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Thread: genset

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Healesville
    Posts
    2,129

    Default genset

    G/day fella's, this is a 24v back up gen for my battery power, Mk2.
    The Mk1 alternator ended up being crook when i fired it up, i was looking for a new regulator and a m8 rang me and i told him what i was doing and he gave me another alternator....talk about the stars aligning.
    The gen works nicely on petrol but the plan is to run it on the house natural gas. It works well on LPG so i am hoping the NG should work, waiting on my plumber m8 to run the pipe and fit the gas solenoid, this is also why the lower panels on the shed have not been fitted.
    For economy and noise reduction it is designed to adjust the engine RPM to suit the load, so to get it to run on LPG from a fast idle and up through the rev range I had to modify the converter as they are designed for the engine to run at 3000 RPM or so. Basically just another port with a mixture screw, i will include pics below.
    How it adjusts the engine revs is the alternator is mounted between bearings and when in operation any load on the alternator turns it on the bearings and the lever attached to the shaft pulls against a spring and the throttle cable adjusts RPM to suit the load, as the load reduces the spring pulls the alt back and the engine slows, it is just a bit of a balancing act. The gold shinny thing is a steering damper for a motorbike, it is there to slow or dampen any fast throttle responses.
    The control box has a timer that switches power to the batt sense on the alternator after 2 mins run time, this is to give the engine a little warm up before having to run flat knacker when the alt is switched on, that is another reason the damper is needed to slow the throttle response so the the engine does not cough and stall when the load comes on, there is no need at all for a fast throttle response with this unit.
    As soon as the starter motor is engaged the shed is designed to open a small door on the side for cool air to the engine and a larger front door to let the heat and exhaust out, when the engine is stopped the doors automatically close, you can see the linear actuator at the back of the shed.
    The relays get their switching power supply from the engine charge coil, it has a capacitor to smooth the power otherwise the relays rattle. Using that power source automates the circuitry to some degree as it allows the starter to be disconnected as the engine starts and also if the engine stops for any reason all power to the bits n pieces is cut off. There is remote switching also, you dont need to hear if the engine has started to take your finger off the switch, there is also a light to tell you it is running.
    The alternator seemed to run hotter than i liked when bench testing so i put a thermo fan behind it as a just in case cooler, the alternator is running at nearly half engine speed so at low revs the fan on the alternator may not be up to the task.
    The shed was made this way for ease of maintenance, eng/alt not too low and plenty of room to get over the top of for whatever reason, the frame was made out of garage door track, the 22mm shs came from ATV motorbike crates and the rest was just rusty offcuts that were floating around and i bought a length of 20mm angle. The cladding i got when i bought an ebay shed and was short a sheet, they sent me a pdf to id the missing sheet and then they sent me a box of half of the shed sheets.....
    The pic of footing box and tie down bolts was taken before it was quite finished, i thought it was worth including here.
    If anyone is interested here are 5601 pictures for you.....but if you want anymore let me know.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    York, North Yorkshire UK
    Posts
    6,443

    Default

    Hi John,

    A goodly amount of engineering has gone into that lot, I particularly like the rocking throttle control. A nice setup !
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Revesby - Sydney Australia
    Age
    56
    Posts
    1,185

    Default

    Wow! Impressive.



    Quote Originally Posted by shedhappens View Post
    the shed is designed to open a small door on the side for cool air to the engine and a larger front door to let the heat and exhaust out, when the engine is stopped the doors automatically close, you can see the linear actuator at the back of the shed.
    (Like the automatic fire dampers in some of the Telstra exchanges)


    A robotic shed? That's a first.

    Just be sure you don't make it angry – it might try to suffocate or decapitate you!




    bought an ebay shed and was short a sheet, they sent me a pdf to id the missing sheet and then they sent me a box of half of the shed sheets.
    Nice

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Healesville
    Posts
    2,129

    Default NG fitted

    My m8 hooked up the gas, he fitted a dedicated 25mm plastic pipe 20mtrs long from near the gas meter and reduced it to 3/4" copper into the shed to the valves then it reduces to 1/2" flexable to the gas converter. (if you can call it that?)
    The generator would not start on the natural gas, i did get it running on petrol and switched over to gas and adjusted the fuel mixtures as best that i could but it did not run too smoothly and coughed and farted a bit.
    I seem to do a fair bit of thinking while laying in bed and some time in the early hours i thought about closing up the spark plug gap????
    In the morning i set the plug gap to .020" turned the key and it fired up instantly woohoo, and run nice and smooth.
    The original plug was a made in china "torch" and that went in the bin before i even 1st started the engine, i had fitted an NGK spark plug and i was thinking about this in the early hours and thought maybe the spark is not strong enough to ignite the gas, I know that the NGK spark is very fine and that a Champion spark plug seems to produce a thicker plasma type spark so i will get one of those and see if i can open up the gap a bit. Other than that this is pretty much done and dusted......
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