It’s not that difficult with some coaching
Talking about adding a ring or spur that’s not attached to his residential sys powered by generator only
You think that any more dangerous or difficult than building generator and gas plant?
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Just got to remember two things.
One an engine start under load with that may struggle
Two it’s very hard on the regulator to pull sustained high current
24 volt 200 amp unit direct drive
I’d look for something like a 10 12 hp Koehler k series with electric start to drive that
( some with plenty of extra power even a Honda gx390 with electric start )
That still might mot be enough engine power
You really want to be careful
I built one 150 amp with 5 hp prime mover at 12 volt and the Ed engine was very hard to start and get rolling above 75 amps
Higher currents were possible when running but alternators are not great battery charging gets at high levels for extended periods
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I got about a 17 hp twin not sure the brand, that might run it on wood gas at 150 amps ? or what amps you think i could easy get from motor above on wood gas.THANKS .
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That might not have enough power to start and get up to speed
You might need to add a switch to turn off the field for starting
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That what i was thinking Too, Maybe could it be started at lower amps then raise amps gradual, probley buy a soft start regulator, or make one. ALLSO i was wanting some thoughts on how many batterys ,say guif cart batterys would that generator charge, Or hours too charge say 8 gulf cart batterys. Sorry for the probley stupid questains ,THANKS for the insite.
Golf kart batteries are pretty good
Something like a Trojan T105
Try not to discharge bellow 60 percent
Add some solar to top them up do an equalization charge once a month
Look up battery university for information on how to charge and care for them
(Trojan - T-105, 6V 250Ah Deep Cycle Flooded – Off The Grid Energy Solutions)
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OK thanks Wallace, Thats a lot of good Info. I saved that battery link, ARE them a good battery choice for the price, or are there better batterys in the price range you think.
Lots and f stuff to learn
Kirkland brand copy of the 105 might be cheap
Sams club except
Good fusing required too follow the inverter manual for fusing and grounding
Lots and lots to research
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Thats what i was afraid of, more research,joking,time too go weld on my dakota, before the sun sets.
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The real trick is A the utility company will cut you off if they figure out you are backfeeding their circuits. The second issue, especially in the US, if it isn’t wired to code and there is a fire, insurance will NOT cover any damage. To be honest, it is probably worse in the UK.
If you use the existing wiring, you need to use a transfer switch to disconnect the mains power, and plug in the generator. And you need to make sure the generators can sync with each other and they both do 230vac @50hz, I don’t think the genset matt uses does 230vac. and I didn’t look to see if the generator you posted will sync with another generator. It didn’t list it as a feature.
It isn’t a bad idea to try because it will give you an idea of how much power you can generate, and how much wood it takes.
But honestly, I would plan on moving to solar, at 30c/kwh for peak use. It pays for itself in probably less then 7 years and it isn’t much work. It doesn’t mean you cannot use wood, to supplement it especially in the winter when you need both electric and heat. I would pay more now to make sure everything integrates when you have the money or are allowed to move to solar, but that is me. Then you aren’t redoing work and half the equipment is paid for.
It isn’t that hard. An inverter converts dc to an ac waveform. You need 230v @50 for your waveform, which is literally a sine wave. If you think about a cosine wave it is just a sinewave shifted over, and you can shift anywhere inbetween, so the purpose of syncing is to make sure you have a matching sinewaves.
Rectifying, is converting AC to DC which the integrated inverter MAY do internally which cleans up the waveforms. Typically they use a bridge rectifier which is an arrangement of diodes then because 230vac is single phase, there is a dead spot where no electric is going down the wire as both wires are at 0V. So they add a capacitor to ‘smooth’ out the dc current.
The integrated modules you can wire, and they include the automatic transfer switch so you aren’t backfeeding the AC circuits namely. But the installation manual covers the installation. It is similar to anything else that is multiple things and integrated into one unit with a microprocessor that controls all the functionality by ‘programming’ which is just flipping through a bunch of menu’s like on a complicated thermostat. If you are going to DIY it, then read through the installation manual prior to acquiring it.
They usually include battery backup circuitry so you can just add a batteries, and they take care of keeping them full and using them when demand is high.
