Diesel generators.

Whilst it is possible to change an engine over, as most newer generators don't use a bearing on the driven end of the alternator, relying on the engine end thrust bearing to carry the load, fitting a different engine could be difficult and chew up any savings. If the generator set is a 2 piece unit, with a separate alternator and engine, joined by a belt or external coupling, the job is easier.
Perhaps it may be better strategy to buy a new diesel set, keeping the petrol one for a standby and converting it to run off producer gas (wood) or LP gas. Generators are like ammo, you cant have too many !
We have a main 12 kva water cooled diesel, and a 8.5 kva Honda that I've converted to run on LP and wood gas.
12 kva may sound big, but attach 200 amps at 48 volts of battery charging, 2 fridges, freezer, and other loads and it soon chews up the power. Add the 3.6 kw hot water booster element when we are to lazy to fire up the wood heater, and its running at full load, which is good for it. Also, you have diversified your energy source with all 3 major forms of fuels covered.
Just a suggestion, put the money you would use for the new generator towards a solar system.



Drive A format failure, formatting drive C instead !

I've been an Electrical and Communications Engineer for over 45 years, and also like to design and build equipment, especially stuff that's been discarded by others at the tip and so on. I design and construct my own ham gear, and was an accredited solar installer for 20 years.



I've seen the evidence for, I want to see different evidence.

I have a 10kva, but thinking of getting another smaller one s a back up in case it dies on me.

The preppers cry...backup....backup.....backup, you cant have too many backup systems or gear.




You know you own an old tractor when.....The local tractor parts place suggests to customers that they contact you for bits.

As for fuel, a petrol generator can be run on LPG, the conversion is quite easy and my 8.5 kva honda is duel fuel, petrol and Gas. A diesel can also be converted but still needs pilot injection of fuel to fire the gas.

A petrol generator, or motor can also run on wood gas, which you can make yourself. Just don't expect the same power available as when running on petrol, LP gas is about 90%, whilst wood gas could be down to less than 60%.

I converted my old Triton ute to duel fuel over 20 years ago, and it still fires up more easily on lp gas than petrol, which tends to evaporate from the carby because its now our on farm fire truck and rarely gets used. (I have a filling adapter from a 20 lb BBQ bottle).

When my gasifier was operational, I even drove around in it using wood gas, but the acceleration was woeful, and the timing needed to be advanced beyond what was available on the distributor (as wood or producer gas is very slow burning).

Having all 3 major fuels covered in generation is a good prepper strategy, even if the other generator is not as powerful. Perhaps the different fuels will be available at different times, or rationed in the future. It certainly isn't gong to get any cheaper, but the availability may be an issue soon as well.




You know you own an old tractor when......Your wife knows the model, weight, HP rating, and features of every tractor on the way to town.

When making a different engine fit on a generator, make sure you align the center bearing perfectly. All modern sets don't have a bearing on the drive end of the alternator and rely on the engine bearing. Some don't even have a non drive end bearing either, supporting the whole shaft on the engine output shaft bearing. Not good design.

Its somewhat easier if the alternator is belt driven. Also, don't overlook an older DC generator, such as the motor driven welding dc sets of old. Add a large power diode to prevent reverse current from the battery feeding into the generator, and the output power is adjustable by the field current controls. A dc generator will be more efficient at charging battery's than an alternator and battery charger.

Maybe its time to revisit a steam engine, or even a large Stirling type to drive a generator of some type.

Pieltier devices can also generate electricity from waste heat. An old solid state fridge cooler can generate a few amps at 12 volts from heat applied to the heat sinks rear. Constant heat cycling will crack the ceramic and ruin the unit after a while though.

Iron and copper wires twisted together form a thermocouple that can generate a small voltage.I have an article from a old Popular Mechanics or science magazine that describes running a small transistor radio from a candle using a homemade thermopile. (an array of thermocouples).

Nowadays, solar has taken center stage, but its not an easy technology to duplicate at home.



You know you own an old tractor when.....You marvel at enraged yuppies tailgating a large tractor, unaware that 18 mph on a tractor is over 100 mph in a Volvo.

Our main 12 kva water cooled diesel is of chinese manufacture. The water pump bearing failed and I started looking for a replacement. Found it in China, but also found an Australian agent, who had it in stock, brand new on the shelf, for about the same price as from China. With 1 week delivery, instead of 10 weeks as quoted from China. Looked up other common parts that may be needed, injector pump, off the shelf $1.5 K, My injector pump had an issue with oil (it has its own little dipstick and oil resovour in it ) leaking into the sump, overfilling the sump. Also, the lift pump that pumps diesel from the 100 liter tank in the base, would lose its prime when sitting for a few days. Took it to the local diesel place, and $550 later all fixed. Apparently it uses standard parts. I don't know whose engine they copied, but they obviously didn't change much.

I reasoned that I only paid $700 for the generator when I bought it from some people who were moving from the area, , 10 years ago, so no great loss.

The electric stop solenoid doesn't work as its burned out, so a piece of fencing wire works well enough to pull on the stop lever, the low oil and over temperature black box doesn't work, but ive fitted an external oil pressure gauge and had the radiator re cored locally, and the alternator that charges the battery is kaput, but as it has a 80 watt solar panel screwed to the sound proofed enclosure lid and connected to it to keep the battery charged, and a 3 amp trickle charger connected to the 240 v output, that's not an issue either.

