Micro CoGen.

And How many Cylinders Do You Actually Need and use meaningfully?

For me here PNW, intermountain, Rural on 21 acres usability begins at at least 2 1/2 horsepower. Carburetor went bad on the ten year old Stihl forestry brush-hogger. Wifes 0.9 hp Stilh yard machine wasted too much time/sweat/daylight hours! Rented to try a new Makita 1.5 hp four-stoke machine. Marvelous low fuel use costs. PITA slow and heavy compared to the 2 1/2 hp Stihl FS250. Bought a new carburetor and hogged-on. Got it done. And moved on the the next summer needs-done, NOW.
I annually use 8 different single cylinder, single purpose, specialized machines 2 1/2 horsepower to 10 horsepower for needs-done-NOW's.
15 to 25 horsepower; I use V-twins and 3 cylinders engines. Three of those.
30 to 100 horsepower; it has always been 4 and 6 cylinders for us. Three of those still get used here as power needed.
Needs-musts  . . . keep-up current highway, mountain passes, HD towing it is larger sixes and small V-8's for me. Two of those available/get used.
All naturally aspirated for my/our we-pay-for needs.
My turbo and "Kompressor" engine workings was all done professional, being paid. I do admire much the big inline turbo diesel engines as long as someone else is directly paying.

One-size-hats-fits-all solutions are stooopid-think, paint-yourself-into-a-corner limiting compromises. Express yourself. And insist on appropriate to the situation, fitted cylinders solutions.
Steve Unruh

Hi All
Like Henry I have pretty much covered my home stationary bases on DYI generating now. I get bored. Still kicking and trying to stretch myself.

I started out wanting then to help some of the women family Suburban lots living made themselves dependent on pellet stoves. Grid-goes-down events like ice-storms, windstorms, minor earthquakes, cars into power poles and they Will not have space heat with their Needs-Power pellet stoves.
Need power for the feed auger, combustion tray blower; and anymore, an IC controller panel.
Yeah. Yeah. Can be done with a interruptable battery based power unit always AC Grid hooked up.

For the price of an adequate IPU you can just get a commercially made IC engined inverter-gnerator anymore.
Then have a length of use as long as you do have a fuel supply. You car tank could supply 30+ days on one of the Honda/Yamaha 1000 units.
Then have an overhead of on-demand power to be able to Grid-down have non-combustion electric LED lighting, foods/medication refrigerating and such. Save the portables batteries. Better: recharge the rechargeable. Even run the automatic washing machine!
Remember: I did say the adult women in the family. Much more, down-to-earth daily practical than us family ohh-rah Make-Fire males.

You only on the Honda and Yamaha inverted gnerator line get this addtional overhead of simaltanious possiblities stepping up to thier 2000 model units. Which are actual 2000 watts surge/cold, 1600 watts hot continuous.
Honda and Yamaha then puts larger cast iron bored commercial grade engines in these slightly larger, $200 more, units. They then up's their warranties then from 2 years to 3 years. And that for commercial usages.

I got the Honda Eu2000I first. And have thourally wrung it out for four months now. Plastic encased suitcase model. Very quiet and portable. Ha! A birthday gift for the wife. Very easy to wonam pull strart. ALL of my sisters and adult nieces have started and used this now. (I tell them that I'll give them a screemin' meemie Harbor Freight 2-stroke Yamaha-clone. But they have to buy their own HONDA!)
Wife has come to object to "me" operating, borrowing, toting-around, "wearing out" HER generator. One early still dark morning a drunk into the power pole sudden power outage she finished long hair blower drying, god-child travel bottle of milk warming using her generator to stay on time for pre-scheduled client visits.

So . . . not needing the suitcase queitness. Wanting a larger dispalcement engine for alternative fuels possibilties I save up and hippy-skippy passed the more expensive paneled Honda quiet units and got my own open framed Yamaha EF2800i units.
Some of the performance/use differences I've already put up onto Henry's Honda 1000 topic line.

I did buy service manuals for both of these units.
Here are the guts-of-them differences that I've found

The Honda 2000 has a 15 pole stator. 3300 to 4300 rpm operating range.
The Yamaha 2800 has a 24 pole stator. 2820 to normal 3560 rpm operating range. With a sudden load demand capability flare to 3840 rpm.
Need tear-downs to give a bell permanent magnet count for the edges counts. These are still under maybe have to take back warranties. Later on the full tear-downs.
Both of these have a wild voltage and frequency.

