Micro CoGen.

Haven't posted in a while. I do stop by occasionally and see what has been happening. So lesse, what have I been up to?

Converted the hardest working golf cart in America to lithium ion. Works great.

Got a bunch of 280aH LFP cells to switch my off grid house from lead. My brother in law got the bright idea that he would turn up the power supply while we were top balancing the cells to speed up the process. Trashed $2500 of cells.

Got a van and converted it to 4WD and have been having fun in the desert and mountains.

Still messing around with ham stuff and old equipment. I got a 1958 Philco Predicta TV and restored it. Really fun to watch old stuff on.

Oh, and got a generator with a Lister TS2! It needed a little work but I have it running pretty good and it is my main generator.

Never had much luck getting a solar thermal panel to thermosiphon. I have had it work great with a wood fired heater. I think the shorter, wider path of the wood heater is more conducive. The panels I used had fairly narrow tubing.

Howdy Folks,

Off grid and in a cloudy/rainy spell. Of course, that's when I discover the output voltage of my generator is low! I'm getting 115 and 230V and it drops as low as 90VAC under any sort of load. The generator is a Winco LLC5000H. Engine speed is not too low and load is not too great. The trouble shooting guide in the owners manual says the diode, the field coil or the stator. Any ideas which is most likely? I'm trying to determine a course of action, if it is the stator, probably too expensive to fix. Field coil maybe and diode, sure no problem.

Thanks!

PG&E wanted 56K to bring power up to my place. I never intended to but was curious. Went all solar, works great, got no rebates, don't care.

I check at least once a week. Busy time of year, spring and all. Solar meeting my needs so well I'm not using ICE's very much for power.

Jonathan

Ahhh, that is a good possibilty. Very expensive but hey.

Check this out. Basically what I was going to do, even down to the motor:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALPHAGEN-DCX3000-36-48V-DC-GENERATOR-NEW-WITH-ACCESSORIES-041-028-10-/321611424684

Tempting.

Thanks!

Jonathan

Hi All,

A good friend of mine is over in Shanghai. I have been looking for a reasonably priced 48V alt in the 100 amp range. Alibaba has all kinds of 'em but they have big minimums. I'm thinking I could get my friend to track me down a single, or possibly a few. Here are some I have located, what do you guys think? Or has someone been holding out with a US supplier?

http://www.cs-istar.com/products/48v-alternator

Or these:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/A0014417JB-Prestolite-Alternator-48V-90A_1029770169.html

Thanks!

Jonathan

Yeah, I don't really need the SOC either, but I do still want to play with the sensor, just cuz it's cool. I am considering getting a couple of the level sensors and make a stand alone system that blinks when getting low. My batteries tend to stay pretty even electrolyte-wise, so a couple should do it.

Now that I think about it, a couple of SOC sensors for the golf cart would be nice....

Jonathan

I had already contacted them and they got back to me quite quickly. But many thanks for sending me the info!

These units are so tempting to play with that I might have to get some. One way around using the level sensors is when the electrolyte gets low the SG will suddenly change, so by looking for that you could have at least an "oh sh$t" level detector. One small bummer is the SG readings are not temp compensated, even though there is a temp sensor. No big deal to code for that but still seems like they should have that done on the sensor level. But to do a decent job on my bank I'm looking at $290 just in sensros at least.

The other thing I wonder is about is calibration. The recommend 3 point. I guess get three solution of acid, alkaline and distilled water.

Jonathan

Very cool. Too expensive for me to use one per cell. Whadaya think, would one cell per battery give a good enough reading? I would think so.

JOnathan

Only could do $10, but I do appreciate the forums. Thanks Bob.

Jonathan

I also have a 36V cart and have been considering a similar project for a while now. I think I am going to go with a power trailer instead of putting it on the cart itself.  My cart has a pick-up type of bed and tailgate and no roof. I like the idea of being able to set the mobile power rig where I need it and then still be able to use the cart. Also it leaves the extra load of batteries detachable and panels and toolbox detachable. I have a couple of areas where the brakes wouldn't handle a full load of firewood and the extra batteries and such. I also plan to be able to easily connect the cart motor to the trailer if you need to.

I may go 12V just because I have an old trace 2512 that is a beast. It is reated for 2500 but will actually do far more. Runs a welder fine. I would like to go 48V on both, as my motor and controller could handle it. But then I'd need a new inverter and charger. So I may be stuck with 12V.

Jonathan

Musta hit by now. How did it go, Casey?

Of course, he may be out of communications...

Jonathan

Yeah, give us a paypal addy Bob.

Jonathan

Yup, in both cases it was a generator. It is easy to track it down out here, few houses and you can hear the genny. In one case it was a 10kW unit, and the other a small 2k ish. The small one was bogging and the owner was trying to figure out why. The large one was lighting up the circuit no problem. One case was obvious how it was connected and the the owner was simply clueless. The other was a bit of a mystery on an older ranch with lots of out buildings and ancient infrastructure. In that case the lineman pulled the meter.

So it really does happen.

Jonathan