My Lister running in full CHP with video - cross posted from VOD

[Chug]

Yeah I had a 3K alternator sat in the shed for years and sods law I sold it cheap a few weeks before the CS came along, I've been promised two alternators since then and neither has materialised, I also found one on another genset that was surplus to the chaps needs but that turned out to be U/S.

If I had more garden at home/distance to neighbours it would have been sorted soon after I got it and powering the house, and Ken Boak says every year he will bring an alternator next time and get my CS setup and powering the BBB but it hasn't happened....YET!  And he didn't even make it to the BBB himself this year.

[photoman290]

chug
i have a 3kw alternator sitting under the coach somewhere you can have. it needs a frame for the the  drive end as it has a taper shaft to fit to a engine. i have to get rid of the coach so when the scrap man starts on it it should reappear. i have never used it but it was given to me years ago. any use to you?

[therecklessengineer]

Mine was similar.

I cut a lump out of the engine crankcase to act as a frame. Ugly, but it worked!

Have you modified that Jules?

[julesandtash]

Nope, just bolted through that and the two rear mounts to a steel cradle which itself bolts to the C section steel frame that the engine, alternator and tensioner sit on. That frame is then bolted to the concrete base with M12 bolts.

[therecklessengineer]

Nice.

I had reason to revisit the machine shop where I made that. The instructors were convinced it would never work!

[julesandtash]

I'll take a closeup photo and post it on here later

Here it is. The cut up crankcase and the machines input shaft to take the power steering pulley (all James' work) are clearly visible

[Chug]

Yes please Bob, that would be great, when you find it let me know please.

Love the old crankcase support, nice one James.

[julianf]

Whilst there's talk of lister bits...

I have an engine, a SOM base plate, and an alternator, but i still need to get the small bits, like a long enough belt, an idler, and the right sort of size pulley for the alternator (which i need to look up the rpm for!)

I mention it, just in case anyone has said bits in their scrap bins! : )

[Dickjotec]

chug
i have a 3kw alternator sitting under the coach somewhere you can have. it needs a frame for the the  drive end as it has a taper shaft to fit to a engine. i have to get rid of the coach so when the scrap man starts on it it should reappear. i have never used it but it was given to me years ago. any use to you?

I modded the front of one of those. A steel plate with a Plummer block bolted on. Worked fine. It has now gone to a new home.

Julianf
I run the 2.5kW alternator on mine with a single V belt that runs on the flat flywheel. I have had no slippage problems. When it was used as a starter belt on the old lister it did slip and I had to use a polly V . I made the pulley for the alt from a aluminium blank.

[julesandtash]

JulianF is on the way down with his oscillioscope today so I should be able to get some photos and video of the normal mains waveform and the generator output. Watch this space

[julesandtash]

Well I guess we know why some things dont like the power output from the Lister.....

Here is the scope showing the normal mains waveform at my house


Here is the horrible waveform from the generator with about 1KW of load


Switching on the electric kettle so the engine is running flat out improves things slighlty (it rounds the waveform off a bit)


Not pretty at all.

[Tony]

There's your problem all right

I used to have a big 1:1 transformer which I used to smooth out genny waveforms for sensitive equipment.  I think I sold it but there must be some second hand somewhere.

[julesandtash]

The alternator can produce 115V or 230V depending on whether it's two windings are connected in parallel (115v) or series (230v)
As such, I guess it wouldn't have to be a 1:1 transformer.
A decent sized 230 to 110V transformer (which I suspect would be easier to find) with the 115V genny output fed to its 110V side should give mains voltage on the output of the transformer and a nicer waveform?

[Tony]

That's not a bad idea.  Reversed 110 step down site transformer.  I don't know if that would work as well as a "proper" mains isolating transformer (the one I had seemed to have some rudimentary voltage regulation as well, no idea how it worked but there seemed to be extra coils around a section of transformer core for some purpose).  I suppose the idea is to take out any high frequency components and just leave the fundamental.

I wonder if it is possible to stick some caps on the 240v side of your site transformer to tune out some of the other frequencies?

[julianf]

chug
i have a 3kw alternator sitting under the coach somewhere you can have. it needs a frame for the the  drive end as it has a taper shaft to fit to a engine. i have to get rid of the coach so when the scrap man starts on it it should reappear. i have never used it but it was given to me years ago. any use to you?

I modded the front of one of those. A steel plate with a Plummer block bolted on. Worked fine. It has now gone to a new home.

Julianf
I run the 2.5kW alternator on mine with a single V belt that runs on the flat flywheel. I have had no slippage problems. When it was used as a starter belt on the old lister it did slip and I had to use a polly V . I made the pulley for the alt from a aluminium blank.

Dick,

I was going by, when i saw your 6hp, you had (IIRC) a poly-v running arround the outside of the flywheel, with some sort of gel compound on there?

I figured that, if i used a standard auto poly-v, then i could use standard auto pulleys / idlers, and also the belts themselves would probbaly be cheaper / easier to find than others?

That's the angle i was coming from, but id go with whatever you advise?