On both the ouput winding are three phase Delta connected.
On both, the inverter is not just an output coil inverter; but a combination function unit incorporating the carburetor speed control stepper motor drivers too. Honda's is a four wire stepper motor. Yamaha's is a five wire stepper motor.
Power supply for both of these combi-function inverters is two separaltely wound output coils. So a two phase AC in.

Units have a separate wound stator output coil as an rpm function. Honda uses this as an input into both the combi-inverter and the separate ignition controller. Yamaha the rpm output coil only goes to the CDI ignition controller.
Both units have an outside the magnet bell external mounted triggering magnet/sensor input also into the ignition controllers. Their actual ignition coils are not flywheel magnet pulsed. Honda's not even close to the flywheel/magnet bell mounted.
They could both engine run "I think" independent by the service manual failure trouble shooting independent of the whole AC power side of it.

I can quote out the wild AC volt ranges for the AC output coils and the inverter power supply coils if anyone interested.

Those interested seem to be for using the inverters in wild voltage/frequency DYI projects.

I can SEE the stator and rotating magnet bell adapted over from the Yamaha and mounted inside my 7.7 hp JaingDong R180A flywheel, replacing it's current factory DC charging stator/magnets set up. That engine is spec diesel rated as 2600 rpm. Not a stretch to see it operating at 2820 rpm.
Need a more modern aircooled Yanmar or Lambardini to go the the full bore 3500 rpm.

Regards
Steve Unruh

Been a bit slow here so I'll give you'all some foods for thought.

Tom Edison was hailed as an electrical hero for developing a usable light bulb. True. Then on the electrical supply side for his lighting systems is where he went off track; to Bigatosis and became step by step became an elitist ass.
Same with Henry Ford with automobiles.
Lord save us from those with good intentions who think they know "best" for us. Edison, Ford and now Bill Sr, Jr and Melinda Gates. "As the world turns"

The real 20th century "Power to the People" were the systems designers, developers that actually GAVE individuals the ability to make their own combustion-free lighting. Gave Freeing electrical pumping, refrigeration and labor saving electrical point of use motors. Gave IC power engines for small individual farm, fishing and resources harvesting uses.

Soichiro HONDA; Raymond Herrick (TECUMSHEH); John LAUSEN; Stephen Foster Briggs & Harold M Stratton; Ole EVINRUDE; the JOHNSON Brothers; John Micheal KOHLER; Magokichi Yamaoka (Yanmar); Karl Kiekhaefer (MERCURY); Genichi Kawakami (Yamaha).

I've only listed out some of the US/Canadian and Japanese principal fellows. Others are searchable.
Some like Kawasaki are corporate efforts and hard to pick out a single driving individual. Until recently there were Kawasaki portable, individual use generator systems.
European designer/developer individuals in the Lister, Petter UK side; and the wonderful German single cylinder horizontal engines that went 1940's Germany -> Japan -> China left behind occupation generators -> to ChangFa' I will leave to better knowledgeable EU members to list out the principal contributors.

My point is these are the guys to hold in high regards as actually putting onto the face of the planet power system that individuals could use to ease and enrich their daily lives.

Tesla was important, yes. George Westinghouse was important, yes too. But their creations expressed into real world systems were always BIG $$$$'s investments to be centrally distributed out systems. Not really power OUT to the individual as an enabler' . . . .  but actually wealth-IN to a few concentrators systems.
The real power then was just like with the railroads, steel, coal and later Big oil  . . . into the bankers, investors. And later the political Progressive "know best for you" elites.

Here is proof of this.

www.onanfamily.org/onan-history-product-line.html
For me Explorer cannot find this link. Foxfire can.
13 chapters of the Onan companies developments.
For sure read 04) Electric Plant
Show how the first 1018 Ten Lite's and 1019 Ten Lite's were remote use needs demanded. Ha! You mabby wan to read back to the previous Safety saw to see the evolved from engine and motor uses. Ha! Then that takes you back to David Warren Onan original working in the "new" automobile electric field in the very early 1900's.
Double Ha! Ha! These first single cylinder electric plant had terrible light bulb flicker. D.W's son Bud partially solved this with flexible engine to gen head coupling dampening. Sound familiar? Later better solved by a hired in engineer with a second set of engine points to pulse the gen head field supply. To weaken the voltage UP flare at the crankshaft power IN part of the 720 degrees. Lister SOM's used V belts stretching/speed delaying along with a heavy gen head flywhell delay mass to do the same.
And later yet solved the best by another hired in fellow James C. Hoiby pushing into use twin cylinder engines to broaden out the crankshaft power IN pulses. Just like Lister and Petter evolved to Do. Less vibration. Less; to No-More, hopping. Less stress on individual systems parts. For the Lister less massive overall system weight finally allowing it to be portable.
Opps.  That part is in chapter 06) The WWII Boom. A must read too. WHY the most used Onan generator systems evolved to have the flat opposed two cylinder engines. Not cheap to manufacture.
In chapter 05) The Great Depression Years is the clear evidence that progressive FDR's Top-Down push for "to the poor Rurals" centrally made, and distributed out electricity did just about killed off Onan and Kohler companies generators divisions. DID kill off the established, evolved windcharger companies.
Onan was saved by upping their units from 350 watts to up to 3000 watts with water cooling and electric starting available. Expanding out into the South American countries. Then war contracts to Great Britain.
Lots of good pictures in this history link.
Some picture in the Cummins history site related to Onan history and systems too.

