Genn Battery Not charging

[davidbrady]

Hi Al,

Make sure the top of the battery is clean and the connections are corrosion free. I assume it's a sealed FLA; if not, then make sure it's topped up with distilled water. If you disconnect it and let it sit for a couple hours you can test it's steady-state at-rest voltage. A fully charged battery will be around 12.6V. Anything less than 11.6V, or so is considered fully discharged. If it's below 11.0V the battery may be bad. FLA's can only take so many full discharge cycles before they're toast.

I'd start the generator and put a voltmeter on the battery terminals to check for 14.3V, or so. If you're getting good voltage then it's probably a bad battery. You can take it to a NAPA center to have them load test it. If you're not getting good voltage then it's either an alternator or a loose belt. The Kubota alternators have built-in voltage regulators.

The problem with the generator battery is that it's only charged when the generator is running. Since we don't run our genny's enough the batteries tend to discharge. One solution is to wire in a Xantrex Echo charger or similar and wire the Echo charger to your house so when you're house is charging the genny battery is also charging.