Recharging your battery bank without solar
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- Опубликовано: 22 дек 2022
- Let's find out how many kWh into our battery we get per gallon of gasoline.
Let's say you have cloudy weather for a few days in a row. Your battery bank might be dead. And, you are off gird, or the grid is down. What do you do? Let's check the fuel economy of recharging the battery using a generator. Also, sizing the generator to the load (battery charger) is more important than you might think.
Let's find out how many kWh into our battery we get per gallon of gasoline.
Some video footage is of my old Chevy Volt, DIY battery. It was arranged 12s, Li-NMC cells, for a maximum Voltage of 50.4V. Today I'm using 16s LiFePO4 batteries from Signature Solar.
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Signature Solar Affiliate Links:
48V (51.2V) 16s LiFePO4 Battery, EG4-LL: signaturesolar.com/eg4-ll-lit...
EG4 Battery Charger: signaturesolar.com/eg4-batter...
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Amazon Affiliate Links:
Honda EU7000 Generator (current model): amzn.to/3jeJLBp
Honda EU2200 Generator: amzn.to/3VjUmbQ
More affordable option for a small inverter generator is the Champion Power Equipment 2000 Watt: amzn.to/3jtm4Fx
Watt Hour meter: amzn.to/3WCYIvF
Victron Batter Monitor with display, BMV-712: amzn.to/3hR2hj5
Battery Charger for 12s Li-NMC (note, the exact model was from Aliexpress and not Amazon. I found a 10A version on Amazon) amzn.to/3PSWxll
“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”
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Disclaimer:
Products in video may have been provided to David Poz, LLC at no cost for the purpose of the review. All views and opinions expressed are that of David Poz, LLC.
My videos are in no way intended to be instructional "how-to" lessons. I am simply documenting my project for informational purposes. Property damage, personal injury, or death may result, even when following manufacturer's instructions. I cannot be held liable for such damage or injury. It is YOUR OBLIGATION to ensure that you are complying with any local and federal laws as well as code and permit requirements.
David Poz, LLC 
Развлечения
One cannot really say that the smaller generator is more efficient. The 6500 was running at idle and if you had a second charger you could have plugged it in and charged the batteries in parallel with twice the power and not taxed that larger generator at all. Hence getting more power into the batteries than the 2000 watt generator was able to deliver at idle with one charger. The larger motor on the larger generator will burn more fuel faster but has more output power, so for a proper test you should dump as much as you can with as many parallel chargers as you can use while keeping it at idle in Eco mode. I would really be interested in that video. I have one of those 2000 watt generators and it will run almost 8 hours in eco mode on 1 gallon of gas because the motor has less displacement then the larger one. David you have a fantastic channel and I love seeing all your videos. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for sharing Dave. I hope your family have a wonderful Christmas and I wish you everything you wish yourself for 2023. 🎅
Awesome test you did to keep us informed of the most efficient method to charge our battery banks, thanks a lot
I've been running an Eco Flow Delta 2 during the power outages here in California and recharging it with a Honda 2000 generator which is a perfect combination as the solar panels are mostly for good weather and sunny days. Like you I just put a squirt of gas in it so it would easily run a hour before shutting down. While the generator is running I would run my washer machine and an insta pot. A hot meal and a little news and it was time for 🛏️.
Just another perfect day.
Yep.
This is the most useful video I’ve found related to generator recharge of a solar battery. Thank you.
Your welcome. Thanks for watching. I have more generator videos coming.
Thanks Pro and the best for 2023 regards from Holland
Thanks for your videos. I have lots to learn in the realm off grid power supply and management.
Great timing, as this video came out I was starting my own generator, because we are having a blizzard and the grid is down 🥶🥶☃️⛄️☃️
Thanks David, good to know generator efficiencies.
Thanks for making the effort and renting the little HONDA. I have the same one with the dual fuel conversion and have it hooked to my giant house propane tank when needed. It works perfectly!
