good day ))
a couple years ago this members of this forum provided great help in building my wood gasifier.
now i would like to share my experience running it to power my household in winter months.
this will be incoherent thread - just some unrelated bits of information
lets start with cleaning routine
hay filter - grey Mobil drum fits nicely in slightly wider Agip drum
one bucket weighs in around 3.5…4 kg and lasts approximately for an hour.
hopper contains three buckets when fuel is completely burned out,
but usually i load two buckets when refill hopper at running engine.
I have been heating my house with wood since I finished building it 25 years ago, long before I was involved with wood gas. The firebox and the piping is all encapsulated in stone and concrete so no way to alter any of it, but how many times have I looked at that fire in there and wished I had a way to get more use out of all that energy in the fire.
Very good report and picture sets AndrisL.
Wood making electrical watts energy.
Any wanting to see his thoughts, design evolution and engine generator this is covered much across five topics.
You can find and read these by first clicking open his avatar icon of “Animals. Drive Very Slowly”.
This will bring up a summery box on Andris.
In this box again click on his larger picture icon.
That will bring up a complete page of his DOW activities.
There click open his “Topics started”.
Select and read.
thank you Steve ))
i think i will add those links to my other threads in the first post if i can still edit it.
as for running the generator - even without any automatic, such as timer for grate shaking or auto gas mixing - the generator does not require constant babysitting. if everything goes right, it can run for an hour without any intervention.
of course it would be nice to have automation for increased power output and fuel efficiency.
usualy i sit home and monitor charging current using bluetooth BMS application.
if amps decrease, i go to workshop and see what is going on.
works good, except for a intermittent current sensor issue, it usually happens at simultaneous large and nearly equal charge and discharge currents.
nothing serious, but annoying because it spams log, replacing important messages.
a little video with newly installed digital wattmeter.
it measures DC, because generator is connected to MPPT input of a chargeverter.
analog ammeter measures rotor magnetizing current.
current can be adjusted with constant current setting on DC booster (blue pot).
usually it is between 9 to 12 amperes at 12 to 15 volts.
interesting fact is that magnet current drops as the alternator warms up and coil resistance increases.
i have 3 phase alternator, 220 volts between phases,
that results in approximately 320 volt open circuit DC.
it is much better now with hybrid charger/inverter with 500 volt MPPT,
working voltage is 200…240 at 2000…2400 RPM and output power over 3kw.
but when i did use 160…180 volt MPPT chargers previous winter, i had problems
with MPPT putting too much load on engine, not allowing it to operate at optimal RPM.
their operating voltage was around 120 volts at 1700…2000 RPM, output around 2kw.
first i put a big rheostat in series and lost some power in heat,
but better solution was to limit rotor magnetizing current.