Then the next part is matching voltage and amp input and output and making sure the breakers and wires can handle the load especially over the distance it has to travel along with other safety considerations like everything in boxes to prevent fires, etc.
right, which is right in the ballpark of the dual inverters and junk generators, and most of them don’t have charge controllers to add batteries or integrate with solar. so kind of a waste of money in my book.
Just whatever you do be careful. it isn’t worth getting hurt or burning your house down.
Depending on your loads
You get a pair of 4D or sim heavy truck batteries and treat the real nice never discharge below 80 percent, charge a hour every day after use plus some daily top up and be Really gentle you could get a few years out of them
But you would have to be very nice to them they won’t take deep cycle abuse
What kills them is sitting partial charged, infrequent equalize charging and hard deep discharges
If you run a charging alternator especially when you are running a heavy loads to help cushion the load they see you can get a fairly respectable amount of time on those type of batteries
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Thanks, anyone got any ideas of generators available in the uk that I can sync? I’ve seen loads on YouTube but none that I can buy here. It seems that the gasifier community over here is very small!
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Look for clones of Honda Inverter generators, that list Sync or Parallel as a feature. I know the new Hondas can run in parallel provided they’re all the same power rating. They have to be Inverter style generators and say that they are Parallel compatible. Matt’s video where he has 3 teamed up shows two of them can Parallel and the 3rd is a similar rated inverter Genny, but the other two generators are syncing to the standard one.
Are your utility boxes for the house and shop near each other? You may have to fuel them both with the gasifier but have them respectively electrically separated.
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Ashley can you do something for me before you go spending your money on things that you may not need , I promise you i have nothing to gain here i just want to help you if i can so try doing this before you spend a penny ,it can all be done in 1 weekend .
1 get your gasifier up and running and grab hold of a old engine , be it a mower , old car any small old generator , i see them all the time in the second hand pages , remember i’m from the UK i know how cheap and easy it is to get junk if you look in the right places .
2 run that engine for as long as you can if its a open frame genny then let it do some actual work run lights or what ever you have handy
Once you have done that then move onto the next step of maybe spending that hard earned money on a new inverter generator , that Hyundai one you showed us should be able to parallel if not don’t worry you can always find a work around i am sure and in the mean time use extension cords to power individual tools in your workshop say your sander and lights and extractor , all i am guessing will be single phase .
You fuse box now that main trip in the box says 63 amp that’s the incoming supply and has no bearing on what you want to do with the change over switch and the plug you shall need as it will not go higher than a heavy duty extension lead , in the UK that’s 13 amps anything larger would need to be hard wired into the box and have its own trip switch and fed from the changeover switch ,here in OZ they have 10 amp and 15/20 amp for heavy duty leads .But if i am wrong its because i am not a qualified electrician and neither are you so it may be wise to get help if you get that far along .
Cheers Dave
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Yes, they are. Initially I was going to just run the workshop from the gasifier and leave the house on mains, then have the option to use it for the house if we have a power cut.
I think it maybe worth while running them separately for now. The load is fairly evenly split after all that way I don’t need to worry about syncing them for now, plus I can properly calculate fuel consumption and energy out put before buying the second generator. Thanks.
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Thanks Dave,
I’ve got the lawnmower test scheduled for this weekend. I’ve just had my mother round cutting the grass to run the petrol out of it! I’ll let you know how it goes, fingers crossed.
I managed to get a flare tonight, I did find a couple of air leaks and managed to fix them up. The issue was actually the air pump though, sucking extra air in from every angle. I taped it up and she lit up right away. Seemed like a very clean burn (but I’m no expert!)
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Will keep my fingers crossed for you don’t forget to make a video if poss and don’t have too much fun will ya’s
Dave
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to each other or to your Utility?
This is one way to do it.
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Ashley means running generators in teams. In Parallel
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Ya I don;t see an advantage to that.
He wants a Combined heat and power plant or stand alone or grid connection battery system.
There is a lot that needs to be considered and costed out and planned.
And at the end of the day is it going to do what he wants…
Maybe Ash clearly spell out what you want the system to do for you because there are so many choices.
Can you make a video of the flare from start to fin.
We can tell a lot about how its working and what might be happening just by looking at the flame.
After tour test before you shut it down get a white cotton cloth and blow some gas in there to see if it makes any sort of stains to indicate dust or tars.
Lets see what that looks like too!
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