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Messages - Cowboy Billy

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1
Listeroid Engines / Re: DC Charging with 16/1
« on: December 08, 2012, 03:21:03 PM »
Hi Bob

The shed is a cheep car port that my brothers put stringers and tin on rather than the tarps. And thats about 100' from the bunkhouse in the woods.

What you are looking at is a 26 foot travel trailer with a 12'x20' room and a 10'x16' covered deck. In 2006 my Dad and youngest Brother bought 80 acres that adjoined Dads and my 40 acres. We had to build a road across 1/4 mile of my Uncles place to get to it. 2008 we got the travel trailer. That winter Me my younger Brother and his Son went to the farm it was so cold we couldn't get the trailer warmer than 50 deg or get the tractor to start to be able to plow the drive. And we decided we needed to build a room to put a wood stove in.



2009 I did some logging on the property and got enough wood sawed up to build the 12x20 bunkhouse. Me and my brothers built the bunkhouse in 2010. Its built on four 8"x8"x20' spruce beams and sits on the ground next to the trailer. I built SIP fly walls that frame the door to the trailer and but up against it and used seasonal calk so there was no permanent bond to the trailer. So once we get a cabin built we can once again use the trailer with out any damage being done to it.





When it was wet we were getting a lot of mud and dirt in the bunkhouse. So last year I built a 10x16 covered deck to take off our muddy boots before we got into the trailer and have a place to hang out when its raining. The porch is almost all white cedar that I logged off the property. I sawed it all up on our woodmizer and planed it on the property with a 14hp Lister generator.




Sorry for getting off topic Chris. I'm just really proud of the place.

Billy






2
Listeroid Engines / Re: DC Charging with 16/1
« on: December 07, 2012, 09:39:35 PM »
Chris

Thanks thanks for the post. I'm running a 1182 amp hr 24v GB forklift battery. I didn't realize what my low charge rate was costing me and its inefficiently. But I sure do love the steady power from it. And only having only one battery to check voltages and acid levels on along with not having a bunch of battery connections to clean.

Thanks VT

That was a good read.

I don't live where my battery is located. Its on My brothers and I farm about 350 miles from out houses. But I usually spend weekends to two weeks at a time there. Its 1/4 mile past the end of a dead end road in Michigan's UP. But I hope to move up there in a few years. Right now I have two 110 watt solar panels and a chingfa and st 12.

We started out with a very used small forklift battery and ran that for four years and bought a new GB battery a year ago.

A tip back at ya. We had a few cells going bad on the old battery and were cooking the good cells trying to equalize the battery. We found we could charge one cell at a time with a 12v battery charger and a dimmer switch (router speed controller) We used the dimmer to cut the voltage going into the charger to drop the out put amps coming out of the charger to what the charger could handle.





Billy

3
Listeroid Engines / Re: 14hp Power Soultions low on power?
« on: November 18, 2011, 10:33:53 PM »
Thanks again Dieselgman

    Since I already have everything to put the chingfa genset together I'm going to do that and see how it does. Then I can bring the lister back home as I don't have a running generator here now.

Billy

4
Generators / Re: forktruck batteries
« on: November 18, 2011, 05:12:45 PM »
    We have been running a 24v 1100lb forklift battery for three years. Its a old used battery and while it has saved the money we spent on it if fuel costs of not having to run a generator full time. It can be frustrating dealing with damaged cells. All lead acid battery's loose a % of charge a day but a damaged cell will loose a bigger % than the better cells next to it. And your batterys output depends on the lowest cell. Our battery probably only has 50% of its original power rating. We have been loosing one cell which is very bad now. When we first got it I could run three days on fully powering our trailer. Usually the only way to bring up low cells is by overcharging them which causes damage to the good cells. But our bad cell is now requiring me to charge every other day. We tried to find a 1 cell battery charger but the cheapest we could find was $500. We just found we could put a light dimmer on a battery charger and drop it down enough to charge one cell. But even now I am charging 60 amps on the one cell and 20 on the rest of the battery every time and still the one cell is loosing power internally three times faster than the rest of the cells.

   Fully charging a battery is complicated and I don't fully understand it. But it involves charging the battery and checking the acid level. As you charge the battery water turns into acid. So a uncharged battery will look like it short of acid but its not its short of charge. So you have to charge it until its fully charged (I think that is when it starts gassing hard but I am not sure) Then check the acid level. It you put too much acid in it it will cause the plates to sulfate. Also if a cell it uncharged it can sulfate as well as freeze and break. Which is where I think a lot of damage to the one bad cell came from.

   Hi Fudgie

   If possible I would like to see a picture of how your battery looks after you drilled and tapped the posts. As I am going to need to do something like that once I get a newer cell for my battery.

Billy

5
Listeroid Engines / Re: 14hp Power Soultions low on power?
« on: November 18, 2011, 04:34:55 PM »
Thanks again Dieselgman

    At this point I can't afford to change over to 3 phase. But I know on a ST generator I have to energize both the rotor and stator. Does going to a PMG generator offer any significant gain in power out put to power input?

