to my 2-12 volt deepcycle battries on opposite terminals I have a 2000 honda gen. hooked up to the power cord. My ? can I just go out and start the gen. for the microwave? Or do I have to have some switches? I hope the ? is clear enough.

Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,606 admin
    Re: Generator

    You can charge the battery bank with both solar and generator AC power without issue (assuming your RV is wired normally).

    You may have an issue if the batteries are low and/or you are using a lot of DC power--then turn on the microwave... You could possibly overload the Honda (microwave AC load + DC converter loads > 1,600-2,000 watts).

    You can use a Kill-a-Watt meter to measure the loads on the genset and see what the loads are. The Kill-a-Watt meter is also very handy for use around your home for conservation (finding plug-in loads that use lots of power).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Generator

    i'm not too sure what the 12vdc system has to do with the generator and the 120vac the microwave requires unless you omitted the inverter from the setup listing. if using an inverter, do not put the ac output of the generator to the ac output of the inverter. that could be the 4th of july, but more expensive. you could just plug the microwave into the generator for a short time period and just leave everything else except the microwave connected to the inverter.