Changfa YX180 to drive a 280 amp 12VDC alternator.

[rcavictim]

  Any reason why the brake drum can't be flipped over and bolted onto the flywheel eliminating the need for any spacers?
   

That was my suggestion in post on page two of this thread.  I spoke of cutting relief holes in the drum flat side to clear and make use of the three centering tabs protruding from he china diesel flywheel where the pulley bolts on.

[okiezeke]

Both good ideas,
I'll check them out to see how they would work.  Thanks again.  This is as good as having my own engineering department.
Thanks, Zeke

[okiezeke]

Looked at both ideas

Flipping the drum over and bolting directly to the fly wheel wont work since the drum is not deep enough for the belt to clear the flywheel.

Flipping the drum over and bolting to the orig v-belt pully would work, except that I would have to redrill the holes in the drum.  The holes are not exactly spaced, so when the drum is flipped they dont line up.  I think I have enough holes in the drum now, but if I ever replace the drum, this would be a good way to mount it.

What I'm trying is using a 4" disc of steel plate, 1  1/8" thick, for the spacer.  I think this will be plenty strong to withstand any possible stress on the system.  Since I drilled all my holes by hand, the drum may not be perfectly centered on the flywheel.  The machinist who cut my pully grooves measured how well centered the drum is on the v-belt pully, and I was only .030" off center.  I hope there's enough stretch in a serpentine belt to accept this much off center.  If not, I'll get an idler gear to dampen out the slack.

Next step is to install air cleaner, muffler, battery, regulator, and start it up and see how it performs.
Zeke

[okiezeke]

Got half a day's work in today.  Welded the alternator mount, built a safety shield, installed the air breather and muffler.  Decided to as least try the breather and muffler that came with it.  Dont have much hope they'll be adequate, but worth a try.

[okiezeke]

filled the yx180 with oil, water, and diesel,  hooked up a battery and turned the key,  fired up on the first compression stroke.  Does run rougher than the 1115.  The whole rig was vibrating and moving around until I put a big piece of firewood on the frame.  Ran fine from 800-2600 rpm.  The brake drum had no visible eccentricity, so should be fine driving the belt.  I tried the old "2by4 against the flywheel" to put some load on it and didnt take much pressure to get black smoke and drop the rpm.  Of course, it's only 8 hp.  Stock muffler and air intake were pretty loud with most of the noise from the exhaust.  May try to find a slightly larger muffler, but wont go too big due to the vibration factor.  Next step is to find out if a 280A alternator is as much load as a 2by4.

Zeke

[mobile_bob]

hey Zeke:

ever get the thing running yet?
am interested in your preliminary test results spinning that alternator,
would like to know how many amps output the engine can produce as you have it setup.

bob g

[okiezeke]

Bob,
I have all the pieces for the genset to run.  What I dont have is an appropriate load to test the alternator output.  The Balmar regulator monitors battery voltage and adjusts alt output to suit.  What I need to test this thing is a huge battery bank that could absorb 280A.  Havent bought mine yet, as this will be a 3500 dollar investment and I dont want it sitting around growing lead sulfate crystals between now and when I really need it.

Ideas???
Zeke

[mobile_bob]

yes

hook it up to a car battery you have laying around so it has something to work against
put an amp meter between the alternator and battery

then apply a load to the battery as you are running,, it can be made up of headlights, an inverter driving an ac load or anything

forget even getting anywhere near 280amps

figure on a load of maybe 150amps to start with

a 12volt inverter rated at 1500 amps with a 12-13  amp ac load will load the dc side down enough to get some idea where you
are at.

bob g

[twombo]

Zeke/Bob

My little Kubota eb300 tied to a Prestolite 2500 JB (160 amp) is controlled with a ARS-4 Balmar and will show 120 amps of charge at 12 volts, to my 840 AH bank when it is first lit off. This at 80% charge and in small engine mode on the Balmar. As soon as the voltage reaches about 14.2 or so, the charge rate starts going down pretty steadily.

I'm in "Float" at full charge in about 2 hours with about 6 amps total charging.

My guess is your changfa will give similar performance.

It's a great set up. Started with 7 gallons of fuel 3 and a half months ago and still have fuel left.

Have Fun!

Mike

[okiezeke]

Sounds doable.  Ihave a fairly new battery in my boat I could use.  Only have an 800W inverter, but could rig some dc load also. My work week starts fri., and I have honey doos tomarrow, so may be mon or tues before I can get it all set up.
Zeke

[okiezeke]

Finally got it all set up.  Fed the alt output thru 2  6v golf cart batteries.  Hooked up the Balmar max charge regulator and started the changfa,...... and no output.

