Question re: Generators..electric trolling motors!

Post by **Wall-I-Guy** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:48 am

Ok now, keeping in mind I'm an electrical/mechanical misfit...I have a question.

If you had a Honda Generator which has a 12V output. Would you be able to hook and run an electric motor direct from the generator? Is there some kind of transformer/inverter you may need? Or is it simply...impossible?

I know about the noise from the generator but they are making extremely quiet machines now and any 2hp motor I've seen is extremely noisy. This was something we were pondering over the week.

The thing is on our smaller lake, this would be a great setup if it could be worked out.

Well??? What do you think?

Post by **toobinator** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 11:17 am

Wall-I-Guy: The quick answer is no. After thinking about it, I feel the generator would produce an AC current, while the battery would produce a DC current. This conclusion are my thoughts only and I definately stand to be corrected by somebody with more than the little knowledge I have about this.

Ed Toobinator Puddephatt

Post by **Xenos** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 7:35 pm

As toobinator mentioned, if that output was DC, and rated at a higher load rating than the motor it would work. MY PD 55 I believe is rated at 40 amps. This means that the Motor will draw 480 watts and since I believe DC motors are reactive like A/C ones the generator must be rated at 3X this amount. So a generator must be able to maintain 1440 watts of power at 12 dc.

Now the bad news, I donâ€™t think you can find a generator with this high a DC rating. Donâ€™t confuse the A/C power rating for D/C. As an example the Honda EG2500 is rated at 2300 watts A/C, however itâ€™s only rated at 100 watts DC.

Post by **ady** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 1:03 pm

Agree with the no guys, the problem is that you will need to deliver high current for long periods to run the motor and the only readily available commercial item to do this is the deep cycle battery. If you wanted to use a generator you would need to get a heavy duty step-down transformer and rectifier capable of handling 40 amps. It's cheaper to get yourself a couple of batteries, quiter too.

Post by **M.T. Livewell** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 2:07 pm

I am with the guys on this.

However, if you had a deep cycle battery in the middle as storage buffer and only called upon the battery during moving, then, conceivably, you could continuously recharge the deep cycle all day long while fishing.

Direct connect, I too have my doubts.

Sounds interesting though.

M.T. Livewell

Post by **Wall-I-Guy** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:56 pm

Thanks Guys, I managed to get some info off the net. The genrator I'd be looking at is only DC Output 12 V 96W so based on Xenos' numbers, it's impossible.

Post by **Stealth1Technology** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 11:03 pm

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