Yippee, Just got my new Changfa 1115 home!

[Doug]

Big....

[Stan]

You're being uncharacteristically loquacious lately? 
Stan

[Doug]

Yes.....

Your using bigger words I have to look up.

[rcavictim]

I just pulled the starter and crankcase cover to have a look see inside.  Absolutely spotless!  I just came in the house to get my camera.  I want pics of the inside before I put oil in.

I`m going to take my oil spritzer that I keep by the lathe and shoot SAE30 into the ball bearings, cam, etc., inside while the cover is off to help with first manual rotations and pump priming.  As I mentioned I hadn`t turned it over yet.

OK, here are pics of inside.  This baby is spotless.  The brown on the lower counterweight is where my low color temperature tungsten work light was shining on it, it is NOT rust.










Did anyone`s sharp eye notice my engine has a 1115 crank but 1110 counterweights installed?

[draganof]

Another Mighty Changfa lives. Listers, be afraid, be very afraid. Our numbers increase daily and there are many more on the way. We have our industrial strength ear plugs and we know how to use them.

Your going to love this engine.

John

[rcavictim]

After the internal inspection and oiling I replaced the cover and starter motor and put fluids in.  Got the oil system primed, put fuel in and after figuring out that they put the fuel valve lever 90 degrees opposite of convention on the brass fuel ball valve (when the lever is parallel to the line it is closed)    I was able to prime the fuel system. Hooked a battery up and had some intermittent starter troubles that I need to diagnose yet.  Once the thing was spinning I got it to start just as soon as it had fuel to the injector.  It was only 45 F in the shop and the engine was cold so I only ran it at low RPM for a minute or so and shut it down.  A few minutes later I restarted it and ran again for just a minute and shut down.  By this time the air in the closed shop got a bit too toxic for me and I had to leave.  Could not open the large door for the test as there is a brutal storm blowing and it is -20C outside.  I cannot afford to throw away my precious heat either.

Things of note.  The little bit of startup exhaust smoke cleared quickly.  There was not much diesel knock and this large (1200cc) DI engine seemed quite quiet compared to my DI Petter which is the same displacement as the smaller Changfa 195 (~800cc).  The engine seemed remarkably smooth and did not vibrate very much.  I was probably not spinning any faster than 800 RPM or so during this brief test. I gave it basically just enough rack to start but also did not try to run it as slow as it would go once running.

I can tell that I am going to like this engine!   

Must determine the fault with my starter motor next time in the shop

[rcavictim]

In order to break in the rings properly I do not want to run the engine without some load.  I have temporarily lashed my large 20 kW (50 volts at 400 amps) 1800 RPM genset head to the Changfa to provide some adjustable load for the break in run.  I brazed a piece of flex exhaust onto the outlet of the stock silencer to get the bad air out through the door. I propose to install this big DC head as part of the plant I am using this engine in so I can have a powerful diesel powered arc welding machine.  The DC head will also be able to power my homestead through the 48 volt battery plant and inverters down the road.  This is an old school generator and was built to very high standards designed to run cool and last almost forever.  It weighs about 1000 lbs.  Note the massive commutator and three rows of four brushes per row in the brush gear!

[draganof]

Wow, now that is a generator. I would make sure your battery cables are at least 4/0 to handle the amperage draw to spin up that huge rotor. You might as well throw in a 4d or 8d battery while your at it.  Would love to find one like that. Can't wait to see the finished plant.

John

[Doug]

 Would love to find one like that.

Go to the local iron recycler, you would be amazed what you can find.

[rcavictim]

Well I had a successful run for about 2-1/2 hours last night.  The engine ran like a champ.  It is loud once it is working but sounds good, .....authorative at a distance.  The speed governor holds the revs pretty tight over load changes but spent a lot of time hunting slightly during much of my test.

I had a challenge trying to find a suitable 4-5 kW load that would work at 15 volts DC.  My present pulley ratio will not run my generator to nameplate 1800 RPM until the engine reaches almost 3000 RPM.  My engine run was between 1350 and 1700 RPM so the best I could get the genhead was maybe 900 RPM or so.  At such low speed it cannot self excite so it was necessary to put an external DC supply on the field winding and I dialled that in with a variac to control my output power.  This was run off the AC mains.  I was able to push up to 26 volts DC at 5 amps into the field with the particular power supply I borrowed from my lab.  For about an hour I ran ~5kW out, about 500 amps (estimated) at 10 volts (measured) of my generator into three 7 generous 3 inch diameter turn resistors each made from about 6 feet of heavy steel fence wire which was running a dull red.  At 500 amps I was overloading the genset brush gear so once I discovered this I reduced the number of parallel load resistors to two which upped the voltage to 15 volts. With more available voltage the remaining two resistors glowed a nice dull orange color and threw lots of radiant BTU`s.  Overall power stayed about the same but current dropped so things got cooler for my generator.  The beauty of this setup was that merely by dialling the variac up and down I had a variable mechanical load for my engine, like an electric dynamometer!   

