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Messages - BruceM

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 196
1
General Discussion / Re: 4 days in ICU
« on: November 28, 2022, 10:30:30 PM »
Alas, the long term data on the very profitable stent procedure isn't good. 

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2019/11/invasive-heart-treatments-not-always-needed.html#:~:text=often%20needless%20Story-,Stents%2C%20bypass%20surgery%20show%20no%20benefit%20in%20heart,mortality%20rates%20among%20stable%20patients&text=A%20large%2C%20international%20study%20led,disease%20that%27s%20severe%20but%20stable.

Medicine has a long way to go.

2
Other Slow Speed Diesels / Re: Bamfords shop work
« on: November 24, 2022, 07:09:35 PM »
What a beauty.   Great that she's going to be a working engine again!

3
General Discussion / Re: Next! 16/2 Lister
« on: November 17, 2022, 03:30:44 PM »
Is that a gap line showing between liner and cylinder or just shadow from liner not flat and flush? 

Can you use Rajkot parts for a replacement cylinder?

Glad you got a bonus on the valve seats!

4
General Discussion / Re: Next! 16/2 Lister
« on: November 17, 2022, 01:23:03 AM »
I look forward to your assessment as the project progresses. 


5
General Discussion / Re: Next! 16/2 Lister
« on: November 17, 2022, 12:45:07 AM »
The 0.010 inches larger at the bottom cylinder bore has me scratching my head.  Perhaps a novice changed a dull cutter and forgot to adjust for it??? 






6
Other Slow Speed Diesels / Re: Bamfords shop work
« on: November 11, 2022, 04:41:24 PM »
I'd forgotten the Bamford is direct injection.  Nice photos, she is a beauty. 

7
Listeroid Engines / Re: Anyone done update to change old Start-O-Matic to a bit modern system
« on: November 08, 2022, 04:57:32 AM »
Hi Kari,
I replicated the SOM features but only for remote start/stop and automated monitoring.
 
My setup is a bit odd in that running an air compressor is my primary function, generator secondary.  Because I had air and a large receiver tank I use an air starter (Gast 4AM) with rubber drive wheel, air cylinder for engagement pressure, and air cylinders for rack closer and exhaust valve lifter.  Air has it's advantages and the economy of cheap cylinder actuators operated by small inexpensive 12V solenoid valves and 1/4 drip tubes.  It does also have a downside- the air motor consumes a lot of air, and pilot valves, check valves and compressor unloader valves all so leak some.   

I also added oil level sensing and a vibration sensor, plus generator load sensing and compressor idle sensing.  So it can shut itself off after 10 minutes of no load, unless I have the remote no load override switch turned on. 

Its controlled at both Listeroid and remote control ends by a Picaxe 40X chips programmed in Pixaxe Basic.  It uses a CAT5 cable for the remote control.  I can share code and schematics with forum members up to the task.  There are no PCBs, its all hand wired on perf boards.  If I was starting over today I'd seriously consider a redesign for the Arduino, which I have used since for a couple projects.  Mostly you need a lot of logic level gate, low side mosfets to control your actuators.

The simplistic DC bias on the AC line of the SOM is less ideal for today's lighting and other electronic loads, but I expect with some modern IC circuit redesign, the same concept could be used. I had no need for auto start,  remote start with auto shut down control was fine for me. 

Hey Thomas,
Regarding generator power quality and electronics;  most electronics are now switch mode power supply driven, with the first stage of it being a bridge rectifier to bulk capacitor.  They are mostly immune to problems like waveform issues and harmonics that are typical for gensets.  In fact, i operate my computer gear entirely on 120VDC, with standard 120VAC switching power supplies.  In a case of severe EMI on the generator power you might need to add a simple common mode choke filter.  In my case I found that 0.1 uF snubber capactors on each diode of the excitation bridge was highly effective in supressing most of the conducted AC power EMI, so I did not need to add a passive filter.

A commercial inverter will often have worse conducted high frequency interference (EMI ) than your generator.

