Honda EU2000 Largest Charger

[chala]

Originally Posted by sea_goin_dude

Wouldn't the battery act as a filter

In a normal charging configuration a battery will never act as a filter but may absorb some of the imperfections.

[djmarchand]

My buddy bought a Honda EU200i genset recently and we ran a test yesterday. He has a Tripp Lite inverter charger set to charge at 25 amps (the 100 amp setting draws too much power for the Honda). He also has a 30 amp shore power charger.

We started the Honda and ran it on the Tripp-Lite. The T-L produced about 22 amps DC. The batteries were well discharged. We then turned on the 30 amp shore power charger. It added another 23 amps for a total of 45 amps DC.

The Honda was putting out 6 amps AC to supply the 45 amp DC charging current. We figured that this is a pretty efficient setup. The Honda is loaded at 50% of its 13 amp continuous rating, so it should operate in inverter mode (the engine rpm should drop to match AC output). 6 amps AC to produce 45 amps DC is pretty efficient in the world of marine chargers which is 1 to 7.5. FWIW when the T-L is set to 100 amps it is 1:5.

David

[David M]

It sounds like the compromise is running a generator for five hours versus getting that last 15% of charge. I would probably opt for not having to listen to a generator for five hours.

[akio.kanemoto]

I read this thread ages ago as a guide to what size charger I could fit on my Honda EU20i (Honda 2000 to "you guys". ...

Anyway, just in case somebody else comes looking for the same info - I now have a Mastervolt ChargeMaster 12/100 and it happily puts out full output and the Honda doesn't even struggle.

So there you go, 100A+ charger on the Honda.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by akio.kanemoto

I read this thread ages ago as a guide to what size charger I could fit on my Honda EU20i (Honda 2000 to "you guys". ...

Anyway, just in case somebody else comes looking for the same info - I now have a Mastervolt ChargeMaster 12/100 and it happily puts out full output and the Honda doesn't even struggle.

So there you go, 100A+ charger on the Honda.

Mastervolt Inverters and Chargers

$1600 is a little steep for a charger.

[stevensuf]

that would buy a lot of solar!

[goboatingnow]

Damm good chargers. You get what you pay for

Dave

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

that would buy a lot of solar!

I agree solar is great but, it's still hard to beat the amount of energy in a gallon of gas. I use solar, wind and a Honda 2000 on my 12 and 48 volt (electric propusion) battery banks. Of the three the Honda is the fastest charge. Of course it is the most expensive and loudest too.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by akio.kanemoto

I read this thread ages ago as a guide to what size charger I could fit on my Honda EU20i (Honda 2000 to "you guys". ...

Anyway, just in case somebody else comes looking for the same info - I now have a Mastervolt ChargeMaster 12/100 and it happily puts out full output and the Honda doesn't even struggle.

So there you go, 100A+ charger on the Honda.

Are you sure you used the Mastervolt and Honda while putting out it's full output? I see it's rated at 1700 watts at 230v. My Honda 2000i (120v) has a working load of 1600 watts. The reason I ask is I could normally run my Honda to charge my 12 volt bank and also use it to help power my 48 volt propusion bank. Until one day I could not:
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: LESSON LEARNED: Fear and Panic in East Hampton
I took me a little while to figure out what had happened. But, it turned out ok. Nothing was really wrong. Just something you might want to be aware of if you run down your bank further than usual.

[stevensuf]

yeah well it would be nice if small generators could extract all that energy stored in a gallon of gas, not just a small percentage of it! roll on cheap fuel cells!

[akio.kanemoto]

Sorry I didn't multiquote, but here are my replies -

Regarding the price, absolutely, it's too much. But show me something else on the market for less which puts out 100A and has adjustable setpoints etc. The only other option I thought of was stacking two Xantrex 60A units and throttling them, but was advised against Xantrex and also it doesn't look like the setpoints would have been granular enough, so I would have had a total of 80A instead. So again, I invite suggestions (which I did in a previous thread actually.. so...). Anyway, there's a gap in the market for charger only solutions at big amps. Of course, HEAPS of options on inverter/chargers, but I don't want an inverter.

Regarding comments like "$1600 buys a lot of solar". Actually, it doesn't. I bought a miserable 65W Kyocera panel here for $700 or so. This is beside the point, I'd happily spend another $5k on panels.. I really would love to. But the problem with my boat is space. I have ZERO left. :\

On Bianka's question about output, the charger is absolutely putting out 100A (102A to be exact), this is indicated both on the charger itself and also on my Linkpro. One of the reasons I bought the Chargemaster actually is that in case it DIDN'T work, I could throttle back the output in a granular fashion until the Honda could keep up with it. Luckily, I haven't had to.

