Came with a Gentech 2kva Inverter Generator. It has a 12v receptacle in the front using this plug

Is this a standard plug that I can buy at an eletronics shop?

What is the purpose of the entire unit with the battery clips on it?

 

 

Edited October 16, 20232 yr by Lee2

I'm guessing it is intended to charge a 12V battery from the generator... I can't say I have seen that plug before, so I doubt it is a standard plug...

16 minutes ago, Kalahari Meerkat said:

I'm guessing it is intended to charge a 12V battery from the generator... I can't say I have seen that plug before, so I doubt it is a standard plug...

Yes you will see the pins are at an angle. It looks nearly like the USA hifi power plugs. It will match's the 12V part of the genny as indicate by @Kalahari Meerkat Look on any of these small 650-900W genny in a shop. 

If I was at home I could have posted a pic of the socket on the genny. 

Edited October 16, 20232 yr by Scorp007

The v-shaped flat pins are used in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and China. (AS 3112)

No idea what the set is used for...

On my genny the 1 pin is turned 90 degrees from the USA hifi power plug as on my decades old hifi. Marked as DC 8A for 12V battery charging. 

Edited October 16, 20232 yr by Scorp007

@Lee2 When my father purchased a generator a couple of years ago he also received a charging cable looking like the one in the picture that you posted with the generator and he would charge 12v batteries with it, as for the plug I do not think that an electronics shop or an electrical shop would be able to sell you such a plug, why don't you make your own plug?

I would take a piece of 1.5mm2 or 2.5mm2 surfix or twin and earth, strip a piece of the insulation off of the conductors and bent it into the shape of the contact and just tin it a bit so that the solder just flows over the piece that must contact in the socket. The handle can be molded from Pratley Putty after flexible cable has been soldered onto the surfix or twin and earth.

I suppose we did not answer the question. By now you know the clips go onto a 12V battery. My genny pushes out over 14V and I would prefer to only use it for short periods if it is a must. 

14 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

I suppose we did not answer the question. By now you know the clips go onto a 12V battery. My genny pushes out over 14V and I would prefer to only use it for short periods if it is a must. 

Seems pretty useless, would rather snip the wires and attach it to a 12v light and cable tie it to the handle or something. 

All the new portable battery packs all come out with lights built in

49 minutes ago, Lee2 said:

Seems pretty useless, would rather snip the wires and attach it to a 12v light and cable tie it to the handle or something. 

All the new portable battery packs all come out with lights built in

Please allow me to disagree. We have seen many requests here for charging batteries when PV is low for the day. So why not charge batteries while the genny is running some other 230V loads. 

There are still some people off the grid that are running 12V inverters and even lead acids. Think of the masses in rural areas. Using this 12V output one can charge each 12V battery spread out between the batteries that needs charging while doing washing or during the evening and connecting the batteries back to the inverter for security and lights during the night. 

You saw the guy with 35 x 12V batteries on the other forum. The only difference with his system he is using an engine driving a high power car alternator for charging his batteries. 

Edited October 17, 20232 yr by Scorp007

1 hour ago, Scorp007 said:

Please allow me to disagree. We have seen many requests here for charging batteries when PV is low for the day. So why not charge batteries while the genny is running some other 230V loads. 

There are still some people off the grid that are running 12V inverters and even lead acids. Think of the masses in rural areas. Using this 12V output one can charge each 12V battery spread out between the batteries that needs charging while doing washing or during the evening and connecting the batteries back to the inverter for security and lights during the night. 

You saw the guy with 35 x 12V batteries on the other forum. The only difference with his system he is using an engine driving a high power car alternator for charging his batteries. 

I would have thought one would just use a dedicated charger attached to a multiplug connected to the generator. Though if you dont have one then it might be very useful indeed

2 hours ago, Lee2 said:

Seems pretty useless, would rather snip the wires and attach it to a 12v light and cable tie it to the handle or something. 

All the new portable battery packs all come out with lights built in

Well what if all you had was the generator and a flat battery? Or you have the gennie running and your neighbour has a flat battery. 

There may be more technically elegant solutions, but this is one of those things that you might need one day, and if that day comes you'll be glad to have this cable.

1 hour ago, Lee2 said:

I would have thought one would just use a dedicated charger attached to a multiplug connected to the generator. Though if you dont have one then it might be very useful indeed

Merrit in using a multiplug(easy) but dumping 20% of power in convertion losses. Then you must still buy the AC charger while you can charge directly from the genny. 

Genny is still the main source for power when grid fails. More than 85% of households don't have PV systems. 25% in ZA don't even have grid power. The last figures I saw. 

Some useless info. A year ago amongst 88 households in a boomed off area only 3 had PV that one could see. Suddenly about 12 have. Even the access control had no power during LS.