generator

[rvwanderer1]

As I understand it, A generator can produce 12v or 110 or both. Mine produces 110, then sends some of the power to a converter to change to 12v for lights etc

the previous owner says the 110 from the generator runs a trickle charger for the house battery. says it also charges when connected to shore.
would it be a good idea to connect a quick charge charger instead as I dont run the generator very long. Then when on shore power that charger could also charge the battery.

Next solar charging,  Havent bought panels yet but when I do.  I will run the line to the back of the coach, Thru the roof, into a closet, down the closet, into the water pump area , then thru the storage bin, pass the sewer hookups and to the battery.  I'm looking at someplace near 25 to 30 feet of wire.
Would that be too long of a run? does the system loose much with long runs of wire???

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Old style converters were in fact trickle chargers.  It's possible to get modern ones from people like Progressive Dynamics that can provide 40, even 60 or more amps of charging current while also powering your lights,water pump, etc.  Plus they are intelligent chargers, doing the bulk, absorption, and float cycles as needed.

As for losses from the wire length, depends on which gauge wire you are using.  Go for a thicker wire and there won't be enough loss to worry about.

 

[John From Detroit]

Many portable generators have a 12 volt outlet port or terminals. but forget it. I have used i to run a 12 volt "Drop light" also called Trouble lamp. (they make 100 watt edison based screw in lamps  Just like you'd use at home save they are 12 volts).  But for battery charging it's a joke. Output is also not all that great. rectified AC no filtering. varies from zero to around 17 volts 60 or 120 times a second.

If you have a good 3-stage converter (Progressive Dynamics wizard controled or IOTA IQ-4) or a quality programmable Iinverter/converter way way way better to let it do the job..  I have two. One PD 9180 with wizard and one Xantres Freedom 2000XC with charger set to DISABLED just now. to enable it I can push a few buttons or move a wire.. When I'm fully done I will have a label on the remote I don't have yet (hope to in 3 weeks) and that will let me switch from INSIDE the RV.

(Now did I pull that trick on the Freedom XX.... Put a short wire on the IGNITION SENSE terminal and grounded it of course. the thing senses IGNITION off move the wire to +12 it senses Ignition on or disable the sensor from the remote and it ignores it)