anyone made their own generator?
Submitted: Saturday, Jun 21, 2003 at 20:42
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shaky
Hi
I'm curious to see if anyone has made their own generator (like the Christie one)? Any tips appreciated.
thanks
Reply By: Eric - Saturday, Jun 21, 2003 at 22:04
Saturday, Jun 21, 2003 at 22:04
Shaky.
Yes I built a unit like the Christie and found that the normal alternators are very ineficient, the best I could get was about 20%. I started reading up on alternators and eventualy realized they are not suitable for this application. the unit that works best is a 24volt dc motor made by davis criag for use in a truck radiator fan, using it as a generator gives 5 amps at 1000 revs which is quiet and very cheap to run. the maximum amps the unit is capable of putting out may
well be twice that but I dont want to find out the hard way. If you can get a slightly larger 24 volt motor you would get more power, the unit I have is about the size of a cricket ball and has a permanent magnet that gives it its high eficiency, the unit that may be best is a blower motor from a 24v truck air con. Eric.
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Reply By: Joe - Thursday, Jun 26, 2003 at 11:17
Thursday, Jun 26, 2003 at 11:17
Well there you go , the breeding ground for the backyard professional strikes again. Thats the drama with these forums, people are very willing to splatter about 'opinions' with no back up as no one can be held accountable. Its unfair considering it can easily ruin the reputation of a perfectly good product.
The Christie charger is a REGULATED charging system that will only allow 55 amps input if the battery can take it(ie. flat). As the battery becomes charged the input current reduces accordingly to the point where the built up internal resistance of the battery blocks further hazardous charge from boiling the battery. Therefore it is impossible to overcharge your battery using the christie.
Keep it tidy boys.
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Follow Up By: shaky - Thursday, Jun 26, 2003 at 16:29
Thursday, Jun 26, 2003 at 16:29
From the research I have done on batteries, my understanding of the charging process is as follows. Normal cranking and deep cycle batteries should be charged at C/20 up to a maximum of C/10 according to the battery manufacturers. The exception to this rule is AGM batteries (such as Optima) and Gell Cell (such as the Sonnenschein Sportline range), which will accept very high charge rates. Now, if you have a very flat, high capacity auxiliary battery and charge it too quickly, the heat generated will damage the lead plates. Doing this repeatedly to the battery will shorten the life of the battery.
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Reply By: Mick - Thursday, Jul 03, 2003 at 18:25
Thursday, Jul 03, 2003 at 18:25
Hi guys,
Mick Christie here from Christie Engineering.. just letting you know that the chargers we build use a standard Australian made Bosch alternator and on the low setting will regulate to 14.2 volts no matter how flat the battery is and is the standad setting for motor vehicle charging circuits world wide, however there is a high setting that will set the regulator to 14.8-15 volts (also regulated) and over a short pereod will not harm a lead acid battery. This is means of "boost" charging a battery which is ideal for campers who don't like sitting around for long periods with a noisy generator charging a battery.
Before the product was put on the market Battery world, and other auto elecs tested and trialled the charger on their computerised tester and highly recommend the product.
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