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Topics - dieselspanner

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General Discussion / Happy New Year

« on: December 31, 2022, 06:19:48 PM »

Happy New Year to one and all,

Both those who have already had it, and those, like me, who are just about to get there!

Cheers
Stef

Generators / Welding off the Lister

« on: August 08, 2022, 10:43:54 PM »

Hi All

So, four years into the barn rebuild I've got the Lister,CS 6/1 mounted on a couple of steel beams and driving a Stanford 8.1, alternator up here, I squeezed it into my homemade back box and the '84 Ford 6610 lifted it, I've no idea how much it weighs, but as I had to cover 2 k on the main road I backed it up with a couple of ratchet straps, just incase.....

It wasn't a comfortable couple of k!

My question is,

Could I weld using 2.5mm / 3/32" rods and a decent inverter with the above combination?

Cheers
Stef

Everything else / Easy PV water heating

« on: March 25, 2022, 06:08:00 PM »

Hi All
As posted else where I'm well into the off grid barn project, anything mechanical isn't a problem, but if it has anything electrically challenging I get to my limits in very short order!

Here's the first situation I could do with some input on.

At present I have a wood fired oven with a back boiler (a converted 1980's oil burning Rayburn) which supplies a 20mm (3/4'') coil in a very well insulated 110 litre (20 gallon) domestic hot water tank, before going on to feed 2 towel radiators a large cast iron radiator and underfloor heating. It works surprisingly well with thermo syphon, tho' I have built in a pump, just in case.

It gets the water up to 45 / 50 degrees c (110 / 125f) from around 25c (left over from the night before) with no trouble and warms the rest of the barn too.

The cylinder has 3 standard (2 1/4 BSP) 1000w 220v immersion heaters fitted - as I had the tank custom made I had three immersion heater fittings and a few extra 3/4 BSP fittings for temperature gauges ect put in, so that I have the choice of heating water by PV panels, the generator or a hydro genny without having to have any change over switch gear. It also gives a large amount of redundancy.

I did mention that I try to avoid anything complicated in the electronic department, didn't I? (It was only by being a member here that I discovered Mosfet wasn't a resort on the Red Sea)

A couple of weeks ago I did a bit of a trial and an hours run with a 3kva genny supplying one 1000w heater, it raised the temperature in the tank (at the very top) from 25 to 35 degrees c in an hour.

As the days are getting longer and warmer I'll be using the stove less and don't have time to start on a little hydro plant yet, I wondered if there is an easy way of connecting solar panels to one of the immersion heaters and dumping everything into heating the water. A system where a temperature gauge in the hot water tank switched the output into the batteries would be good. As of today we're getting in excess of eight hours sun a day, The barn is in a north / south valley and we loose a bit at each end of the day behind the ridges either side, we get quite a lot of sunny days and the air up here is clear too.

For 220v power I have an HGI remote work station genset I picked up (unused) off eBay which has a 3 kw Hatz single cylinder diesel charging four deep cycle batteries (in parallel) through a Victron Multiplus 3000 inverter charger, which all works automatically, as soon as the voltage in the batteries drop below the preset.

No, I didn't design, programme or set it up in any way, I just plugged all the connections in, added batteries and filled the tank, honest!

It would be nice to get a little solar power into the batteries but I'd rather heat the water first (I'm only burning around 1.2 litres / 3 pints of diesel (with 20% wvo) a day, depending on power tool usage)

The one small issue I have encountered so far is that the Victron is so sensitive that it doesn't like to power the immersion elements, all three have a very tiny earth leak and and this causes the Victron to shut down automatically. I did the trial with a 1960's Villers powered genset that didn't object at all. I checked with the heater manufactures and the tech guy was most helpful, and said he's not surprised and that under mains fed circumstances the 'leak' would not be enough to trip an RCD. This leaves me to believe a totally separate circuit would be better.

I don't object to changing the immersion heater to a 12v model, I made a few enquiries and they seem to be available, with adaptors to 2 1/4'' BSP

So, as you can see I'm trying to keep everything simple, Any suggestions on size of panels, controlers, size of cables and anything else I don't know about is more than welcome, I can probably stand a little abuse too!

Thanks in expectation....

Cheers
Stef

Original Lister Cs Engines / Electric starter

« on: April 21, 2020, 04:10:21 PM »

Hi All

At long last and thanks to the lockdown I've finally assembled the parts for the electric starter.

It's quite a simple affair, I got a friend in the UK to get me a 12mm steel blank knocked up - water jet, to fit the centre of a Land Rover 2 1/4 flywheel (left over from when I changed the engine in my Series III for a 200 tdi from a Discovery) onto a weldable taper lock bush sized to fit the shaft on the Stamford alternator, alongside the serpentine belt pulley (there's just enough free length), that took a couple of years or so.

So, in the middle of last week I dragged the Lister from under the covers in the corner of the shed and set too.

First problem was rotation, it's not possible to fit the starter between the engine and the alternator, the body of the starter motor fouls the body of the 220v alternator, so it had to hang off the rear, on the other side. A shame really, it would have been a neater installation. This meant turning the alternator round and running off the other flywheel. The other option was start again with a larger diameter flywheel, but that could take another couple of years....

