I built this a Generator a couple of years ago, because we used to have alot of power outages, and I didn’t like what I saw at Home-less Depot and Lowe’s. Used it several times for power outages, our Ham Radio club’s annual Field Day, and places where there is no AC. Although it puts out only 1800W, its battery-Inverter arrangement allows the gen-set to run in silent-mode (engine shut down). I have about 500Ah extra capacity I can add, so at 1kW load, I can run on batteries for about 6 hours (conservatively), and about 10 hrs at 500W load, before the engine need to be restarted to charge the batteries.
I found the engine, alternator, inverter, and generator frame, all new, all on eBay. The Alternator, in case you didn’t hear in the video (lots of noise) is a 140A OEM unit, and the engine is a Briggs & Stratton 6.0hp vertical-shaft, electric start. The inverter is a Xantrex Pro-Sine 1800 (12V input, hard-wired AC output), and the frame was from a Coleman 6500 generator. The wheels are pneumatic, and the steering mechanism turns via a brass fitting.
The engine drives the alternator by a K-6, 6-rib serpentine belt. Engine pulley is 7.00″ dia., and the alternator pulley is 5.00″ dia., from an old Ford smog-pump.
I am seeking suggestions for a official name for my creation.
Duration : 0:2:41
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@SSD99 Above 2kW …
@SSD99 Above 2kW I’d scrap the idea of using inverters (for efficiency and practicality reasons) and go with a straight AC generator. A bit more challenging in the sense that you have to come up with a means of regulating engine speed to keep the output frequency constant, but it can certainly be done.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
2 Start-Bart
2 Start-Bart
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Hmm would a small …
Hmm would a small motor cycyle engine work to power a larger power plant?
My father has a welding machine that also doubles as a house generator. it is small enough to fit on the back of his picup truck.
none the less it was a real “Shocker” to find out how much power that thing could throw out. I thaught aobut canvasing the junk yards to find the generators out of the motor homes that have been junked.Maybe one can get some nice parts?:) An Alternator here and a converter there hehe.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@ShutterbugW That …
@ShutterbugW That was the original idea. I started out with this just to verify that I could do it. Ideally, I want to get an inverter that puts out 120/240VAC in the 8-12kW range, so I can run both halves of the CB panel (& the whole house). Of course, I’ll need a bigger everything (engine, alternator and battery bank). I already have the generator & Inverter, but still need an engine. The Generator (Aura-Gen) doesn’t need much of a battery because it is an integrated system.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@SSD99 Maybe you …
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@SSD99 Maybe you could steel an engine out of a Honda ST1100 motorbike – its a beautiful V twin cam driven motor – you maybe able to draw around 10kw!
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Great Idea, Brigs …
Great Idea, Brigs and Straton also makes a primerless Motor too.
add a really big gass tank and I bet that thing could go on for a week or so.
If you can go with Marine, deep cylce Batterys unlike regual Lead Acid, they can be ran down and charged up.
Also if you really want to get creative create a Battery Bank and Up scale a few things next thing you know is your running your house off the grid
with that set up it can be used in muliple ways other then a gass engine.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@ShutterbugW: Cute! …
@ShutterbugW: Cute! I like that!
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@ukorganist: Thank …
@ukorganist: Thank You for your kind compliments. I want to do 8kW driven by a Briggs & Stratton 20hp I/C Opposed-Twin. I like the Opposed twins because, unlike the V-Twins, they are balanced, producing smoother power and more torque. 1 sec ago
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@honda4×4esjoseph: …
@honda4×4esjoseph: You don’t want to know (UGH!!) Seriously, It came in at just under USD $950.00, or about 53 cents per watt. Considering a good model from Homeless Despot or Lowe’s runs about 10-15 cents per watt, this is not bad for a specialty version.
@ukorganist: Thank You for your kind compliments. I want to do 8kW driven by a Briggs & Stratton 20hp I/C Opposed-Twin. I like the Opposed twins because, unlike the V-Twins, they are balanced, producing smoother power and more torque.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
That is a cool …
That is a cool project… I am also working on one but mine is to be powered by magnets… If you send me a email I can give you more info…
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@syncmaster710n14 …
@syncmaster710n14 Thats cool… I know how to get you a better system than that…
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
This is excellent!! …
This is excellent!! Well done on the job – it looks fantastic
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
how much $£$£$ did …
how much $£$£$ did it cost 2 make?????
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
In siries (I live …
In siries (I live in the UK so 240V) and the inverter is a 10KW AC converter I got from a yard sale. Think it was originaly used as part of a home wind turbine kit, but runs my batteries just fine. Also to charge the batteries I have 10 24v truck battery charges so I can chage them all at once. It takes alot of juice though.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
@syncmaster710n14 …
@syncmaster710n14
Sweet! How big was the Inverter? 20 car batteries? Did U connect them in series (240VDC) and drive a high-voltage inverter, or just parallel them and use an inverter with a 12v-input?
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
hmm Call it Mr Tiny
hmm Call it Mr Tiny
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Cool.
I baught a …
Cool.
I baught a honda a couple of years back and Its bean good for back up (live in the countryside lots of power cuts) but it was no good to leave runing all night so what I did was got 20 car batteries riged them up to an AC converter and I can now run all my house for 2-3 days off them with no generator at all.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
And where will the …
And where will the electric “moter” get its power from?
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
try electric moter …
try electric moter to power the gen. no gas or polution ness.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
cheers. i got a …
cheers. i got a similar engine but 5.5hp. good to know its six volt! that explains why it doesnt charge my battery. starts quick though.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Nope. The whole …
Nope. The whole idea was to DIY it. Beside, even the best, biggest, most powerful Honda inverter-generator (7kW) can’t run in total silent-mode (engine off). Mine can.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Just the stock OEM …
Just the stock OEM starter. I got lucky- it was the 12V version. There were several 6V versions, which would have made charging a bit difficult from a 12V source w/o over-charging.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
what starter are …
what starter are you using? i built a 2 stroke version a few years ago using a dyna start.
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
woulden’t be easer …
woulden’t be easer to buy a honda?
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 pm
I have a smaller …
I have a smaller un-finushed gen-set using an electric-start 3.5 B&S driving a Delco 140A Alternator, electrically identical to the one in this video. I shot a crude video of it with my camera-phone, but plan to re-shoot it with my digi-cam. I seriously doubt the 3.5′er could handle the 140A at full-load. Doing the math and taking into account the inefficiencies of the standard Lundell alternator (~60-70%) for a maximum output of 1960W (14V x 140A), I would need 4kW, or over 6hp.