Charging Batteries with Generator?

[Doc_Vegas]

OK, made an amateur mistake this past weekend. Went out in 110 degree temps, found great cove, set up shop for over 5 hours. Very fun, but when I went to start it up, just clicks. Sadly found the battery setting at "both". DOOCH! I ended up pulling the battery from the generator and attaching to the engine, fired right up.

I guess sitting all that time with the refridgerator running drained the batteries... is that logical? I was running the fridge and the sterio during this time, I don't think anything else was energized.

In retrospect, seems I could have fired up the generator and used that power to charge the batteries...

I hope to never make this mistake again, but just in case...???

[seapuppy]

yep...rookie mistake.......but it does sound nice to camp in a cove for 5 hrs...


SP irate:

[rgreenwell8962]

I'd be interested to see if anyone knows how long it is possible to run the fridge only before draining the house battery completely. I am heading out for a week and will be anchoring overnight so I am curious if my battery will last through the night keeping the fridge cold. I am not sure what size my house battery is, but if it helps, it is in a 2001 Maxum 2500 SCR.

[seapuppy]

if you have a group 24..then it will be marginal if it will keep the charge for 24 hrs....but I'd look at installing either a group 27 or 1 extra gp 24.....installed parallel it will keep the fridge running for quite awhile...or ....
stick golf cart batts in....a bank of those will run your boat for a week....of course they weight about twice as much....


might wanna get the ph levels checked on those batt's....might be low ..thus not taking a full charge...

SP irate:

[rgreenwell8962]

Is there a test kit I can purchase at the auto parts store to check the ph levels? Also, any recommendation on a new deep cycle battery? I am looking on fishery supply and it doesnt seem to specify whether the deep cycle batteries are group 24 or 27.

THanks

Originally Posted by seapuppy

if you have a group 24..then it will be marginal if it will keep the charge for 24 hrs....but I'd look at installing either a group 27 or 1 extra gp 24.....installed parallel it will keep the fridge running for quite awhile...or ....
stick golf cart batts in....a bank of those will run your boat for a week....of course they weight about twice as much....


might wanna get the ph levels checked on those batt's....might be low ..thus not taking a full charge...

SP irate:

[seapuppy]

yeah...any auto parts store will have a ph tester...looks like a turkey baster...


go to costco..they have both gp 24/27 batts...cheaper than fisheries....plus a pretty good warranty..

SP

[Doc_Vegas]

Thanks. So howz about my question with the genny? Do you guys think we could have charged the engine batteries using the on-board generator? Thanks

[Big Daddy]

Yes you can charge your batteries with the onboard generator. With the generator running, turn on your battery charger/converter switch on the 120VAC panel. Then watch your voltmeter on the 12VDC panel -- you should see the voltage rise up to about 14 volts, indicating batteries are being charged. I do this all the time.

[Doc_Vegas]

THANKS! Sadly, moving the batteries around caused me lose a pair of shorts and a great Hawaiin shirt to acid burns. Well, I learn more every day.

[cj]

I have a 2400scr with two group24's. Before I went out this spring, I ran my fridge in the driveway for 2days/nights on setting 2, then tried to start the engine when I hooked up the hose. It fired right up. I have camped all summer, overnighting etc.. and always make sure #2 is selected, just in case. We run lights, stereo, and fridge etc.. all night, and never had to switch to #1 to start. My boat is always plugged in while in the driveway though, so my batts are always topped right up ready to go.

Cheers
Chris

[shrew]

OK, I'm going to TRY not to hijack this thread, but this is something I've been wrestling with for a couple of weeks and JUST got back from a week's vacation on the boat and had a tough couple of days on the hook without house power. ops:

I've been having battery capacity issues. I recently upgraded to two Group 31 AGM batteries. I've been having significant issues maintaining house power. recently I left the boat on anchor with a fully charged house battery and the anchor light on. I came back about 6-8 hrs later and the battery was dead. I've been running a Honda 2000 to charge the battery and after 4+ hours with nothing but the charger running, my 12v systems continue to slowly die. I would think that at the very least the generator would be able to maintain the existing charge without drawing on the battery. At the time I had the fridge off.

Steps taken so far:

1) I've been leaving my fridge turned up to 5 while on the battery. I've since been turning it completely off.

2) I 'discovered' the wife was using a 12V cigarette lighter style mount for her iPOD. In the car, it doesn't get power when the ignitiion is off. On the boat it does. We've since unplugged it.

3) Stopped playing CD's and now only play FM stereo when on battery and limit its usage.

I'm still getting very poor battery life on brand new AGM batteries. The only change I recenlty had was the pressure water pump was not getting any power. I found it, like many other 12v devices on my boat was connected directly to the battery. I had decided to run it up to the fuse bus at the dash to ensure it was on teh battery switch. I noticed this was causing the lights to dim and the stereo to cut out when the water was turned on.

I've since completelly disconnect the pressure water pump. After doing so, I could get the charger to flip to float while running the generator. I was able to wake up on sunday morning and actually run the stereo the next morning and I had lights the next morning as well.

-> Could the length of the run to the fuse bus at the dash cause such an issue?

-> I notice that my guages all drop when I use 12v at the dash, such as Outdrive Trim or tabs. Could a short cause such a draw on the battery?

-> I'm considering moving both Group 31 AGM, into parallel for the house and adding a smaller starting battery for hthe motor.

I'm just trying to chase this issue down. I've removed as many variables as I can, but I'm not sure where to go next.