Thanks, David, that confirmed what I had suspected about the efficiency of internal combustion engines at load
There's nothing to confirm about the efficiency of internal combustion engines ... a gasoline 4-stroke combustion engine is at max 25% thermally efficient. A Diesel compression combustion engine can get close to 50 thermal efficiency. But that's kind of why this video doesn't make any sense because that's not but he's referencing when he's saying efficiency here. He's talking about the efficiency of the generator head to make electricity using a small, expensive, Honda engine. The generator actually has a pretty efficient inverting electricity generation head
You can just read generator specs too
A hero's video, deleting 3 of my other subscriptions out of respect. Thank you Brother.
For a while I though you had a face trim but gladly it was just from old material 😁 glad to see some new old videos, though 👍🏻
Thanks for the generator charging efficiency video. I was shocked at the major difference and thought perhaps that the larger generator would have been loafing along consuming about the same amount of fuel per kwh vs the much harder worked small generator. The small gen set has to be so much more quiet too. Take care!
The newer version of his generator, the EU7000i has EFI and is quite a bit more efficient. Probably not as efficient at the loads in this video as the EU2000i, but close. There is a 1db difference between the eu7000i and the eu2200i.
Thanks! I’ve been using Honda generators since 1981, when I was introduced to the brand by the volunteer fire department/ rescue squad I was a member of. They said “the cost is high, but they run quiet and ALWAYS start”.
(they used 1800 watt 120vac / single phase generators)
And I continue to use their inverter based gensets for emergency public safety radio use at multiple repeater sites AND for household use, I have 2 pairs of EU2200i’s. The EMI/RFI used to be pretty harsh in the first generation inverter generators, but considerably cleaner now. Actually better than the utility company.
They sure have changed on the technology front, but are still beasts when it comes to long-term, heavy-duty use and abuse.
Ahh. Vintage David Poz! Great job.
Love all the videos!!
Wow you look so much better now than before. You must be doing something right
Excellent video
Thanks for the great presentation!
wow that was one long charge lol thanks for the content
Very interesting. I love your videos man. They really help me our. I learn something new every time:)
I have the eu2200is and the eu3000is. They so great and I use them to charge batteries, dig holes with a jackhammer and for light welding around the property. They are an excellent investment!
The most efficient way to mechanically generate power, is with an heavy duty vehicle alternator and a high quality voltage regulator. I did all this testing about 25 years ago. Something like a 48v alternator connected to a small efficient engine like a honda or subaru 1200-1600 cc engine can produce over 5000 watt/hours of direct charge voltage from 1 gallon of gasoline. Some tests were as high as 8 kw/gal, depending on the state of the battery charge.
We should be able to do a lot better now with Lithium Iron batteries as they will accept a very fast charge rate compared to LA batteries .
Question: what high quality voltage regulator are you talking about? I would like a name to start with. I'm debating on adding a 300AH 12.8v LiFePo4 battery to my semi as a house batteries, but I'm not sure if I want to tap into existing starting batteries for charging.
Your suggestion appears to imply that I can use the truck alternator for the charging juice. Tell me more please
NIce job ! Merry Christmas
It makes sense to have a backup plan in case things don't go as expected if you're off-grid. In emergency management things are usually set up to at least a third level because RL experience shows that it's needed more often than you'd think. Thus it's very important to know how much fuel to plan for.😎
Also a word of advice on small gasoline engines: Use only non-ethanol fuel (especially for stored fuel) as ethanol draws water from the atmosphere, and one drop of water in a tiny carb passage can shut you down. Even with that you need to keep your fuel stock fresh as all of today's gasoline begins degrading in 2-3 months time. In a pinch ethanol-enriched fuel will work if you use it while it's fresh, but you lose about the same percentage of available energy as the percentage of ethanol in the blend.
The younger you did good. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 🎊🎆🎈!
thanks for the video !!