Best Wishes,
Bruce



8
Other Slow Speed Diesels / Re: Bamfords shop work
« on: November 06, 2022, 05:43:51 PM »
+1,  Fantastic work to fully restore what most would consider scrap.   I didn't realize such serious head defects could be restored, and the amount of highly skilled custom work here is awe inspiring.  Bravo, Butch.

Thanks for taking the time to give us a peek into your busy shop!
Bruce

9
General Discussion / Re: Welding from a Listeroid/ST generator rig
« on: October 19, 2022, 04:36:34 PM »
Yes, Mauro, that is correct for 38AC's balancing method which I highly recommend as a time saver, and getting the smoothest possible running engine.  The two flyweels first have the counterbalance center of mass corrected to the proper location relative to the key, and then have matching counterweight values by adding weights centered on the proper counterbalance location.  Fine tuning is then done easily by adding weights at or opposite both counterweight locations. 2 ounce increments seem to work for me. Too little counterweight produces floor shaking, up and down movement.  Too much causes fore and aft movement of the cylinder head.  One you start to see just a little bit of fore/aft movement, you are in the sweet spot for a smooth running CS.  You should be able to sit a cup of water on the cylinder heat cover and have only a little rippling of water.  The feel of your feet and eyes on the water and cylinder head movement will be your guide. 

Best Wishes,
Bruce

10
Everything else / Re: Easy PV water heating
« on: October 01, 2022, 08:05:20 PM »
Hey Steff,
Good choice on the MPPT charge controller you picked.

The AC solid state relays (SSR) often need 3 volts to trigger.  Some may trigger at 1.5V.  So 16-3= 13V zener,  16-1.5= 14.5V for a lower SSR trigger.  You can add zeners and even forward diodes (roughly 0.3 V each for such a small current) to get the safety trigger point you want. The beauty of this battery over-voltage protection method is the latching of the AC SSR when used for DC, and their cheap prices.  I would test by adding alkaline battery cells or similar in series to the +12V batter terminal, and running that to the zener-SSR.  Or an adjustable bench supply.  Many ways to do it with what you've got on hand.  If you get false triggering from spikes on the 12V, you can add 100 ohm resistor then roughly 1uF capacitor across the 12V to smooth out those glitches.  This will not cause ANY drain of the battery normally, and only a about 4 ma of current when its triggered and shorting the PV to save your batteries.
 

Best Wishes,
Bruce


11
Everything else / Re: Easy PV water heating
« on: September 30, 2022, 06:14:04 PM »
Hey Stef,
Glad you got good service from your direct PV to heating element setup. Bravo!
I see there are some Chinesium MPPT charge controllers that will do up to 100A at 12V, with 200 max open PV string,  which is a good match for your setup.  I would not go less than 200V max rated so you some headroom for spikes and such.  Your 4 panels in series open circuit voltage will likely be as high as 4 x 44V or 176V.

So the two figures to look for are the rated current for 12V nominal battery, and the max PV voltage.

Most of the ones that match your needs seem to be out of stock. 
Chinesium is a bargain price but the likelyhood of failure is significantly higher.  This is a concern for this type of controller as when it fails, cheap or expensive,  it is likely that it will then apply the full PV voltage to your battery. This has caused the destruction of very expensive lithium battery banks, as the over voltage safety protection can't handle that high of a voltage so fail closed also. This cascade of failures then destroys the entire battery bank.  There has been much discussion of this issue and there are lots of ways to add some safety hardware.   One way is to use a cheap 20A or better rated solid state 230VAC relay to short the PV panels if the regulated output goes above your equalization voltage.  A 12V, 1/8 or better Watt zener diode to the SSR control will do that.  Once its triggered, the relay will not turn off unless you open the PV breaker.

I'm not up on the high end charge controllers.  Midnight solar does have a model that is rated for 200V PV. $650 US
https://www.thesolarbiz.com/midnite-solar-classic-200-charge-controller.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwp9qZBhBkEiwAsYFsb557Er92paX7G92NCg8ApiMg-kZTMpCHzpbCiCwv6jPxHiBZNSQdhxoCAa4QAvD_BwE

Makes me think more fondly of the Chinesium units with an added safety SSR and zener.

