Generators & Voltage Spikes

[Chris_374224489]

The owners manual of our new Bailey Ranger advises that "another" electrical appliance be switched on when using a generator to reduce the possibility of voltage spikes damaging the charger unit.

Does anybody know exactly what the requirement of this extra appliance would be to reduce the spikes - is it simply any load or must it do more? The book mentions the fridge or a light which other than being a load don't seem to have much in common. How much load is enough? Would the anti spike surge block that I use with my computer do the job better?

Bailey are not overly helpful about this.

Chris

 

[Damian]

The best way of reducing the instance of spiking is by having a generator with inverter technology built in, which will give you an almost perfect sine wave.

Cheaper 2 stroke generators are notorious for changing speed and throwing out spikes when they alter speed.

Having an extra load on keeps the generator working just a bit harder, and hopefully, at a constant speed.

Non inverter generators tend to produce rough outputs, and usually a square sine wave , or modified square sine wave and it is this sudden rise and sudden drop instead of a smooth curve which causes the problems

 

[Chris_374224489]

Our generator does produce a square wave output if I remember correctly. Any more info on the necessary "appliance" would be very helpful!

Chris

 

[Chris_374224489]

I am seriously considering taking a separate battery charger & disconnecting the battery fronm the caravan in order to charge it.

Chris

 

[gary]

As others have said the better generators have good voltage control, it's the cheap ones that cause most damage.

The problem is not the actual load but switching that load off which causes the spike and the 1kw+ kettle is going to be the greatest threat in this respect.

As for a light bulb or a fridge element, bulbs are 40w upwards and fridge element generally 125w and thats there connection.

 

[Chris_374224489]

I understand that when charging switching things on/off is a very bad idea. The generator is a small old Honda with only 150w on its low & neighbour friendly setting. As you can see even a 40w bulb is quite a lot of the output. Will a computer anti spike/s urge plug block that I mentioned earlier do the job of protecting the charger?

Chris

 

[Damian]

Chris, it is unlikely that a domestic surge protector will be any use with a generator.

They are designed to work on the normal 230v 50htz cycle and only protect from sudden surges, like when lightning strikes and enters the mains network, but they only work the once, and then need replacing.

With a generator it may well put out excess voltage for a longer period, but not necessarily in a sudden surge, so you could have the situation where the generator is supplying well over 230v, but the protector has not kicked in.

If you just want to charge the battery, disconnect it from the van and use the 12v charger outlet, if there is one fitted.

 

[Chris_374224489]

Yes the obvious answer BUT (why is there always a but?) the generator says only to 12v charge on the high setting & believe me it is much noisier & smellier on that.

I think the low 240v setting & a car charger seem to make the most sense. As my car charger is one of the automatic type do I need to worry about the elecronics in that as well?

Chris