If I recall that Honda Portable is gasoline run. Either you have long battery cables or will be running it below deck. Not something I would recommend. Besides the out put of that Honda is not going to charge anything fast. My Magnum 2812 has a substantial rated built in Charger. The main control board on the inverter failed recently after 5 years, Got it repaired and installed a "inverter by-pass switch". Fortunately I saved my old Sentry 50 amp charger and left it installed when I put in the Magnum. So now if I have an inverter problem, I use the by-pass switch, taking the inverter/charger out of the system, start the Genset and the Sentry Charger goes into action charging the 12 golf cart batteries or I can use shore power. Remember on almost all inverters the A.C. current passes through the inverter. If the inverter goes south you are Dead in the water and the generator power or show power will NOT pass through to the boat circuits. Safe Cruising Bob Kovach Chief Engr Bob, Onboard ALLEZ! on the Great Loop Lying Dog River Marina, Mobile Bay, Mobile, AL MTOA 2631, AGLCA1979, USCG-ARC-KJ4UGE, USCG-CWOA,  USPS Charleston, S.C., WRCC, DFC

On 01/09/2016 02:45 PM, MY ALLEZ via Trawlers-and-Trawlering wrote: > If I recall that Honda Portable is gasoline run. Either you have long battery cables > or will be running it below deck. Not something I would recommend. Not to resurrect the Edison vs. Tesla debate, but you would not run battery cables to the generator, which outputs 120vac (yes, yes, I know the Hondas and some other brands also have a small DC output to charge a battery, but that's not really what we're talking about here). You'd run a heavy-gauge extension cord from the generator on deck down to the battery charger, near the batteries. > Besides the out put of > that Honda is not going to charge anything fast. My Magnum 2812 has a substantial > rated built in Charger. One of the great things about that Magnum is that you can "dial down" the AC input ampacity. The charger will then automatically back off as AC loads increase. A 10 or 15 amp setting is correct for most nominal 2kW inverter-style generators, and a 5 amp setting is what's needed for the 900-watt models. (7 amps is not one of the choices). That still gives you between 45 and 135 amps of effective charge at 12vdc nominal. All of that said, frankly, I don't want to be docked or anchored anywhere near someone with one of these on deck. They are way louder than built-in, raw-water-cooled generators even ten times the size. Remember that the widely advertised sound pressure levels for these units are stated at half load, which is *not* how they will be running when charging your house batteries. We used to encounter these all the time when we lived in our motor home, and more than once I was tempted to turn one off when the owner was not looking. They are, simply put, obnoxious. They are only "quiet" in comparison to old-fashioned 3600rpm contractor generators. JMO and FWIW. -Sean m/y Vector lying New Smyrna Beach, FL http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com