I'm selling my last Lister clone Multi-fuel, multi-speed, fully automated CHP on ebay.
It's in the UK with sale number 251018370944

    Mark

That's interesting testing.

Can you tell us more about the temperatures in and around the engine while you were using this fuel.
Did you add any additional heating?
Did you start from cold on this fuel?
How is your cooling system configured?
What are your climate conditions?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm just trying to work out if this fuel is usable, if used slightly differently.

Mark

Carl,

It would be great if you could post a picture or too.
We're all still patiently waiting.

Mark

For that price you can by two units plus spare parts strip total rebuild paint and still have money.

Peter,

That is very easy to say, and completely wrong.
Even if you were talking about vanilla Lister Gensets, your statement would not be true.

But these machines are not vanilla Indian Lister Gensets. There is a significant amount of bespoke engineering gone into them, and all that costs money.
Here are a few of the differences between these gensets and the vanilla Indian Lister Genset:-

1) No Listeroid manufacturer offers a multi-speed engine. None of them will offer a warranty on one engine being capable of runnng happily, safely and efficiently at both 400rpm and 1000rpm (and several speeds inbetween).
2) No Listeroid manufacturer provides a mechanism to set the throttle at these different speeds, other than supply you with different governor springs. Lovson were however, willing to develop a mechanism.
3) No Listeroid manufacturer provides a solenoid mechanism for automating the fuel shut-off.
4) Without the automated mechanism for stopping the engine, no other manufacturer offers Listeroid Gensets with comprehensive control panels.
5) No Listeroid manufacturer guarantees their engines are free from casting sand. Under the contract for the manufacture of these gensets, Vidhata starts with cast parts that are free from paint, filler, and then they proceed to steam clean them before assembly and painting. I have photos of each stage of manufacture proving that there is nowhere for the sand to hide.
6) No manufacturer makes any measurement or adjustments of the injector trigger pressure, and most don't even accurately set the fuel timing and valve clearances - something that has to be done to ensure these engines can cope with the different speeds.
7) The crankshaft and flywheels are dynamically balanced - to help with high speed running.
8 ) Top quality components have been used throughout, including highly durable water pumps and radiators.
9) The alternators are also very good quality. They are part permanet magnet to ensure that the alternator will always self excite. They also have a good overload capacity. They are far superior to Chinese ST types.
10) There are many little extras like sump magnets and a cartridge type oil bypass filter.
11) These gensets are sold as multi-fuel machines. The price includes all the extra components required to run the engine reliably and efficiently on vegoil, including:- a replacement COV plug machined and fitted with an automotive diesel glowplug, two PTC (self regulating) heaters on the high pressure fuel line, one band heater for the fuel filter, and a coolant/fuel flat plate heat exchanger. The control of the heaters is integrated into the control panel.
12) It has an upgraded exhaust muffler.
13) You get a Volvox Engineering 2 year (5000 hour) warranty.

I may have missed out some features, and I may be a little out of date on what some manufaturers are offering, but my point is simple. You do get plenty for your money. Perhaps I should have just attached a brochure.

Hope this helps,

Mark

Some explanations needed here.

Firstly, the cooling system.
As mentioned i my previous post, the best way (IMO) to cool this engine is using the thermosyphon method. The thermosyphon effect is self-regulating; ie. the hotter the engine gets the higher the coolant water flow rate goes (up to a limit defined by the width of the pipes and channels through the cylinder head and radiator). The thermosyphon effect even negates the need for the thermostat. When the engine is cold (which is when the thermostat does its job and stops the flow), there is no thermosypon flow.

A little more info about the machine before describing the pump pulley system.
These generators are multi-speed machines. When I say this, I do not mean that the running speed varies. I mean it can be set at different speeds. The speed settings are 1000, 850, 650, and 400rpm, and the generator comes with a set of pulleys to allow the alternator speed to be 1500rpm whilst running at any of the above engine speeds. The idea here is that you can setup our generator to meet your needs, which will vary over the seasons. In summer you may only need 1kW from your genset, but you have the ability to get much more from it when you need it - in winter.
There are several advantages of running your engine slow when you need less power:-
1) The wear on the engine is reduced and your service interval increases.
2) It produces less noise.
3) The pumped cooling system works appropriately for the engine speed - you won't over cool your system.

If you live in a cool climate (e.g. the UK) and you don't usually run it above 850rpm, then it is recommended that you do not use the coolant pump - just rely on the thermosyphon. However, if you live in hotter climates and want to run the genset at full-power, then you should use the pump, and you have a selection of pulleys to get the engne temperature exact - but the choice is yours. If you don't use the pump, then you don't need a thermostat. Also, these engines are not started and stopped as frequently as automobiles, so we thought a thermostat would not add much value.

The starting and stopping.
Both stopping and starting is done by the control panel. Stopping is achieved by the use of a solenoid that closes the rack. This allows the control panel to monitor coolant temperature and lubrication oil level. It also means the genset can be started and stopped by a timer or an inverter.

Mark

When the generators (and engines, for that matter) are shipped, the air cleaner and exhaust are packaged separately.
When making the video, they thought it unnecessary to put the air cleaner on - though I would have thought it would have reduced the noise even further.

If anyone wants to know more about these machines, please ask. They are built to my (well, Volvox) specification, though anyone outside Europe can buy them direct from the manufacturer.

Mark

I'm interested in learning more about this engine.
If you can scan it and email it to me, I will get it translated, and email the translation back.

It would also be interested to know which original engine it is a copy of - presuming that is the case.

    Mark

Can anyone tell me how the crankcase breathing works on these engines.

Does it just vent into the surrounding atmosphere? I can't see anywhere it could be directed into the air intake.

Is there a reed valve or something that maintains negative pressure?
Would the bearings leak oil without this negatve pressure?

Mark