# Honda 2000Ia Versus Honda 2000I Companion



## Rookie (Jun 29, 2009)

This is where I live up to my handle, Rookie! I don't know much about electricity and am looking at generators. I see that the Honda 2000iA has a 12V DC output for charging batteries. If I use the Companion which only has a 20amp 1-125 vac outlet, can I just plug my trailer 30 amp plug into that with my connector and have it charge my batteries?

I know they charge when connected to my car and we are driving, I'm just not sure if it charges when plugged in with the out plug(into hu's or gen)? I want to charge my batteries during the day for running stuff at night. How important is having the 12V DC output? What if I plug a battery charger into my generator and use that? I'm really clueless in this area but looking for answers to make sure I buy the correct unit. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## W Podboy (Jan 4, 2007)

Rookie,

If you plug the trailer into the generator and run the generator your will charge the batteries just as you would if you plugged the trailer in to the outlet at the RV park.
I have 2 of the Hondas since we bought the trailer and have never used the 12 volt output. It is much easier to just plug the trailer into the generator and let the trailer battery charger do the work.

The benefit of the Honda 2000i series is that it produce one of the most clean 120 vac power from any generator on the market. In fact it is so clean that you can run your computer off of it with no harm to your computer. A lot of construction style generators produce dirty 120vac power and you cannot use it for TV's or computers.

Hope that helps a little

Wes


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

The 12volt DC outlet of the Honda, Honeywell and other generators (and inverter types, too) is unregulated. I do not recommend hooking that up to your batteries.

By putting the generator's 120 volts ac into your shore power cable, you power up your on-board converter. That converts the incoming 120v AC to 12 volts DC and that DC is regulated by your factory supplied converter. Your on-board converter is designed to, among other things, charge your TT batteries. Maybe not fast, but it does work.

Another alternative if you just want to charge your TT batteries is to not hook your shore power cable to the generator, but simply use a good quality battery charger. Plug the charger into the generator, and connect the alligator clips from your battery charger to your batteries.

If you do that, a good thing to have is one of those knife-switch cutoffs, or similar, so you can isolate the TT batteries from the trailer. When you isolate the TT batteries, all the 12v DC power from your temporary battery charger goes into the batteries, and none travels down into the TT and is used to power the refrigerator or lights, CO2 detector, propane detector, etc.


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## Rookie (Jun 29, 2009)

Perfect. That is the information I was looking for. I was guessing that was the case, but I wanted to know for sure. Thank you very much for answering my post. I appreciate the help.


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