Power Panel battery charger output rate?

[Chris_374224489]

I am trying to work out how long I need to run a small generator to recharge my leisure battery. Whilst I can work out how much charge I need I am not sure at what rate a standard 2007 Bailey Ranger caravan power panel will actually charge the battery when connected to a 240v generator of adequate output.

If I want to say put back 25amp/hour discharge how long will it take?

Chris

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Chris,

I do not have a bailey caravan, so I am not familiar with the on board power supply, however, somewhere in the information book or on the unit its-self, it should tell you what the maximum output current is from the charger.

As a rough guide though - by knowing what size battery you have (rated in Ah or Amp hours) divide the battery capacity by the chargers output current then multiply by 2. This will give you the approximate time in hours to recharge an empty battery.

Batteries do not store all the charge current you throw at them, in fact it they typically only retain about half, and the other half is lost, also as batteries age, they are less able to accept and retain a charge.

Sadly, it is not a nice simple relationship to calculate the time for a half discharged battery to be fully charged because as the battery is charged, the charging current drops, so the first half charge is much quicker than the second half.

 

[Chris_374224489]

Thanks for the suggestion but if I knew what the panel output rate was I agree that I could work it out. This is, however, obviously far too technical a piece of information to give a customer.

Either that or my pack was missing something as there was nor a specific panel booklet - just a few pages in the Bailey manual.

Any thoughts?

Chris

 

[Damian]

Chris, surely a phone call to Bailey will give you that information?

 

[Chris_374224489]

I will give Bailey a bell on Tuesday but as we have a new caravan and a new to us generator I was sort of hoping for some guidance. As John L says it is difficult to work out with anyhting like accuracy.

The generator that we have been given is a 20 year old Honda EX350 that is absolutely mint and after 15 years - yes really - of not being run it started first pull with new petrol. Fortunately it had been run dry when last used.

Ir is only a small generator and on the low setting only puts out 150va. On the high setting it is 300va but I would not want to be in the next caravan. It is both smoky & noisy on its 50:1 2 stroke mix on the high setting but nearly silent & smell free on the low setting.

I was just looking for some guidance of how long I would need to run it each day as the first time that it will be used is on an 8 day rally with no hook ups.

Chris

 

[Cerbera]

Okay, beer mat/back of a *** packet calculations.

If you arrive with a fully charged battery - assuming you are charging it from the car on the way there, then using minimal electrical power on site - lights, water heater only when necessary,etc. then 2 or 3 hours a day should top it up if you are not running anything else off the genny. Of course, you could fire up the genny when you want to heat your water but this will be detrimemtal to topping up the battery as most (all) of the genny output will be powering the water heater.

You are only going to need lighting at night, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem if you are frugal with hot water of only charging the battery every other day.

You could always connect the white socket to your car and leave it ticking over for an hour or so too.

 

[RonD]

Presumably the generator doesn't have a 12v DC output? The suggestion to use the car's 12S socket sounds reasonable as the car's engine would be quieter than a 2 stroke generator!

By the way, a 150va (or even a 300va)generator will not power an electric water heater...

Ron