Micro CoGen.

Its a brake drum for a Toyota corolla.

Hi

The brake drum is actually a single cast iron piece and pretty heavy duty. I will need to machine a hub with a keyway to mount it.

I know it won't give more power but possibly smoother output?

Another thought I had was to fix a car brake drum (new Toyota ones are only about ten pounds here) to the end of the output shaft . This would act as a flywheel and a flat pulley to run a high speed low load bilge/deckwash pump with an air con clutch pulley on it. Apparently serpentine belts can run OK on s flat pulley above a certain ratio (3:1)?

It would be nice to have a pump option on the engine specially on a clutch with remote switching

Question is would the fairly heavy brake drum damage the engine or its bearings. It's a half speed camshaft output version with 20mm keyed shaft.

Thanks again mobile Bob.

Yes I am putting a smaller pulley on the engine next week as I suspect a better target output for this engine is 75a because there seems to be a consensus that you get around 20a 12vdc per engine HP and I am using dual spz bee belts which must use a bit of power.

I thought I was going to get 30a per HP but the L40 is not a big unit with large flywheel.

I notice the Australian 'Roto DC Gen set' uses a similar (Chinese?) power unit but they only rate it at 70a 12vdc.They are direct drive and use a water cooled exhaust which is what I am going to do as I am surrounded by fresh water..

Hopefully I can extract sone hot water by fitting an EGR cooler in the exhaust pipe

I disconnected the positive. The 30a was the Max on the clamp meter just before disconnection because the engine did start and run but not at its rated speed (3000) more like about 1500. This is when I took the positive off, engine raced to 3000 then I reconnected the positive and it slowed to about 1500. Governor adjustment did not help, it was simply overloaded.

There are no external loads its just clipped to a battery no earth strap or anything. I think the 555 is insulated return anyway.

Reason for bulk charge only is I believe in saving diesel (GBP1.00 per litre for generator use in small quantities) and using the savings to buy batteries more regularly so the system is 'fresh' less engine time etc.

Not sure if the maths add up but its my theory anyway.

Small consumer on residential barge about 80ah a day at 12v.

Thanks for that.

OK I will confess. During initial testing I used a crocodile clip to attach to the battery and disconnected it when under load then I reconnected it, otherwise the engine would not rev up at all.. Max was about 30a on disconnection. I'm now worried that I may have damaged the diodes.

I imagine they are OK but I probably shouldn't do that is that right,?

I'm also interested in using a 100w 50ohm rheostat as the generator is specifically for bulk charging with PV to take care of the lower amp absorb charge.

Hi

I am making a 12v charging set for my barge using a yanmar L40 power unit (3.8PS) with a belt driven Leece Neville 110-555 alternator. 12v

I find that the alternator prevents the engine from running up to speed because my 2 Rolls 4000 batteries demand full power immediately if they are discharged. I am driving it at 2000rpm which is around 90/100a on the power curve.  I have seen 100a momentarily on the clamp meter but the engine couldn't handle it and grunted a lot. If I put an isolator on the positive to the battery so I can turn the alt on and off is this going to blow the rectifier? Its a self excited unit with just + & - wires..

There seems to be conflicting information about this subject.

Any help will be appreciated. This is for testing and fine tuning. Obviously I don't want to damage that superb alternator but it does seem to be built like a tank so maybe its OK? I will be fitting a sterling or similar digital regulator to the final build.

Anyone know for sure if it has surge protection on this unit? Presto lite 8LHA2070VB WITH 8RG2112 regulator.

Thanks