battery charger/inverter

[garyd]

I want to hook up my battery charger and the inverter to the same battery. Therefore if the inverter fails the battery charger will charge the battery.

Since currently I can have the generator charging a battery and the alternator charging a battery and the battery charger charging the battery. I presume since all of these can be charging the same battery at the same time that it's not a problem.

Has anyone had a problem stemming from multiple charging devices charging the same battery?

garyd

 

[Brian Degulis]

I can't see any problem there they will all taper down as the battery comes up. The battery itself and the set points for each charging source will limit the maximum charge.

Brian

 

[Nonchalant1]

Actually, your inverter/battery charger charges from A/C whether dock power or Generator. The generator doesn't charge it directly. On my boat, the alternator has a circuit that sts off the charging if the battery charger is active, so only one thing charges a bank at one time. You could hook up a battery charger and leave it turned off and if the inverter fails, then turn it off and turn on the charger.

Doug

 

[Brian Degulis]

Doug Are you sure you have a circuit that shuts off the charger when the alternators kick in? Or does the charger drop to little or no output because the alternators are bringing up the voltage and the charger is interperting that as a charged battery.

Brian

 

[REBrueckner]

Hooking up an inverter(charger), battery charger and alternator all to the same battery should not be a problem. Because of their different charge characteristics, one will almost certainly take over when all three are operating and suppress output from the others...so if the battery is low don't expect to have steady output from all three. Just be sure each is programmed for the correct battery type: wet cell, AGM, or gel...whatever type you use. Also,if one of your charging sources is not SMART, it's likely that older one will be suppressed as smart algorithims charge much faster.

I run three Statpower 40 amp chargers and a sometimes a Heart Freedom inverter/charger simultaneously. Usually I get output from all three Statpowers for bulk charging when just those are on (they all have the same charge algorithim, of course), but when the Heart is on it takes over.

 

[garyd]

Today I removed the original battery charger. I think it weighed about 40 pounds LOL. The new one albeit somewhat smaller weighed 6lbs.

The new one started off charging and then slowly went to zero as the batteries were fully charged. The old one always showed some charging happening but maybe that's why I had to add water more than I thought I should.

The old O.E.M. unit had two extra wires On it. When I consulted the Hatteras wiring diagram I found them there as well. They were hooked to the ignition and all I can figure is when you turned your ignition on it shut the charger down to that battery. If both ignitions were on the battery charger would be off to both batteries. However I believe it would be on to the third battery.

The old one was extremely noisey. You can not hear the new one at all.

Doug, I believe my NL generator has an alternator on it that charges the battery it is hooked up to.


garyd