Thanks ShipChief

   In this case UP means north. The farm is 350 miles from where I live and is totally off grid. The elevation is 750' above sea level. The original fuel like broke down and turned into goo and stated leaking and started leaking. So I guess some of that could have gotten into the injector. Eventually I would like volt and amp meters. But right now I have severyl large projects going on. My Dad and Brother bought 80 acres in 2006 that adjoined Dads and My 40. The 120 acre plot was all woods and thick without any trails. I had to build a 1/4 mile of road across my Uncles just to get to it. I do 95% of the work up there but I am also planning on moving there when I get it liveable. My bull dozer is down right now and the loader and tractor need work. We also have a woodmizer sawmill and I need to get started sawing lumber to build a cabin with. But things are coming along and I am happy with the progress.

Thanks Cujet

   I agree my lister needs some work to get up to full potential. But according to Bill's figures even if it was running at 110% neither that or the gen head is up to supplying my power needs. So I am going to bring that one home. I have a 20hp chingfa and 15KV generator that I can put together. And while that will still be short of power it may be acceptable until I can find a deal on a 24KV pto generator I can put on my 65hp tractor.

Billy

   

6
Listeroid Engines / Re: 14hp Power Soultions low on power?
« on: November 16, 2011, 03:49:13 PM »
Thanks again for all the help Bill

   I have to say I am shocked at the difference in engine hp and motor hp. And how much power a electric motor requires to develop its power. I'm kicking myself for not buying big pto generator I saw at a auction two years ago. I remember thinking I would never need that much power and it would be silly to put hrs on a tractor just to make power.

Billy

7
Listeroid Engines / Re: 14hp Power Soultions low on power?
« on: November 15, 2011, 08:31:07 PM »
Thanks Dieselgman

    Yes it is a single phase motor. As for the air compressor it was a campbell hausfield I got a TSC that had "claimed" 6.5hp 10 years ago.  That was back when the big stink came out that manufactures were advertising theoretical hp ratings not the real hp. And what ever brief start up surge load must have been handled out of the stored mechanical energy in the flywheels.

Thanks Bill

    I had no idea that it required that kind of start up load. And considering the cutter head weighs at least 10lbs and spins up to 5000rpm it has a long start up time too. I know the dust collector pulls 4.5 amps at 230v. I don't have the running amps on the 3hp but everything I looked up was 13.5 to 18 amps and I was figuring 15. But obviously its pulling more than that under load.

    Well at least I know now its not just a matter of tuning up the lister and I'll bring it back home and use it as a back up generator as it works just fine for that. But it also appears my direct drive 20hp chingfa is not going to work either so I don't know what I am going to power the planner with unless I rig up a pto drive off of a tractor.

Billy

8
Listeroid Engines / 14hp Power Soultions low on power?
« on: November 15, 2011, 03:52:53 PM »
   I have a 14-1 power solutions listeroid with a ST-12 generator. I got it in 2006 and only have about 20 hrs on it. When I lost power at home it had no problem running the whole house, window air conditioner and  6.5 hp 60 gal campbell housfield  air compressor.

   But I took it to the farm to run a 15" planner 3 hp and a dust collector 1hp. And it just cannot maintain voltage. I start the planner and the engine luges right down Dropping from 240 volts to 210. And while it was planing cedar it was lugging down to 220v. And when I put in a 7" wide spruce board in the planner Dropping from 1000 rpm to around 700 until I could hit the stop switch. While it was smoking a little it was not rolling black smoke out the exhaust.

   If I figured it right 14hp is 9800 watt so I figured real world out put should be 8000 to 9000 watts 0r 35 to 40 amps 220. But it did not trip the 20 amp breaker on the pannel. I don't think I am expecting too much by running 4hp of electric motors off a 14 hp engine. Or does a 14hp single cylinder just not have enough power strokes a minute to keep up.

   This engine is entirely stock other than replacing the fuel lines which decomposed and I replaced. I don't know if the injector timing may be off, bad spring on the govener, Injector rack not opening enough or something else entirely.

   I really hope this engine is enough to do the job and you all can help me get it up to snuff. While I do have a 20hp changfa I can put on it I would much rather keep the lister and have it do what I need it to.

Sorry about the blurry picture all I had was a cheep cell phone camera.



But I am glad it was able to get my cedar planned and I was able to get my new front porch built on my bunkhouse.



Billy


   

9
Listeroid Engines / Re: Freeze Protection ?
« on: November 30, 2010, 05:29:43 PM »
I don't know how many gallons of coolant you use. But on our chingfa powered generator before we changed to a radiator system. We just drained it in the winter and when we need to run it we would fill it with warm water. And that would help get it started when the temp's were in the low teen's.

Billy

10
Changfa Engines / Re: Another changfa generator setup
« on: September 23, 2010, 01:57:42 PM »
Thanks VeggieFuel

Billy

11
Changfa Engines / Another changfa generator setup
« on: September 22, 2010, 09:09:21 PM »
Its funny how all these generators start looking alike after a while. Here's the one we have running at out off grid farm. 1195 changfa driving a ST12 generator head. Since we didn't need all the power it will put out we belted it down to just under 1000 rpm. Turning that slow the governor doesn't work much if at all. But since its main job is charging the forklift battery and the load is pretty much constant we just set the engine speed by the volt meter.



