The machine shop guys at the college where I work are looking for a machining project for this coming semester.  They want to try something other than the 2-strokers they've normally built.  I've been more and more interested in the old Petter M series 1 1/2 hp engines since I'd like a very small diesel with flywheels. 

Does anyone know of where I can get schematics of those old Petters? 

Kelly

Finally, after a year of dicking around trying to get parts ordered, made, welded my Listeroid 6/1 ST-3 gen set went into operation today.  After numerous fuel problems (due to the hoses being made of some sort of cheese), the engine is firing up with no trouble.  I'm running a serpentine belt to the gen head ala an Utterpower pulley. 

Now, the problem is after about two minutes of run time with a1.8kW load, the governor seems to slip, decreasing speed and the error light on my power panel comes on.  I really don't know how fast the engine is spinning since I don't have a tach.  I also don't know how to measure the hz. 

Anyone have any suggestions for keeping the rpm of the engine constant at 650 so that my gen spits out 60hz?  BTW, my inverter can only handle 20amps.

Kelly

I've got my new Mecc Alte 3kW generator head wired for 120/240 and it's running fine.  However, the breakers cut off at 12 amps, which means I'm only pulling about 1300 watts.  I've read on the utterpower page that it's possible to pull the full wattage out of a head by tinkering iwth the wiring. 

Right now, the two black wires (positive) run to the two 12amp breakers.  The white wires (negative) and wired together.  George at utterpower says that by joining together one black and one white and then the  other balck and white, full output can be achieved.  Here's the link to that page:  http://www.utterpower.com/genhead.htm

Has anyone tried this?  If so, what is now negative and what is positive?  Seems to me, it wouldn't matter which was which.  It would be nice to be able to draw the full wattage of the generator.  I only use it to top up the charge on the batteries after a few cloudy days or when the batteries need to be equalized.

Kelly

Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of getting my Listeroid 6/1 running a 5kW ST generator put together.  At the moment, I'm getting the base in order, but am wondering about cooling.  I've heard of a number of different ways to cool the Lister and would like some input from forum members about what works and what doesn't.  From what I can tell, there are basically three methods of cooling.  Which works best?

1 - 55 gallon drum using thermosyphon cooling.  This is easy enough to do and, from what I understand, the evaporative cooling works the best as the Lister was originally designed to work on this method.  My problem is that I live in SW Colorado where the humidity level in the summer rarely gets above 20% so I would have to keep adding water to the drum.  Also, the engine is in an unheated shed and the temps in the winter drop down well below freezing.  I don't want to crack the engine when the coolant water freezes.

2 - radiator and fan.  I've seen both pump-driven and thermosiphon versions of this.  The advantage I see is that it is a more compact design and allows the use of antifreeze.  But I've heard that the Listers don't like pressurized systems.

3 - water heater tank.  I've got some old water heaters (both gas and electric from 20 gallons to 40 gallons) that I can use.  Essentially, from what I've gathered, using the water heater and thermosiphon makes this very much like the 55 gallon drum except that it's a closed system, making it possible to use the anti-freeze.  However, I've heard that it doesn't well enough.

So, what are the experiences of folks on the forum?  My plan right now is to use a 20 gallon gas water tank (which means there's a channel on the inside) and thermosiphon cooling with anti-freeze. 

Kelly

SO I broke down and bought the plate and American rectifier from George at Utterpower.  The doghouse is off, everything is ready to go, but the rectifier doesn't have a lot of writing on it.  On one side is + and AC.  That's it.  I know enough to know that the wires from the windings go to AC, but where is AC?

The problem is that the rectifier (same is true with the chinese one) isn't labeled so that electrical boneheads like me can put them together.  I've checked for images showing which connector on the rectifier is for what, but get nothing. 

Help

Kelly

Hello all,

I'm slowly getting my JD R180 back up.  On problem I have is that the key mechanism broke, which I replaced with a push-button start.  What I would really like is to hook the starting mechanisms into an autostart which would then run off of my inverter (Outback).  I've checked into add-on engine controls and the cheapest I've found is over $200.  Does anyone have any experience building an autostart/autoshutdown control unit from scratch?  Does anyone know where i could find schematics for something like this?

Thanks,
Kelly

Hello everyone,

I've got a 7.7hp Changfa clone with the hopper cooling.  I've got a plate over the hopper that goes to a barrel a la thermosiphon.  It works fine. 

However, want I want to do is run the water via copper tubing to a bulk water storage tank.  The problem here is that there will be no more thermosiphon as the tank is about the same level as the engine and there will be ups and downs all through the system.  My engine didn't come with the waterpump as the Changfa 195s do.  Does anyone have any experience adding a water pump to the system? 

Second problem is that in the mornings the temperature is about 50 degrees now.  In the day, it gets to 90 or 95.  Starting the engine in the evening is no problem, but in the mornings, it just won't start.  What would people suggest?  A engine block heater? An injector line heater?

Thanks in advance,
Kelly