Obviously the alternator, apart from the direction of the air cooling) is indifferent to direction of rotation. As the alternator mountings are not symmetrical it was out with the disc grinder and start again.

Once it was re aligned I shaped a short length of 3" of angle iron to take the starter and aligned it to the flywheel with a square and tacked it to the chassis. I set it up to be adjustable in the manner of a vehicle alternator, to allow for the Stamford alternator moving slightly as the drive belt is tensioned.

First results, with a set of jump leads were a bit disappointing, it wouldn't get over compression, even winding the engine as far back as possible to give it a run up, but with 8 /10 rotations there was enough momentum fire up a cold engine when the decompressor was released - at 15 degrees ambient, I doubted if it would at zero!

Anyway I carried on and made a decent job of bracing the fitting up, well, as decent as my welding allows! and once I'd connected the battery with a couple of short leads and decent terminals the results were much improved.

There was so much more torque that the serpentine pulley was spinning inside the belt until the engine speed picked up and then it was far faster, I turned the rev counter on (it's supplied by a PP3 battery) and it was clocking 190 rpm after a few seconds. the best I could manage with the handle was 165!

With the slipping belt problem out of the way it might well get over the compression stroke from a standing start, on 'low' anyway.

I've sent off via eBay for some belt dressing as I feel the belt is tight enough already - it doesn't slip under a 3 kva load - should that not provide a cure I'll get a longer belt and knock up an adjustable idler pulley to get more 'wrap' around the driven pulley.

I suppose the next task is to set up a control panel for 'stop and start' with solenoids to get just a little bit closer to a Startomatic.

There's probably enough time left in the lockdown........

Cheers
Stef

General Discussion / Listers as art

« on: June 19, 2019, 03:21:35 PM »

Hi all,
As I've said elsewhere I'm involved in a hoverbarge project and this has dragged me off to Scotland

Anyway I found this in a bar, The James Watt, in Greenock

Cheers
Stef

General Discussion / Diesel!!

« on: February 16, 2019, 03:58:40 PM »

I don't know if this short movie has been mentioned before, anyway I was led this way whilst wandering further thro' the WWW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMdLbPS9R20&feature=related

Cheers
Stef

Waste Vegetable Oil / Real Engineer's Spice Rack

« on: September 16, 2018, 05:17:23 PM »

Hi All

The nights are drawing in, the trees are changing colour and the temperature is starting to drop, so I started wonder at what temperature my 80% WVO / 20% Dino would start to wax.

After a bit I came up with this, SWMBO said it was the worst diy spice rack she'd seen.......

Anyway it's screwed to the inside wall of an open car port so once I've nicked a thermometer from somewhere I'll have a good Redneck early warning system, for nothing but an hours fun.

Cheers
Stef

General Discussion / 'shrooms

« on: September 10, 2018, 09:45:52 PM »

Hi All
As Ed and Gary have the TS3 under control and SWMBO is away for a few days I thought I'd post up about tonight's supper.

It was an omelette, filled with chanterelle mushrooms, picked this morning whilst walking the dog in the woods, cooked in butter with a small clove of garlic and half a shallot, with the butt end of yesterdays loaf fried off in the remaining grease, washed down with a glass of cheap (ish) red wine. Honest, it was up there with a well balanced CS as far as self satisfaction goes.....

Whilst this post is fairly irrelevant on this forum, those who are not going 'WTF?' or simply ignoring it will know where I'm coming from.

Should I fail to post again, don't try this at home.........

Cheers
Stef

Straight Vegetable Oil / Cheap centrifuge?

« on: August 30, 2018, 09:21:12 AM »

Hi All

So, as I got home in the Landy (a 1999 TD5) I sat a moment and listening to the centrifugal oil filter spool down, it takes around 25 seconds, I started to think.(I'm sure Ed has warned about this in the past)

If a steering pump motor, running around 125 PSI, was rigged to a centrifugal oil filter housing, with a standard filter would it pull enough crap out to make it all worthwhile?

I know there's bigger ones on large marine diesels, I've ended up quite grubby servicing them!

If you've nothing to do when you're next round your dad's scrapyard, Glort.........

Anyone any ideas?

Cheers Stef

Everything else / Micro power gen

« on: August 17, 2018, 05:56:58 PM »

Hi Guys

I posted a few months back about buying an off grid barn, still not mine yet, French Bureaucracy has to be seen to be believed!

Anyway, I'm doing my research a bit at a time, so.......

Anyone had any dealings with this system, or similar?

https://www.currentgeneration.co.nz/shop/alternativeenergy/MICRO+HYDRO.html

Cheers
Stef

Everything else / I've only gone and done it!

« on: May 05, 2018, 10:28:19 AM »

Hi All,

After only 4 years of looking I've found an ancient stone barn, off grid, in my (meager!) price range with a head of water, a decent view, 5 hecares (14 acres) of extremely sloping land, backing on to a HUGE wood and far enough away from the neighbours so they won't moan about the Lister!