When we set it up we ran the generator all the time when we needed power. But 1.5 years ago we got a 5000 watt power inverter and a small forklift battery. We run off the battery and charge it up every 3-4 days. It take about 5 hrs to charge back up and 2 to 2.5 gallons of diesel.



There are two small solar panels on it but that just takes care of battery losses and doesn't add much to my net power.

Billy

12
Listeroid Engines / Re: In search of a Listeroid to gain experience with near Houghton, Michigan
« on: June 16, 2010, 10:47:00 PM »
Hi Bob

If you are talking to me. Yes the engine is running at 980 rpm for 1800 rpm on the generator. Its a 14-1 and is supposed to run at 1000 rpm. I don't think loosing 20 rpm will hurt anything I was thinking of slowing it down to run 800 rpm but changed my mind at the last minute.

Billy

13
Lister Based Generators / Re: An Indians Listeroid Project -Yellerator
« on: May 21, 2010, 10:48:33 PM »
Quote
Well ,
 No One Makes Lister Slow Speed Type Listeriods Near Me ,but in a Town in Gujrat Many Make then ,So i Was Asking Also We Do Mave People Making Alternators But They Are all 1500 RPM Rated ,I Wonder if i Could Get a Slow Speed RPM Alternator For Lister

The 1500 rpm generator will be ok. All you need to do is have the correct size pulleys on the engine and generator and belt drive it. You will need a bigger pulley on the engine than the generator. On one of our generator systems we are running a 24v truck alternator that charges a 24v forklift battery. And use a 5000 watt powerinverter that pulls opperates off the battery like a UPS. That way I can run off the battery for 2-3 day and charge it back up with the generator. Or if I have a high power use I run the generator while I have that demand.

Billy

14
Listeroid Engines / Re: In search of a Listeroid to gain experience with near Houghton, Michigan
« on: March 30, 2010, 01:37:04 PM »
Hi Charles

  I do not have a lot of experience with them. I got as far as pulling off the big crankcase cover and cleaning out the sand. Bled the injector and ran mine some. But that is all. I have no knowledge of how to rebuild one. But if you just want to start and run one I can do that. I have a 14-1 with a 12kv generator head. My brother has a 6-1 that we want to put a alternator on this year and take to our off grid property in the UP. But I do not know if that is going to happen as I have a lot of projects I need to get done first.

I live in Britton MI. 10 miles west of Cabelas exit 17 on US 23. I am laid off right now and am looking for a job. I run heavy equ and once I get to work I am usually very busy. And I spend a lot of time at our place in the UP.


This is my lister





cowboybillymi@yahoo.com  You can email me here. Make sure you put lister in the title otherwise I don't open mail that I do not know.

Billy

15
Straight Vegetable Oil / Re: New to the group,, saying hello~!`
« on: December 15, 2009, 04:41:26 PM »
Quote from: sodbust on March 11, 2007, 02:04:33 PM
Robert.

Up to about 10 years ago,, we got a  80%gasoline/20%#1 diesel blend ,, which the fuel sales called "Power Fuel"  It ran great in lower compression  tractor engines with allot of intake heat.  With a mid 1960s car engine, with 8.5 to 1 compression,, one would have to retard the timing 3 to 5 degrees to control the ping.. The fuel supplier sold it $0.10 to $0.20 a gallon cheaper than regular gas.

I must have been raised in an area where anything goes?

Daniel

Howdy Daniel

In the late 70's dad used to mix up to 25% diesel in his gas car because it was so much cheaper than gas at the time.  This is the first time I have heard of anyone other than us doing it. In the summer I run a quart of diesel to a tank in my 93 ford festiva and get better power and about a 5mpg increase. Taking me from 40mpg to 45mpg. My brother is doing the same in his ford Aspire and getting close to 50mpg. My youngest brother runs it in flex fuel doge caravan and gets a 4mpg increase but he has to be careful as the fuel density meter in the tank tends to lean it out. We also tried it in my dad's 2002 V6 F150 but had no change in power or mileage.

I also want to thank you for all the good info on your site! I am running a 20hp chingfa generator and gummed up the rings or valves and lost compression. Running WVO with diesel secret my dad bought from a guy at work. I got it running and ran seafoam in the #2 fuel and engine oil and got my compression back. I am going to get the hydrometer you suggested and try mixing it with RUG as you said. I was thinking the guy that sold it did not clean it enough or did something wrong.

I am now starting to look into building a fuel centrifuge. But I do not know anything about them yet much less what is out there and what would work best for 300 gal or so a year. But if some of my projects start to pan out my usage may goto 1500-2000 a year. I have one brother that is a master fabricator and runs a lazer pattern burner and the other does tool and die work. While i am a dirt worker and generally do finish dozer work.

We also have a 6 ton seed press. But our farming skills need lots of work. We planted 15 acers of sunflowers two years ago but the deer got them all. And this year we tried soybeans. But we did not test the soil and I think it was too acidic and they came up a light pale green and did not grow well.

Billy


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