12V Battery chargers

Cameron,
Go to Forum - search and type in christie and you will find find quite a few archived post. I have done a bit of research myself on the Christie generator and the general feedback has been very positive. I'm tossing up between the Honda EU or the Christie at the moment but the Hondas only 8 amp on 12 v but then again it does have 240volt, comes down to the application I guess.
Mark

cameron.
The honda eu is very good. the maximum charge rate of 8 amps is chosen by all portable generator manifacturers because it is the max rate that is safe to charge a battery at without reducing its life. the 240v is very handy.
Eric.

Not entirely certain, but I'm sure I've been told that the Christie thing is very noisy. The Honda's, on the other hand are deathly quiet.

Hi Cameron,

I have a Les Christie charger and have used it a number of times. Next week is the big test, I'm off camping with a mate for a week of fishing, crabbing and drinking so need to keep the fridge full and up max. The few tests I did, discharging a battery to various levels and recharging by the gen was a complete success. Time to charge Cat batteries was very quick, no boiling and min fuel though as per the advise above the noise is quite high. There is no way you will get away with it in a crowded area, they'll hang you up if you had it running for hours. I'm going to try Les's idea of running the exhaust under ground to quieten it. So far I'm wrapped in it and I looked at all the various ways of charging (solar etc) and by far this method is the best to date. As from an above reply don't worry about damaging the batteries with excess current, the charger is still voltate regulated to a max of 15 volts on fast charge. To equalise batteries (which most people don't do) you need to charge at 16 volts for a period of time so 15 volts is fine. Voltage level is what allows batteries to die, battery resistance will regulate the current just so long as the voltage is correct.

Regards
Ray

I have a Les Christie charger and it is fantastic (but noisy as noted by others). I find that about one hour per day is all it takes to keep my battery running a BushBoy fridge and one fluro camp light. It really came to the fore during a trip to the Kimberley last year when my dual battery controller took a holiday while travelling to Kalumburu - for the rest of the trip I'd just drive away from camp once a day and fire it up for an hour and all was well. I haven't yet tried the underground exhaust method but intend to very soon.

Cheers

We were camped about 7 metres away from some people using a Honda generator on the weekend, and couldn't hear it over the waves breaking on the beach. I had to walk over to their camp and ask them if it was running. We were about 15 metres from the beach.

The Honda eu series are the absolute best to use around others.
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I use a 5 KVa in a Toyota bus to providde 240V regulated power for a lot of equipment on the vehicle.
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That genny operates at all times of the day and night, in all conditions, in all locations (predominantly in the centre of Sydney CBD and surrounding suburbs) and does not create enough noise to generate any complaints, even from the most discerning agitator.
.
My strongest advice is to get the Honda eu as it is the absolute best.
You never know, you might camp next to me one day and NOT have the Honda. I wouldn't be a happy camper if that was the case.
.
Contact your Honda Dealer and ask for a demonstration IN THE FIELD. Any dealer worth his or her salt will do just about anything for a sale.
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Imagine being able to have it sitting beside your chair, running merrily, while you're having a few ales and a quiet chat. No raised voices to try to get over the noise of the others..... :-)