See Google map link for details

https://www.google.fr/maps/@42.9500311,0.2214051,88m/data=!3m1!1e3

I haven't signed anything yet, but we 'spat and shook', up here that's pretty binding, It should be mine in 2/3 months, anything over a hectare has to be offered to the local farming community for two months, at the agreed price first, generally not a problem.

It's bigger than I wanted, so I think I'll end up with a decent integral workshop.

So, the first of many questions, there's a stream above the property I'd like to use as a supply for a small hydro scheme.

It would involve a 200m long 25mm id mdpe pipe and have a vertical drop of 35 meters - 120 feet. I've had a scout around on the WWW and can't come up with a definitive answer, so, could anyone here point towards a useful site or tell me how much power I'd get allowing for the friction loss in the pipe?

Cheers Stef

Original Lister Cs Engines / Lister (oid) Dynastart

« on: March 13, 2018, 06:50:57 PM »

So, back to the sordid subject of engineering!

There I was bumbling around on Youtube and I ran across this........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqy3rRWJQE

A clip of a car alternator being used as a prime mover for a go cart, it must have some grunt to hit around 40 kph...

As is well documented on here, my knowledge of things electronical is somewhere on the sc an side of non existant and I ain't much better at things electrical either, I can copy and repair but innovation ain't me.

So, would it be possible / practical to use a 90 amp or so alternator to start a CS and then run as a alternator to charge the start battery (s) on either 12 or 24 volts?

I went on to read that most applications use a variable speed controller, of which there are umpteen on Ebay, however, it would appear that a simple controller, using 3 Hall Effect switches should suffice to power up at a given speed.

Looking at an alternator with a pulley for a serpentine belt that, been kicking around my shed for a while it would be running around 9/1 driving directly on to a 22" flywheel.

Has it been done, is it practical, do circuit diagrams for the 'speed controller' already exist, ect, or have I beaten Elon Musk to the punch?

All answers (and any amount of derision!) appreciated.

Cheers Stef

General Discussion / Nothing to do with Listers!

« on: February 20, 2018, 05:32:14 PM »

Hi All

I've spent the last few weeks persuading a a 200 TDI from a Land Rover Discovery into a very nice 1980 Land Rover Series 3 pick up.

It's in, plumbed and wired up and sound great, I have one small problem........

The original motor had a mechanical 'pull to stop', the 200 TDI has an 'energise to run' solenoid, I don't have a spare connection on the Ignition switch that will stay 'live' when the engine cranks.

I've wired the solenoid to the brake light circuit, the only connection that stays live is to the glow plugs so I've added a link to the solenoid, opened buy a 'momentary on' switch, as you turn the key you press the button and once the motor fires releasing the button stops the 'back feed' to the heater plugs.

My question is (not being 'overly electrically minded') what diode do I replace the momentary switch with, to stop the back feed?

A link to something suitable on Ebay would be greatly appreciated.

Not a Lister query, but I know I'll get a swift and sensible reply on here, the sort of blokes you get on the Landy fora will try to persuade me to go down all sorts of other routes!

Cheers Stef

Original Lister Cs Engines / Power meter

« on: November 16, 2017, 08:07:24 PM »

Hi All

A few weeks back, well more like months, truth be told, I had a spare couple of hours and whilst gazing at my CS I was wondering about fine tuning.

On the theory that an engine in a high state of tuning would use less fuel I came up with a simple power meter that magnifies the movement of the injector pump fuel rack.

It's a simple cam that is directly connected to a pointer. there's a movable marker against the dial face, the idea being that before making any further adjustment the current rack position is marked with a fixed load, 500w lamp, immersion element, electric kettle, whatever is to hand.

After making an adjustment, IP timing, injector pressure, tappet clearance ect. any change in fuel usage when running with the same load, at the same revs, should be apparent.

Obviously it won't be the ultimate tuning device, but from the few minutes I spent playing with it it certainly detects extra load being applied, and I hope it will register the difference when using fuels other than dino diesel.

Since then other projects, log splitter, car port, local farmers livestock trailer, running a B&B ect, have got in the way so I've yet to put theory to the test but as the site is pretty quiet I thought I'd post up and see what sort of reaction it gets.........

Cheers Stef

Lister Market Place (things for Sale) / Oversize CS Main Bearings

« on: June 27, 2017, 10:24:36 AM »

Hi All

Whilst writing a reply a few moments ago, ref one off oil seals I got thinking, the speed at which I type leaves a lot of time for thinking, and all sorts of other things.......

I have a pair of taper roller bearings sent from India, in error. They fit the bearing carriers (well the ones I was sent anyway) but are made for a 2 1/4" shaft.

If there's anyone out there with a well worn crankshaft who would like to try getting a pair of 'adaptor' sleeves turned up to suit, and fit them, using Loctite 620 or similar or heating them up to shrink on to the shaft, then they're welcome to them for the cost of postage from France.

Further details on request, as the posh ads say

Cheers Stef