I definitely like to require the generator to work hard for every hour in which we must listen to it, feed fuel to it, etc. (This presupposes that we have plenty of battery to accept genset wattage <minus altitude derations> <minus charger inefficiency> <minus a bit of breathing room for the engine>) <br>
<br>Also: that 50 hour oil change interval...or 100 hours...or whatever...comes around right regular and we want to wring out lots of watt-hours between service dates. <br><br>******************************<br><br>There's an old...dare I say it...wive's tale about diesel machines
actually suffering shorter lifetimes if they are not heavily loaded. I think this belief goes way back to WWII days and may not be valid with current engine designs. It's something about the load torque requirement helping to maintain engine compression. Opinions from the List on this theory would be welcomed.<br>
<br clear="all">*******************************<br><br>Once you have plenty of charger load to throw on the generator, tweak up on the "AC input amps" setting in the Outback Mate or Magnum Remote while listening to the engine. (The battery must not be highly charged during this tweak or else the chargers will be in throttle back mode.) Dial up on the AC input amps setting while also causing major household loads (such as the water pump, washing machine, etc.) to kick in & out. Up, up, up until the generator engine can be heard to struggle beneath the load, then dial back down on the AC input amps until the gennie sounds happy with its work again. <br>
<br>Jolliness, <br><br>Mick Abraham, Proprietor<br><a href="http://www.abrahamsolar.com">www.abrahamsolar.com</a><br><br>Voice: 970-731-4675<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 11:13 PM, benn kilburn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:benn@daystarsolar.ca">benn@daystarsolar.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>
mick, bob,<div><br></div><div>funny you should mention using a magnum as the 'additional charger', the system owner just happens to still have a MS4448 on the wall from his original system (we had upgraded his system to a FW1000 with 2 x VFX3648's back in the fall).</div>
<div><br></div><div>i hadn't even thought of using the magnum only as a charger, and the price is right!</div><div>thanks for the suggestion, i'll look into this as a possibility.</div><div><br></div><div>Any other comments on my question about generator efficiency when fully loaded vs say half loaded?</div>
<div><br></div><div>cheers</div><div><div class="im">benn<br><br><span style="color: rgb(0, 32, 96);">DayStar Renewable Energy Inc. </span><div><div><a href="mailto:benn@daystarsolar.ca" target="_blank">benn@daystarsolar.ca</a></div>
<div>780-906-7807 </div><div>HAVE A SUNNY DAY
</div><div><br></div></div><br></div><hr>From: <a href="mailto:reellison@gmail.com" target="_blank">reellison@gmail.com</a><br>To: <a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br>
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:19:03 -0400<br>Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Additional Battery Charger<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br>
<div>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">Look
into the Magnum inverters as 2<sup>nd</sup> chargers, very good chargers with
generators.</span></font></p>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">I have
done this many times, in the case of failure of the other inverters for some
reason, run wires and be back up and running.</span></font></p>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">I think
the 4448 inverter is 60 amps @ 48 volts with an input of 16 or so amps AC.</span></font></p>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">Later,</span></font></p>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">Bob </span></font></p>
<p><font size="4" color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;"> </span></font></p>
<div>
<div style="border-width: 1pt medium medium; border-style: solid none none; border-color: rgb(181, 196, 223) -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color; padding: 3pt 0in 0in;">
<p><b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">From:</span></font></b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<a href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>] <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">On Behalf Of </span></b>benn kilburn<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, June 17, 2010 7:22
PM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Wrenches<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [RE-wrenches] Additional
Battery Charger</span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">G'day Wrenches,</span></font></p>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> I'm looking for an additional
charger(s) to increase the charging capacity from the back-up 12 kW Onan
generator into the 1200 Ah battery. Right now the generator's full
potential output is limited by the charging capacity of the two VFX3648's which
have a max charge output of 45A each.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The idea here is to use the generator to
its full charging capacity when it is running, taking in to consideration
that the generator will feed any AC loads before charging the
battery. </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Iota and IBE chargers have been suggested.
Any comments on these or other makes?</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Do all generator types (diesel, propane,
LNG, gasoline) run more efficiently when fully loaded? or is this only
the case with diesel (so i've heard)?</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">thanks,</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">benn<br>
<span><font color="#002060"><span style="color: rgb(0, 32, 96);">DayStar Renewable Energy Inc. </span></font></span></span></font></p>
<div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="mailto:benn@daystarsolar.ca" target="_blank">benn@daystarsolar.ca</a></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">780-906-7807 </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">HAVE A SUNNY DAY </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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