Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Driveway Erosion Control, ETC.

Tested 7 ways to Sunday. The battery maintainer is only putting out 3.2 volts.

The battery maintainer lives in the transfer switch that lives in the basement. So changing that out won't be a cold job, just a little nerve-wracking since the maintainer is hard wired I to the 120 volt circuit. A little wiring while hot to keep a person on their toes is a good thing.

I charged the starter battery on the bench, so I'm good for a couple weeks of test starts/ power outage.

 

I'm looking to mount the spare on the tailgate of my trailer. I have a tongue box so a front mount is out and mounting along the sides would be in the way of the tire baskets for the SXS. I'm planning on welding a 1.75" brace across the 1.75" uprights, and a plate at the bottom for support. The lift gate is on Go-Rilla lifts so I'm not worried about the weight. Anybody see a reason not to?

 

The only issue I could for see would be when towing the trailer empty. The 100~ lbs on the rear could remove tongue weight, thus making the trailer a squirrelly nightmare when nothing in the bed.

As long as you have plenty of weight in the front box, there won't be an issue at all.

 

The battery charger is definitely not the most stellar. Pretty basic looking with no stats. From what I can find, it's a 2.5 amp charger with no trickle capability. For a non smart charger, I'm wondering if a constant 2.5a is too much for a 650 cca battery that gets used 1/week to start the genie? I dunno.

 

Some chicken scratching to help with perspective. The right side is 13volts DC output, the left is 120vac

 

The red and black wires are landed on the 13~volt black output wires.

The red and black wires feed directly to the battery outside in the generator housing. With the red and white wire disconnected, my meter only showed 3.4 vdc.

With the wires connected to the freshly bench charged battery, the meter showed 12.6.

This tells me the charger isn't doing its job.

Kind of insulting that generac get $94 for this pos charger, yet I can buy an aftermarket smart battery maintainer for less than $20.

My OCD forced me to get the generac version coming

 

Good point, thanks.

 

Im with Koditten, empty on the gate will add some tail weight you might not want unless the tongue weight compensates for it.

I would suggest tossing it on the deck ahead of or at the axles and throw a strap over it. SXS will drive right over it while not adding tongue or tail weight. (remove/loosen the strap before driving over)

Or if you need something permanent break out a welder and grab some square tube and a tire mount plate and weld a mount on the outside of the railing just in front of the fender. Put some studs in the plate and get some spare lug nuts to attach it to the plate then you have some spare lugs as well.

 

It's laying on the deck up in the nose now. It might just stay there. Thanks.

 

Swapped out my 30 amp generator plug and replaced with a 50 amp for the new generator .Whole house ready to go instead of just a few circuits. Fired it up and we can even use the hot tub if we wanted to . Generator barely bogged down while running the tub and the house on the initial test generator is a monster !

 

I hope you changed out the wire too.

 

It was already #6
Myself and an electrician buddy installed all the original stuff about 5 years ago .

 

I'm guessing with that 50A box you made a double male end cord? Be careful with it if you did!!!!

 

We did ,you are correct.

 

I had a cord like that for many years, finally had a correct plug installed when we moved so I didn't have to mess with it anymore.

 

Yea , you got me thinking here . There’s a reason I can not find a pre made cord with 2 male ends . I might swap out that box and buy the proper cord with twist lock .

 

Why would you need 2 male ends? The box has the correct (male) prongs for a cord from the generator. Plug into the gen with male, latch to the house with the female end of the cord. Looks just like my rv to generator setup.

 

The 50A RV box is female.

 

this is the box

 

FYI, you can buy a 50A box with a 15' cord from Amazon for $94