Charger drawing lots of amps...?

[Dmckinney33]

I have a 2012 Springdale and I have always charged my camper with a larger generator or from a shoreline. My father had a 1000watt honda generator that is quiet and my batteries were kind of low... (Just under half) and we plugged it in and it immediately bogged down then died. Iv noticed with my 3500watt generator it bogs it down as well. We thought it was getting a draw from something else so I turned all the breakers off and plugged it in and it worked just fine until I turned on the breaker for the charger, then it bogged down and died...(the 1000watt generator) with no other breakers on. Is this normal? Does it really draw that much power? I was under the impression it was a trickle charge... Could it be maybe one bad battery? Just looking for answers... Thanks!

[hankpage]

I believe at full charge a three stage converter can draw 13 amps but I would have to check the manual. You should have the paperwork that came with the trailer. It should tell you the draw at each stage. It may be too high for the little Honda.
If you have a 55amp WFCO converter it can draw up to 950 watts which is maxed out on the Honda.

[cjm]

also remember that if your fridge is set to auto, it will try to switch to elec. as soon as the genny is plugged in, plus any other parasitic power draws... I ran into this with mine as well. With the 1000w genny I had to turn off the auto feature of the fridge to charge batts.. My solution was to buy a 3000w genny

[Yosemitebob]

I have a 4000w gen, and I can tell by engine speed when I turn the breaker on for the trailer.

[dm1401]

Your post made me giggle a little bit, I was having the same exact problem, I figured out it was the hot water tank switch located on the hot water tank. The electrical element pulls a fair bit of power, turn the switch off and try the generator again. Drove me nuts till I figured it out.

[Dmckinney33]

I always keep the fridge on gas only after I leave the house and I never have used the electric part of the water heater... But the different stages makes sense. Thanks for the help everyone!

[hankpage]

The Honda EU 1000i is only rated at 8.3 amps max. If the converter is drawing 13 amps the genny stalls. You might get it to work if you had the TV connected with the engine running for a while to help with the initial surge. If you can get the draw down to about 7 amps the Honda might finish the charge.