PLEASE NOTE: If you had an account with the previous forum, it has been ported to the new Genetry website!
You will need to reset the password to access the new forum. Click Log In → Forgot Password → enter your username or forum email address → click Email Reset Link.
That brings up a question what is the lowest voltage that the 12V inverter can run at. There is some voltage drop so thinking under higher amperage draw it may get into the 11V range, I wonder if that is too low. The PJ handles is perfectly fine down to about 10.5V so guessing its the same, but figure its good to ask so I can set the alarms to warn me ahead of time.
On 12/20/2022 at 8:42 PM, Sid Genetry Solar said:We plan to offer the 12kw in 24v. Transformer resistance is quite a bit lower, there's almost double the number of FETs...it should be feasible. Won't be a huge surge rating, but it should be doable. Again, if you lose 3v from 24v, you've still got 21v left (12.5% loss I guess!)
A 24kw is on my wish list.
Winter is particularly rough this year, given the price of diesel. And worse, the wife pretty much has dibbs on the project money this spring. Pretty sure she wont go for an inverter. Though i did tell her we need a bigger one if she wants to do more than one thing while running the drier. That might sway her. 😉
11 hours ago, NotMario said:Winter is particularly rough this year, given the price of diesel.
I am running a gas generator, and was hoping to swap to a diesel one. I use about 1/2 gallon an hour on my 6.5k and saw that the diesel ones us about half of that so wondering what your experience is in the real world.
On 12/22/2022 at 1:48 PM, AquaticsLive said:I am running a gas generator, and was hoping to swap to a diesel one. I use about 1/2 gallon an hour on my 6.5k and saw that the diesel ones us about half of that so wondering what your experience is in the real world.
The comparison is very difficult to make. The energy density of diesel is slightly higher than petrol, but the real difference will be because of the RPM rate it runs at. What makes a diesel genny efficient is reducing it's RPMs, and loading it down as much as possible.
For typical [< 10kW] 120/240v AC generators... 3600RPM diesels will probably be only marginally more fuel efficient than their petrol counterparts. So if you need an AC genny, you'll want to get an 1800RPM one, those will give you substantially better fuel economy (probably in line with what you have read elsewhere).
My generator is DC and always runs at 100% torque in an optimized RPM range. (an intersection of the Alternator's efficiency curve with the engine's specific fuel consumption curve -> 1500RPM) So it's a very apples-to-oranges situation.
With these optimizations, it makes approximately 2.7kW continuously. Early on i noted a 5-gal tank lasts about 1 week [almost empty after 7 days] in the summer. That would be more than 56kWh, yielding an efficiency of at least 30% - noting that diesel power plants yield about 40% efficiency.
Oh, and since this is DC, the efficiency of the inverter must be factored in to get it to AC power...
16 hours ago, NotMario said:Early on i noted a 5-gal tank lasts about 1 week [almost empty after 7 days] in the summer.
Sounds pretty good to me. So thinking that is might be worth it for my next genset. I am sure I have another few years on this one so may do some shopping and see whats out there. My current generator is an 1985 Onan so Cummings built back when the built good stuff, so might last me another 10 years. I tore it down a few years ago and it its holding up good for as many hours as it has. I will keep it going as long as I can.
8 hours ago, AquaticsLive said:Sounds pretty good to me. So thinking that is might be worth it for my next genset. I am sure I have another few years on this one so may do some shopping and see whats out there. My current generator is an 1985 Onan so Cummings built back when the built good stuff, so might last me another 10 years. I tore it down a few years ago and it its holding up good for as many hours as it has. I will keep it going as long as I can.
Cummins still builds good stuff. The problem is they put their name of stuff they don't build. I particularly love seeing parts listed as valid for 1980-present.
My genny is a mil-spec 24v. A Yanmar L100V with a Balmar 97EHD Alternator. Naturally, the military not being known for efficiency, it was running at 3600RPM to generate ~4kW. Maybe 1/4th of the fuel economy. Nevertheless, at 6 hours usage, made with good well-known parts, and extremely standardized, it was a good choice for my use-case.
My biggest recommendation - if going with AC, make sure it's 1800RPM - with no gearing or belts - the alternator should be direct drive - as it must also run at low RPM for best efficiency. You'll find that this is neigh impossible to find for small generators (< 8kW). So you might want to look at some 10kWh+ units.
You'll find that this is neigh impossible to find for small generators (< 8kW). So you might want to look at some 10kWh+ units.
