March 2nd - Hail Storm - March 3rd - Exercising Marge's Generator and Battery Maintenance

March 2nd:

At 7:30 p.m. we had a hail storm at the house. It was nickel size hail which really came down hard. We thought it was going to break some windows but luckily didn't. Here are a couple of pictures of the hail on the deck after it stopped.

March 3rd:

Today we checked the truck for hail damage but luckily didn't find any. I hate that my most expensive vehicle has to sit out at times like this but our garage just wasn't designed for a crew cab dually truck.

I then headed over to the storage shed to exercise the generator in Marge and charge the batteries. I do this once a month to keep both in top shape. When I first start her up she blows a little black soot as the choke gets the idle where it needs to be. Once she warms up the smoke stops. Here is a picture.

I have adjusted the carburetor so that at idle, without a load, the generator puts out about 130 volts. I have a plug-in voltmeter nearby that helps me monitor the voltage output. Here is a picture of the meter showing the generator running with no load.

The plug next to the voltmeter is for powering the charger/converter nearby. The converter/converter converts the 120 volt AC to 12 volt DC for all the house lights and charges the batteries. Nearby there is a battery cutoff switch which kills the batteries when the RV is not being used. Without this switch installed phantom loads will drain down the batteries in just a few short weeks. Here is a picture of the set up.  The red box is a voltmeter I installed that shows me the condition of the house batteries and the generator battery when being charged and when resting. The cutoff switch is the red lever below the red box. On the left of the picture is a silver box which is the charger/converter.

Upon the generator getting up to speed and generating electric the charger/converter kicks in and starts putting a bulk charge on the batteries. Here is a picture of the voltmeter with just the charger/converter drawing power from the generator. It pulls down several volts.

Once the generator motor is warmed up I put a half load on the generator by running a 1500 watt space heater. When exercising the generator you want to not only run the motor but also put a half electric load on the generator so that the electrical windings all stay in good shape. Here is a picture of the heater I sit outside on full power to put a load on the generator. 

The generator is a 4000 watt model. The 1500 watt heater and charger/converter provide a half load. Here is a picture of the voltmeter with both the heater and converter/charger running.  122 volts is perfect.

When we installed the generator some years ago we installed its own battery. The thought being that if the house batteries went dead and the generator was connected to them we then couldn't start the generator to charge the batteries.  I could have gotten by with a lawn mower battery but opted to spend the extra money to get a car battery with plenty of reserve power. Here is a picture of the generator battery box which is located above the generator fuel tank near the generator. I checked the water level in it today while I was exercising the generator. It is good to go.

While the generator continued to be exercised I checked the condition of the house batteries. Some years back I opted to install two 6 volt golf car batteries in lieu of one 12 volt deep cycle battery. Golf car batteries have a lot more plates which converts to a lot more electric storage capacity. I had room in the battery compartment for two batteries. Here is a picture of the current batteries. This set is about two years old.

While the batteries fit in the compartment, there is not a lot of room on top to check the water levels periodically. I use a little mirror that I shine a flashlight on to see how much water is in each cell. If water needs to be added I have a little bottle I can get up in there.  Here is a picture of me checking the water level today with a flashlight. All cells were good.

RV generators require maintenance and regular attention. We don't use the generator that often but when we do it is invaluable. We used it the most ever on our trip to Newfoundland last summer. On one part of the trip we were in an RV park with no hookups for five days. We ran the generator several hours each day to charge the batteries and charge our cell phones. Even with that usage we only put 59 hours on the generator all year. We also use it when we pull into rest areas or truck stops to microwave a meal while traveling or when staying at a Cracker Barrel or Walmart overnight.

Having a generator in a fifth wheel trailer is a luxury so we don't mind the extra maintenance.

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