Thats to funny
I have been doing the same thing here lately in North Carolina because we have not been getting enough solar to charge up my battery bag and I live off grid and the small generator inverters work really well and I supplement with that to keep Frankenstein Battery bank Charged up !! 🤪
Great video though I enjoy watching your stuff Dave
Good one!
33.7 kwh in a gallon of gasoline according to google so 2.588 kwh is really bad but still better than running out. Even if you are paying $4 a gallon it is still expensive electric, but what is a guy going to do in winter we haven't seen the sun since November lol.
I am not sure but i don’t think we can use that figure for this generator
Wow 33700 wh on gallon seems pretty good to me
It was a bad test, to get efficient power out of a generator you need to run it at full throttle, which he didn't do.
@@Zorlig hence why he said if he did it again he would get a much smaller generator
33.7kwh is the theoretical power a gallon of gasoline holds to get it out you would need a power conversion with no heat which is impossible with ice engine I think a car is only between 11 and 27% efficient if I remember right so it is not as bad as it looks.
I'm in an RV and have 2 arrays. 1160W (4x290) on the ground and tilted and 1200w (6x200 bifacial on a dual axis tracker.) M My system consists of: 4x100Ah BB lithium's, Multiplus II, 12v 3000 120, a pair of 150\70 controllers routed through a Lynx distributor and all going into a CERBO with the touch 50. These past few months have been pretty dark and cloudy. I do have 30a shore power.. but the solar has been barely keeping up. I also have one of these Honda EU2000i generators. It holds 1.1 gallon of gas. It's 46 lbs. btw. It's only good for 11 amps.. so I'll keep the 30a shore power.. but good to know. I'm also a new subscriber.
I use a PTO 10 kw generator attached to my branson tractor and it takes 6 hours and 3 gallons of diesel to get to get sol ark to charge 30 kwh signature solar lithium bank fully.
That’s good efficiency
Your batteries can't use all 10KW for charging, huge waste of diesel fuel. Generator should be sized to put out only power the charger requires
Your generator efficiency series is absolutely famtastic, loved the alternator rig also.
There is one thing I would like to try once I get my hands on one of these inverter generators, and perhaps you could try as well, and that is, tapping into the DC bus inside them, that is right before the inverter section.
What kind of voltage would it be? It would definitely add some points to the efficiency.
Thank you!
This video inspired me to build a system similar to his
I have the same generator runs great. I put 3,000 hours. On it as of now
David it's always interesting trying to figure out how to get the best solution to a problem, David have a look at the eco flow smart generator , what they have done is they charge up the battery systems they make, (delta and max) with DC power instead of changing it to AC then back to DC through a charger for your batteries. as you know the less times that you transform the electricity type the more efficient it is. it will still make AC power as well but the design prioritise DC power instead of AC like conventional generators.
If you have an all in one solar charge controller, such as the MPPSolar LV6548. I have mine plugged into the grid but when the power goes out during a hurricane I unplug it and then plug it right into the generator. No need for a separate charger. You can also select how many amps that you want to charge with so depending on the output of the generator you can set the charger to maximize the output of the generator. Only limit is you use more fuel the harder you run the generator. In my case my generator is hooked up to natural gas and is capable of 12,000 watts run, and 13,500 starting, but on Nat Gas you get a lot less output. But I can still push 50 amps easily to the batteries and get a full charge in as little as 3 hours if the batteries aren't too low
Great video and I look for more in the future I wish you would test solar panels and show the difference between the new ones and which are good and which are not if you see a 48 volt charger please tell the audience when it runs on a generator
I actually bought one of those generators those small ones last week I'm taking it down to the coast with me as a backup
This was a very interesting video, thanks for sharing. My understanding in this scenario is that the generator would be used for charging the batteries only, and that the batteries continue to drive the inverter/s that power the things that need it in the house. It seems like a good solution and very fuel efficient. I have 6.9KVA Ryobi to run my house during rolling blackouts, which happen frequently in my part of the work, and I am really keen to move to batteries and an inverter instead. I want to install solar, but understand that there will be times that if I don't have a wind-driven alternative, or both are not available, and that happens, that I would need a generator instead. My present generator is a serious fuel thief and I am not happy with it at all - it costs way to much money. So I am looking for alternatives, and I also want to be grid independent where I can. P.S. We sometimes have up to 8hrs and more of blackouts a day, so it is very frustrating... it also messes up batteries (lead-acid) badly. Thanks for sharing. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.
