I am also interested in what charger I might get for my Smarter Tools Inverter Generator (1600w continuous) and so did a search to see. I found a thread on the other solar group that humbled me considerably. It seems that I have a lot to learn about a facet of solar/battery that I did not know existed!
I have time to research it, but don't have a grasp yet to the point that I can help the OP with it. Here is what I found.
When I said that my inverter charger (Smarter Tools 1600/2000) puts out 1600/12 = 133 amps, that was naïve. First of all, it is probably more like 1500 / 14.4 to account for charging voltage = 104. However there are also other factors. Because the output is sine wave, some cheaper chargers cut off the waveform and throw away massive amounts of it... maybe 40%. Those cheap chargers have what is called a Power Factor (PF) of only 60%. Then there is another line item on the spec called efficiency. Good ones are 90%+ and bad ones are done below 80%.
So a bad case would be 104 * .60 PF * .80 Eff = 50 amps. So it leaves much les headroom for running other things.
Then there is the efficiency of the generator in terms of fuel efficiency. Most generators don't get as good performance at the very high ranges of their rated output.
I cannot recommend any particular brand of charger for this application, but I am hoping someone else can, not just for the OP but because it fits into my future planning.
I have time to research it, but don't have a grasp yet to the point that I can help the OP with it. Here is what I found.
When I said that my inverter charger (Smarter Tools 1600/2000) puts out 1600/12 = 133 amps, that was naïve. First of all, it is probably more like 1500 / 14.4 to account for charging voltage = 104. However there are also other factors. Because the output is sine wave, some cheaper chargers cut off the waveform and throw away massive amounts of it... maybe 40%. Those cheap chargers have what is called a Power Factor (PF) of only 60%. Then there is another line item on the spec called efficiency. Good ones are 90%+ and bad ones are done below 80%.
So a bad case would be 104 * .60 PF * .80 Eff = 50 amps. So it leaves much les headroom for running other things.
Then there is the efficiency of the generator in terms of fuel efficiency. Most generators don't get as good performance at the very high ranges of their rated output.
I cannot recommend any particular brand of charger for this application, but I am hoping someone else can, not just for the OP but because it fits into my future planning.
Comment