Re checked all wiring.  Seemed to be right.  The folks who built the alternator for me said the field was not polarity sensitive.  So, of course this was my main suspect.  I switched the field wires from the regulator, and it worked perfectly.

I attached a 2kw inverter to the batteries and plugged in two 1.5kw space heaters.  No change in engine rpm.  Both heaters putting out lots of heat.  Pretty good 2kw inverter, it carried 3kw without complaint.  (it was about 15 degrees outside, so cooling was not a problem)  The only change I found was the alternator got too hot to keep my hand on, in about 5 min.

Next the ultimate torture test.  I full fielded the alternator.  Voltage went up to 19v, black smoke from the changfa, and rpm dropped toward zero.

So my max output is somewhere between 3kw and  around 5kw(19v times 280A)  Wont know exactly until I find some large DC load to add.  Since 3kw didnt cause any rmp drop, I'm hopeful I can get the theoretical 8hp=4kw.  May need to address alternator cooling in warmer weather.  The balmar regulator monitors alt temp, and reduces output if too hot.

Zeke

[rmchambers]

Hmmm wrap some copper tubing round it and pump a liquid through it and instant extra cogen heat!!!

Does the Balmar have it's own fan?  is there room on the spindle to add another larger fan to move more air over the alternator?

Heat is never a good thing on stuff like alternators.

Sounds like a beast of a test though!

RC

[mobile_bob]

Zeke:

good to hear you got it up and running

some observations if i may, and a few suggestions

1. the yx180 is rated at 8 hp, i suppose this is a continous rating?
so 8 hp at ~750watt/hp = 6 kwatt output

2. no alternator (automotive) is going to be much over 50% efficient, especially figureing in drive losses
which in your case are significant,, so lets just figure 50%

3. so we got maybe 3 kwatt electrical if all is perfect

4. 3 kwatt at a charging rate of ~13.8 or so is about 220amps or so, but

5. your alternator is not going to run for long at this level before the balmar senses the overheat and defaults to half power
so now you will be charging at maybe 110amps max,, again in a perfect world

so:

i would suggest going into the programming of the balmar, and reset the output or reduce the output to no more than 125amps at
bulk/absorption voltage,, this might be somewhere around 60% capacity setting.
then i would run it at this level and see if the temp rise on the alternator stays below the default temp sense setting of the balmar
if it does then maybe reprogram and set it up another 10amps or so, and retest,
if it does not, you will have little choice but to reprogram and reduce the alternator output

if you persist in trying to get the 280amps output on anything like a continous basis it will go up in flames if it weren't for the balmar
and its ability to protect you from yourself.

i know you want to believe in this specially prepared ford alternator, but i have to tell you it is not reality to expect anywhere near 280amps
as configured,, it just is not going to happen save for a very short duty cycle,, maybe 5%
there are precious few alternators that can deliver anything like 250amps continous for deep cycle battery charging and they all cost a couple grand.

i write this so that you might protect your investment and get good use out of it, i would hate to hear that the alternator went up in smoke
or the balmar was damaged in an effort to get an output that is unreasonable for what it will do.

you need to think of this engine/charger as a tractor not a dragster.

respectfully
bob g

[okiezeke]

Bob,
I suspect you're right.  Will look into a bigger fan.  If I can get 150 A or so, the machine will do its job fine.  Did notice the inverter was running about 105V.  Mabe need bigger cables from the battery.  Have some #2 lying around, will try it with lugs on both ends.  The jumper cables were #4.
Zeke

[twombo]

Another consideration, is life cycle care of your batteries.  Minimizing your deep discharges of the battery bank is, ideally, the way to go. As I posted above, I go no lower than 20% Depth of Discharge on my bank. Even so, I only have to finish charge charge about every 4 to 5 days, even this time of year with the limited solar collection I get.  I NEVER go longer than 4 days without a finish charge and I equalize each month on the 1st. My daily recovery this time of year, if I get 1 hour of sun, is to about 95% charge.

By limiting your Depth of Discharge you prolong the the life of your batteries immensely AND reduce the the amount of work your charger has to do.  Even though you CAN put out 280 amps, it is neither necessary, nor advisable. 

I actually start the charging cycle at 2350 RPM but by the time i get an absorbtion indication, I can start rolling the rpms back and by the the end of the cycle iIcan be turning 1800 RPM which is in a very fuel efficient  range.

I suspect that you will be very happy with your little charger,  I'm tickled pink with mine!

Mike