IMO you could be running a much larger battery charger (or 2-4 of this one in parallel) to extract the max efficiency from the bigger generator. This is why I'm a fan of having multiple days of capacity in storage if I can afford it. If we can scale up to a water-cooled engine, then we can also extract the waste heat from the engine. Hot water is great to have year-round.
what a great test! Thanks for renting the smaller generator, the extra effort you went to for this video was so worth it! Also BTW Honda also has a very small 1000 watt suitcase generator....... hmmm....
I have the 1000 and a couple 2000s the 1000 does work but the fuel tank is only a half gallon.
Great idea! We need a multi part series. I’d don’t know why he didn’t just pour the rest of the gallon in the genny after an hour or so? Also, would like to see a diesel genset comparison if he could get a small enough one.
I use four of the eg4 battery chargers with one harbor freight 9700 inverter generator works great
Thanks for the video. Running the generator on propane would save as propane is $2. 27 cents where I live
I have recently discovered that 48V DC battery charger "generators" exist. There is a company in Cyprus selling one that uses your 48v battery to start the generator automatically when the voltage drops to a set point, and automatically shuts it off when full. They have a natural gas conversion available. With the mass adoption of 48V LiFePO4 battery banks I am surprised a US company hasn't started building them.
That would be my choice.
Very interesting and you're right it should be automatically available in US
Or just run the generator in to your inverter if it has the option to have ac line in to charge batteries mine does and its a older outback model and turn the charger down to match the generator.
I've heard about this company as well, but they have some kind of cheap engine... It would be nice if they make a kit that you can connect to Honda 3000 for example
@@bishbosh7728what do you mean by turn down the inverter to match the generator? I haven't bought anything yet but I'm trying to research everything
You sold me on the idea of 2 EG4 chargers on a Honda 2200. I alway thought it may be a good option and the most efficient if you had to do it.
Great exploration David!
For equiv gasoline: I like to round down to 33,000 watt/hrs per gallon. If we take your numbers and round them up we get 4400/33000 = approx 13.3 percent efficiency, on par with a normal ICE car engine. At 15 cents per kwHr, we get 4.4x.15 = 66 cents worth of energy for our $4.00 per gallon or roughly 16.5% dollar efficiency.
For my particular use-case I decided that more battery was a better option i.e. no gasoline in the garage, no generator sitting unused (most of the time) no generator purchase. Each person needs to figure out what is best for them.
Thank you for the math break-down. That's a great way to look at it.
And..... (skipping the math).. if a tesla model 3 (which weighs 4200lbs roughly) uses roughly 1kwh per 4.17 miles... long story short that model 3 is getting roughly 17mpg!.. oddly 17mpg is about average for the weight with only improvement being the acceleration and stopping characteristics .. which goes to further show you that the only real advantage to electric anything is the price of power comparison.
If at all possible, one can heat with fossil fuels and support any electric heaters. Generating electricity is not effiecient unfortunately
@@schwinnminibikeI guess a tesla has the same fuel efficiency as the average car when charging from a generator. Its gonna be much more fuel efficient when getting charged by a large power plant
15% is pathetic. The eu6500is when compared to the eu7000is is nearly 50% more inefficient due to carburetted vs fuel injected.
These generators run most efficient when at full rated road. So 4-5 of these chargers in parallel on the 6500is generator would give him the best efficiency. Or 2 of these chargers on the eu3200i fuel injected generator would give even better efficiency.. you could almost get overall 25% thermal efficiency with a fuel injected generator running at near rated load..
