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rugercpl
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 02:46am
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Hello. Ive recently ordered a Honda eu20001 companion generator to replace a larger noisy Briggs and Stratton generator that came with the cabin I am rebuilding. The cabin has an electric panel with a 30 amp cord set leading from it that plugs into the generator outside to power the cabin.
I would eventually like to have solar panels, but I am going to start with batteries to power the cabin at night, charged by the Honda generator during the day. I have very minimal electric needs, LED lights, a TV, and on-demand shurflo water pumps...never more than 300 watts at the same time, and normally no more than 150 running after dusk.
So how do I do this?
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razmichael
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:05am
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From your description of the current setup is it correct to assume that the cabin is wired for 120VAC and the lights, pumps etc are all 120? If so, the simplest way (may not be the cheapest) is to add an inverter with built in smart charger and auto switch over capability, along with the correctly sized deep cycle batteries. Rewire the generator cable to the inverter, the inverter 120 out to the panel and connect the inverter to the batteries with the properly gauged wires. This will provide a fairly automated system - turn on the generator and the inverter auto switch changes over to the generator for 120 power and charges the batteries. Turn off the generator and the inverter kicks in from the batteries. With this system, given a decent battery bank (say 2x 6volt deep cycle for about 220 amphrs)
Things to consider:
True Sine wave inverter needed? - most things run fine on a good modified sine wave inverter which are cheaper but you may still want a True Sine Wave (I have had no problem with my modified sine wave).
Size of the inverter - assume you will need or want more than you use now if your budget can afford it.
Include the idle draw and efficiency loss of the inverter. Better ones are more efficient and some will idle down to almost nothing until needed, although more expensive.
Proper wire size from batteries to inverter (and short distances). Read the inverter manual. Don't forget proper fuses and cut-off switches and battery venting.
By the way, I have a Xantrex HF 1800 inverter - works great although there are many more choices out there now than when I purchased mine.
In the future, adding panels will involve some additional wiring, a charge controller and that's about it.
I suspect with the above system you might find that you run the generator much less often and only to run power tools or charge up the batteries.
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MJW
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 08:50am
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This is the EXACT set up I am wanting right now, razmichael.
Any recommendations on a book or other material to walk someone through it step by step? Pictures or videos are a big plus.
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razmichael
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 09:17am
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I originally re-wired my pop up trailer to provide both 12 and 120V power from my batteries when at the lake. Solar panel came next. I designed the camper system to be such that I could remove the components and move them as the core to the cabin system which is still a work in progress. If you have not already read the "12 volt side of life Part 1 and Part 2 I would suggest you do. The technologies discussed are a bit old but still very good concepts. I can't really suggest any other specific sources of information but I'm sure others will have great suggestions. Try searching the alternative energy and solar sites and formums. Everyone has different needs, preferences and experiences - not to mention budget and knowledge to implement.
In my cabin I have a much more complex mixture of 12 and 120v than described above and the experience I have is limited to the components I have selected and put together based on my needs. For my system I decided to stick with primarily a 12volt system and use the 120v rarely - the inverter is normally turned off. Options are quickly becoming available that might well have had me doing things differently given the improvement and drop in cost of very smart and low draw inverters.
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rugercpl
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 05:40pm
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2 6volt deep cycles is well within my budget, and as suggested, I will probably want more if i add electrical gadgets to the cabin.
How long is recomended or neccesary to run the generator to charge these batteries? Lets assume I'm running 300 watts of power for 4 hours per night as a educated guess?
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razmichael
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 06:54pm - Edited by: razmichael
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Depends on how you are charging the batteries (what you would be using as the charger). The generators do not (or rarely) have a 12 volt charger (or other than a basic single mode). You will need to either use a good charger run from the generator to the batteries (just as you would do at home). With the HF1800 and other similar inverters, they have the charger built in and you can select either 20 amps or 40 amps depending on the battery sizes. This site provides a decent tutorial on the charging phases and provides a section to roughly calculate the recharge time Charging. I often find the final phase takes the longest!
Really, 300 watts of 120vAC power for 4 hours is not a lot (about 2.5 amps ignoring inverter loss etc - Calculator) so would not take a long time with a good charger. You would likely not bother recharging everyday if your bank was about 220 amp hours as you could go for many days without a dent in it.
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jaransont3
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 08:12pm
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This sounds very much like our plan and what I bought/built to handle it...
all the details are in this thread...
Proposed Power Plan for Cabin
The basics....
Tripp-Lite Inverter/ Charger APS750 750W Continuous/1500W Peak. Built in 20 amp charger and transfer switch. PWM Sine Wave when on batteries with two (2) Duracell CG2 6V/212AH Batteries wired in series.
Our first trial run with it in April was great.
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rayyy
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2013 04:43pm
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I run my genny for atleast 4 hours a day to power up my 110 volt stuff.(computer and t.v.,mostly)All the while it is running it is charging up my 3 deep cycle battery bank from a car battery charger.They run all my lights,water pump and cell phone charger.I don't have an inverter.When the genny is off,I still have light,running water and the means to charge up the cell phone.
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toofewweekends
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2013 03:04am
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rugercpl,
I have a similar setup on a weekend cabin. I run a 2k Honda, 2 6v golf cart batteries and the 350w inverter. It was $35 and has is going on Year 4. A 100w panel keeps the batteries topped when I'm not there. We fire up the generator to run the microwave and other bigger power draws. Otherwise, lights, music, DVD player and little tv screen all do fine. A larger inverter is on the buy list. We charge from the 8amp Honda charger (sorta lame) or bring out a higher amp unit.
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