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Grolly
Yes I am in Brighton or Wistow never realy know
Give me a call tomorow
0437 069 044
lyn/permaclutter
grolly Regular Member Joined: 19/05/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62
Posted: 08:47am 14 Jun 2007
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Thankyou Lyn, went and picked them up a little while ago, made friends with the boss, and may get some more from him as they come in.
GrollyI have bought the farm...now I AM powering it...
grolly Regular Member Joined: 19/05/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62
Posted: 08:13am 16 Jun 2007
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Lyn, put the batteries on the 4 amp trickle charger and bought them up to 26.7 volts over 48 hrs, could not get the optimum voltage of 27.36...( 2.28,battery max x 12), have now taken them off the charger and will see if they lose any charge, never the less a good score, thankyou .I have bought the farm...now I AM powering it...
RossW Guru Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495
Posted: 10:24am 16 Jun 2007
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Grolly, the 4A charger isn't going to be anywhere even near enough to do the job my friend.
500AH cells, even at 1/20C is 25 amps... you're trying to charge them at under 1/6 of the C20 rate.... thats barely over their self-discharge rate.
You'll *need* to hit them with at least 10 amps I reckon. They say I'm under-charging mine at 30 amps....
dwyer Guru Joined: 19/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 573
Posted: 11:41am 16 Jun 2007
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Hi Grolly
i do agree with Ross as 4amp charger is waste of time ever this any car battery 4 amp charger dont have higher voltage only around about 12.5 volt just enough to start the engine but not fully topup the battery so look for with aleast 10 amp or more with voltage around 14 to 16 volts (open circuit)
Dwyer the bushman
Dwyer the bushman
grolly Regular Member Joined: 19/05/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62
Posted: 03:55am 17 Jun 2007
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Hi ross and dwyer, yes, I know I am trying to " piss on a bushfire" but it is all I have at the moment, it is a 24 volt charger, and it was only to test the cells, see if they all came up evenly, no bad cells, and they did +/_ 0.02 volts.
which do you think is best, an Inverter and a charger, or an inverter/charger in one, price seems to work out about the same. I have bought the farm...now I AM powering it...
RossW Guru Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495
Posted: 09:00am 17 Jun 2007
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Well, I went with an "all-in-one" unit. 5KW (continuous) sinewave, with all the generator synchronisation and control, rectifier etc.
The benefit of this "generator interactive" unit is that I can supply a load that is in excess of the generator or inverter by themselves. Ie, if I have a 5KVA generator and a 5KVA inverter, I *CAN* run loads up to about 10KVA (as long as the batteries hold up!). Something I couldn't do with a seperate rectifier.
Not all can do this I suppose, but it was a useful feature for me. If I didn't want this though, I think I would probably go seperate units purely because of the "not putting all the eggs in one basket" benefit.
The other thing to consider is - if you have to run off generator for any non-trivial periods (like I do), running the generator into the inverter means your load will be supplied directly from the genset, and only the battery charge current needs to go through the rectifier stage. (Losses: battery charge current only).
With a seperate rectifier, you still have to run your full load off the rectifier, so losses are battery charge current *AND* full load current through the rectifier, plus inverter losses for the load. May only be 10%, but if your load is say 1KW, thats 10% losses in rectifier and 10% losses in inverter = 200W "wasted" *MORE* than the generator-interactive solution.
grolly Regular Member Joined: 19/05/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62
Posted: 10:50am 21 Jun 2007
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Hi ross,
What would be the nominal charge rate of the battery bank,(12x2vx500a),
my father has picked up a "southern cross 32volt diesel generation plant" both engine and generator ($100), output 30 amp@32 volt.
could I use this to charge the battery bank?.. (voltage is able to be changed via rheostat)
If this is a goer, I would save abt $2000, by only haveing to buy an Inverter.
GrollyI have bought the farm...now I AM powering it...
RossW Guru Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495
Posted: 11:04am 21 Jun 2007
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Mate, you could... but it could be hard to keep them fed the way they like it.
