A Real Generator Deal

[Riverman]

Just passing out free info...  nothing more, nothing less.

If you need a small inverter (super quiet) generator to simply charge batteries,  run a TV or charge phones, etc. then here's a real deal.

Sams Club has a good deal ($198) on the Sportsman 1000/800 watt inverter generator. 

I ordered one, received it in a couple days and it is doing a wonderful job keeping my batteries fully charged. 

It only weighs about 20# and sips just a little fuel.

It works perfect for me, it may or may not work for you.

I paid a few extra dollars and got a 3-year warranty also.

Here's the link:

Sams Club

 

[mayble]

i picked up one of those when home depot had them on sale a couple months back
i haven't had a chance to put it to work yet, only start it up and get a feel for it.  so far i like it. very easy to start.
what battery do you have, and what are you using for a charger?

 

[RVTravel]

Home depot had that one on sale for about 140 over black friday I think...200 is still a deal.

 

[Weight]

good deal on the 4 cycle engine. Most of these small Sportsman are two cycle.

 

[Riverman]

I have two group 27 Deep Cycle batteries. I always carry a spare along just in case.

I'm from the old school that tells me to be prepared, and it pays off sometimes.

I will use one of my two Schumacher chargers, either the manual or the automatic.

 

[jimindenver]

From the other thread on the Sportsman 800/1000 you will see I have had mine for over a year. It has done everything I have asked of it including running my 5000 BTU air conditioner without adding a start capacitor which Honda 1000 appears to need according to you tube and the like.

It has been put to use boosting my big bank after cloudy periods and ran day after day getting other peoples banks charged up. I have seen it go from 10 or 11 AM to 7 PM under light loads, 4 to 5 hours under heavy loads. It holds .6 gallons of gas. It is light, small and about as quiet as a Honda 2000 when both are under full load. It isn't as quiet in eco mode but then again I do not use it for ultra light loads, I have solar for that.

One feature I never thought I would use was the 12v, 4 amp charger but it came in especially useful twice when my Meanwell power supply was out on loan. I needed to it charge up my tractor battery and hold another battery at higher voltage which take few amps and it held them at 14 volts with ease.

So I can wholeheartedly recommend the generator, even more so for the fantastic price. It may not be a big name but so far I have not had a reason to wish it was.

 

[John61CT]

Sorry if I forgot, but do you know the biggest charger it'll run comfortably into LFP or a big depleted AGM bank, as in 40-50A vs 60A?

 

[Riverman]

For some reason, the trend today is to charge a battery real fast. I prefer slow charging instead, and my batteries last many years while doing so. My local battery shop charge at 4 amps.

 

[John61CT]

That may be fine with a tiny batt if you're on shore power overnight, but that's really what we call a garage charger, not designed for deep cycling use cases.

Quality AGM mfg have been realizing their product lasts longer if charged at high amps.

Lifeline's one of the best, and minimum they recommend is .4C, or 160A for a 400AH bank.

Also, here we're talking boondocking, running a genny, so you want to minimize runtimes. Even 20A would take well over ten hours to recharge it if 50% depleted. Your 4A charger would be 1/40th of that, at .01C barely the trickle float rate.

Most can't, or don't want to, invest in the gear to this stuff properly, and call it overkill, no need to argue that here,

so just take this as a few reasons, in response to your "I don't know why"

 

[Riverman]

I have never used AGM batteries.

 

[John61CT]

Then for FLA no reason to go higher than .15-.2C on the charger.

Which for a 400AH bank is 60-80A.

Likely pushing the limit for that gennie, best to get one that can be de-rated, also useful if you're trying to drive other loads at the same time.

 

[jimindenver]

My 55 amp charger is 975w and the Sportsman can not push it if the bank is too low. It easily pushes 36 amps through the Meanwell. As for my Lifelines, it is not practical to hit their upper limits for a bank of the size of mine.

 

[John61CT]

Thanks.

Got me thinking, for those whose chargers don't have the ability to de-rate

I wonder what it would take to rig a device to limit current flow without dropping voltage?

Besides an expensive DC-DC charger of course.

The older version of Blue Sea ACR does, but it's built to limit at 60A, so that doesn't help.

An Echo Charger would do it, only drops voltage by .4V, but limits too much at 15A.

The ideal would be adjustable.

 

[Weight]

Match a generator to the charger or match the charger to a generator. Why add a bunch of complications. Only to have more possibilities of failure.

 

[John61CT]

Because at least in my case, the charger doesn't just run off that one little gennie,

in fact is charging a variety of banks, both in size and chemistry

and besides the longevity benefit of high current charging

there are times I'll want to replenish the bank off shore power and be on my way as quickly as possible.

A good charger is a large investment and will last for many decades, definitely longer than most banks, likely longer than I'll own a given generator or vehicle.

I agree that getting a model that allows adjustment of amps output is ideal, and that's what I install myself, but if there were a way to do that with less expensive units, that would be helpful to those with less money to spend.

 

[John TF]

Speaking just about batteries & charging ---- " YOU NEED TO GATHER BATTERY MANUFACTURES SPECIFICATIONS = C RATE "
so start from there not make up your own info from where ever gathered .
Then beyond most spec.s , many times they do not include charging battery banks - a string of batteries [ remember A BATTERY IS A CELL ] a 6v is 3 cells , 12v is 6 cells , then you may have a multiple of those , like 4 6v batteries - thats 12 cells .
As an example , my last battery bank was 4 Trojan L16 , and the manufacture , and anyone else that knows about batteries , say to do an equalizing charge [ this in my case used a programable charger - to match batteries to charge - depending on how used equalizing may be once a month or every 3 months ] this is over charging , over the normal c-rate , to equalize all the cells .
Generally the larger the batteries in the bank & the larger the bank , then more amps needed to do this , depending on what batteries you have , this can be easily over a 100 amps .
My last battery bank , above , lasted over 12-13 yrs. , there normal life is figured to 4 yrs.
The proof in what your doing is your results - how long your batteries last in this case !

 

[John61CT]

Most equalizing protocols - and yes, you do need to get the specs from the mfg specific to your batt model - start with

"charge the bank to 100% Full"

usually spec'ing for *that* "hold Absorb Voltage until trailing current fall to .00XC" or "until trailing amps does not change for over an hour"

And only *then* start the conditioning cycle at a higher *voltage*.

Even with that higher pressure, the resistance of the Full bank will mean a very low acceptance rate; it is the batt that determines amps, the charger only makes current available, has no control over that aspect other than "offering" a high amp rate.

TL;DR equalizing in itself does not require a high-current charger

 

[Riverman]

I posted this thread about a small generator.... I wonder how we got on batteries.

Oh I know, someone asked what battery did I use. no problem

 

[broken ed]

Thanks for the post Riverman, this looks like it might be a good alternative if you couldn't afford a Honda generator. And looking at the specs of each, just a tiny bit higher on the dB (noise) as previously posted on this thread. Once again, I've been educated.

 

[mayble]

I posted this thread about a small generator.... I wonder how we got on batteries.

some people can't pass up an opportunity to wave their ... brain around