Micro CoGen.

Hey Mobile_bob

I did not have a preference at this point but am in Australia so i thought a relatively cheap and easy one to get would be a Toyota Landcruiser unit from a wrecker.

When you say a serpentine belt you are recommending replacing the stock pulley i assume ?

Craig

Guys,

I want to hookup a 24 volt alternator (around 120amps) to my Listeroid 8/1. My purpose for this is to power 3 Micro Inverters of 600 watts 240v each that will be grid tied.

I DO NOT have a battery bank. The idea behind the alternator is that if my Lister is underloaded (outside of optimum) power generation, then i can enable these Micro Inverters (one at a time) to slowly place a load on the Lister.

My question - if i have a 24 volt alternator with inbuilt voltage regulator - is it Ok to run this at different times with no load (i.e. when my ST head is soaking up all the power from the Lister) or will this damage the alternator ? If there is no load on the Alternator how much load would this add to the base load on my lister ?

Craig

Hey Bruce,

I am into automation with Picaxe controllers as well.

Would it be possible for you to list where you got each of your input sensors from please ? I am in Australia and will have to order from US firms as these sorts of things are few and far between on the ground here !

I am about to order my 8/1 from Atul at PowerAnand and ultimately wish to run it unattended for 15 hours at a time each day - so it i will be imperative that i have it tightly monitored.

Did you make your own board from scratch or just adapt a development board ?

regards

Craig

Guys, As part of the Australian version of your Stimulus package we are getting heavily discounted solar panel installation systems. Also a number of our states have gone to a gross feed in tarrif of 60 cents per KWH

I intend to purchase a Grid Tie solar system - these use a Fronius Grid Tie inverter with MPPT - the unit i am looking at will have a max input of 2800w- the supplier will provide 9 solar panels which will generate somewhere around the 160v DC - the entry level voltage for the MPPT is 150v withthe sweet spot being 280v

My thoughts were to use the output from my ST head (whicc will be powering the rest of the house) to provide some additional DC input into the Fronius to effectively keep my load up on my ST for extended run times. I would essentially use this as a "load shedding" option whilst holding power in reserve to start up larger loads as required on AC - there are no batteries involved in this system

I will be getting an st 7.5. head.

What would be the best way to generate say 120vdc (in Australia our AC voltage is 230/240v) at around 20AMPs (max) but more like 10amps sustained. Esentially this would let me choose the optimum run point for my engine whilst being paid 60c KWH from the grid.

Any ideas ?

Craig

Guys thanks for the replies on this. I was wondering how i was magically going to see an additional 20% work out of my engine !!

Good to know that i can take it with a grain of salt.

regards

Craig

Hey bruce, I am into Picaxes for home automation also.

Could you detail the various sensors you used to achieve your lister automation ?

Which picAxe are you using ? Did you make a board or are you just using one of the develpment boards ?

regards

Craig

Guys,

Thanks once again for all the info. I was definitely cognizant of the engine noise level and the running speed of the changfas - which is why i was so attracted to the lister.

I will be building a purpose built shed for the lister so the noise levels will be contained.

I intend to initially go for a 44 gallon drum as the expansion chamber external to the shed, If that proves to be too noisy, i was then thinking of placing a 15 gallon drum inside that surrounded by Sand to further deaden the pulses.

I have already done lots of reading over at utteropower and intend to do lots more.

Yeah i know i already have lots of Batteries and Inverters, I also have access to a couple of large APC 3000XL units with dead batteries - these make fantastic inverters, not so sure about their treatment of their battery charging though.

However they have a DC input voltage of 96v so this would mean i would have to get 8 very large 12v cells to get a decent runtime. That is not in the budget at this time.

I am aware of the power stability issues with the ST heads, can someone give me a source for the PM Generators in the 6Kw range ?

regards

Craig

Thanks Bruce. There is always that !!

So i suppose this validates the idea there is some value in a secondary bypass oil filter then.!!

Craig

Jens,

Good to hear someone else has experimented. I intend to rack up the hours pretty quickly on my unit with it running 15 hours per day once broken in.

As such i am really interested in anything that will prolong the running time and longevity of the system.

I intend to use a professional system such as those used for cars etc - Devils Own is one of the better known units. I think it will be automated based on exhaust temperature and interlocked with a vibration sensor - i was only intending to run the unit intermittently - something like 5 minutes every hours or so just to break down any coking that wanted to form.

