Micro CoGen.

Just finished putting together a portable battery charger, using a B&S 5HP engine, and a Bosch 12V, 70A alternator. 





Now, the frame are made of pine so i don't expect it to hold together forever, but so far it's holding up pretty good.

I removed the internal regulator from the brush-holder, and mounted it on the 'control-panel with a switch that allows me to use either the regulator or the rheostat. With the rheostat, i have the ability to go easy on the motor with a larger, deeply discharged battery; run a manual equalizing, or just manually control the charge. The regulator are ok to use to just let it do its job; just bring the charge up.

I can see the need to separate the control panel entirely from the generator frame, since the instruments are the cheapest you can get... ( the ammeter needle are vibrating +/- 30A )

Need some help here....
Just got an 30 years old Ariens snow blower here, and there's 3 feet of snow outside...

But there's no spark...
It seems that the point and gap are ok; not certain about the capacitor, but i think it's ok. I measure around 1 ohm on the primary, and 8k ohm on the secondary (high voltage) side of the coil.

Any ideas?

I have a 12V, 70A Bosch alternator ripped out of a Ford that i need to manually regulate the field; a simple rheostat, i'm thinking, to reduce the charging amp.

Now, this is a 'one-wire' alternator, so the regulator are integrated in the brush-house, which are fastened with 2 screws.

My question is:
Can i just solder off the regulator and connedct the rheostat there instead?

The regulator itself looks much like a TO-3 transistor, but with 3 legs; the first are connected to ground/negative, the second are connected to one brush, and the third are connected to the other brush, which also are connected via a spring to the field-diodes (?!) inside the alternator.

Should the rheostat be connected between negative and the one brush? (the one with no connection inside the alternator.)

In response to some posts in another thread:

Quote from: Cornelius on October 02, 2009, 07:55:52 AM
My brother had an old fishing boat with a 1cyl 50hp semi-diesel (hot-bulb engine), and if memory serves right, he had a crude-oil tank wrapped around part of the exhaust pipe...
It started on diesel by pre-heating the top with a blow-torch and turn the engine once with compressed air pushing the piston down. When the engine got warm, and the crude-oil got hot and liquid enough to be used as fuel, one switched over to crude-oil... Once started in the spring, it was seldom stopped before fall... It was important to remember to switch over to diesel before stopping the engine, else you'll end up with cleaning the whole fuel line assembly...

Quote from: quinnf on October 02, 2009, 11:49:55 AM
Screw all this!  I want to hear about the 50 HP semi-diesel!     Sure would like to hear one run!  Stand on the deck and feel the thump (pause) thump (pause) thump.

The sound of a 1cyl 50hp++ semidiesel are something everyone should experience, if not feel...

Here is a video of a 1932 freightship with a 1cyl Wickman 60hp; weight: 6500kg, max rpm: 170: http://www.fiskeri.no/Video/Snutter9d.htm
No snapshot of the engine itself though...

This is a startup of a similar engine, a 1cyl Brunvoll 50hp: http://www.semidiesel.no/engines/brunvoll/video/brunvoll_50hk_redigert_oppstart_bakking_hoy%20oppl.WMV (a bit low quality...)

The fun part is, that these beast can run on anything available;  natural gas, kerosene, paraffin, crude oil, vegetable oil, creosote; even used motor-oil...

I thought i'd start my first post by congratulate you guys with a new forum.  And i'd say that SMF is a good choice. (I'm a admin on a couple of SMF forums myself...)

I don't have any Lister or any of the other engine that are popular with you (i DO want one, but they're rare here in Norway), but i do have an old Yanmar PMX-8; one of the first Yanmar diesel engines, from '69 with one horizontal cylinder and a tank on top. This one i'm planning on setting up as a generator for my forklift batterybank, and use the heat from the engine to supplement heat to my toolshed.

I'm probably going to start with an car alternator, and in the future make an axial flux PM alternator for the Yanmar. Right now i'm in the progress of making a smaller axial flux 7' windmill (8 magnets, 6 coils; guesstimated power300-400W)

Hobbies worth mentioning are Restoration of vintage wooden boats (gasoline) engines, electronics and the making of good beverages... (Beer and wine. )

I've just moved, so it may take some time before my projects get the time they deserves...