Honda EU20 <span class="highlight">Generator</span> question

Holic,it is in the general consensus not to use the 12v charger on the Genset, best to use the 240v & the smart charger.



Bob.

Hi Ima,

You could charge a battery but it would be unregulated. You could fry the battery as it wouldn't turn off when the battery is full. I use mine on a 1kva Honda for emergencies only.

It would charge at 8 amps so if you had a smartcharger at around 15 or 25amps it would obviously be quicker.

Cheers Wilko

Use a charger instead of straight from the Gennie...I tested mine and it was putting out 17v with spikes to 22v on my Honda Eu10

As was said before.
Best way is to use a multi stage charger.

If none is available, connect a voltmeter in parallel to your battery and charge it through the 12V output.

The voltage will rise slowly, but once it gets up to 14V it'll start rising faster.

Once it's reached 14.6~15V, stop charging.
Your battery will be around 90% of full capacity at this stage.

But don't go to bed while doing this, because it's not a 'set and forget' thing.
If the voltage is allowed to rise higher, the battery will lose electrolyte at an increasing rate.

You could build a simple circuit which provides for a more complete charging:
Wire a 12V21W bulb in series, with a bypass switch parallel to the bulb.
Start charging with the switch closed. Once the battery voltage has come up to ~14.5V, flick the switch open.
The light bulb will now limit the current to around 1~1.5A, and the battery voltage will drop instantly before starting to rise slowly again.

Once the battery terminal voltage has again risen to 14.5V, wait another hour or two and the battery will be 100% charged (it doesn't matter if the battery voltage rises higher during this time, as this is actually beneficial).

The above procedure is good for batteries with a capacity of ~100Ah.
For smaller batteries, reduce the wattage of the bulb, for larger ones, wire two 21W bulbs in parallel.

cheers, Peter

Thank you all for the prompt replies!

Looks like the smartcharger solution is the way to go, thanks once again.

Linda.