Battery life off-grid

Originally posted by lamarkeiko Furpod, I hope I'm not pestering you with too many questions, but I'm just trying to get myself setup the most convient and effecient way to maintain my pod batteries before I go dry camping off the grid. Just to be clear, are you saying that if I'm using my Honda generator to maintain my pod batteries, I can charge them faster if I connect the pod power cable to the generator 120 vac receptical than if I connected the generator pos/neg batt charging output connectors straight to the pod battery with about 10' of about 4 ga cables?   I know that higher voltage has less power loss through cables, but going through the pod power cord and back to the batteries must be 50' long, vs 10' and heavier cables.

Cable loss is minimal over the distances and gauges we are concerned with. The limiting factor is that the 12v charge side of the Honda inverter generators will only charge at 8A. period.

Your built in converter will charge at 55A. It is also a smart charger so it will give the battery as much as it can take, within it's limitations.

Thanks furpod.  Sounds like pod power cable to generator is best way to go.  My only problem now is, I tried that a couple days ago, and the adapter I was supplied with from pod power plug to standard 120 receptacle won't fit in my generators 120 receptacle.  It's too big and won't clear.  I purchased 12" of 12 ga cord that I'm putting a female plug to match pod plug on one end, and standard 120 ac male plug on other end.

The pod has a 30 amp 120 volt plug, you can buy a "dogbone" or "hockey puck" adapter cheaply.  The "dogbone" type is safer to some degree.

I need a smaller image file.  Hope this is better.

Lamar,

The item you're holding in the picture is what we refer to as a hockey puck adapter. It looks like it will not fit due to the recessed socket on the generator, but the idea is good. Another option is http://www.amazon.com/Voltec-16-00502-15-30-Adapter-E-ZEE/dp/B004ZMUKH2/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1425154302&sr=8-8&keywords=15+amp+30+amp+adapter

This is called a dog bone adapter and is a available from many vendors. You could use the puck you have with a standard short extension cord. Short cords rated at 15A are easily obtained and you would plug it into the generator; then use your hockey puck adapter between the extension cord and and the RPod power cord. With your 1000W gen your not going to draw more than 8 Amps so a 15 Amp rated extension will be fine. If you're going to spend money I'd go with the dog bone.