small genne just for charging batteries

[luvrbus]

  I know I bought a new H/F and when it scattered parts and oil over the parking lot the 1st week I decided I needed to go in a different direction and Costco had the Champion on sell for 400 bucks so I gave it a shot and it has worked well 

[Geoff]

I believe the Champion generators are also Chinese.  They sell them at Costco.  I would just buy the HF with the 2 year extended warranty.  Any engine can blow up, even a new Honda.

[chessie4905]

Clifford probably got the oil and gas reversed when he got ready to start it.lol
There have been reports of this happening. Read reviews. Quite a few are extremely satisfied though. See if you can buy the extended warranty after purchase before 90 days is up. My experience with extended warranty from them only lasts till item craps out. Then they replace item, no questions asked, but you have to buy another extended warranty. Still, I've been happy with 95 percent of my purchases from then. Their gas engines usually have specific break in procedures. Short cut them at your peril.
One common on the small ones is that they aren't quite as quiet as advertised or db rating varies on same item. I bought a Honda eu3000is a few years back, which I use around the house little, so I don't have personal experience with a Predator generator, but would not hesitate to try one. Especially at their prices. If Costco is anything like Sam's Club, what brand item they carry today will change next week.

Here is reviews on one of theirs on Amazon. As with many products, happy and sad buyers, just like Harbor Freight, and  probably Honda.

https://www.amazon.com/Champion-Power-Equipment-41537-Discontinued/product-reviews/B0056BYQP8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_hist_1?filterByStar=one_star&pageNumber=1

[Geoff]

About 10 years ago I needed a 7500 watt generator and Costco was selling the PowerBoss generators 13hp Honda engines and possibly American made 7500 watt generator heads.  These were easy pull start models for $899.  The first one I bought wouldn't run anything greater than a 100 watt light bulb, so I took it back and got another one and it worked fine.  The Honda muffler was very quiet as compared to the Champion 7500 watt genset that would wake up the dead.

[Branderson]

Is everyone still talking about generators just for charging batteries or has this changed to what gen they run for their coach?  I'm not trying to be smart, I was wondering if I should keep a small gen with me b/c my diesel gen is connected to main fuel tank and obviously can run just about everything.  (I think I can only run 2 of the 3 A/Cs) but what it doesn't charge are my starter batteries. 

I think I can get away with 5-6 starts without recharging starter batteries before I'm out of juice.  So if I ever got close, I could run that small generator and connect my battery charger to my starter battery.  The way my starter batts are set up is I have 2.  When the bus runs, it only charges one of them so I have a battery analysis recharger connected to the second one which I plug in when I'm connected to power. 

In fact, in another thread I was talking about dry camping.  The starter batteries are really my only major concern.  I wish my diesel gen had a plug I could run a cord from that to my battery charger. 

[Geoff]

The topic drifted to brands of generators, but stayed on topic.  I don't know what you have going, but you say you are concerned about your start batteries.  You say they are good for 5-6 starts before they get weak.  And your bus engine only charges one of the two start batteries.  And you wish you could plug in a charger for your start batteries?

Okay, I'm guessing you have a 24v starter and only a 12v alternator on the bus engine.  So, I have both a 12v and a 24v alternator (s), along with a Trace inverter/charger running off a diesel genset or engine alternator
I also have a 120v outlet in the battery compartment with a 10 amp 24v smart charger.

What do you need?

[Branderson]

The topic drifted to brands of generators, but stayed on topic.  I don't know what you have going, but you say you are concerned about your start batteries.  You say they are good for 5-6 starts before they get weak.  And your bus engine only charges one of the two start batteries.  And you wish you could plug in a charger for your start batteries?

Okay, I'm guessing you have a 24v starter and only a 12v alternator on the bus engine.  So, I have both a 12v and a 24v alternator (s), along with a Trace inverter/charger running off a diesel genset or engine alternator
I also have a 120v outlet in the battery compartment with a 10 amp 24v smart charger.

What do you need?

Sorry I just don't have the lingo and I can't easily walk out to see exactly what I have b/c I keep the bus in a storage lot.  I think what I really need and I cannot for the life of me remember what the name of it is but its used to recharge both starter batteries when the engine runs.  I was told that it's pretty expensive, I think it connects to both batteries.  But it's never been an issue since I'm 99.9% hooked into power when we go camping. 

I have a charger connected to the 2nd battery but it only works when I'm hooked into power.  (I plug it into an outlet in my bay)  So when I saw this topic, I wondered if I too should buy a small generator just for the times where I might be in trouble with starting.  Like I mentioned the other day, we are going to Talladega for 4 days.  We can run normal house power no problem with the diesel generator but I potentially could run into issues with starting.  Especially if the wife gets pissed about my leveling ability and has me start it up so I can adjust the blocks

[richard5933]

Sorry I just don't have the lingo and I can't easily walk out to see exactly what I have b/c I keep the bus in a storage lot.  I think what I really need and I cannot for the life of me remember what the name of it is but its used to recharge both starter batteries when the engine runs.  I was told that it's pretty expensive, I think it connects to both batteries.  But it's never been an issue since I'm 99.9% hooked into power when we go camping. 