You can find some histories similar on actual Power-to-the-People systems put into real use on every one of my Hero's I listed above.

Giving my Yamaha EF2800i a break from generating for the off-Grid farm out building today.
Using the wife's EU2000I Honda to day instead.
Worked out the 7.5 hp B&S yesterday gardens rototilling. Then two hours on the rider mower with  Kawasaki 600cc V-twin mowing before todays rain. Ha! The two Honda engined walk behind mowers sleeping away along with the 10.5 hp B&S engined 30 ton woodsplitter. When rain is pending time is the issue. More power needed.
Woodsplitter is resting for now.
Be having to work the two Andreas Stihl chainsaws first.
I wonder why unlike McCullough he never made a generator system.
EU guys who was the 20th Century driving force behind Huskavana IC engines developments. Corporate effort? Driven by Government contracts?

Regards
Steve Unruh

Someone will have to search up and post up good links to these. Mine will not stick.
Yanmar eG-i series
or,
Yamnar eG100i
will do it.

Enjoy the link with the full specs, graphs and charts.
Some running youtubes out there too.

Steve Unruh

Hi All
Just swapped out the "lion" battery in my cell phone. It would inexplixebly self discharge it's self over a 12 hour period. Developed this problem off and on for the last two years. New repacement battry does not do this - doesn't seem to be a phone/operator problem.
My previous cell phone 4 years? ago on the first out of the box phone would overheat badly on charging. They of course walk in replaced the whole phone, battery and charger on that one so I'd forgotton about it. That phone got lost some-where. Pocket fall out when I was out rough ground mowing I think. Ha! Not the battries fault.
Between the wife and I in current personal elecronics and my last purchased cordless drill we now have six LI-ions now versus the earlier used NiM-Hyd and NI-Cads.
Had a couple of NiM-Hyd packs just go open circut. The NI-Cads always had a PITA charge memory problem requiring constant full dischage/charge awareness to get usable life. Same problem I've had with all of my lead acids vented and sealed.

Given the current DreamLiner problems and some reported laptop overheats LI-ions seem to work well when they work but be very difficult to manufacture consistently. Latest news now is many having to be replaced out for undercapacity/charge up abilty before the melt down incidences.

Any of you newer Hybrid vechicle drivers concerned about this? Big high wattage banks there. Had any recalls about your newer battery banks?

Regards
Steve Unruh

Hi All
Asking for some input. I have this family property well 198 foot deep at an attitude of 772 ft.
This was put in place about 1960 and is now needing it's third pump. Used to supply the two 1500 sf houses and three gardens, two cow troughs.
We were foeced to take the houses off of it back in 1999 and go with public water - DONT ASK - very small town political. Only used it seasonally since for yard and gardens. Two years ago the in well electric pump failed ~1 1/2 hp, 230 Vac single phase. Last year ditching in new power to one of the houses for a 100 to 200 amp service upgrade. The old meandering undersized ground buried supply wire had 20 feet taken out by the ditcher guy I'd hired. As a very three agency inspected sevice up grade would have added at least ~$4000. USD to permit, reditch, a new ground sevice to the well head at that time. My grid power useage is cheap, cheap. Service connects and upgrades Not.

Now I want to repump this well with a pump to be powered by one of my portables just for a couple of hours a day of in summer ueasge. Then be in my home back up plan.

So: what have you got in the bottom of your off grid wells? Are you happy with it? What would you do differently if you could?

Regards
Washington State Steve Unruh

Hi All
For a woodgas fueled generator engine system I finally took my own advice with a bit of Mobile Bob's mixed in and simply went and got a Miller engine driven welder/generator.
So now I finally have my own welder. Now I can work with the two diesel engines and different gen heads to put together alternative liquid fueled AC and DC systems.
Now I finally do have a turn key wife willing to operate up to 12,000 kW system for the well pump, freezer shed, or either one of the houses (and my new off-grid metal shop).

