make your own emergency power

8/8/2019 Make Your Own Emergency Power

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Jjyou have a car, a moderate tool collection)and good tinkering abilities, why not ...Make YourOwn Emergency PowerIf you 're anyth in g like the folks here atMOTHER 's Eco -V ill age, yo u 're probab lysw amped w ith nag ging littl e ch ores that re-q uire so m e dr illin g here, so m e gr ind ing th ere,

and a bit of cutting so m ewhere else . Trou-bl e is, all these work sites somehow m anageto be nowhere near a source of llD-volt pow er... so , unless you 're part icul arly fond ofha nd-to ol labo r, you 'v e go t to either springfor a po rtable generator or resign yo urself toa ram shac kle ex is tence.

Curiously enou gh, nea rly everybod y owns-a nd use s m ost eve ry day -a re liable andge nerous so ur ce of elec tri cal energy w ith ou tev en know in g_ it: th e modem automobile!Ycp, if you drive a ca r er truck manufactu red. between th e m idd le 1960 's and the pre sen t,it'~ f'()~~ihlp to modi fy rhar mac hine 's charg-ing circuit to m ake it delive r 110 vo lts of20-am p (or greate r) DC service at the flic k TWO SIMPLE CIRCUITSof a sw itch. W ith tha t am ount of power, you 'd A ll th at 's fin e, of co urse , for char ging carbe able to ru n light s, power to ols , p um ps, re- bat te rie s ... but w e w an te d to m ove on tosistance- element appliance s, or ju st a bout an y- bigger and better th ings, so we tu rn ed re-thing tha t doesn' t use an induc tio n (AC only) searche rs Derm is Burkholde r and Robyn

tit-e r or a.transformer, Brya n loose on a staffe r's 1978 Ford pic kup. .- to se e if'rlre)' co u+ clnl t-E6ax i intc.giaing.n"ALTERNATIVE" ENERGY . 110 b ig ones w ithout dam aging th e sto ckA rou nd 19 63, you see, the m ajor auto eq ui pmen t. ". hat the y ca me up w ith is a pret -manu fac tu rers start ed to equip their product s ty ingenious use of about $ SO w orth of o ver -w ith alt er nat ors ... w hic h not only m ade the - the-co unter and junkyard parts ... a h oo k upcars more relia ble, bu t opened up a whole th at comes close to dup li ca ting the con-wor Id of possibilitie s to tin ker- ty pes lik e us. ve ni ence and perform anc e of co mme rc ia l c on -A ctually, th e des ign of an alternat or is verters th at are considerab ly more ex pensive!

so m ew hat oppos ite to th at of a ge nerator: The .conce pt is sim p le enough: By sw itch-Rather th an cu rre nt bein g extrac ted from an ing the reg ulat or (and thus the battery-

arm at ur e rot ati ng w ithin a wound station aryfi eld , an alte rnato r 's outp ut is d rawn fromth ree sta to r coils fixed arou nd a sp inning m ul-tipo le roro r conta ini ng rhe fi eld w indi ngs .This p ro du ce s lllg - requ en cy AC c urren t,w hic h is th en rectified , thro ugh diodes , in tothe direc t cur rent used in automotive ch arg -ing system s.Now , sin ce an alternat or's outpu t voltag eincreases as its roto r RP 1is b oo sted , a regu-la tor is include d in the sys tem to sampl e th atou tput an d co mpare it to a desired referenceprovided by a Zener d iode . If the outp u t isto o gr eat (or too litt le), a tra nsistorized cir-cu it controlled by the Zener ad justs cur ren tflow to the field ro tor to kee p the alternator 'sou tpu t vo ltage w ithin accep table limits (be-tween 12 . 'i and 13. ') volt s) .

LIST OF MATERIALSPar t' St oc k Num ber o r Sou rceChoke pu lldown d iaphra gm (ad justab le ) Ford Mo to rc ra ft 23 00 or 43 00 se rie s c arb ure to rr.-_~ . ! io . 8 b,!! ad ed cha in w lc o ll a r clam ps Electrica l su pp lyVa cud ;, IIG~e \ u ,~T f it ting (11 8" or 5 / 3 2 " ) A uto s up plyAquar ium ai r v a lv e (th ree way) Pet storeSo leno id va cuu m sw itch (n o rm a lly o pen) AMC V 8 TC S s ys tem or Ford EGR co n trol1 l0 vo lt, 1 ,0OO wat t expo sed-e ie m en t r es is tor Mobi le hom e wate r h ea te rRes is tor hou s in g 2" X IS" CPVC p ip eW eat he rp roo f 110 vo lt rec ep tac le w /b o x Ele ctr ica l su pp lyTog gle sw itch (20 'am p, 4 po le dou b le th row ) Ele ctr ica l supp lyAmmeter (DC , 0 30 am ps) Auto supplyV o ltm e te r Rad io Sh ack Cata log No. 270 1 754Res isto r (15 0k o hm s, 112 w a tt) Rad io Shack Cata lo g No. 27 1-0 47Panel bo x Radio Sh ack Catal og N o . 270 23 2(2 ) Dua l-row ba rr ie r str ips (6 te rm ina l) Rad io Shack Cata lo g N o . 27 4-65 9Dou b le- qr oo ved 2 1 / 4 " a lte rn ato r p ulle y GMC Oelco -Rem y Par t No . 1 85285 6(2) Alte rna to r d iod e s (p o sitive ) Bor gWarn er Pa rt No. D 2P( 2) l n-line fuse s (IO-am p, 12 volt w /h o l d e r s ) Aut o sup plyD io de h olde r ( 1 /1 6 X 1 X 1 a ngle a lum inum ) Hard ware s ore

