John_M said:dogday, you might want to check out this site for info. and links regarding inverters: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...catalogId=10001&Nao=0&Ne=712&Ntt=Distribution Panels&N=377 710 1651&page=CategoryDisplayLevel1&y=0&x=0&omniTag=Category:Inverters&PopularCat=No&storeId=10001&Ns=WMPrice|1
Good luck, John_M
Edit: Apologies. For some reason, the link does not work unless you "copy and paste" it.
dogday said:thanks to all for the info I am looking to only have a power backup for my pellet stove. Hopefully I can get a system that can switch to the battery in a power outage then recharge the battery when power is restored.
Greg H said:Thanks John.
Since my batteries are of different capacities and ages I would ony use them one at a time, and charge them one at a time. As for my potenial charger I was just thinking that an alternater turning at the proper speed wouldn't know if its in a car or not same for the battery.
Highbeam said:This will depend on the alternator you choose. I would expect that you select the standard GM 1-wire alternator that is super common and super adaptable. It has an internal regulator and you don't need a seperate curcuit to excite it. A wonderful one wire invention. Cheap and usually under 100 amps.
One HP is equal to about 750 watts. 750 watts divided by 12 volts is like 60 amps. So your typical 5 HP pressure washer engine could put out 300 amps but you will certainly have some efficiency losses in there.
The biggest/fastest battery chargers I have seen for RVs are less than 100 amps. So you'll have plenty of engine. The internal regulator will act to not overcharge the battery but it will not taper the voltage down to 12.8 like a good battery charger will, it will work to keep the voltage at 14 which will keep sending juice to the battery even when it's charged which will boil it dry over time.
I'll be honest and say that I have set up an alternator this way to charge up a deep cycle battery. The battery was used to power an electric fence for 45 horses and the "engine" was actually a slick paddle wheel that used diverted creek water piped down from way up on the hill to spin the wheel fast which was pulleyed to the alternator. It worked but we didn't really know enough to worry about the battery being damaged. The only other option was to hook it up to a pickup with jumper cables and idle the truck for hours.