How do you look younger now? Thanks for the awesome info as usual
Oh look, baby David! :P :)
Interesting!
There is a great opportunity for a genset company to make a fully automatic 48V charging system .
I get about 7kwh to a gallon with a yammaha 2000 watt generator. And the signature solar charger. Yamaha can idle for 16 hours light load. At 18 amps I get about 8 to 8.5 hours of charge to a gallon.
David, you were scaring me with the old footage, without the beard! You’re a very handsome furry guy, glad you still have the beard! Woof!
excellent test, the larger generator is more efficient this is mathematical, but the power produced and available must be exploited, in fact it is less efficient if you draw little, you have to choose the right generator for each situation, in offgrid a large generator set perhaps during recharging you have other appliances go at the same time, and you size the battery chargers and generator to charge the entire battery bank in no more than 4 hours otherwise it becomes unnerving.
I get 6kWh/gal of LP at 90% load on my 10kW Generac into two SA 12K’s. Needless to say, I haven’t ran my generator at all this winter. I bought enough solar panels to recharge my battery, even on the cloudy days and enough battery to last 3-5 days.
Solar is probably the cheapest way to go. I see about 10% efficiency at worse case out of my solar panels on cloudy days average. If snowfall it can go to almost zero. But usually 10% at peak is the worse.
@@mylesoffgrid agreed @ 10%
Alps makes an 800 w propane generator. Is your charger able to adjust its current output? AIMS makes an adjustable output charger. Just an extra idea for charging on propane.
Now you can put a cable on the large generator to the ac in side of the Schneider XW pro and charge with the inverter at full ability of the generator .
I'm from EU where energy prices pretty much gone to the moon. With this figured you display in the video is still cheaper to keep paying the grid. The kwh here gone from 0.1€ to nearly 1€ and this is still cheaper than 1litter per kwh that you demonstrate here. This because 1litter of gas goes for 2€. Of course if we put the upfront cost and maintaining the generator in working condition it's even more expensive. It seems more logical to oversize the array.
Fuel is measured in btu. I've always wondered how much more efficient smaller generators were than bigger ones so thanks! I have a inverter 3500 watt with eco and a 5550 troybuilt 220v generator and I ran for an 2 hours and used a 1/4 tank on 6 gallons so 1.5 gallons at 3000 watts. So I'm wondering how the inverter generator would do with the same load lol. 18 hours on 2.5 gallons at 1/4 load so I'm thinking maybe 2.5-3 hours? Lol great video!
I’ve been saying this for a long time. You always need a plan B or C. If the sun is not out.
I have 3 of those 48v 18A chargers. I actually use three small portable Ryobi generators. Those small generators holds a little over a gallon in each Generator. I get a little over six hours of run time when charging on each generator.
I’ve powered my house and charge the battery at the same time. My house pulls 17- 25amp. With 3- 18a chargers wired in parallel I’m pushing in about 50amps, Minus about 20 from what the house is using. I’m charging about 30 amp’s.. I’m thinking about getting about charger with another small portable generator.
I’m setting up a power max 100amp ac to dc charger to a inverter powered by a alternator being turned by a steam engine that is being powered by fire or sand battery or air made from a windmill compressing it into a storage tank … a-z
David, you should do an update video with your current system. I have all electric house and am not able to use solar. If I wanted to go "off grid" I would have to recharge my battery bank with a generator. I am also curious how long a battery bank like yours would last with no solar or wind input to charge it. Thanks
You sound much more relaxed now, than you did back then :)
Awesome video! Gas generators run most efficiently when they're pulling their maximum load. Even with eco mode turned on, most generators still run at a quarter load and are at their least efficient with the available fuel. I would imagine if you could find a generator that could provide the exact amount of wattage needed to run the inverter, you could get close to 7Kw per gallon of fuel.