At 1550 RPM and 5 kW load the exhaust was absolutely clean.  The exhaust sound outdoors at the pipe was not what I would consider loud at all.  It certainly won`t bother neighbors here. The stock silencer is quite effective, considering it`s size.  It will be changed for a larger, quieter one with lower insertion loss.

My intermittent starter problem has been traced to a faulty keyswitch which works if I hold the key with a sideways bias while turning.  Thankfully that is no big deal at all.

My level of satisfaction so far with my engine purchase? ....110%        Thanx Pat!

[rcavictim]

Need a dummy load resistor of high wattage and low or odd voltage rating?  Make your own out of fence wire! 
There are dangerous toxic effects involved when zinc coatings (galvanizing) on steel are heated and oxidized.  See discussion of this potentially LETHAL danger in the following few threads!

Here are two 6 foot lengths of 1/8 inch high strength steel fence wire as heating element load.  I inserted a measuring shunt before today`s run and now know exactly what my power level is.  Brushgear was running cool at 165 amps and 15.5 volts to this load. The zinc coating drips off the first time it gets hot, splashing on the floor below like molten solder.

Engine running easy at 1400 RPM and consuming ~1 litre per hour.  This is excellent if you figure 400 watt loss in the belt, friction and generator windage for a total of 3 kW load.  I ran this test for exactly two hours.  It took almost an hour for the hopper water to come to a boil.   

Power level here is 2600 watts, or 1300 watts per coil.




EDIT - add toxic zinc oxide warning

[Stan]

DANGER....Do not breathe hot zinc fumes, they will kill you.  Here's how!  The next day you will have a little bit of a cough, then it gets worse.  you think you have a cold.  you don't.  then the chest pains arrive.  you go to the doctor and he/she hears bubbling in your lungs.  They give you antibiotics for pneumonia.   they don't help.  a week later you are dead.  A well documented danger in industry.  Most people have never heard of it.  Dont' even weld on zinc coated metal.

Stan.

[Doug]

And paint.....

All kinds of nastey things in Paint up too and including lead and cyanide so you want to have a clean work piece and know what you are welding and have good air flow....

[mobile_bob]

yup, its called "galvanic" poisoning
and i have seen more than a few cases, none who died, but one that was in the hospital for over a week on straight oxygen
and took a long time to get his lungs back up to par.

one can weld on galvanized pipe but only with precautions, such as forced air exhaust to get the stuff out of the area.

it is not sufficient to weld on it outdoors without a breeze to keep it carried away, the guy that ended up in the hospital was welding out doors on a cool, calm and very humid day. apparently not enough circulation!

its amazing how many people either don't know, or pay no heed to warnings about this stuff.

i know i do!  

btw, the dude that ended up in the hospital was my dad, and i narrowly missed going myself
and he being a certified aircraft welder knew of the perils of welding on galvanized iron, and that is why
he insisted we move the project outdoors to weld it..

outdoors sometimes is not sufficient.
pretty hard on a kid to see his dad being carted off in an ambulance, lucky it was not the ride prior to the hearse!

bob g

[rcavictim]

I am aware of the hazards of breathing the toxic white smoke that comes off oxidizing zinc from the yellow flame during welding and have re-used a fair bit of galvanized steel over the years as a result of being forced to use scrap materials in my projects from being monetarily challenged. I always grind most of the zinc away where the arc weld will be on structural stuff because it is nary impossible to get a clean weld unless one does.  However in the case of welding pipe while the OD has been cleaned off for welding there is often an intense yellow fire on the inside of the weld area in the process and much of this deadly white smoke is still created, although often most cannot escape.  Ventillation and timely holding of one`s breath are helpful.

In my case here with the fence wire the deadly smoke period was minimal in quantity and duration as the zinc just quickly melted and dripped off the wire, escaping the oxzidation process which creates the poisonous smoke.  You can see some splatter of harmless relocated zinc metal on the generator frame below the coils in the last photo.  The smoke was actually quite minimal and after the wire got incandescent there was no more zinc to react.  There is no smoke or metallic smell from the `seasoned` elements now when starting or during use.

It is a good thing that you fellows brought this caution to the attention of other readers of this thread since I did not think of mentioning it.  Using galvanized steel fence wire as a heating element has this potentially lethal health risk associated with it.  I thank you for the reminder.

With good luck I will not be dead in a week.  I`d better hurry and put this new engine in my will.