Micro CoGen.

I have 2 sheds without light or power (and I'm not going to run power there) . I'd like to install 2ea. CFL's in each shed. I can do it with small inverters, batteries and a small solar panel.

Or I can try to use an older UPS ty-wrapped to the roof. And simply hook a small solar panel to the battery. Turning the UPS on/off would power the lights. I've got a few older UPS's hanging around. Or, I could simply purchase small, new ones that turn on/off easily.

Any thoughts?

Has anybody purchased an imported 1200W grid tie inverter.

I have a number of solar panels that I'd like to hook to my house and "extract" the energy from. In other words, it seems silly to have them not doing anything useful on a normal day.

The latest generation of Chinese or imported 120V grid tie inverters are cheap enough to be tempting (at around $250 street price) One brand I see is "power jack"

I have a Chinese 3.3HP diesel Changfa type engine. (apart at the moment for new bearings). I'm fairly certain that new, high quality ball bearings can be found online for cheap.

I also have a Ford 150A alternator and various 12V batteries including aircraft NiCad's.

I have a new 1500W Xantrex inverter.

My thought was to construct a diesel powered alternator/battery/inverter combo. What for? Dunno. I guess because I can. Is it worthwhile? Or are the problems involved in such a system difficult to overcome?

I have TN property and something like this might be a great way to power a cabin.

Thoughts?

Back in 2005-6, I built a Listeroid 20/2 genset with a Chinese ST-15 generator head. It was supposed to be one of the "good ones", with metal fan, heavier castings, bearings that actually last, an AVR and so on. I paid a premium for it.

Well, it produced about 100V per leg. So I tried turning up the AVR and I turned the screw so hard, the potentiometer simply exploded into a mass of tiny parts. AVR was removed and voltage peaked at 109 per leg, with no load. To make matters worse, the power is not accepted by my microwave, TV, computer, UPS', security system and a few other things.

So I spoke with Tom from Georgia Generator, I've ordered a new AVR that is powered from one of the 120V legs. This should allow me to adjust  the voltage up to the proper 120V. But, just as important, it eliminates the Z winding and the resulting sine wave distortion.

I have a small capacitor bank I may try and a number of new bridge rectifiers. I'm holding out hope that the ST head will finally produce proper power.

To be continued...

I've talked about this on other forums. But it seems the guys here are really sharp. I'm in South Florida.

I have 4ea. 170 watt panels. My reason for owning them is to power my fridge/freezer. Either full time or part time. The most I've ever seen my fridge + freeze draw is 1.3KWH/day. Most days are below 1.2KWH.

I also have a number of used, but not old, 44AH, 24V aircraft batteries. As we install new ones every year. Golf cart or "real" batteries are within the budget too.

One option is to purchase an inverter/charger/UPS type setup. When the grid dies, the solar takes over. The idea is to protect my vast and expensive food stores (ha ha).

The other option is to run the fridge off the solar panels only, all the time. With some form of grid based charger if the battery bank drops below a pre-set.

The fridge defrost heater draws 600W and runs for short period of time daily. Otherwise the draw is 260W. The freezer draws 230-250W and runs when needed.

Obviously, when I am out of town, the consumption is much lower. This is where I'd want the solar system to perform properly.

In particular, I'd like pure sine wave inverter suggestions please.

I have a small 3HP Chinese diesel and a 3HP Briggs. I could use either one. I would like it to drive an alternator or generator head for battery charging. My original thought was to use a Ford alternator and belt drive it (I have an alternator from my 98 F150). Manually changing the RPM as the load might require.

However, would it be better, more efficient and/or more useful to simply use a conventional direct drive generator head?(I have a small one) And, simply plug in a conventional battery charger. It would probably have to run at 3600 RPM all the time, and that might not be the best thing, for a number of reasons.

OK, I want to achieve 700 degree temperatures in linear fashion. In other words, I want to heat oil in a tube.

What solar concentration do I need? I have a Microsharp solar Fresnel Lens with a 10 to 1 (or so) concentration. I can't get more than about 120 degrees F. However, the plastic lens is horribly inefficient in my setup. It's certainly not able to achieve the temperatures of a good magnifying lens.

So, I was wondering what exact number is required. Would it be 60 to 1?

OK, this post is about how I feel about the various listeroids. Some emotion and some fact.

It's my opinion that the small single 6/1 has an advantage over many commercial gensets, including the famed Honda inverter sets. This is because of the meager fuel consumption, the actual power produced and the long engine life. Plus the ability to repair it quickly due to simplicity. It's not that efficient when actual BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption) numbers are crunched, with the listeroid quite far off the mark vs. modern normally aspirated diesels. Not to mention modern turbo diesels with half the BSFC of a Listeroid.

The advantage is it's modest output and therefore modest fuel burn. Another advantage is that the single can be balanced with a simple weight opposite the crank throw. While a single never balances perfectly, the listeroid 6/1 can be quite smooth if balanced properly.

The twin suffers from significantly higher vibration. This is due to a rocking couple effect of a 180 degree crankshaft. This crank also presents another problem Significant acceleration/deceleration of the engine due to the closely spaced power strokes and closely spaced compression strokes. It's impossible to balance out a rocking couple.

Plus the twin loads the camshaft idler gear twice as much. A weak spot as it is on a single. But worse than that, the twin is more than twice as complex. There are manifolds for intake, water in and water out. This means that cylinder alignment is dictated by the manifolds. Fact, it's really not that easy to remove one cylinder and head on a twin. Much more difficult than on a single

It's my opinion that the twin does not compete well with commercially available diesel engines either. The 12 to 25HP range is well covered by modern engines with superb reliability and smoothness. Not to mention superior BSFC numbers.

My twin, blueprinted, balanced, properly assembled and broken in, is still a clanky, vibrating monster with very questionable reliability and very poor AC power output quality.

I did not post this to hurt peoples feelings, however, I do believe it's worth mentioning.



This is a pic of the engines shortly after unpacking them.





This is my engine in it's complete form.



This is the same single as the first pic, with just a bit of work! Bob did a great job building it and here I am balancing it.

Chris