Yeah pretty tricky to find ones that will work for my application, I need one with a large air blower system. Ones made for large vehicles like buses and semis work best. Not into retrofitting one from a house to work they just can't handle the amount of hours of run time that I use mine and don't have enough airflow to idle at truck stops overnight. That is the good part of shopping early, a DC unit would be great because another item I want to get is a DC rooftop Air Conditioning unit to replace the AC one I have right now. I may buy a APU that has DC charging and an Air Conditioning unit in the same box.
Ah, now if you go DC, you can pretty much do it in any size you want. Just be careful that the DC charging utilizes the entire alternator rather than an independent winding. [aka battery tender]
You'll have to be comfortable modifying both the engine throttle and the Alternator field strength (regulator...) to get the desired power and RPM.
Oh... one more thing. Small one-banger diesel engines can be VERY loud. Knowing you run your generator a lot, you probably have a place for it that wont annoy you - you may need to reinforce that if you put in a diesel.
The larger three-bangers are a lot quieter - but you'll end up in that 10kW+ category again. 😞 Totally worth it if you can put the power to use, though.
12 hours ago, NotMario said:Knowing you run your generator a lot, you probably have a place for it that wont annoy you
Yeah there is a fairly big generator bay well normal ambulance type setup if you ever have seen one of the older ones. The Compartment is 3' X 2' X 2', decent sized and build to handle a heavy generator, all the newer units I have seen are much less weight and size then what I have so may end up with room to spare when done. Its fairly annoying right now, but I am used to it so doesn't bother me if I need to sleep with it on.
11 hours ago, AquaticsLive said:Yeah there is a fairly big generator bay well normal ambulance type setup if you ever have seen one of the older ones. The Compartment is 3' X 2' X 2', decent sized and build to handle a heavy generator, all the newer units I have seen are much less weight and size then what I have so may end up with room to spare when done. Its fairly annoying right now, but I am used to it so doesn't bother me if I need to sleep with it on.
Oh that's right, you have the ambulance.
What kind of genny are you running now? It occurs to me you could also try an inverter generator. They can be pretty efficient when they auto-regulate the RPMs. <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="/profile/2-sid-genetry-solar/?do=hovercard" data-mentionid="2" href="/profile/2-sid-genetry-solar/" rel="">@Sid Genetry Solar needs to add power-assist functionality. 😄 Augment the power when the load would be too much for a small generator.
What kind of genny are you running now?
Its a 1985 Onan/Cummins 6.5KW direct drive Genset. Here is a picture from a manual. Split Phase 240V.
I have two gens, one is a honda contrustion 8500k with a 5gal tank, the other is a champion rv 30A I think its 6500kw its nice, though with a 1gal tank it sucks, I got to change the oil on it and get it back up going, I've just order a 25a charger, going to order two more of them. I'm running two 12v 3k inverters right now to my breaker box, washer runs with no issue. got 1200ah of 12v. with 240v breakers switched off when not on grid.
I'm really tempted to sell this 12k 24v dual 6k gs inverters, if somebody wants to pay for the freight or come and pick them up if they near north alabama. Since I can't get them to wash my cloths lol. but a knock off $120 3k inverter sure heck runs it lol. I might go with the 12k GS inverter when it come out. I reather trade these in, if sawn wants to do that down the road. Now if spring will come up, I can put another 1200w of solar panels up faceing true south.
Don't get me wrong. the GS inverters work great, just for some odd reason my washer just do not like the gs inverters. and no way to find out why with out sid being here lol.
Sid. I thought my gs inverters was rev b boards?
Maybe revisiting something you have already done, any chance you have checked the grounding? Maybe with one of those RV plug testers. I know it may just be the power is too noisy like how my PJ one was before I used line filters, but the grounding issue popped into my head because some of the newer devices have internal power tests.
14 minutes ago, AquaticsLive said:Maybe revisiting something you have already done, any chance you have checked the grounding? Maybe with one of those RV plug testers. I know it may just be the power is too noisy like how my PJ one was before I used line filters, but the grounding issue popped into my head because some of the newer devices have internal power tests.
Could be line noise, maybe could be voltage overregulation--I really don't know what the problem is.
If I did know what it was, I could fix it.
Could be line noise, maybe could be voltage overregulation--I really don't know what the problem is.
I would like to test it so curious what is going on. Might be a good idea to get a tester to send out like a better RV one. One that I have seen allot of people use at the parks for their inverters and the park power is the watchdog, they have a bunch of different ones. Like this one " https://hughesautoformers.com/product/pwd50-epo-h/ " you run in inline hardwired so whatever the source is it lets you know if there is a problem and disconnects it if there is one.
So many ideas I would want to try lol wish I was closer.