T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Battery charger limits and the Honda 2000 generator

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Re: [Electric Boats] Battery charger limits and the Honda 2000 generator

The chargers range in efficiency from 60 to 85%. Most vendors do not spec publicly the input AC power required or efficiency. Delta Q is an exception though there is some ambiguity in their listing of current and rms current. The non-rms number may refer to the wave from a non-sinusoidal generator. The Honda EU units are advertised as pretty clean sinusoids. I have had some luck in contacting vendors directly in re input power.

On a similar thread, what has been the experience of any who have used 48v chargers rather than 4 bank 12v chargers. Have you found a need to install balancers on series wired wet cell lead acid 6 volt batteries? I am hoping that routine checks with a voltmeter on each battery will find any bad batteries soon enough.

BTW, my Torqeedo 801L base 24v 800w motor pushes my 2600 lb. Cape Dory Typhoon 18.5 ft waterline keel sailboat to 4 knots, 70% hull speed in calm conditions.

Ned

On Mar 4, 2010, at 1:46 PM, Rob Haynes wrote:

By the number of posts on this subject this seems to be a popular and convenient way to extend your range. I'm wondering about efficiency. What are the losses going 110V AC to some other voltage thru a charger? Wouldn't a direct DC generator be alot more efficient?

------ Original Message ------
Received: 08:20 PM PST, 03/03/2010
From: "Dave Hackett" <dave.hackett@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: <electricboats@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Electric Boats] Battery charger limits and the Honda 2000 generator

I've seen some post on this group that they can run their Honda 2000 generator plugged into their shore power plug and use their battery charger to "limp" home. I'm wondering about the numbers.

If I have a quad battery charger (eg Pro Charge) rated at 15 amps per battery (x4 = 48v), the full draw on the generator would only be (4 * 15A * 12V) = 720 watts. I just can't imagine getting even 2 knots at this power level. Am I missing something or do the chargers produce more then 15A when the draw out the other end is greater then 15A? Would this potentially burn out the battery charger?

DaveH

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