diesel governor

[photon_trap]

I am a diesel ignoramus....
Will the governor that's built into the z482 or my eb300 (both of which are resting comfortably on my garage floor, waiting....) sufficiently adjust fuel supply to maintain RPM regardless of load?
will I need to add any linkages or components?

I am not quite understanding how this works - now, a gas pedal that's another story, ha

Jeff A

[Henry W]

With my experiance with both engines I would have to say the governors will work fine while both engines are loaded as long as the speeds are kept within the perameters I written below.


With the Z482 they like running between 2600 to 3000 RPM's. Personaly 2800 is a good speed for power and efficiency. A little less  efficiency than 2600 RPM but running the Z482 at 2800 RPM will be able to make more watts. At 3000 RPM's the Z482 runs very nice but efficiency drops some more.

If you are thinking of using the Z482 to direct drive a 3600 rpm head the Z482 will do it but I did not like it to much. The engine seems streased out somewhat at that speed.

If you are thinking of using the Z482 to direct drive a 1800 RPM head I would have to discurage you on doing it. The Z482 does not like running loaded at that speed. It will be a shaker and does not respond very well at 1800 RPM's.

The EA300 likes 2600 to 3000 RPM's Again, 2800 would to be my pick.


Henry

[photon_trap]

Thanks Henry. There are 2 small arms coming from the fuel pump area - what are these for?

Also,  after finding a good deal on a Prestolite Alternator for my EB300 I began pondering two of them on the Z482 (flywheel) with the dual
alternator version of the Balmar voltage regulator.  If memory serves me they put out 160 ampa @ ~ 14 volts +/- thats about 2.2 Kw each
and the comfort of knowing if one failed, I'd still have 1/2 power.  Am I missing something?

My battery bank  is 12 v (9.48 Kwh) so it would seem easy.......

Jeff

[Henry W]

Hi Jeff,

I think you mean the injector pump.

The top lever is the fuel shut off.

The lower lever is throttle.

Henry

[Henry W]

Jeff,

I might be incorrect on the operating speed of your EB 300. I was reffering to the EA300.

There were two versions of the EB300. One version had a max speed of 2600 rpm and one had a max speed of 3000 rpm.

You might need to give the model # and serial # to Kubota and find out which one you have.

http://www.kubota.co.uk/uploads/productpdfs/EB300%20Broc.pdf

Henry

[mobile_bob]

nothing wrong with the dual alternator scheme, and the balmar will handle both fields
without a problem, however

you must use two FSD's (fail safe diodes)

they are high power single unit components that allow the power to leave each alternator to the battery, but do not allow one alternators output to enter the other alternator via its output.

sort of a one way check valve on each alternator.

the reason for the FSD's is this, if one alternator fails with a shorted rectifier bridge the other is not damaged by trying to shove power into the shorted unit, the FSD keeps this from happening.

also remember this, at 2.2 kwatts each maximum, you might want to derate them for their hot rating, to something like 120amps each for about 1.7 kwatt each, or 3.4kwatts  total for a 12 volt nominal system...

then figure the alternators to be about 52% efficient at high output, so
3.4kwatts divides by 52% =  6.5kwatts , which is the amount of power needed to drive them, plus another couple hundred watts for a well engineered drive system, so
figure on 7kwatts  needed to drive them to full output

your engine will have to produce at least 7kwatts mechanical output to drive these alterantors to full output,, actually a bit more because we have to cover another 80watts or so for both fields and the losses associated with the FSD's. so figure 7.5 kwatts to be safe.

to get an idea of what hp you will need,

7.5kwatt divided by .745 (kw per hp)= about 10 hp

in practice you will find that you will need a bit more than that, for a diesel engine figure 20% more than that or about 12hp to get the job done, and this is about the minimum hp for driving these two alternators at this output.

the nice thing about using the balmar is this, it is known as the amp manager
the amp manager will adjust the output of the alternators to tailor their output to the available engine hp, so if you got the drive ratio a bit steep or your elevation is such that you don't have the required hp, the balmar can be programmed in 2% increments to dial in the output maximum amps to match the available power from the prime mover.

one final note, be careful as to what drive ratio you use, no since in overdriving the alternators for 12volt nominal operation, you just end up adding stress to the engine.

i would think that about 2500-3000rpm alternator speed would be a good operating range to design for, this is ample speed to get you the 120amps output and still provide adequate cooling from the fan.  so basically a 1 to 1 drive ratio to maybe a 10-15% overdrive ratio would be appropriate, if your engine speed is ~2700-2800rpm.

fwiw

bob g

[photon_trap]

Thanks Bob!  Reading that made me remember that with a 12 volt system I'm really missing the boat in terms of efficiency with that alternator...

I've strayed off subject - I'll start another thread

Jeff

[miket]

I have the EB300D and am using a 24 volt 250 Balmar  alternator and regulator in my setup. looking at the horsepower and torque chart i found that peak torque  and best B.S.F.C match at 2400 rpm so that is what I use.  I see about 75 amps initial rate of charge to my 420 AH 24 volt battery bank DC at 80% SOC.  It goes into float at about 3 hours .  I have a 1.5:1 ratio in my drive so my alternator is turning about 3600 RPM so never a cooling issue. I burn about a pint an hour. I run about 30 hours a year.  I have been using this system since 2007.

Thanks again Bob for the great advice over the years.

I've built two more of these gadgets for friends  using the  little Thermoking 430 CC twins (little Yanmars) and they use a bit more fuel. We run those at about 2700 for best consumption and same drive ratio.  The twins are 12 volt units using ARS 4 controllers by Balmar and one is a, LN 2800JB the other a 110-555 Load Handler. 

All in all, we have produced pretty cheap electricity for some less than wealthy (some might say poor) off the gridders in my neighborhood. We scavenged the Thermokings from dead refrigeration units and gotthe controllers and alternators off Ebay at really good buys. Beats the heck out of 10 dollars a day to feed gas into a traditional genset and then charging inefficiently using an AC approach. Took a little 'splaining to the friends to get them to try it. The results speak for themselves, though!

mike