Generator w/o alternator

[Charlie]

Hello All:

I have a NextGen genset NEXTGEN ULTRA COMPACT MARINE GENERATORS This does not come with an alternator so there is no charging the starting battery. I have a spare Iota 55 Amp battery charger. Does anyone see a problem with hooking up this charger to the starting battery for the generator. It would be plugged into the 110 ac circuit on the boat and run whenever either the generator was on or when I was plugged into shore power. I know this is overkill for the battery but I already have the charger. Can anyone see any problems with this?

[courageous cat]

I have a NextGen genset NEXTGEN ULTRA COMPACT MARINE GENERATORS This does not come with an alternator so there is no charging the starting battery. I have a spare Iota 55 Amp battery charger. Does anyone see a problem with hooking up this charger to the starting battery for the generator. It would be plugged into the 110 ac circuit on the boat and run whenever either the generator was on or when I was plugged into shore power. I know this is overkill for the battery but I already have the charger. Can anyone see any problems with this?
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hello, I don't see a problem but I think there's got to be something making 12 volt of power.It will charge the starting battery. a simple check with volt meter tell you,a increace from not running to running 2 to 3 volt diffrents will tell you.

pat

[courageous cat]

I do see it say (Charging System - None)but just can't beleve a manufacture would make a generator that won't charge the start battery.If thats so then when the 12 volt fuel pump draws down the battery the generator will stop running. It just seems mind boggling. Is this bran new?I hope thangs work out
pat

[btrayfors]

I've had a NextGen 3.5KW generator for several years. It does not have any 12V output.

This is not a problem. The reason for running the generator is usually to recharge the batteries (and to provide 115VAC for other purposes). Thus whenever it is running, so is the installed battery charger(s).

I have two battery chargers: a high-end Victron MultiPlus (120A capacity) for the house battery bank and an Iota 55A which is dedicated to the windlass battery bank up forward.

I keep the starting battery charged by means of a little device called an EchoCharge. It works flawlessly. It senses a charging voltage on the house batteries and bleeds off some current (up to 15A) to keep the starting battery charged. A Balmar DuoCharge does the same thing, but is more sophisticated and can handle up to 30A (neither of which is needed in my case).

Suggest you get an EchoCharge or a DuoCharge to keep your starting battery up, and use the Iota for house bank charging if you don't already have a good charger for the house bank.

Bill

[Charlie]

I don't know if there is an electric fuel pump. I'll have to look it over but I don't think there is.

[btrayfors]

Charlie,

There is.

Bill

[Charlie]

Thanks Bill. I forgot that you had one. How do you keep your starting battery charged. I was thinkin fo just hooking the leads up to the startign battery of my engine. It in turn is connected such that I can use the house bank to start it as well.

[Charlie]

Bill sorry for asking a redundant question. I ddin't see the post that you had written before. I have three 55 amp Iota's One is a spare and the other two service the house bank. rather than just storing the 3rd I thought that I would hook it up to charge the gnerator battery. I also have a small trickle charger but am not sure if that would provide enough power to recharge the lost power from starting in an hour or two of running the generator.

[btrayfors]

Charlie:

My generator uses the house batteries to start. It requires very little power. There is no dedicated starting battery for the generator.

The AH required to start an engine....either the main engine or the little genset....is very, very little. Even if you draw, say, 200A for the big engine starter, it only happens for a few seconds. Even if it were to take 60 seconds of cranking (which is way more than it takes in reality), that's only:

200A x (60 seconds/3600 seconds) = 3.3AH

Practically nothing. Easy to replenish. The genset takes much less to start.

Bill

[Charlie]

I'll probably switch over to the using the start battery to start both the engien and the generator then.