See attached pictures of a pull cover inspection.
Plenty of unit pictures on the Miller site. Here I'll show you the guts.
First of me comparing my small carbureted intake to the new larger fuel injected intake. Need the additional flow capability to acomodate both woodfuel gas and the air. Real world user experienced advice now from the vehicle woodgas driving guys on the Drive On Wood site is that port SEFI engines are much easier to convert and have much better power and usability.
2nd picture is of the engine profile showing how much Kohler reached into the American V-8 parts bins for off the shelf valve train parts. Also shows the 4 of the 5 sensor suite needed to operate this sequential port fuel injected system.
3rd picture shows for those interested how Miller uses the mechanical Kohler engine governor as a base with a 14 volt pull/push electric solenoid as a kicker/fine tuner.
4th a picture of the dual output gen head with big heavy transformer below and three plate rectifier low at the lower RH for the best cooling. All this plus more, all commercial reliability engineered and packaged up in a transportable system. Fits through the greenhouse door.

Let me know and I can take other pictures before I button it all back up. Needs the covers on it for air cooling flows to operate under a load.

I have one Washington State fellow I'd promised to truck up a working engine gen system for him to verify his gasifier system with. Expecting the call any day. This system is under engined powered for the combined generating capacity and will be easy to to power load down.

Regards
Steve Unruh

Hello All
After 3 years of searching, developing and operating I have finally found a true, now ran tested small CHP capable woodgas fuel producing system I can recommend.
The commercial Victory Gasworks Shop CHP Hottwatt model. I have personally been involved with the development of this system and have ran it now for a total of 100 hours very HOT 'N HARD attempting to break it and  burn it up on a variety of fuel stocks. I am NOT a dealer/sales man getting a cut on the sale of these.

The Full info, specs, capabilities, pricing, pictures and soon video are posted here on the commercial site of:
http://victorygasifier.com

Yep. Lists a system designer consultation service available with Ben Peterson for a fee of $97. -worth every penny and credited against a system purchase. This is not mandatory for standard chunked woodfuels but any other fuel type and you must pay for this thousand hour fellows experience.
Yep, yep. Lists a 6 month/10 hour mentoring service with Victory Commercial Developers for $495. Engine talk and you may even get me there. If, so I do get paid for this. Again not manditory. You can so far, as here use the other VGW social network site for no cost. On the Commercial Shop side of things we are all pretty much openly fair-trade/open-market/profit pays the bills, puts the food on the table, practical thinking people.
Or, you can question me for free here.

Regards
Washington State Steve Unruh

Hi All
I though this would be and interesting topic to kick around given light of recent events.

Some things in life I've found that I'm satisfied with just a single simple backup: Ha! Ha! I do actually only wear one belt and one pair of supsenders at a time. 'Course I do have 2-3-4 different combinations of these.

Most of the time however I have on critical things found myself gravitating throughout my life to triple redundancy pattern.
Whenever the primary fails and I have put the backup into play then my mind always tells me, "You no longer have a Backup any more!! If your now in use piece fails you gonna be so-o-o S-O-L!" I am German  . . . mostly. German military philosophy is to always have a Reserve. Once this is committed they will scrounge create another.

So for the 94 Ford pick-up I keep Senior locking the keys into, first a under frame magnetic hide-a-key seemed OK. Then once after using this backup I forgot to put it back. Well the next time  . . . So now have a key in my billfold too.
Way back when I used to travel the dark and dangerous places learned well to split up the money on my person three different ways: one to visibly use and quickly give up; one to back that up and a third stash for when things had gone very bad to hopefully always have s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g. First time having to beg a Western Union transfer from a relative and have to explain my where and why taught me the need to triple up.

So Hydro GRID is my primary. Ha! Ha! Only fails me 2-3 times a year. Unless in the heating season mostly we ignore and adventure it. 8 months heating season here - so heat with no electricity needed wood - the electric furnace IS the backup to this. And the travel trailer propane system backs this up.
Need one big chainsaw for the big stuff for fire wood. One smaller chainsaw for limbing and the smaller stuff AND to cut out the big one out when pinched trapped. Ha! Ha! Had to buy the wife a Girls saw too (she insisted) and this backs up both of these. Used to be some years in cold frozen December out cutting us a Christmas tree I've had to go through two of these to the third to get one to start - wife won't let me store one warm and ready inside. Finally one year had to hand saw it. What for many would have been the first step was my step four - unacceptable! Chainsaws then got replaced with new ones one by one.

Think about it . . . you happy with just a simple backup? Or been caught with your pants down too?

Regards
Washington State Steve Unruh