Thank you. I've performed more testing on my generator at different % loads to find the most fuel efficient spot. If you are interested in that video here it is: ruclips.net/video/kQTFPMDE_F4/видео.htmlsi=Bxp7PqIB7YHDhAyb
That was a very interesting experiment. I have a similar theory using different equipment.
I have an EcoFlow Delta 2 with an expansion battery wired in parallel with four 12volt / 120-watt solar panels (480-watts/40amps).
"If" there is not enough solar energy to recharge that system I can use one of my two Champion 2500-watt dual-fuel inverter generators connected directly to the Deltas' A/C input and charge up to 1200-watts an hour or recharge both Delta 2 and battery in less than 2 hours. Using Propane @ 1650 watt rated and 1600 watt derated per my altitude I can recharge the Delta 2 and battery 11-12 times on one 20lb tank of propane. I have also installed connections to use our 250 Gal. bulk tank to run both dual-fuel generators for months, with or without our solar array system.🤠
Noise pollution is a big consideration, I use an inverter based solar and charge at 6kw. Probably go parallel with the gens as I scale up.
If you are looking to have a generator as a backup to charge a battery bank, choose a DC power generator. Do a test and you will be surprised in the efficiency level attained.
DC generators are very hard to find. Where do you buy one? Then again, you don't want to charge lithium batteries without having a smart voltage/amp controller. You are much better off with a dedicated 120vac lithium smart charger and power it with an inverter generator. Screw the conversion losses. Besides, you can get lightweight 120vac 2000 watt inverter generators for under $400 and they can be very useful around the garage during outages as well.
Best is to recycle treadmill motor and a MPPT and a 3-5hp gaz engine. Somewhat DIY.
I am in exact same situation. I have the eu7000 as well. After turning off my system I connected to AC input but didnt work.
Since eu7000 has a floating neutral, my thinking is not connecting the generator(4 wires) to the load center but have a small separate breaker panel where I will create a neutral ground bond then supply to the AC input. I haven't done that but welcome advice.
My load panel connects to the house panel so neutral and ground is Separated.
I guess I am considering the 120/240 from eu7000 as a completely separate AC source needing its own ground neutral bond and a separate ground rod.
Unfortunately I don't have 240 available from the grid near my setup, that would be easier but...
Honda recently release a little more bigger model to compete with the 2200eu as well. They seems awesome
Wow, you're hair and beard grow very fast!
I had to upsize my inverter generator considerably to get 240 volts to run my well pump. The pump itself is a variable frequency drive so there is no inrush. All my appliances are propane and I require very little current. My Honda 2000 was fine except for the water pump. Now that I see how much more efficient it is I am considering one of these "solar" generators that can split phase and put out 240 volts yet still charge off of 120. My generators run off propane and propane is only 1.59 a gallon and eliminates all those carburetor troubles associated with ethanol fuel plus it doesnt go bad even sitting for decades. That was a great test! Thank you Do you think that is a good option to get 240 from a 120 generator?
Honda EU3000 with 2 Iota chargers (13A DC each) I usually average 5kWh to the batteries per gallon of fuel. Tried on my EU2200 and get near the same fuel efficiency but way more noise!
Hey David have you ever messed with seplos batteries?maybe they'll let you do a review vid?
I have a 1000w 2cycle that I keep for a batter charger it is enough to get by and will do 5.5 hours on a gallon. A good deal of 2 cycle oils have stabilizer in them.
I'm charging my Mppt at 30 amps 230voltsAC from a 6kva geni. takes about 3 hours to charge 5.5 kW lithium battery
No surprise running an engine less than half the size will be better for efficiency. What about running the large generator with multiple chargers?
Big battery makes a 240 volt 50A charger has anyone used one ? Your results are interesting try adding your 18A signature solar charger on another test and see if your efficiency improves on the larger generator. Honda makes great generators.
One minor thing to try. Switch the Honda to 120v instead of 120/240v. I notice some difference in efficiency on mine. I don't know why. I regularly charge my batteries with my honda via my Sol Ark 12k and it much more efficient than my AIMS 48volt 120v charger..
