Lister Engine Forum

Lister Engines => Lister Based Generators => Topic started by: mikenash on May 17, 2022, 11:04:28 PM

Title: 6/1 driving ST clone 260 VAC
Post by: mikenash on May 17, 2022, 11:04:28 PM
Hi guys

Thanks for your advice recently re the Chinese ST head

I temp-fitted it to the CS last weekend with a flat-belt drive

At 650-ish RPMs it was making something like a scary 380 VAC.  I lowered the engine speed in stages until at 528 RPM on the Lister it was producing a no-load 260 VAC.  No idea what the waveform will be like - that's a question for another day

See link attached for a short video of it running?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TC9fY1mfnfs

The Youtube guys have done a better-than-normal job of reducing the video quality to "awful" - but what the hell

I'm calling it the beginnings of a "win" and have taken that head off and put it aside for the moment to have a play with my Markon head which is a much nicer unit, to see what that will do

Whatever the relationship with these Chinese STs is between RPMs and VAC - it doesn't seem to be linear.

Once I have had a play with the Markon I can re-mount the ST-clone and find something with an oscilloscope and a Hz meter to give me some more to work with if I like

Thanks for all the various advice on this

I will have some stupid questions to ask re the Markon head, I'm sure; as it has just four identical unmarked black wires coming out of it lol.  I have it on the bench atm checking to see where there's continuity and what the resistance is between the various wires for some clues

Cheers
Title: Re: 6/1 driving ST clone 260 VAC
Post by: veggie on May 17, 2022, 11:33:15 PM

If you want to run the lister at 650 rpm (and the ST at 1800 rpm), you need a 2.77:1 ratio belt drive.
That would give you the correct voltage.
So if you have 23" flywheels, your generator should have an 8.3" pulley.
(Assuming you are driving the generator using a belt around the flywheel)
Title: Re: 6/1 driving ST clone 260 VAC
Post by: mikenash on May 18, 2022, 06:55:53 AM

If you want to run the lister at 650 rpm (and the ST at 1800 rpm), you need a 2.77:1 ratio belt drive.
That would give you the correct voltage.
So if you have 23" flywheels, your generator should have an 8.3" pulley.
(Assuming you are driving the generator using a belt around the flywheel)

Hey, yes, thanks

We have 50Hz power down here - so 1500 RPM.  The flywheel is around 605mm diameter and my driven flat pulley is around 205mm (I'm working with what I have lying around here) from memory so a nominal 510-ish RPMs is probably about right

If it'll be happy making 4Hp at 500 RPM - say 2500 watts - that'd be (allowing for losses) a theoretical 150-ish amps I could get out of a battery charger attached to the gen-head.  In practise that's probably twice what I'd need or want . . . so if the Lister's happy to putter along doing that - well, there's potential there

I have to take the head off the old girl one weekend as there had been cooling water getting into the combustion chamber.  I had also thought that the COV was faulty and had taken it apart and swapped another one in - with no change; it still didn't like running on the low-compression setting.  But I'm leaning towards thinking the head gasket is causing me a loss of compression somewhere - and it's simply not getting enough compression to be happy with the COV "out"

We'll see what it has to say for itself once the head is off

Next up is a temp fit of my Markon head anyway to see how that works.  I have a 115mm nominal pulley there; so for 3150 RPM no-load it'll need a happy 600 RPMs - we;ll see what happens there

Cheers
Title: Re: 6/1 driving ST clone 260 VAC
Post by: cujet on May 28, 2022, 01:39:19 PM
Mine never ran well with the COV set at the low compression setting. Kind of makes sense, as diesel engines run best with high compression.