smart charger

Hi, Shaker. Please tell me more! What charger? and what genny? Can you say how you blew up your charger. (I too have a nearly new smart charger, and an inverter genny, and I'd really like not to repeat your experience!). Any advice?
Chris (SA)

The charger was a Projecta SM1215 & the generator a Kaito KT1000, I have absolutely no idea as to why it burnt out & as far as advice is concerned, to be quite honest, I probably need some myself.

Shaker,
At a guess I'd suspect the Kaito KT1000 has a square wave output just like the Engel inverter generators.

If that is the case then that would be sufficient to turn most any switch mode charger into a smoke generator!

Tenpounder, what brand of generator do you have?

Geoff

Hi Geoff. I have a Yamaha EF1000iS genny, and the charger is a Jaycar switch mode MB 3620 ("Powertech Plus"). No problems so far, except some signs of generator 'hunting' in economy mode when hooked up to charger.
Regards
Chris (SA)

Hi Chris,
I don't think you'll have any problems with theYamaha.

Some time ago I got hold of a few different generators and checked their output with an oscilloscope. (An oscilloscope is a piece of electrical test equipment that "displays" on a screen the waveform output of the generator)

Your Yamaha and the Honda were two of the better units I got a look at. The Engel was the worst as it was a square wave.

Sometimes it pays to give the eco-throttle a stable base load of say 100W or so when powering a battery charger. At least that's what I've found with my EU10i Honda.

Geoff

Thanks, Geoff. I hope you are right about the Yamaha.
I take your point about a base load in parallel with the charger.
Incidentally, I did not realise there was such a thing as a square wave inverter generator, so I've learned something. (I thought all inverters emulated a constant voltage, fixed frequency, sine wave output).
I am terrified at the number of posts on this site which reflect the view that nominal generator output (kW), price and (perhaps) noise level is all you need to worry about: many people seem to think that (supposedly) 240v AC power is like a petrol driven water pump - if the motor starts, then useful power is available, no probs. If only!!

Chris

Hi Steve,
I too was quite surprised by the output of the Engel being square wave when it first hit the oscilloscope screen.

That caused me to do some digging, hidden very carefully on the Engel website it does mention the square wave output. It does not mention it on any of their handed out specifications, just the fact the unit contains an inverter.

I would suspect this is to leave the purchaser with the assumption you and I started with, that is: "I thought all inverters emulated a constant voltage, fixed frequency, sine wave output"

From my testing Sol was on the money, "generators ain't generators boss!"

Makes me shudder too on some of the criteria for generators.

Geoff