I also intend to use a solenoid just prior to the injection nozzle to ensure that there ar eno drips etc after the unit is switched off.

Will keep you updated on progress

regards

Craig

GUys,

Thanks for the information and the things to think about. A bit more info as background.

We live in a normal residential neighbourhood and have grid power. We are looking to reduce our carbon footprint and looking to the future with a MicroCHP setup. As we have a small business working with computers that we run from home we have a fair number of PCs that are constantly on and are powered by UPS's.

Our plan is to in the first instance to create a small subboard from our main switchboard - on this we will move all loads that are OK to disconnect from the mains power through a series of interlocks and relays under automation control. We will also move all the PCs to this same board on their UPS's.

Due to time of day billing that we have for mains electricity in Australia it is very economically viable to run the generator from 7AM in the morning to 10PM in the evening.

I will then sequence loads during these hours of operation to provide a load over and above that from the PCs which currently pull approximately 1.5KW. We have things such as pool pumps, solar pumps for swimming pool heating, an outdoor jacuzzi, Hot Water heater etc.

Initially there will be no battery storage etc, but i do have plans longer term to add storage and alternators.

However i am also fascinated by home and process automation and once i have a handle on the system would love to consider runnign this 24/7 - as there appears to be many stories on the net of people running for months at a time 24/7.

Out of interest why would you say the changfa is better ? Who could i source one through (or getting initial pricing for comparison to the Lister) - What is the longevity of a Changfa in comparison to a Lister and would they be suitable for 24/7 operation ?

I have started a number of other threads in relation to cooling and oil filtration.

regards

Craig

Guys,

I am shortly going to be buying my first Listeroid (see other posts) and intend to run it on Vegoil. It will startup/shutdown on Biodiesel but once upto temp will then switch over to Vegoil.

One of the issues with vegoil is if the engine is not hot enough then there is the chance of excessive coking in the cyclinder (and all the issues that could lead to). I plan to run a water injection system on the unit to hopefully alleviate some of this.

My plan was to control it with a simple timer so that the water system comes on for 5 minutes every hour and gives the engine a quick "clean"

has anyone else tried water injection on a listeroid ?

regards

Craig

Guys,

I am looking at buying a Listeroid in the very near future from Anand in India. Some of their marketing blurb for their gen heads claim that they use a U type system in comparison to a standard ST head.

They claim this gives approx 25% better efficiency at the head in terms of HP to produce a given load as well as heat dissipated by the gen head.

Does anyone know anything about this or is it just marketing tripe ?

regards

Craig

Guys,

I am looking at purchasing an engine in the very near future and am undecided on an 8/1 or a 12/2. I have a base load of 3KW constant and then additional loads i can cycle in and out to bring the load upto between 4.5 and 5KW (i can cycle it less than that if required)

I am pretty sure i am going to be over the limit for a 6/1 so the question is as a newbie am i better off with a twin or a single.

I know that with a diesel i need to keep the load up to it - the numbers people seem to say is that 80% load is a good number to look for ?

If so based on a rough rule of 2HP for KW then i am looking at just fitting in to a 8/1 but with not much wiggle room.

What do the experts think ?

I will be running this on Vegoil which i have in plentiful supply so actual running costs is not an issue.

Craig

Guys,

I am about to take the plunge and purchase a unit from Anand in India (i am in Australia). I have lots of questions, so will start some new topics up - i went through the board all of last night reading what i could.

I run a diesel car (small 4cyl toyota surf) and on the Australian forums some of the members have been raving about the benefits of Bypass oil filtering for their engines.

I was thinking of applying the same concept here for my Lister.

Here is a link to the Australian Developer. http://www.jackmaster.com.au/

Do you guys think this would be of benefit with the Listeroid ? I was thinking of using a seperate Oil pump to the primary - maybe a small furnace pump or a Small Block Chevy pump - either coupled direct to the drive shaft with a belt or powered by a small DC motor (with a small DC motor i could have the unit start before the Lister and have it squiring the return oil onto the Big end maybe ?)

Any thoughts on the benefits of this ?

My plan longer term is to have the unit running 24/7 once it has been run in and i know how it runs.

Thanks for taking the time to read this

regards

Craig