Possible incompatibity between gennie and battery charger

Don't know the gennie....
But possibly a very poor sinewave pattern from the generator is upsetting the charger.
This is normally the case with anything other than an inverter genny such as a Kipor or Honda or Yamaha.

Does it work with out the surge arrestor connected?
It maybe due to the floating earth??

Many battery chargers present themselves as an inductive load which many generators do not recognise properly. Connect a 60 watt (or bigger) incandesant light globe(not a flouro) as well and see if that makes any difference, it often does.

Hope this helps avro

I have tried without surge protecter and with 6 x 25 watt lights on, same result. I also have tried power lead going from genne direct to charger with lights on same result.THANKS for replies

DID, sorry mate...BUT I do not know what a floating earthis.When I connect the domestic power the orange earth light is on .But when I connect the genne the orange light doesnot come on and the charger makes this noise The genne is so I was told a invertor / sine wave type.Thanks again.

Hi LHOTH,
Your statement, "BUT when connected to genny orange light does not come on" pretty much sums up what I see as the problem.

Someone above mentions the term "floating earth" which I too believe is the problem. I know you mention you don't know what that means, that's fair maybe I can help.

I found the same problem with my Honda EU10i when using an ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker) on the output of the generator. I wanted an ELCB to protect mine and my mate’s children when using generators around camp.

My solution was to create the same electrical installation on the generator as we use in our houses. Our houses use what’s called an MEN System (Multiple Earthing Neutral) a flash term for the neutral and the earth being joined together at the switchboard in every electrical installation.

My solution was to create a portable version of this for use ONLY ON THE GENERATOR, never to be used at home. I have an inline ELCB which has a 3-Pin plug on one end and a 3-Pin socket on the other. I removed the moulded 3-Pin plug and replaced it with a new one, with one variation. I installed a bridge wire between the NEUTRAL and the EARTH. You must be absolutely sure you have joined the Neutral and the Earth, NOT the Active and the Earth.

What this does is tie the earth to neutral just the same as a home electrical installation. The earth is no longer “floating” in space it is “tied” to a reference voltage. In this case it is tied to the zero volts of the neutral.

I would strongly recommend using an ELCB with a camp generator as the installation of extension leads and appliances around camp is never perfect.

To make the installation even safer and more positive drive an earth stake into the ground next to your generator and wire the stake to the earth terminal on the Engel. As a side note, the only way you can get approval to use a generator on a mine site is with an earth stake and ELCB as I’ve described above.

Geoff.