generator battery maintenance

 

what are some recommendations for maintaining a generator battery?

in case it's generator & battery specific, here are the specs

. generator is honda 13hp, gasoline, 8000w with self-starter
. battery is a sears car battery, the best they had at the time(cost about $90)

since hooking battery up to gen, it sulfates (?) around the negative terminal
(green
crud) and I have to remove post contact and grease it

generator is just a few months old, battery is about 2 years old

should the battery be disconnected when generator is stored and not in use? both
positive & negative terminals?

 


Simon wrote:

(green

both

Hi, I am not an expert in this field but here goes. I have a generator
an Onan RS20000. It is a 20kw think and runs on LP gas. When the chap
came to install it he spraked some sort of red plastic gunk on the
battery terminals after hooking it up to the generator. The Plastic
gunk keeps out all the water etc. The Battery is maintained but a
charger that is wired into the house, that way the battery is always
fully charged.

I guess you could do the same with your Honda Generator. Instead of a
trickle charger you would have to run it now and again to keep the
battery charged. The Onan runs itself every two weeks for ten minutes
just to keep itself in trim.

warmest regards, Mike.

 



I used a garden tractor battery on my outdoor generator. A better
quality one costs about $20 at WalMart. Winter temperatures are
relatively warm here though. On a 6kW portable that's kept indoors I
used an even smaller AGM battery.


(green

both

There shouldn't be any need to disconnect. There's generally zero idle
load on a small-engine starting battery. I have a $10 solar panel on
mine to help compensate for self-discharge. I wouldn't have done even
that much except that the generator often goes for months between
runs. If self discharge is a problem and if you don't mind the energy
consumption, then you could use something like this
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_197012_197012

You might also check the max charging output of your generator. It may
not be up to properly charging a larger battery. If so, you could use
a larger external charger a couple times a year.

Wayne

 

wmbjk wrote:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_197012_197012

many thanks, ended up buying from http://www.pacificbattery.com/charger.html
(free shipping and $5 less than northerntool.com)

 



Simon wrote:


the best thing to do is maintain float voltage; other post suggested
a small solar panel, that is a great idea.  otherwise, you should
top off the battery every couple of weeks.