I have a charger connected to the 2nd battery but it only works when I'm hooked into power.  (I plug it into an outlet in my bay)  So when I saw this topic, I wondered if I too should buy a small generator just for the times where I might be in trouble with starting.  Like I mentioned the other day, we are going to Talladega for 4 days.  We can run normal house power no problem with the diesel generator but I potentially could run into issues with starting.  Especially if the wife gets pissed about my leveling ability and has me start it up so I can adjust the blocks

You might be talking about a battery isolator, but that is usually used to charge the house batteries along with the chassis batteries when the engine is running. If you have two start batteries and only one is charging, then I'd wonder if they are connected to the alternator properly. Not sure what bus you have, but on our 4106 (12v system) there were two 12v start batteries set up in parallel and they both charged from the engine alternator. Our current bus is a 4108 (24v system) and it's set up with two 12v start batteries in series which also both charged from the engine alternator.

You can charge your start batteries from your house battery charger using something like the Xantrex Echo Charger (or another type of battery-to-battery charger) which would send a charge to the start batteries whenever your house batteries are charging.

I think that the original topic was more about having a small gennie for the purpose of topping off the batteries. We will have about 775aH of house batteries charging from a 70-amp charger. Running the Perkins diesel to power a 12.5kw generator is really overkill for this purpose, especially when the batteries get nearly full. That's why I see having a smaller gennie to be advantageous. Of course, it's also handy in an emergency or to run our block heater on really cold mornings if we cannot get the main generator going.

[Scott & Heather]

This thread is right up my alley. We decided against a diesel genset. There are days I regret this, but 90% of the time, I don't. Here's what we did and why:

We bought twin Honda EU3000is generators. We also purchased the parallel cables and tied them together. I had my electrician wire them into our coach so they provide power to each leg on our panel. If I want to just run one generator it will provide power to both legs of the panel. If I need more watts I start the other one and double my power. They both have an "eco mode" switch so I have basically five power configurations:

1. Single genset in eco mode
2. Single genset in full throttle mode.
3. Dual gensets eco mode
4. Dual gensets one in eco one full throttle
5. Dual gensets both full throttle.

This allows me to absolutely fine tune how much power I need and thus save fuel when I can. When I need them both to scream and give me all they've got, I can do that. When I just need one of them to idle along for lights, pump, and fridge only, it will run 24 hours on 3 gal of fuel. No joke. I've done it several times. This configuration gives me two gensets too so if one dies for some reason I still have power from the other one until I can get the dead one repaired. Automatic redundancy. They are amazingly quiet and have electric start. Once I install an extended fuel tank system and remote start, I'll be in generator heaven.




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[luvrbus]

How do you prevent that setup from stopping when on a angle or going around a sharp corner ? I have never saw a Honda that wouldn't die when you made a sharp corner except the RV type they no longer make because the oil sensor would shut it down 

[sledhead]

Scott

when you are ready I used the honda 7000I remote start from them and it always worked every time old school with a hard wired switch I put inside by the driver seat

I have a remote on a key fob for one of my other genne,s and it only works 50 % of the time it is a pain in the as$

I like the idea of a small light genne ( 2000 w ) for some kind of back up and when not on the pole just like the subject saz to finish charge my house battery bank

http://www.generator-line.com/TwoWireRemoteControls.html

Dave

[Geoff]

I have never felt the need for a "small genset to top off my house batteries".  I have a quiet 8kW 3 clyinder Isuzu diesel genset that we run every morning to heat water, make coffee, and run the microwave.  It tops off the batteries while we do this and uses little fuel.  Same thing at night.  The inverter takes care of our needs the rest of the time.  That is our camping mode.  

[Geoff]

Scott

when you are ready I used the honda 7000I remote start from them and it always worked every time old school with a hard wired switch I put inside by the driver seat

I have a remote on a key fob for one of my other genne,s and it only works 50 % of the time it is a pain in the as$

I like the idea of a small light genne ( 2000 w ) for some kind of back up and when not on the pole just like the subject saz to finish charge my house battery bank

http://www.generator-line.com/TwoWireRemoteControls.html

Dave

That's quite a mark-up on those remotes.  I just installed a remote start/stop on my Honda motor air compressor in my service truck.  The two channel remote came with two key fob's.  I have used it 60 feet away and it works great.  Cost me $10.67 free shipping on eBay.

[luvrbus]

I have never felt the need for a "small genset to top off my house batteries".  I have a quiet 3 clyinder Isuzu diesel genset that we run every morning to heat water, make coffee, and run the microwave.  It tops off the batteries while we do this and uses little fuel.  Same thing at night.  The inverter takes care of our needs the rest of the time.  That is our camping mode.  

I don't get running a generator for 24 hrs a day unless Scott has no backup like a battery bank or inverter,those little generators don't have that long of a life in hours ran

[gg04]

Not sure Cliff. The two 2000's in our bus run whenever the bus does. 17 years and 114000 miles. Just sparkplugs twice and oil changes.