Going green

[FF]

"The solution is to install a DC-DC converter with a 13.6V output regardless
of battery voltage input."

"All you need is a transformer to keep voltage output up to 14V, providing you have enough battery capacity."

At 14V cont the battery will require frequent watering or Hydro Caps.

The hassle is these units start on far more juice than they operate on so the Power Supply must be closer to 40A .

Number 8 wire is best , as voltage drop becomes expensive.

Of course for the northeners the hassle is ANY loss of dock power will require the noisemaker to be un pickled and operated for the duration.

"Much Ungood" as G Orwell would say.


FF

[AdamT]

Hmm, having to run the genset basically negates any advantage for me given that, with our mild climate, I can just run the reverse cycle AC units to provide heat. Gotta run the noisemaker either way.

[Marc1]

<q> At 14V cont the battery will require frequent watering or Hydro Caps.</q>
I thought more on the line of giving the heater a feed of 14V drawing from the batteries from whatever is available probably 12v or less.

From what I read, the truck heaters run on 14V or therabouts and dont take kindly a drop in voltage down to 12V. Since no 12V battery will produce 14V, and again providing you have a good bank of strong batteries, all you need is a transformer that lifts the voltage to 14V.

How you charge your batteries or if you have enough capacity to run the heater without running the genset is a different proposition.

The battery on its own will give out 12 V or less.
Most generators will produce AC 220/240 or 110v and 12V to run 12V applainces.
Unfortunatley running such Genset to charge a battery is not a good idea since they dont charge them more than half capacity. You need between 13.5 and 14.5 V to charge a battery fully. Conceded if you go over 14.5V you wil boil the battery, thats why you want a good regulator that does not give up.


If your genset produces 14V to charge the batteries or at least 13.5 you are OK.

[FF]

Unfortunatley running such Genset to charge a battery is not a good idea since they dont charge them more than half capacity.

Any genset is limited mostly by the batterys ability to accept the charge, and the quality of the brain in the voltage regulator.

Thats why the "smart" V regs can charge a bat set in 1/2 time , BUT only with a temperature sensor.

An charger should be able to bring a set to 100% SOC , if you have long enough time.

Have never tried it but the hot rod guys have 14V bats that might hold the heater voltage up for a few hours , perhaps even overnight.

Would work with a relay to help the windlass , but would always need its own seperate charger.

FF

[Marc1]

We seem to have gone down a different path, but just for the record, and not trying to be contentious...
Most small generators have 12 volt output that provides 12-12.5 volts whilst running under load. The same as a charged 12 volt battery, and that's all this 12 volt output does. It replaces a battery, and it is not a battery charger. A battery connected to a 12V output will never get fully charged even if running all day.

This output is designed to connect TVs, lights, mobile phone chargers etc.
This output will not fully charge a 12 volt battery because that requires over 14V to 14.5 max, much more than a "12V" generator produces simply because if it did, it would damage whatever you plug in the 12V output.

The way to charge a battery with a generator that does not have a battery charger as such, is via a battery charger, a transformer that turns your 240V AC ( or 110 AC) output into 14.1V DC
If you can find a DC/DC transformer that is 12V < 14.1V you can use it to charge the batteires by running it off your 12V otuput and also to run your truck heater...hoever you should check if there is enough watts output for that purpose, usualy this 12 v output are not the main and can not channel the whole power of the genset.



-- Edited by Marc1 at 03:01, 2008-03-27