Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
Hi
I could use some feedback regarding a brainstorm of mine. I'm in the process of building an emergency power system for home use. The main questios are regarding supply and re-charging. For the supply, for now I'm using 12V starting batteries. The plan is to pick up 2 (or possibly 4) 6V 156Ah golf cart batteries. For the charger I mated a 63A Delco alternator with internal 12V regulatioin to a gas snowblower engine. I want to use a 1500W inverter to supply about 180 watts of AC, 8x IR LED surveillance cameras, and about a dozen 20mA LED lamps for emergency lighting all operating at their native 12VDC The questions a Would I be able to use my alternator/generator to charge the golf cart batteries without damaging them? Until I'm able to get the golf cart batteries, would the couple starting batteries I have work OK? TIA Bob |
Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
wrote in message
... Hi I could use some feedback regarding a brainstorm of mine. I'm in the process of building an emergency power system for home use. The main questios are regarding supply and re-charging. For the supply, for now I'm using 12V starting batteries. The plan is to pick up 2 (or possibly 4) 6V 156Ah golf cart batteries. For the charger I mated a 63A Delco alternator with internal 12V regulatioin to a gas snowblower engine. I want to use a 1500W inverter to supply about 180 watts of AC, 8x IR LED surveillance cameras, and about a dozen 20mA LED lamps for emergency lighting all operating at their native 12VDC The questions a Would I be able to use my alternator/generator to charge the golf cart batteries without damaging them? Until I'm able to get the golf cart batteries, would the couple starting batteries I have work OK? TIA Bob Will you need a clutch between blower motor and alternator? what sort of control system to monitor the starting and running of the motor? |
Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
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Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
On Sep 21, 7:19*am, "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
wrote: wrote: For the charger I mated a 63A Delco alternator with internal 12V regulatioin to a gas snowblower engine. Is that really a good idea? Gasoline is dangerous to store, without special tanks you may have building code or insurance problems. Propane is a much better choice unless you are in a very cold climate. No one seems to be upset if you have a large "bottle" of propane around for your gas grill, RV, etc. In many places, you can have two of them strapped to the back of trailer and no one pays attention to them. Try that with gasoline. :-) Would I be able to use my alternator/generator to charge the golf cart batteries without damaging them? 12 lead acid battery chargers are cheap enough. You can buy ones that will not cook your batteries. You also want more than 12 volts to charge the battery, that's why car electrical systems are 13.8 volts. Until I'm able to get the golf cart batteries, would the couple starting batteries I have work OK? Depends upon how often you use them, how you charge them and how low you let them go. If you discharge any lead acid battery, it will stop working.. There are devices that control the output of batteries and shut them off when they get to the point they will be damaged. You probably want one, but at some time may have to decide if you want light or batteries. Another cheap source of stored electricity is the NiMH slow discharge batteries. If you buy a bunch of them for your battery operated devices and cycle through them they will come in handy. They can easily be charged, there are lots of devices to do it. Though IMHO, you would be better off not buying any of this stuff and spending your money on Solynda solar arrays while you can still get them, especially if you buy them at "gone out of business sale" prices. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM Making your enemy reliant on software you support is the best revenge. Thanks for the quick replies. As for the DC generator, the unit is belt driven and will be left outside. There are terminals on the generator that turn on the field once the engine has started. I explored solar but its too much for my budget, and again, for now this is for emergency use only. My idea is that with the 63A generator, that I'd like to get 6 to 8 hours of battery time (discharging the batteries to about 40%) and then use the DC generator to do a quick charge for an additional 6 to 8 hours of run time, ad infinitum. Monitoring would be done manually. My biggest question is whether this "quick charge" will destroy the golf cart batteries. |
Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
N_Cook wrote: Will you need a clutch between blower motor and alternator? what sort of control system to monitor the starting and running of the motor? You don't need a clutch. if the motor can't handle startup with the alternator, put a switch or time delay relay between the alternator & the load. Since the current output of the alternator doesn't rise at lower RPMs, the motor should have no problem coming up to operating speed without a clutch. -- You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense. |
Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
On Sep 21, 3:30*am, wrote:
Hi I could use some feedback regarding a brainstorm of mine. I'm in the process of building an emergency power system for home use. The main questios are regarding supply and re-charging. For the supply, for now I'm using 12V starting batteries. The plan is to pick up 2 (or possibly 4) 6V 156Ah golf cart batteries. For the charger I mated a 63A Delco alternator with internal 12V regulatioin to a gas snowblower engine. I want to use a 1500W inverter to supply about 180 watts of AC, *8x IR LED surveillance cameras, and about a dozen 20mA LED lamps for emergency lighting all operating at their native 12VDC The questions a Would I be able to use my alternator/generator to charge the golf cart batteries without damaging them? Until I'm able to get the golf cart batteries, would the couple starting batteries I have work OK? TIA Bob Need similar system. Would you post a description of your camera system? Where you got it, costs, pros/cons, etc? |
Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
On Sep 21, 3:30*am, wrote:
Hi I could use some feedback regarding a brainstorm of mine. I'm in the process of building an emergency power system for home use. The main questios are regarding supply and re-charging. For the supply, for now I'm using 12V starting batteries. The plan is to pick up 2 (or possibly 4) 6V 156Ah golf cart batteries. For the charger I mated a 63A Delco alternator with internal 12V regulatioin to a gas snowblower engine. I want to use a 1500W inverter to supply about 180 watts of AC, *8x IR LED surveillance cameras, and about a dozen 20mA LED lamps for emergency lighting all operating at their native 12VDC The questions a Would I be able to use my alternator/generator to charge the golf cart batteries without damaging them? Until I'm able to get the golf cart batteries, would the couple starting batteries I have work OK? TIA Bob Need similar system. Would you post a description of your camera system? Where you got it, costs, pros/cons, etc? |
Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
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Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
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Homebrew emergency power system - advice needed please
Per mike:
As a matter of curiosity... More than one person mentioned the security cameras. Unless you're prepared to confront the gang of pillagers with your trusty shotgun, what good is a security camera during a protracted power outage? The cops are gonna be busy elsewhere. As one with zero practical experience - but who has been dabbling in IP cams since being anointed to set up a surfcam for a local windsurfing shop.... They may want the still photos that some cams can take/store automatically - for later use. -- PeteCresswell |
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