12
Listeroid Engines / Re: Big end wear or damage
« on: September 10, 2022, 08:26:50 PM »
I think that is the most beautiful use of the 2 cylinder CS.  Lovely boat, great sound!  Thanks for the video.
Bruce

13
Everything else / Re: DIY water chiller - reading suggestions?
« on: September 08, 2022, 04:36:42 PM »
Thanks!






14
Everything else / Re: DIY water chiller
« on: September 07, 2022, 11:06:00 PM »
An update:
I built an insulated tower for air intake at 6 foot for cooler air (10F hotter than ambient here near the groundin still air from sun heating of the earth), and an evaporative pre-cooler.  The precooler is just a single aspen pad, with a standard 230VAC evap cooler pump (70W).  I upgraded to a new (surplus on ebay) Panasonic 1350W compressor after finding that the used LG compressor had starting problems, and lousy performance at higher current draw. 

I added an Arduino nano, power monitor via I2C, 6 Dallas one wire temperature sensors, and a 4x20 character LCD display, and a stepper motor driver board for a Chinese EEV.  I also got a larger brazed plate heat exchanger, and increased my water flow rate from 2 GPM to 3.2GPM with a Lang D5 12V pump.

It now cranks out 15-17K BTU (10 degrees of cooling at 3.2GPM) on 1400W to total power (320 of those watts for fan and water pump), the compressor is loafing and runs at only 115F on the top of its case. 

The one area that needs work still is that even going to a larger EEV I have found that my filter dryer seems to be restricting flow enough that there is no change from opening beyond half way.  That's an easy fix problem but today I just wanted to take advantage of the heat and give it a long shake down run.

As I write I am now (ever so slowly) cooling my house while its about 95F outside, on my solar PV/inverter system.  Its been a very educational project.

Evaporative pre-cooling makes for a near doubling of performance at the same power level on hot days in the high desert.

PS-  The line of temperatures on the display are:  Incoming air, cooled air,  HP refrigerant line,  Suction refrigerant line, Water into BPHE,  Water out of BPHE.  The dT and KB (K Btus) are full accuracy.  EEV position is 300.  Ill try to find and add one more photo.  The difference between the displayed watts and volts times amps is due to power factor.  An inverter must provide the full VA, not just the "real" watts so I should change my display to that.

PPS- The Control box with Arduino Nano is squeezed in next to my propane (backup) water heater.  I used all standard drivers for the power and temperature monitoring. The Dallas One wire software is very slow, about 1.5 seconds for updating all 6 sensors plus a bit of floating point math for that and the power monitor board but that's OK.  Right now I have manual switches as inputs to the Arduino for controlling the EEV and power relays. By next summer, it will be automated.  Te perf board left of the Arduino is just a 5V linear regulator and an analog circuit that senses water flow rate and shuts down the compressor power immediately if flow rate drops below 2 GPM; that assures no water freezing and the resulting wrecking of the heat exchanger.







15
Generators / Re: Welding off the Lister
« on: August 12, 2022, 03:22:44 PM »
There are some articles written by more technically competent folks on converting an alternator to a welder. 

It seems that the built in diodes are often rated for only 32V, and will fry if used for the welder, which will peak over this voltage both directly and as a result of inductive kickback when the arc is broken.  Thus the need for replacing the diodes either in the existing fan cooled plate design or externally.

The usual application for an alternator type DC welder is for emergency (typically off road)  field welding as the duty cycle can be quite low and the weld quality expectations are equally low.  Clearly, you can't expect to sustain the welding power you need for regular work from an auto alternator but for emergency use it makes sense as the weight and size of adding an extra alternator to the off road vehicle is better than the other options.

You can beat this performance with your existing CS and welder set for low power, I think.  A friend ran his small gasless MIG welder on my Listeroid 6/1 without a problems; he welded  the thin wall steel tubing for my solar racks. 




















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