This marks a distinct change from other Chinese stuffs I have bought that spares just were not obtainable, even in China.

So I guess the lesson here is not to be afraid of buying a Chinese set, just make sure that parts are available, and even buy a spare set of gaskets etc when you buy the set.




I may not always be perfect, but I am always right !

Ok, here we go. First a little maths.

Kva vs kw. 3.5 kva is not necessarily 3.5 kw. At a power factor of 1, it is (pure resistance), but at a typical power factor of 0.8, 3.5 kva is only 2.8 kw, or 2,800 watts. At 230 volts, our mains voltage, this is about 12 amps. Hence the reason your generator wont run the load u thought it would. Power factor is the cosine of the phase difference betwen the voltage and current, and can be positive with a capacitive load, or more usually, negative with an inductive load.

The other generator rating that is seldom given is the surge, or starting rating. A typical 3.5 kva honda should get away a 2.5 or even 3 kw motor, maybe a bit bigger if it starts on no or light load. By the way, welders are a bad load, especially a stick type as it is a very heavy pulse load and can rip a winding out of the slots of the alternator.

3 phase tends to be a bit more efficient.

The surge, or starting rating is a combination of the response time of the engine govener, the amount of iron and copper in the windings of the alternator and the mass of the flywheel. Chinese types tend to be light on with all of the above, hence the reason for poor performance when under difficult loads.

Proven designs, from major manufactures, like Honda, Suberoo and so on will always out perform the Chinese copies. That said, if your duty is not high, then the imports can give good service.

3.5 is probably the minimum to look at, they are reasonably economical and can run a stick welder at a pinch, or our 30 year old Honda 3.5 can anyway.

Something like a 500 watt or 1 kw inverter type is good for battery charging farm vehicles in the paddock, although screwing a solar panel to the bonnet of the tractor is better long term solution.



Daddy, what does formatting drive C mean ?

Something went wrong when I logged in from my tablet whilst on the road yesterday. Here it is again with the spelling mistakes fixed !

Ok, here we go. First a little maths.

Kva vs kw. 3.5 kva is not necessarily 3.5 kw. At a power factor of 1, it is (pure resistance), but at a typical power factor of 0.8, 3.5 kva is only 2.8 kw, or 2,800 watts. At 230 volts, our mains voltage, this is about 12 amps. Hence the reason your generator wont run the load u thought it would. Power factor is the cosine of the phase difference between the voltage and current, and can be positive with a capacitive load, or more usually, negative with an inductive load.

The other generator rating that is seldom given is the surge, or starting rating. A typical 3.5 kva Honda should get away a 2.5 or even 3 kw motor, maybe a bit bigger if it starts on no or light load. By the way, welders are a bad load, especially a stick type as it is a very heavy pulse load and can rip a winding out of the slots of the alternator.

3 phase tends to be a bit more efficient.

The surge, or starting rating is a combination of the response time of the engine governor, the amount of iron and copper in the windings of the alternator and the mass of the flywheel. Chinese types tend to be light on with all of the above, hence the reason for poor performance when under difficult loads.

That said, Mr Honda hasn't quite got the materials engineering right either. Our 8.5 Kva has broken several alternator cooling fans. Its because there is a harmonic vibration set up inside the alternator when charging the battery's from the 5 kva 48 volt main inverter/charger. It does a synchronized charge and I suspect the power factor correction isn't quite in phase with the alternator winding arrangement, giving rise to destructive internal vibrations that break the fans mounting off. I keep several spares on the wall of the shed adjacent to the generator, and can change it out in about a hour or so. I now tend to use the 200 amp, 48 volt external charger that I made as a no break power supply. Being a conventional transformer/rectifier type of design, any harmonics are limited to the 3rd and 5th, so pose no danger to the alternator in relation to harmonic vibration. The generator chews more fuel running the big charger, but charges quicker. Also, when the battery's are nearing full charge, I have to keep an eye on the voltage as it can rise very quickly and possibly overcharge the battery's, as its not regulated in any way. The inverter/charger is fully regulated and is no issue with overcharging battery's.

Proven designs, from major manufactures, like Honda, Subaru and so on will always out perform the Chinese copies. That said, if your duty is not high, then the imports can give good service.
Was on the road yesterday and used the tablet. For some reason the login got screwed up.

3.5kva is probably the minimum to look at, they are reasonably economical and can run a stick welder at a pinch, or our 30 year old Honda 3.5kva can anyway.

Something like a 500 watt or 1 kw inverter type is good for battery charging farm vehicles in the paddock, although screwing a solar panel to the bonnet of the tractor is better long term solution.



Daddy, what does formatting drive C mean ?


Soft starters are available in kit form from the likes of Jaycar and so on. Very large motors are started using various means to limit the enormous inrush currents. Auto transformer, resistance type starters, star-delta starting and so on. Most of these methods have been replaced by the electronic soft starter that uses a semi conductor, or many semi conductor devices, to slowly ramp up the voltage, thereby controlling the current input to the device. And on really, really big motors, such as in steel plants, pilot motors are used, or used to be used, to start the main motor spinning before applying full power. Thats basically what u are doing in giving the grinder a spin before switching it on.

The whole science of starting big motors, or big loads, from the grid or on site generation is a very interesting topic.




I only counted 100 dalmatians.......