Any Experience with the Roto Genset ?

[memelet]

Roto DC Marine Genset Battery Charger

I am space constrained (as well as money) so this genset looks quite nice. I think I can keep it cool enough with a blower in or out of a cowl in the lazarette?

Any opinions would be most welcomed.

-barry

[eyschulman]

I have a similar USA built unit with a small Kaboda motor it works well. Needs good sea water flow to keep kool. We use a seperate electric water pump to provide flow. We run it an hour in AM and PM to keep Bat. bank toped.

[Ironhorse74]

I have been looking for a 12V diesel gen set. Seems kind of pricey. Please review it, if you buy it.

[deckofficer]

$3800 for a 750 watt DC gen-set is quite pricey. If you have AGMs or another battery that can take more than the 0.1C rate of flooded lead acid, there are a lot of choices not much more expensive of that 750 watt that have a DC output of 4,000 watts to 20,000 watts. The smaller output units are user configurable for 12 to 48 volts, the larger 48 to 320 VDC. The smallest at 4Kw, charging a 12 volt bank can shove in 260 amps. AGMs by Odyssey can take 3.0C.

5.5 KW Polar DC Marine Generator | Propulsion Marine

[memelet]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

$3800 for a 750 watt DC gen-set is quite pricey

Pricey I agree. But what does does the polar power cost? No prices on the website. I recently looked at the ample power genset -- looked like a good price initially but fully configured its nearing 9k.

I suppose I should have also mentioned that I don't have 10k just now to invest into a genset. I'll be adding 3 x 135W solar panels soon, so I'll see how well that does.

[memelet]

Originally Posted by eyschulman

I have a similar USA built unit with a small Kaboda motor

Where did you get it?

[deckofficer]

DC output only Gen sets are more expensive than 120/240 VAC generators but are much lighter and don't have to run at a fixed rpm for frequency. If you use a large inverter, the an AC gen-set is redundant, and will only charge the house bank of batteries at the rate a separate dedicated charger would do. The 4Kw DC unit is $7500.

[cat man do]

They also do this model

Marine Generators & Gensets AC & DC Roto Diesel Brand
Which looks suspiciously like these ones (with the addition of water cooling) that are all over ebay for $1200


NEW 2012 7.5KVA DIESEL INVERTER GENERATOR