Not too much ripple. Plenty of amps when they want it, but not going over voltage too far or for too long.
I charge mine at 35 amps, but I'm assured you can hit them much harder than that. I'm reluctant to though!
Well done, to yer dad
sounds like a great bargain even if just for the diesel.
could it be a go to use a f&p on it as per highlanders above? or see some stationary engine guys and find out how cool the score is? It might be a collectors item that could be swaped for a more suitable engine for your needs?
I dont recon you can loose at that price but maybe the 32V is a bit tricky.
I have a dunlight wind gen i havent put up becase of the 32v thing (and they are old and seem to fly apart a bit to offten for my likes)
congrats
permaclutter
grolly Regular Member Joined: 19/05/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62
Posted: 11:03am 22 Jun 2007
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Thanks lyn, He also has got hold of a 2 cyl Lister 12 hp, for $1000, going and in good order. The Southern Cross is in need of a set of mains, and is a 4 hp single cyl.
If you look, there is still a lot of 32 volt stuff around, in some parts of the south east of S.A. there are places that didnt get power till the 60's, so a lot of the stuff is still in good working order, in the mid 70's I stayed in a shearers quarters near lucindale that was lit by a 32 volt gen set.
Also got a windmill tower.
grolly
I have bought the farm...now I AM powering it...
Trev Guru Joined: 15/07/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 639
Posted: 07:35am 23 Jun 2007
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To buy any 32 volt stuff now you will be scratching. My opinion is that you are wasting money and time with any 32 volt setup.
Trev @ drivebynature.com
grolly Regular Member Joined: 19/05/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62
Posted: 01:07pm 23 Jun 2007
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Yes I know Trev, but my dad has his teeth into this, and the 32 volt stuff will do till I can afford the 4 or 5 grand for a u,beaut auto start 240 volt gen set.
I am not going to run the house on 32 volt, just charge the batteries when the wind don't blow, or the sun don't shine.
GrollyI have bought the farm...now I AM powering it...
I was looking at your post of the 11th of June 2007, about the 1KA/hr batteries, and was wondering if you were in Melbourne or where you are, as the price of A$ 30 per battery is a very good price, can you please let me know where that scrap dealer is located?
Thank you
Ericvr
Edited by ericvr 2008-01-25limited greenie
grolly Regular Member Joined: 19/05/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 62
Posted: 07:57am 16 Mar 2008
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Hi all,
Well as of the 1st of december I am now off grid and liveing at sedan.
the power plant...
11hp kubota driving a 8000w alternator
bank (1) 24 2T500/2 supersafe 48 volt
bank (2) 475ah fork batteries 48 volt
bank (3) 12 2T500/6 supersafe 24 volt (only runs water pump,charged by 500w wind gen)
KUMA 48 volt 5000w(10000peak) inverter/charger
40 amp 24 volt charger
60 amp 24 volt alternator driven by 4 hp southern cross
2 scorpion 3500w diesel gen sets as backups
The house...
4 bedroom 2 bathroom All Steel transportable wired as a standard home.
gas instant hot water with controllers, gas stove.
biocycle sewrage, 240 volt aerator and pump.
fridge/freezer,dvd,tv,coffee maker, computers(2), phone chargers etc.
I run the gen set 4 hrs a day, to keep the batteries up, and 6 hrs on weekends, ( more power tool usage).
It is very windy here, already have broken all 3 blades off the wind gen, don`t know how hard it was blowing (back sliding glass door visibly bending, house rocking) but it was putting out 35 volt 16 amp full furl,I think the blades hit the tail or started to flutter, at 3.30 am all blades broke off at the hub.
more on this pice of sh*t wind gen later.
thats all for now, photos to follow
grollyI have bought the farm...now I AM powering it...
I was never selling stuff.
Just found it for sale at good prices.
I dont want to advertise for companies but will happily pass on the places if you ring me.
Lyn
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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