This was something I've been needing to figure out for my RV set up. How about running 2 chargers off of the the bigger gen.
Sure, I've done that as well. I'll be doing some more testing on this topic coming up. I thought this would be a good starter.
More more more! It be great if you can find a small diesel generator or just get a small diesel motor and make it a generator to compare what a gallon of diesel would do
Great video very interesting. Can anyone advise if it is worth investing in a diesel generator? Thanks.
Now try it with a high powered battery charger with the higher powered generator.
Can you suggest a higher power charger? I have looked at Big battery 240v 50A but not sure if its a good charger.
I think we are all more interested in how fast your hair grows that was dramatic almost made it look like that generator was running for a year or two before it shut off!
Dave backed out of buying a Schneider I'm looking at the 48v RHINO LIFE PRO4 276Ah- 14kw kit ...do you have any idea if there are worth using?
I have not tried them myself, but "Average Joe" on RUclips has tested them.
Thanks David! What if you hooked the Conext SW Pro up to the bigger Honda? Isn’t it rated at 140 amps charging? I’ll pay for the gallon of gas to rerun the test.
That will be coming soon. I thought it would be fun to share this as a baseline.
These generators are best efficient at max cont rated load. So you should get 4 of these chargers and if you can get the fuel injected model that is nearly 50% more fuel efficient.
Something like the eu7000is or eu3200i.
Was that pure gasoline? Or E-10, which doesn't provide same energy? Often 10% less.
Finally! The video I've been waiting to find!!! And FKJB!
Hello DTG, thank you so much for all you do, specially enthusiastically. I would like to know however, is charging the batteries without the use of a charge controller really safe? How does one know when the batteries are full, with no safeguard, that a controller provides? Thx
The charger that I'm using is made for charging lithium batteries. You can think of it as if the charger has a built-in charge controller. This is different than an old-fashioned charger that is simply a transformer and a rectifier. These new chargers have more controls built in.
@@DavidPozEnergy ok, thx a lot for clarifying that. The Great One!
What was the time of work for a half gallon load?
For instance... if you knew you had to run your generator for a well pump or water heater, or other task, and it had enough surplus watts over that load, you would do best to charge the batteries any time they need it, and the generator is running for that second device.
One could have a system where, when the load on the generator is below a certain percent, one, (or more) chargers is added as additional load and immediately cut off if the household load goes up because of heating or other high load devices being used.
Most of the recent generation hybrid inverters do this automatically. You can set an amount of power to draw from the generator and it will charge the batteries with the leftover. Or it will augment the generator with battery power if your load is large.
Thanks for posting this video, David! I am trying to put together an Absolyte GX 2000 battery bank and I sent you a message on facebook. I hope you have the time to speak with me. This is going to be the only way to get the battery bank up to storage charge until we build the rammed earth building. Blessings to you and your family!
David... So glad you shaved!! Or Not!
I do exactly this with my 3.5kw inverter generator. It charges my solar batteries when the sun doesn't shine. My Solar backup backup. At 3 bucks a gallon for gas it cost 75 cents a kilowatt hour to charge my battery bank.
Ya, honestly, if you wanted to recharge a large battery bank, you don't want to be doing it at 1kwh. So, a more real-world solution would probably be to try and get about 4000 watts worth of chargers on your 5kw generator. Also, if you're putting 1000w into your batteries, at 50v nominal, that's about 20 amps. The wire you were using looked capable, but obviously would need to be scaled up with larger chargers.
David, I wanted to charge our 48 VDC nominal battery bank without having conversion loss. This is how we do it. I mentioned before that I use Veggie-Oil in my All-Power 5Kw Diesel Generator. But that was still not efficient for our batteries. So this is the new build. A $230 196cc diesel connected to a $660 48 VOLT - 3 phase PMA going into a $89 300 amp rectifier and then going into a $650 Midnite classic 150. This #DC1248AC Dual Core PMG/PMA turns at 2,700 RPM and makes 3,500 Watts + and charges the 46KW LifePO4 battery bank for pennies. The Midnite classic treats the PMA as a solar source and controls the charge parameters perfectly. Total cost $1,629. I would post the links but RUclips deletes them. You could also use a 212cc Harbor Freight Predator engine and pay for gasoline.
