Ok,
got it built and ran into some stumbling blocks, ill start from the beginning. the dude at the small engine place told me the blade is used as a flywheel so he recomended using a heavy steel pulley and he had one so i got the pulley and belt for $15 unfortunatly automotive belts and pulleys are a different size then industrial pulleys and belts but this series is close enough for what im doing (dont ask what series belt i used im in the house now)
I got it all built and fired it up on a charged battery and it started to charge 10 amps, i through my load tester on the battery drew out 100 amps and it stalled instantly. i did some tests and it would run untill i drew out about 40 amps. i looked the engine over pulled the plug and its caked in oil. i cleaned up the linkage on the carb and air cleaner and plug etc but still it stalls. my concensus is the engine is plain jane wore out (not a surprise i did score it from the dump) but it runs real well
so after some thinkin i figured out how the voltage regulator works, it senses how much current is needed for the alt to put out and send a certian amount of voltage to the stator wire 12v=full output 6v=50% 0v=0 output or somewhere in there. so i thought about using a resistor in series after the regulator to trick the alt into thinking it only needs to charge at a certian level. i went one step further however i grabbed a old dimmer switch i had from a 79 f150 i stripped. i wired it in turned the dimmer switch off fired up the engine hit the toggle for the load and as i slowly turned the dimmer switch the engine would work harder and harder and it would charge and charge more and more untill it slalled. i hooked up my amp clamp and my load tester and dialed in the max amperage that motor can handle without stalling. the max amperage is 40 amps any more then that and it will stall. the max amperage it can run at and not stall with varieing loads (lights turning on and off, load tester turning on a off etc.) is 35 amps.
so i drained a 550 cca battery and tried to charg it up, when I hit the power nothing happened there was not enough juice to trigger the stator this is why i put on the battery, that way i can use this as a power pack for some lights etc. the small battery (although no good) holds enough juice to trigger the stator to start charging. the tank of fuel lasted for about 30 minutes at 35 amps just before it ran out of fuel it started to drop the amperage going to the battery so it was for all intensive purposes charged i even did a load test on the battery and it passed.
now heres my delema. i like the idea of charging at 35-40amps for a few reasons, its easier on the alternature and a 35 amp charge is about right for a fast charge on a battery any more and it shortens the life of the battery dramaticly. after some tests i figured i need to either put in a variable resistor like the dimmer switch or a fixed resistor of 6ohms rated for 2.2 amps. i like the idea of a variable one because it gives me the option of charging at a lower amperage. I tried to use a dimmer switch from a 110v light same as the one on your wall right now but it didnt work i couldnt get any power through it I couldnt even read continuity on my meter i tried 2 of them. i think there is a difference between a 110v variable resistor and 12v resisitor. i tried a few fixed resistors i had around here (one from the blower fan from that same f150) but nothing was close enough to that 6 ohms i need. I am thinking about just using the dimmer switch from the pickup but i dont know if it has the capacity to not burn out (need to reasearch more on that)
heres a pic of it . i still need to make some carrying handles or whatever. i am back in camp tommorow so no more updates for a few weeks.
got it built and ran into some stumbling blocks, ill start from the beginning. the dude at the small engine place told me the blade is used as a flywheel so he recomended using a heavy steel pulley and he had one so i got the pulley and belt for $15 unfortunatly automotive belts and pulleys are a different size then industrial pulleys and belts but this series is close enough for what im doing (dont ask what series belt i used im in the house now)
I got it all built and fired it up on a charged battery and it started to charge 10 amps, i through my load tester on the battery drew out 100 amps and it stalled instantly. i did some tests and it would run untill i drew out about 40 amps. i looked the engine over pulled the plug and its caked in oil. i cleaned up the linkage on the carb and air cleaner and plug etc but still it stalls. my concensus is the engine is plain jane wore out (not a surprise i did score it from the dump) but it runs real well
so after some thinkin i figured out how the voltage regulator works, it senses how much current is needed for the alt to put out and send a certian amount of voltage to the stator wire 12v=full output 6v=50% 0v=0 output or somewhere in there. so i thought about using a resistor in series after the regulator to trick the alt into thinking it only needs to charge at a certian level. i went one step further however i grabbed a old dimmer switch i had from a 79 f150 i stripped. i wired it in turned the dimmer switch off fired up the engine hit the toggle for the load and as i slowly turned the dimmer switch the engine would work harder and harder and it would charge and charge more and more untill it slalled. i hooked up my amp clamp and my load tester and dialed in the max amperage that motor can handle without stalling. the max amperage is 40 amps any more then that and it will stall. the max amperage it can run at and not stall with varieing loads (lights turning on and off, load tester turning on a off etc.) is 35 amps.
so i drained a 550 cca battery and tried to charg it up, when I hit the power nothing happened there was not enough juice to trigger the stator this is why i put on the battery, that way i can use this as a power pack for some lights etc. the small battery (although no good) holds enough juice to trigger the stator to start charging. the tank of fuel lasted for about 30 minutes at 35 amps just before it ran out of fuel it started to drop the amperage going to the battery so it was for all intensive purposes charged i even did a load test on the battery and it passed.
now heres my delema. i like the idea of charging at 35-40amps for a few reasons, its easier on the alternature and a 35 amp charge is about right for a fast charge on a battery any more and it shortens the life of the battery dramaticly. after some tests i figured i need to either put in a variable resistor like the dimmer switch or a fixed resistor of 6ohms rated for 2.2 amps. i like the idea of a variable one because it gives me the option of charging at a lower amperage. I tried to use a dimmer switch from a 110v light same as the one on your wall right now but it didnt work i couldnt get any power through it I couldnt even read continuity on my meter i tried 2 of them. i think there is a difference between a 110v variable resistor and 12v resisitor. i tried a few fixed resistors i had around here (one from the blower fan from that same f150) but nothing was close enough to that 6 ohms i need. I am thinking about just using the dimmer switch from the pickup but i dont know if it has the capacity to not burn out (need to reasearch more on that)
heres a pic of it . i still need to make some carrying handles or whatever. i am back in camp tommorow so no more updates for a few weeks.
