Sunday, September 22, 2013

DC Generator

Well I finally got my initial setup done with my little Diesel engine and my little starter/generator. The generator is quite modest in size but was built to last. My goal has been to couple the two together and get about 36 or so volts and some pretty decent amperage out of the little generator to use as a stationary  DC source for charging my small pack of LiFePO4 cells using my Synkromotive controller as the charger. The initial test is to see if I can even get a decent voltage from the little generator. Well, I did. I did not get what I was wanting but with a bit of tweaking I am sure I can get a bit closer. I did a video but for some reason the volume is terrible low. I must have mucked with a setting or two and forgot about it. So I will do another video tomorrow after work. In the mean time here are some photos of the setup. I only wanted to do a general setup because if the unit did not work as expected there really is no use in building a nice frame to hold the two together. But now that the initial testing is looking good I may start to plan on a nice frame that I can carry if needed. It would also be mounted on a small trailer and enclosed to reduce the noise from the Diesel. One nice thing is that this little diesel is California Emission Compliant. That is a big deal. I can also if I want, run BioDiesel. I may just do that too. But for tonight here are the pics of the setup I did. Works pretty good too.

Pete :)