OPTIONAL CUTOUTTogg le sw itc h (2 0' am p, t-po le Sin gle th r ow) Ele ctri ca l supp lyW ea the rp roo l sw itc h bo x w /c o v e r Ele ctri ca l suppl yAq uarium a ir va lve (tw o-w ay] Pe t sto re

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cha rgi ng system ) out of the circui t and feed-ing 12 volts d irectly in to t he alte rnato r's fieldw indings, you can get that tiny dynamo toeat enough W heaties-(i n rhefbrrn of current)to pu t out about 8 S v ol ts at a reasonable en -gin e speed (roughly 2,800 RPM ).But w e wanted 110 volts, and w ith the st an -da rd 40- am p alt erna tor, th is would have re-qu ired revv ing the engine higher than wecare d to , so we found ourse lv es a 2-1/4 "General M otors doub le- gro oved altern atorpu lley tha t in creased the stan dard 2.4S -to- 1cr ankshaft-to-alt ernator-shaft ratio to a steeper3-to -1 gear- up ... w hi ch ul tim at ely allows th eDC dyn amo to prod uc e IlD vo lts for exte nd-ed perIods w itho ut dii iTI'a 'g ing the true ;'s six-=--cylinder engin e.Usina th is seruo. it's th eor e tica llv oossible

to get ove r 4 ,0 00 w atts? w orth of power fromthe mac hi nery already under th e vehicle'shood . But to be on the safe sid e, w e've beenlim it ing our demand to 2,200 watt s, or about'20 amps ... still a heck of a lot more cur-rent th an even the heftie st power too ls wou lddr aw ..Jl y ~f;. to our picto rial sc hematic ,you 'll be able to get a pretty go od id ea' ci f how-our system 's w ir ed an d plumbed. But let'sw alk through it just once to elim inate anyconfusion.

\Y le ca n ignore the ch arging circuit, becaus eth at re m a in s e ss en ti all y un changed. But on ceth e 4-p ole, double -thr ow maste r sw itch isthrown into th e "on " po sition , the r emo tepo wer system is activated, and the alternator'soutput goes thro ugh a pair of 16-gauge w ires(almost a 12-gau ge equi valent) to a se t of12-vo lt , lO -amp fu ses an d on th rou gh a pai rof "ex tra insura nce" auto motive d iodesmounted in an alum inum bracket. A ft er run-ni ng through_lill..LneX ensiv e a m eter thecu rre nt nav els int o a 1, O aO -wat t r esisto r (sim -ply a non-imme rsio n hea ting elem ent froma mobi le home water hea ter fa ste ned in sidea IS " le ngth o f 2" CPVC pipe) and into a

. w eath er proof recepta cle , the o pp osite legs of. which are groun ded to th e truc k.Add itiona lly , a DC voltm eter is g roundedth ro ugh on e o f the am meter term in als ... but

require s a 150k-ohm re sistor to multiply itsexisting 0- to IS -v olt sca le by a fa ctor of ten.A lso , a so len oid vacu um sw itch (no rmallyopen) taken from an ei gh t-cylinder Jeep isw ir ed in parallel w ith the I,OOO -w at t r e si s torcoils.The p lumbing 's been added to providevac uum to a choke pulldo wn diaphragmsni tched from a Motorcraft tw o-barrel carbu-ret or. In co nju nction w ith th e Jee p 's solen oi d-

