Generator Batteries
Portable Generators.
Before you use your generator make sure your battery is charged. If it is not fully charged you may be able to still start your engine however the flywheel generator that is used to recharge your battery may be overloaded. Overloading the charging circuit maybe blow a fuse or causes further damage that is not covered by warranty.
Standby Generators
Standby Generators use two methods to charge and maintain their batteries. One is an alternator just like on your car. It will recharge the generator battery when it is running. The second is a power supply / battery charger that is built into Aurora Generators that gets power from your mains when available and helps keep the battery topped up.
Solar Homes
Do not connect your battery or the terminals for it to another bank of batteries. Many owners of solar homes want to use their generator to charge up their batteries. The safe way to do this is to plug in a proper charger into the generators outlets and let it control charging rather then the generator.
Truck Drivers
It is common to find truck drivers using portable diesel generators for axillary power. The generator is often used for powering heating and cooling systems when the trucks are at rest. Do not connect the truck batteries to your generator. You will overload the charging circuit. It is suggested that you disable the charging circuit on the generator so you do not overload it or back feed to it.
Battery Charging Theory – How most batteries are damaged.
Lead-Acid Batteries
To recharge a lead-acid battery, it is necessary to convert the lead sulfate material which attaches to the discharged areas of the plates back to active plate material.
If the battery has not remained discharged for long or has only been discharged slightly, this is a relatively easy process. However, when the battery has remained discharged for an extended period or has been subjected to repeated deep-discharges without charging fully between cycles, the sulfate material can harden into crystals which are more difficult to convert. Until the sulfate is converted, the sulfated portions of the plates are useless, and the battery can accept and hold only a partial charge. Eventually, sulfating can ruin a battery.
Number one cause of battery failure
Sulfation is the number one cause of battery failure.
Whenever possible, bring any batteries up to full charge as slowly as possible. This slow charging process is also known as equalization. Equalization allows the electrolyte time to diffuse into the less accessible areas of the plate grid and convert those areas from lead sulfate to active plate material.
Infrequently-used or stored batteries are also prone to sulfating if not kept fully-charged between uses. A battery loses approximately 1 percent of its charge per day (up to 2 percent in hotter climates) due to self-discharge. If self-discharge is not compensated for, a stored battery can become sulfated and will eventually be ruined.
The second most common cause of battery failure is overcharging. Many chargers on the market will damage your battery if left attached for extended periods by “boiling” the water out of the electrolyte solution. Eventually, water loss will destroy a battery. Checking the electrolyte level in a battery and adding distilled water when necessary is extremely important, especially when using fast chargers or many of the trickle chargers on the market.
Buy a small trickle charger and leave it on full time or hook up a small solar cell to keep the battery topped up when not in use.
