The day dawned mostly clear and forecast to stay that way…
Nearly guaranteeing that the solar panels will be able to bring the batteries to float. Nevertheless the voltage was lower than I like at bedtime, to the point where I’d normally be tempted to turn the inverter off for the night and avoid the parasitic draw. I deliberately did not do so, and this morning the battery voltage read 12.11. I didn’t want to seriously run the new charger while I wasn’t right there to micromanage, so I waited till after the long morning walkie. Then I started up the Honda, let it warm for a couple of minutes, and plugged in the charger…
…and may I say that when this thing is throwing a full charge it really pulls some juice. Nearly bogged the poor Honda right down, but the little machine was up for it. Still, I may try to anticipate another such event and borrow a clamping multimeter from Neighbor S because I’d like to know how many amps it’s drawing.
Anyway: After about fifteen minutes…
…and it shows just over fourteen volts as I type this. Guess I can burn the packaging now. 🙂
Yet another problem solved by a techno-gizmo!
There is a switch on the EU-2000 that turns off the auto-throttle (Don’t remember how it’s labeled). Without the auto-throttle it’s louder and sucking a bit more gas, but it helps the generator handle the starting surge of bigger loads. Once under load, you may be able to turn the auto-throttle back on.
Yeah, I know. I need to leave the auto-throttle off for the table saw, and assumed it would be the same with this. Sure was.
I would have been very disappointed if you hadn’t fiddled with it. It’s about the only way you’ll learn what it’s capable of.