Using Honda Generator as as Alternate Battery Charger

[jpendoley]

I'm picking up my new to me sailboat and bringing it to New England from South Carolina next week. Plan is to go outside when weather is settled and inside when not. The boat has a yanmar with a medium sized regulator-I believe it has a smart regulator and a house bank of 6V wired up to provide 450 A. Reefer is engine driven cold plate with a seperate 110 driven compressor for when the boat is dockside.
I'm not sure of the health of the house bank-I believe its middle aged, but no ability to run a load test. There is 240 Watts of solar, but not sure of its efficiency or the efficiency of the controller.
Given this is a delivery and we will be on autopilot quite a bit and the boat is no toptimized for energy efficiency-poorly insulated ice box, incandescent tricolor etc-I plan on bringing my little Honda 2000i for backup power. Is it ok to connect it to the shore power inlet and charge the batteries thru the onboard 15 AMP Newmar charger? I know honda has a 12V charging cord, but that's long disappeared. I assume its safe, but thought I would ask to be sure.

[S/V Illusion]

It is safe but note some see a ground fault warning light as the Honda has a floating ground.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by jpendoley

...a house bank of 6V wired up to provide 450 A.

I'm asssuming that you mean your 6V batteries as wired up to provide 450 Amp hours (not Amps) at 12V.

You could however be talking about 2 x 450Ah 6V batteries in series to provide 12V, in which case you only have 225AH.

Or even 8 x 450Ah 6V barreries and a 24V boat electrical system.

The first thing to do in ANY discussion of boat electrics is to get your terminology right and be explicit , otherwise there is room for all sorts of confusion.


Attaching a Honda 2000 to the shore power inlet is a common way to charge batteries when away from shore power.


What's the power draw of your "110" (presumably 110V) reefer cold plate compressor?

[jpendoley]

StuM-thanks for the reminder to be explicit. The batteries are wired to provide a 450 Amp hour house bank. So that would imply 225 Amp hours available. I don't know the draw from the 110Volt driven compressor-this is a boat I purchased, but have not taken delivery of yet. There will be an autopilot and cabin lights and running lights to account for. My thought is we will likley run the engine at least daily to refreeze the holding plate if not to make up for low wind days. This is a delivery and we need to complete it on time so motoring will come into play. The generator is seen as a alternate way to charge batteries, run AC if possible(CruiseAir 16000 BTU) and run power tools if repairs are needed.

[ozsailer]

JP, what you are considering is already being done by a very very large group of sailers. Portable Genny's are very prevalent on boats, they can also be hated in an anchorage when running. I always laugh when I see yacht owner move their generator as far away from where they are sitted but don't give a crap that it will be noisy to someone nearby. Just be mindful of where you store your unit and the fuel you will need for it given its volatility. A plan B is always a good option. Also remember that it is very wise not to run your batteries down to 50% of their capacity. You will reduce their life. I would like to see it run down to 30 to 40% of its rated capacity for optimum life expectancy



Ozsailer

[ItDepends]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

It is safe but note some see a ground fault warning light as the Honda has a floating ground.

The term "floating ground" is not correct here. That's just using an unrelated term to hide the truth.

The correct description is that the the Honda has no safety ground connected at all.

[Chuck34]

Regarding the 16k, AC unit, depending on the unit having a soft start capacitor and the overall efficiency of the unit, a Honda 2000 may or may not run it. It’s an iffy proposition.

[El Pinguino]

The Honda 2000i should handle the 15amp charger just fine.
I've been using a Honda 1000 for some years with my old ferro resonant charger by simply using a pigtail - about 4 metres - to connect to the shore power socket.

I'm in the process of installing a12/60 Sterling charger and this is what the handbook says.

'Generator/ mains power (watts),
Continuous 12V 20A approx 350W
12V 30A approx 500W
12V 40A approx 600W
12V 50A approx 750W
12V 60A approx 900W
24V 20A approx 600W
24V 30A approx 900W
32V 20A approx 900W
36V 20A approx 900W
48V 15A approx 900W
Requested power may be up to double for startup.'

One assumes that the previous owners were able to keep up with consumption when plugged into shore power. If so there should be no probs with your Honda.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by ItDepends

The term "floating ground" is not correct here. That's just using an unrelated term to hide the truth.

The correct description is that the the Honda has no safety ground connected at all.

Good explanation of "floating neutral" (often called "floating ground") in small generators: https://itechworld.com.au/blogs/lear...tral-generator

[smac999]

The 15a charger would be useless. You’d be running the gen all day everyday. Because you are probably consuming close to 15a with fridge, lights, pilot etc. So the gen breaks you even but does not charge. Consider bringing another plug in charger too. The 2000 Honda can run a 60-80a charger.

A 60a charger instead of a 15 is way less gen running time.

[PaulCrawhorn]

90-100A would be right for that genset, if the bank can accept (draw, plus loads) that much

[StuM]

Originally Posted by smac999

The 15a charger would be useless. You’d be running the gen all day everyday. Because you are probably consuming close to 15a with fridge, lights, pilot etc. So the gen breaks you even but does not charge. Consider bringing another plug in charger too. The 2000 Honda can run a 60-80a charger.

A 60a charger instead of a 15 is way less gen running time.

Yep. As an example, Trjoan recommenf a charge rate "between 10% and 13% of the battery’s 20-hour AH capacity." for their 6V deep cycle FLA batteries For a 450Ah bank, that would be 45-58 Amps so even an 80 A charger would be appropriate given concurrent house loads.

[sstuller]

It sounds to me like you did not have the boat surveyed. Sticking your neck out in the North Atlantic without knowing whether it is up to the task is suicidal.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by smac999

The 15a charger would be useless. You’d be running the gen all day everyday. Because you are probably consuming close to 15a with fridge, lights, pilot etc. So the gen breaks you even but does not charge. Consider bringing another plug in charger too. The 2000 Honda can run a 60-80a charger.

A 60a charger instead of a 15 is way less gen running time.

It's a delivery, there are two other charging sources - engine and solar.
Use the fridge as an icebox.
During the day the only major consumer would then be the autopilot.
At night there will also be the tri-light , instruments, etc, and some cabin lights.

If the batts aren't holding charge I am sure there is somewhere between SC and New England you can source new batts.