Off-grid users who acquire a back up generator should keep something in mind.
If they have a charger capable of charging at 100 Amps into a 12V battery bank only consumer 1200 watts plus about 10% for conversion losses. A 24V bank charging at 100A is 2400 watts and so forth. In many cases this is a small percentage of the total output most gensets are capable of and as a result the generator runs at a very wasteful fuel burn rate.
Marshall has the right idea with his genverters concept wher a very small generator is used that is just large enough to drive the available chargers.
The other thing that is rarely discussed by people wanting to go off grid is the fact chargers must be matched to the battery bank size or you are likely to end up with battery problems. The cure is likely to be expensive.
