Genset-gctid356721

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Ahoy! New owner of an old boat and have learned a lot from this forum already!

Had a question about the 5kw Kohler Genset on my boat. I haven't had a chance to get out overnight yet and

was curious. How often you need to run the generator and about how much fuel does it use?

[smitty477 Guru Find all posts View Profile Close smitty477]

Congratulations on your new boat --- Do you have gas or diesel?

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Thanks Smitty! It's gas, twin 305s.

[smitty477 Guru Find all posts View Profile Close smitty477]

A 5KW Kohler gas genset will burn about 0.75 gph at full load and about 0.625 gph at half load.

Hope this helps

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Absolutely does! Thanks Smitty.

[Uncle_Bob Guru Find all posts View Profile Close Uncle_Bob]

How often you run the generator (how long) depends on how much power you need to replenish and what amperage your battery charger produces. For example if you run your 220 amp hours to 50% depleted, you need to put back 110 amp hours. If you have a 20 amp charger, and it won't put out 20 amps over the entire charge without diminishing, then you can expect to run well over 5 hours. It is all in the arithmetic.

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Alright Uncle Bob, thanks. I think I understand... the depleted amount is based on the time that the boat has ran on just

battery power times the amphour draw from my boat. Correct? So, to calculate the total amphour draw of my boat I would

need to research the current draw of everything running on the batteries?

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

With most of the inverter chargers it is easy to determine when the batteries are getting almost completely charged, just use the control panel to see the rate of charge. When it tapers from a high number like 100 amps of charge down to a low number like 10 amps of charge or less the batteries are getting almost fully charged. Other chargers are more difficult to determine when you are close to a full charge. Determining your usage can be a bit difficult especially if you have a variety of uses like lights on and off, inverter loads that are not uniform, TV usage, sat antenna usage, etc. Big long hour draws on many boats are furnace motors, refers, and lights. If you have an inverter it is easy to draw DC currents that take many hours to refill the battery charge, especially if you use large loads like microwaves, hair dryers, etc. Don't even think of using things like hot water tanks on inverters.

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Understood, thanks M.... :coo-

[2850Bounty Supporting Member Find all posts View Profile Close 2850Bounty]

Pappy wrote:
Alright Uncle Bob, thanks. I think I understand...

1.... the depleted amount is based on the time that the boat has ran on just battery power times the amphour draw from my boat. Correct?

2.... So, to calculate the total amphour draw of my boat I would need to research the current draw of everything running on the batteries?

1... Correct, sort of! Not necessarily the time, but more so the Amp Hours OUT and Amp Hours IN are what you want to be concerned with... and not a voltage reading alone.

2... Yes...... or you can install one of these and allow it to do the "Amp Hour" calculations for you.





I've not used one of these yet.... but it looks to be very similar to the LINK-lite unit.

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Yep! That's what I need! I looked at the LinkLite installation manual and it looks fairly straightforward to hook-up, just need to find a place to mount it. Thanks Rick!!

[2850Bounty Supporting Member Find all posts View Profile Close 2850Bounty]

You bet-cha!

Take a look "here" when you are ready to install one.

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Will do! Many thanks Rick.