Using a charge controller with a 12v inverter generator

[Crab_Cake]

First off thanks a million for all the info you guys have given me. Can't thank you enough.

Anyways I am building an off grid cabin and I'll have a battery bank of about 100-150ah. At max I will use 30ah per night but usually it will be more like 7-10ah. I was going to go with solar power but in a past thread I was advised against it for my budget. My plan now is to get an inverter generator. These little guys produce 12v DC current and then run it through an inverter creating AC. I am looking to get one like this Yamaha. It puts out 12v @ 8amps and will run for 12 hours on .66 gallons of gasoline.

It has a dedicated DC plug and comes with battery charging cables. I think its just going to output 8 amps without any control. I am guessing that it will need some type of charge controller. I was wondering if one meant for a solar panel would work or not? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks a million!

[Naptown]

DC output is dismal on most generators that provide it. better to get the generator and a charger which will produce a much larger charge current.

Think about what this will do 8 amps at 12V =100W this is a 1000w generator you should be able with a battery charger produce a much larger charging current than that.

[Crab_Cake]

DC output is dismal on most generators that provide it. better to get the generator and a charger which will produce a much larger charge current.

Think about what this will do 8 amps at 12V =100W this is a 1000w generator you should be able with a battery charger produce a much larger charging current than that.

Doesn't it harm a battery to have it frequently recharge at over 8 amps?

[Naptown]

A 150AH battery should be charged at about 10% of AH capacity to reduce sulphation and charge quickly. this would mean a 15A charger and one hour of run time as opposed to two.

[Mike90250]

... My plan now is to get an inverter generator. These little guys produce 12v DC current and then run it through an inverter creating AC. I am looking to get one like this Yamaha. It puts out 12v @ 8amps and will run for 12 hours on .66 gallons of gasoline. ....

Almost, but no Doughnut.

Inverter generators produce about 100-200VDC, and then use that to run the inverter, to provide clean, stable, fairly pure sine, 120VAC
That AC output, when used to power a battery charger (like the Iota or VEC in my .sig) in conjunction with the Auto-throttle feature, means that as your battery charges up, it draws less power, and the genset throttles back, saving gasoline.

The 12V output from the generator (12V @ 8 amps = 98w) is just tapped off the field winding for the generator, and is not regulated or anything, and is a crude way to charge a battery. Much better to use the 120VAC output and a good battery charger, than the 12Vdc tap.