THE MOTHER EARTH NE'NJ


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top erat ed vac uum switch an d an aq uariuz; S:"-sup ply valve '; sweet feature allow s r ze-control ope ra ion th at's adj ustab le : ~ ....:: 2.particular jo . Pc another wa y, the \-~;:.~ sengine w ill remain I ffl JTmal idle speed :':"'1-fll m eTe'S-fd - d ()ff m e syste or-: 00"W al ~~.rso (prompted at th e merr ie r a -00 1' r i 't 8 'P p f l a n e e u : S \ \ ' l t e ~ < l on). 'ifhe:: , as cur-rent pas ses rhib ug h he res is tor, t: -:e ;:;2~ 2.:; e .-w ire d so len oid "borro '.'S" enou gh 0:-- :- !:e.open valve clos ed ... aqi' ,a~ ing h p _ cadiaphr agm and speedi ng up the engine bymeans ofa beade d ch ain fastened [Q tce fi rm -tle lev er wi th a miniature co llar c lam p.(The one JfO:i\vt:c:C~ of th i:: inexoensiverem ote-control setup is that as curren de -m an d inc rease s, the resis tor element getswarm er . . di ve rtin g excess voltage 0 theso lenoid, which cou ld cause it to fail 0 'e r anex tended per iod. To circ umve nt thi s pos si -bility, we 've included in our de sign an op-tiona l swi tch that cuts both the re is or andthe soleno id-operated vacuum sw itc h out ofthe circuit so tha t hea vy-du ty too ls or app li-ances can be us ed as long as the al ernat o rmaint ains its ou tpu t. An air co nt ro l valveplac ed in the so len o id va cu um li l e allow s en-gll1e spe L '.l _

The adj usting screw on the rea r of th echo ke pu lldow n de vi ce prov ides an upp erlim it whi ch can be used 0 preset maximumRPM an d , thus , voltage. Sim ila rly, the aquar-ium valve can be used to fin e-tune output be-luw tha t lim it by decreasing the vacuum pu llon th e suctio n-s ensitive diap hragm . Al so. toprev ent the di aphragm - rorn ya nk ing 'thethrottle op en lOO quick ly a .. d causing hesita -tion , rhe exp os ed inlet of he aqua rium va lveshould be so lde red sh ut, i..en red rilled witha No. 68 (,03)") bit, la ailow a srnail amou ntof bu lTe ring air bleed .Naturally, when th e rez-ote power SySi.'?ffi

is sw itched 01T , it doesn't ir erfer e w ith rhecharging circuir or the fo ot crated thro ttle.And when the aqu arium va .v e is closed co rn-p letely, the calculated vac uu m lea k is elimi-nated for no rmal driving .SOME HELPFUL TIPS

We're not su gg estin g ha: everyon e shoul dha ve an emergency gene rat ing sration underthe hoo d. Bur if yo u fee ! m fo na ble wo rk -ing with autom obi les, you m ight w ant to givethis setup a try . Rem ember ha t we we re ex-pe rimen ting wirh a 40-amp ern ator ... andthat a higher-output unit (f rom an air-cond itioned ca r or a commercial pi ckup) canprovide hi gh vo ltag e at 2 ower RPM, inwhi ch cas e you m ight no nee d to find (orJanuary/Febru ar y 198 5

{1] Th e chok e pu lldou : diaphragm OpC IIS Thetlnoule 011 a sig il I [rom the 1. 'aC U IIIII sun tc h .(2j The control pa ne l, rdlS10r dLI/WIl, andrecep tacle box . (3J P07:'er la The people!

mach ine) an extra-small pul ley for it . K eepin m ind, too, that th e combina tio n of highvoltag e and amperage prod uced by thi s mod -if ication is ever y bit as le hal as the i\C so ck -et in you r ho use wall, .. so treat it wi th th esame respect' (Y ou can avo id an y kno-voltageequ ipmen t damag e, 3S wel l, by disc on ne ct-ing the po sit ive term inal of yo ur ba tter y ca -ble while making th e w inn g mod ifi cauon s.)

Shoul d yo u plan to run your ve hicle overan extended pe riod of t!'::e as an em crgency

"-r I\r ,hp h useh ol d (wlilcll is ao

iIIadm iue dly Iuel-con su n ptiv e practice, co n-sid er ing th at th e alternator only requi resabou t 6 horsep ower of he 100 or marc pro-vid ed by the eng ine), he aw ar e th at the car'sradi ator mav require a gre ate r rate of air flow.. , wh ich ca n be provi ded by replacin g thefour-bl aded 1:111 w ir h 3 rn ul tiblad cd [ype.

If yo u use th e setu p as it was int en ded tobe used-sa nd th :ll'S as ail occasional sourceof rernporary pow er when no ne oth er is ava il-ab le-yo u'll he sur e to app rec iate wha t : 1 lit-tie bit of In.ktr ing cm ofle rl e

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-Useful [onnulasPowerTO OBTAIN: SINGLE PHASE THREE PHASE

v x I x PF 1.732 x V x I x PFKilowatts 1000 1000

V x I I.HI ;

make your own emergency power

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