Disco 240volt..alternator
Philip Le Mare
that produces 240 volt.....anyone know about this?....can it be true....does
this mean I can take the kitchen kettle into the fields and have a cup of
tea??
.
.
Philip
Steve Goodfellow
<phill...@lineone.net> writes
make use of a 240V generator driven by the engine. I suspect, however,
that it would cost more than a separate petrol driven genny.
Regards
--
Steve Goodfellow
David
You can also use them for light welding jobs as well. they will run a 2.5mm
rod. Any good 4x4 shop here on Oz should be able to help, like ARB. Remember
though they are really for emergency use, can you imagine the cost of
running your V8 disco at 2,000 rpm for 4 hours while you watch tele in the
scrub???
Steve Goodfellow wrote in message ...
Andy Dingley
<phill...@lineone.net> wrote:
>I have heard that it is possible to replace the alternator, with a generator
>that produces 240 volt...
Not a replacement (how would you charge the battery ?), but added as
an additional gadget. If your vehicle is designed to accept air
conditioning, and you don't have it, then there's usually a very easy
place to mount the extra alternator and a pulley already on the
crankshaft.
240V alternators on off-road vehicles are perhaps most popular for
running welders and power tools in a "wilderness recovery" situation
(or a simulation thereof, in Sainsways car park). If you want to run
a 240V piece of electronics, then using a 12V->240V inverter is a
simple option. Even simpler is to find electronics that already runs
from 12V (phones, GPS, laptops and hi-fi will already do this). If you
want a cup of tea, get a petrol or gas stove. A workable 1.5kW
generator can be had S/H for 50 quid at auction, or small (and quiet)
"briefcase" generators for a few hundred quid brand new from Machine
Mart (look behind any market stall or chipshop van).
All car alternators are already 3 phase 15V (approx) AC generators,
which have a rectifier diode pack to convert this to DC for electric
power and battery charging. The frequency varies, depending on
alternator design (number of poles), engine speed and pulley
diameters.
Converting a car alternator chassis to run 240V AC is relatively
simple if you're familiar with AC power electrics, and somewhat risky
otherwise. Search the web, as there are several US sites that either
describe the process, or sell conversion kits. Remember that US
single phase electrics is mainly 110V, so that when you see a
reference to 220V alternators, they're often being used as 3 phase
generators to run welders. If you want high current single phase, then
that's a rather different situation - don't just ignore two phases,
unless you understand AC electrics.
The basic process for converting an alternator is to remove the
rectifier diodes and to replace the regulator circuit that drives the
field coil (the rotating one) so that the excitation voltage is
increased appropriately. At this point you discover that the core
losses in a cheap alternator are such that the field windings overheat
and burn out when over-run like this ! It's not a trivial matter to
make your own reliable conversion.
Earthing and insulation are also issues that shouldn't be ignored. A
home made engine-driven alternator at 240V will cheerfully kill you,
if you don't know what you're doing.
Frequency control of a car-driven alternator is tricky and so they're
not suited to any machine that cares about frequency. This includes
many high power electric power tools and all synchronous motors, but
you're OK with floodlamps and heaters (but not fan heaters). You'll
certainly need a rough frequency meter and a hand throttle. I
understand some of the US conversions use a modified cruise control as
a closed-loop frequency controller.
My advice ? Get an inverter.
(yes, 50 quid for a builder's generator. I never pay more than that)
--
Smert' Spamionem
gordon
> I have heard that it is possible to replace the alternator, with a
> generator
> that produces 240 volt.....anyone know about this?....can it be
> true....does
> this mean I can take the kitchen kettle into the fields and have a cup
> of
> tea??
> .
> .
> Philip
HI PhilipNo its not a generator it is called and Invertor ,I think, a
small black box that can almost fit under your seat that changes 12 volt
to 240. The cost of them here in Australia varies from around 5 or 600
to 1200 dollars and its possible to use 240 volt power tools, electric
lights , kettles even small fridges but you will probably need 2
batteries and have the engine charging at the same as you are using the
Invertor.
Cheers Gordon.
Nick Kay
110/240v or Tritech 0n +44(0)1262 401130 for 240v alternators.
Note both options are not cheap.