Sounds like an awesome setup. If you ever make a video, post the link to the RUclips video. That's allowed and would be cool to see.
@@DavidPozEnergy I can send a link to a fellow RUclipsr from Green Bay Wisconsin who was my inspiration if you would like?
That’s awesome! Would love to know how many KWh you produce from one gallon of diesel.
Would be awesome if you could upload a video of your generator.
@@howdy3423 The PMA produces 3,500 watts at 2700 RPM. The diesel runs at 3,000 RPM maximum. Running 2,000 RPM it will consume about 0.25 gal/h. Running at 2,000 RPM the PMA will produce around 2,500 watts. So around 10 Kilowatts per gallon of Veggie-Oil with a 30% gasoline blend for the winter. Gasoline is need as a solvent to thin the viscosity and prevent gelling. Summer blends are around 10%. Although these PMA's can out put 3,500+ watts it is not advisable to do so., as the small motor would struggle at peak output. These numbers are not set in stone and do change a little, We need to take into account the losses of the AC to DC to DC conversion and whether or not the batteries need all the power the PMA is producing. The Midnite classic determines the charge need. In case your wondering the cost of the winter blend is about 5 cents per kilowatt hour. The electric grid rate in our area is 17.4 cents per kilowatt hour.
How about using the xw pro using the gen input and see how much better that works? On my small generator I can get about 10kw from a tank that is about 2.5 gallons of gas.
I plan on running the generator into the XW PRO soon. I thought this video might be a fun segue. Thanks for watching.
Could you make a video of connecting a conext AGS to a generator that only has electric start.
I don't currently have the AGS from Schneider. Sorry, no plans to make a video on it. I do plan to make a video on installing a remote start kit on one of my generators, but it's not Schneider brand.
Off topic question but do you have to have your eg4 or lifepower 48v batts at the exact same soc? I have 6,all at 52.3v but 4 of them have 3 of the 4 soc lights on while 2 have only 2 leds. I don't own the sig solar 110ac 48v charger and the batts are new in box but uncycled and bought months apart.Does it matter that they are at different soc but at the same voltage?will it hurt them to hook them all together and them hook to my growatt 5000es?Getting close to my install and don't want to make a mistake.
When you wire them to the same busbar, they should be within 0.1V of each other. This is regardless of the LED's. So, if all read 52.3V +/- then you are good. For your first charge cycle, try not having any load on the batteries. Allow them to fully charge to 58.4V. This will bring them all to 100% SOC. After that first charge cycle, then you can lower your charge controller setting. Personally, I use 56.0V.
@@DavidPozEnergy ok thank you.
Merry Christmas!!
I’m using a Generac IQ 3500 and my best output is 25 amps, otherwise the generator overload light comes on.
I’ve heard people talk about using a three prong ground to plug in the 120 outlet, this is supposed to ground the generator when having cords going out of it!
Anybody knowledgeable on this end?
I suggest testing how efficient a Prius is at generating electricity by tapping the 200vdc traction battery into a high VOC solar input charge controller. Forums indicate it is more efficient than Honda generators.
A bigger battery charger will increase the efficiency of the bigger generator. It will be cool to check the efficiency of the generator using the internal charger of the XW. I think it will be more efficient. COME ON DAVID do this test for us…..
Thanks for all David… nice job. 12:32
God bless you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS
I plan on running the generator into the XW PRO soon. I thought this video might be a fun segue. Thanks for watching.
@@DavidPozEnergy Also, do a test with 6 - 10 kW regular non inverter generator at 80% capacity. It may be more efficient than a Honda.