Changfas in China

[AdeV]

I'm currently in China, in the city of Zhengzhou - a large modern metropolis in the Henan district. Funny place, China.... I recorded this short video of a Changfa diesel earning its keep (in fairness, this one's having a very easy time of it), right in the middle of town, whilst some seriously flashy and expensive cars drove by on the road...

I've often wondered why Changfas came with a headlight on one end... well, now I know: Because they're often at the front of a tricycle "motorbike"/tractor machine, being driven up the highway at speeds approaching 10 or even 11mph! In the middle, it must be said, of traffic doing up to 60mph! They also mix it with the millions of electric scooters, small motorbikes, small electric "trucks", and all sorts of other vehicles which - if you hadn't seen so many of them - you'd swear were cobbled together from things found around the home.

[vdubnut62]

'Way cool! That's nice to see a Changfa in it's "natural habitat". I just wonder how they conduct business with all that racket?
Hmm, would that be Changfa Chatter?
Ron

[AdeV]

I just wonder how they conduct business with all that racket?

They just shout over it...

Chinese is a bit like Russian in that respect - a normal conversation sounds like an argument, when it gets heated you'd think war had broken out...

[mobile_bob]

i think my favorite were pix and videos from another member on a trip to china maybe 10 years ago

he posted a video of one of those changfa powered walk behind tractors, pulling a dump bed, hauling boulders
up out of a quarry, sans anything like brakes and hauling what looked like well over a ton up the very steep gravel road...

as the song goes

"one side fire, the other hope"  or rather "one side the mountain, the other side nothing"

i guess it beats the crap out of having to drag the boulders out by hand, making like an egyptian?

either way, i am not motivated enough to need to move boulders out of a pit, or maybe i would use a changfa powered rig
like they were using, that is if i had no other way to do it.

thanks Ade for the video

bob g

[glort]

Be interesting to see what the locals pay for these engines.

While you are there, can you find a supplier and get a quote on sending a dozen or so 12-15HP models back here?
Seriously thinking of investing some money and importing a bunch for sale.

[Jesse McB]

Ive seen websites for changfas, the small engines go for $200 to $250 usd And the larger diesels like the 12hp and up go for about $350 to $450 usd, the Chinese still pay a price for these engines but nothing like us north Americans lol, the clones go for about half the price of a real changfa.

I wounder what is the engine driving? Its in the back of that vehicle? very cool its only idling away! Its a very different world in china, even downtown on the roads you can have an engine blatting all day long, no such thing as noise desturbance lol

[vdubnut62]

My 1100's  mechanical noise outweighs the exhaust note until she's really cranking, then they sound  about equal.
I still have the other 1100 and the 1115 with the "factory?" ST head setup  that I haven't gotten around to tinkering with. So little time to play!
Ron

[glort]

A lot of small engines make more mechanical noise than exhaust noise but so many people seem to fail to recognise that. Diesels are of course the worst.
The other thing again Diesels are bad with is induction noise.  People bolt on big Mufflers but then fail to work out the suck is almost as noisy as the blow.  Listers have this tendency although my little China Horozontal probably outdoes that.  Take the air cleaner cover and element out of that and the thing makes more racket than when I just run it with an elbow straight out the exhaust.
The noise levels of that thing can be lessened substantially by just wrapping a towel round the air cleaner housing. It silences a lot of the racket on it's own but clearly there is significant room for improvement.

Must be valve timing or something but at odds to that, My two Italians, the Ruggerini and the lombardini make much less intake racket even when the air cleaners are open with the elements removed on them than the China engine even though they are substantially larger in output and capacity. 

The quietest genny I have ever had it those small 2 stroke things that do about 800W. Sure it's not a lot of power but they are 2 stroke and can barely be heard. Put them behind a car or even in a 3 sided box and you can't hear them at all from 12 ft away.  Much to my surprise, I have found them unbelievable economical as well. I use mine to run computers which many people would freak about with their shitty power output.  Thing is Computer power supply's have excellent power conditioning built in as do many electronics because they all step the power down or up so it's transformed anyway. Run my Computers, desktop and laptop as well as printers for what must add up to weeks not and never had a problem.

I have also used a 5Hp Kawasaki stationary engine driving a car alternator charging a battery to run an inverter.  That worked OK as well. Quiet enough but you can turn the thing off all together for a couple of hours at a time without having to worry.  I think the next time I have to do something outdoors  I'll just take some solar panels and set them up. My power requirements are low so hat would probably be sufficient on a sunny day.


With the genny in the vid, it appears to be just running some lights.  I'd be using a car battery and some LED's and just start the van to top the battery off if needed.
I have some 12V household 7W LED's. A 3-5 of them would light up a market table pretty good as they are amazingly bright and would last all damn night without over stressing a decent size battery.
Best of all, it would all run SILENTLY.  :0)

[AdeV]

The engine in the video is running some kind of electrical generator (there's a light above the stall lit from it), but it's main job is making that long orange stick thing the man is breaking up. It's coming out of what looks like a fertilizer hopper attached to the back of the engine. I have absolutely no idea how it worked, but the long stick-like snack was something corn based, and actually quite tasty! There were a couple of other gizmos attached to the back of the engine, which presumably could be belted on/off at will. Again, no idea what they were for. Sadly, it was too dark to take any decent pictures.