[C320-list] Honda 200 generator - battery charger?

[Martin Raphael]

I am not sure how to tell when my charger switches to float stage (I have a 
Newmark charger).  How would I check that?
Thanks,
--marty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeffrey Hare" <Catalina at thehares.com>
To: "'C320-List'" <c320-list at catalina320.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 5:58 PM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Honda 200 generator - battery charger?


> 1) A simple shore power to extension cord adapter should work fine.  It 
> has
> a standard 3-prong plug on one end and the 30A shore power adapter on the
> other end.
>
> 2) Output of the 2000 watt charger is more than enough to run the shore
> power charger, and a bunch of other things as well.
>
> 3) At best, you're going to have 30a charging current available. The 
> charger
> has 3 circuits @ 10a each, for charging 3 batteries simultaneously.  If 
> you
> only have 2 batteries, you may not get the full 30A out of the charger, 
> but
> that depends on the wiring and the charger.  On average we use somewhere
> between 15-30 amp hours a day running lights fridge and lots of junk, and
> estimate that with 2 4Ds in parallel, we have ~180-200amp hours of usable
> power.  I'd guess that running the generator for a couple hours a day 
> would
> do it, but you should run it occasionally until the charger switches into
> the Float stage to ensure that you're getting out of the final absorption
> stage of the charger (meaning that the batteries have taken all they 
> really
> can).
>
> Cheers!
> -JeffH
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com
> [mailto:c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Martin Raphael
> Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:29 PM
> To: C320-List
> Subject: [C320-list] Honda 200 generator - battery charger?
>
> Having read previous posts on the wonders of the Honda 2000 charger, I am
> considering getting one.  I have some naive questions though:
> 1.  How do you hook it up...is it as simple as plugging the shore cable in
> (with suitable plug adaptor)?
> 2.  Will the output of the 2000 watt model be sufficient to run my 30 amp
> battery charger?
> 3.  If so, how long would I likely need to run the genrator to recharge a
> typical day's power consumption (running fridge, some lights at night,
> portable DVD player, radio?
> Thanks,
> Martin Raphael
> Rhapsody #108
>
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