I have the Honda EU20i (240V), which is again rated at approx 1600W, so the maths (P=IV) says that it should work, but losses usually push it up higher than rated etc... but I guess it's quite efficient. Also, in the Honda specs, it states 9A max current output, and on the Chargemaster, it says 8A max current input.

Anyway, it works, I don't make money out of this blah blah blah - but I've been looking at this for a long time and this post may help somebody else who is going to gamble a few grand on a generator/charger combo which may not do the job.

Caveat Emptor etc - but it worked for me.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by akio.kanemoto

Sorry I didn't multiquote, but here are my replies -

Regarding the price, absolutely, it's too much. But show me something else on the market for less which puts out 100A and has adjustable setpoints etc. The only other option I thought of was stacking two Xantrex 60A units and throttling them, but was advised against Xantrex and also it doesn't look like the setpoints would have been granular enough, so I would have had a total of 80A instead. So again, I invite suggestions (which I did in a previous thread actually.. so...). Anyway, there's a gap in the market for charger only solutions at big amps. Of course, HEAPS of options on inverter/chargers, but I don't want an inverter.

Regarding comments like "$1600 buys a lot of solar". Actually, it doesn't. I bought a miserable 65W Kyocera panel here for $700 or so. This is beside the point, I'd happily spend another $5k on panels.. I really would love to. But the problem with my boat is space. I have ZERO left. :\

On Bianka's question about output, the charger is absolutely putting out 100A (102A to be exact), this is indicated both on the charger itself and also on my Linkpro. One of the reasons I bought the Chargemaster actually is that in case it DIDN'T work, I could throttle back the output in a granular fashion until the Honda could keep up with it. Luckily, I haven't had to.

I have the Honda EU20i (240V), which is again rated at approx 1600W, so the maths (P=IV) says that it should work, but losses usually push it up higher than rated etc... but I guess it's quite efficient. Also, in the Honda specs, it states 9A max current output, and on the Chargemaster, it says 8A max current input.

Anyway, it works, I don't make money out of this blah blah blah - but I've been looking at this for a long time and this post may help somebody else who is going to gamble a few grand on a generator/charger combo which may not do the job.

Caveat Emptor etc - but it worked for me.

Sounds like found a great match there. Though for some of us with the 120 volt Honda 2000 versions the search continues. Though in my case I'm looking at for a 48 volt charger that will pump out a few more amps for extended motor sailing.

[rebel heart]

Between $1600 chargers, chart plotters, and AIS transponders it's really no wonder that sailing is largely relegated to retirees with deep pockets. I'm not trying to slam anyone, but seriously, $1600 for a charger? That's more than a single month's budget for my family.

If you want to spend that kind of money there's nothing wrong with it, but it seems normal for anyone from my side of the tracks to look at a price tag like that and walk away laughing.

[GeoPowers]

For those interested, I installed a Magnum MS-2012, which is a 2000W Pure Sine Inverter/100 Amp Charger about two years ago for $1400 (plus wiring, terminal connections, etc). It's charge rate can also be adjusted to either match available power or for "load shedding" for other high-power applications.

I'd rather spend $1400 on an inverter/charger than $1600 on a charger alone. Magnum has a great rep.

Frank

[akio.kanemoto]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Between $1600 chargers, chart plotters, and AIS transponders it's really no wonder that sailing is largely relegated to retirees with deep pockets. I'm not trying to slam anyone, but seriously, $1600 for a charger? That's more than a single month's budget for my family.

If you want to spend that kind of money there's nothing wrong with it, but it seems normal for anyone from my side of the tracks to look at a price tag like that and walk away laughing.

I think it's bloody ridiculous as well. In fact, it's about $2400 here in Australia, I bought mine from the link you posted earlier actually.

$1600, or $2400, it's both ridiculous and yes I did initially say "pfft"... but that's life... there are no other options apart from "gambling" on say a Chinese dumb charger like the 100A Kipoint that I was also looking at... but will it overload the Honda? If it does, do I just throw away $600 for that? Can't throttle it back, doesn't have any features/setpoints etc...

It's definitely CRAP value, but there really aren't many options if you don't want just a 20A "top up" charger. :\