| Author | Message | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
I have a neat 25KW generator head made by GE from the 70's. It's been sitting around in my warehouse wanting something to be done with it for a long time now. I'd like to permanently stick it on a trailer and make a towable "quiet" genset for dragging around to gatherings (I usually rent one and put up a power grid for everyone) I'm wondering if anyone has some good recommendations for a diesel engine to spin the thing... 1800 rpm, water cooled preferable (quieter than air cooled would be good) I'm guessing around 35hp? Cheers Gary | ||
| TWO DOGS (65.177.144.50) Rating: N/A |
look at the post right under this one....Marc is talking about 453 that might be available | ||
| TWO DOGS (65.177.144.50) Rating: N/A |
also...if you know a place that buys & sells trailers(big truck trailers)..the refer units have perkins diesels in most of them...the guy I know takes them off & sells the trailer for a storage unit...he is in Claude ,Tx...I might be able to find his phone number...or...I could drive down there & talk to him...he also has steel wheels & tires... | ||
| Don Fairchild (209.234.134.61)
Rating: N/A |
gary; I have a couple 45KW gensets, one powerd by a 3-71 C.A.R.B certified. the other by a 6-cyl wakishaw. Both skid mounted. weld an axle and a hitch on them,ready to go. I also have a 4-71T power unit skid mounted with a fuel tank, C.A.R.B certified, And I have a 4-53T engine with a fresh rebuild setting here. Gary where are you located. Don | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (67.136.241.239)
Rating: N/A |
Gary, I was looking thru a free type advertisment paper this early AM at the local diner and there was an add for three (3) kobota 35 hp diesel mills (unknown condition) for $750 each. Northern CA or Southern OR. I will get a contact # or www and E-mail it to you. CROWNS FOREVER!!!  | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Interesting. Don, I'm in San Diego but that doesn't stop me from driving/shipping things around... email me? gareee at heartmagic dot com Two dogs, I might also be interested in a perkins motor if the HP is around 35@1800 rpm. And Henry, yup, definitely inrerested! keep me informed! Thanks guys! I'll check back | ||
| Stan (68.150.152.113) Rating: N/A |
Greyhound's 4104 busses had a four cylinder diesel on the A/C unit. There must be lots of them sitting around the shops of people who converted a 4104. I use one to drive a large air compressor at my shop. I had to supply a radiator and electric fan. | ||
| TWO DOGS (63.185.73.228) Rating: N/A |
maybe I look at things wrong...but if you need 20 .h.p. at 1800 rpm...why not get a 80 h.p & gear it up 4 times..& run at 450 rpm...lots quieter...engine lasts longer,runs cooler... | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Using an idling geared up 80hp engine would certainly work and probably be pretty quiet, but the fuel efficiency would likely go to pot. Since the genset probably won't always be fully loaded, it's a tradeoff between avaliable horsepower and oversizing the engine. Best to make the motor just slightly bigger than max load will allow, then it's going to be as efficient as you can (practically) get when lightly loaded | ||
| FAST FRED (4.247.55.54) Rating: N/A |
An auto takeout , modified with marine water cooled exhaust manifold should work. A newer BMW or VW diesel or Izssu should work just fine , and there are more VW car dealers than lawn tractor dealers. Marine Exhaust of Alabama will have a selection of water cooled manifolds to help narrow down the choice. Auto engines might suffere less than industrial diesels from underloading and the very short life that gives. At least the replacement would be easy enough to find. FAST FRED | ||
| DrivingMissLazy (66.168.175.51) Rating: N/A |
Gary, Before you consider building your own genset, there are a few things you should consider. Early 70's is when the conversion from revolving armature to revolving field in generator/alternators was made. Is it really an alternator or is it a generator. If it has brushes, it probably is a generator and would generally require a high amperage voltage regulator that may or may not be available any longer. If it is an alternator, then it is probably brushless/synchronous and probably requires a 32 volt regulator. Do you have the regulator? Could be expensive to find one. Several hundred dollars new from Basler. During that time period, GE also manufactured some induction generators. These units did not require a voltage regulator, but the output voltage varied significantly depending on rpm and load. No good for your application. . Is it three phase or single phase output unit? At that power rating it is very possibly three phase. If three phase, is it a 12 wire alternator that can be reconnected for single phase output? If three phase and reconnectable, you will lose 33% if reconnected for 240/120 volt single phase output. If reconnected for straight 120 volt single phase, you will lose approximately 66% of its capacity. Is it two bearing or single bearing? If two bearing, then it is easy to belt drive or direct connect with a flexible coupling to the output shaft of an engine (with an output shaft). Some units did not have suitable bearings for belt drive. If single bearing, it is generally difficult, if not impossible to couple to an automotive type engine, as some have recommended. If single bearing, then it must be coupled to an engine with the flex plate coupling and the proper sized flange on the engine. Is it 6 pole (1200 RPM), 4 pole (1800 RPM) or 2 pole (3600 RPM)? This determined engine speed and or gear ratio. You might have already considered all this, but it is also information for any other nuts who may be considering manufacturing their own system. BTW, the rule of thumb for calculating HP is two HP per KW up to about 20 KW. Above that it is generally safe to use 1-1/2 HP per KW. Richard | ||
| Johnny (4.174.109.28) Rating: N/A |
I might know somebody scrapping an old Komatsu forklift--not sure what's in it (Kubota?), how big, or if it'd work, but I'll shoot him an e-mail. | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Richard, Yeah, I've already considered most of this stuff. It is a brushless- looking inside there are two wires going into a stator winding that surrounds a small armature whose windings head straight into the main armature. It's three phase Y connected (4 wire). I have no problem with this becuase my loads are all under 2kw and can easily be balanced with the Y connection. Most likely it is perfect as a generator. In it's "real" life, it was hooked to a 1000 pound flywheel that was in turn coupled to a 25HP three phase motor. The application was to make relatively "clean, semi uninterruptable power" for old IBM 360 computer mainframe systems. Brute force application for sure, but effective... if the power company failed, this revolving monster would provide seamless energy to the computers 'till the emergency gensets got up and running. Unfortunately some bozo swiped the regulator, so yeah I'll have to dig one up. Just in case you have one laying around for me, the exciter is 2.3 ohms resistance. It's 1800 RPM so 4 pole. Two bearing with a 1.5" shaft sticking out the front, so very easy to couple. For what it's worth, a guy just now gave me a 4cyl industrial diesel with "Carrier" cast into it's oilpan, that looks real sweet. As of yet I don't know what it came out of but he says he saw it running last year and it's virtually new, and I've seen it just an hour ago; it turns over smoothly, is complete save a radiator, and very clean. So I'm hoping it's around 30-35HP, I'll see. Even if it's a bit small, that's ok because I will probably only use 10-15KW at most in reality. And it actually has a speed regulator on it though it might not be applicable to a genset, but any way I look at it, it seems it will work fine for me. So I'll keep ya posted! | ||
| Johnny (4.174.109.218) Rating: N/A |
That sounds like it's from a semi-trailer reefer. |