Generator vs Inverter

[ThrottleJockey]

Have I seen you at the scrap yard....................

Maybe, I bring bolt cutters, a crow bar and a BIG effin hammer too.

 

[Plinker]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/automobiles/02POWER.html

Proper preppers pick Prius!

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Power to the People: Run Your House on a Prius - New York Times

Proper preppers pick Prius!

from the article.

......Chris Naughton, a Honda spokesman. “Instead, they should buy a Honda generator that was made for that purpose.”

 

[Plinker]

from the article.

When the server comes back up I'll link an article showing a guy who did the same with his Prius, used a fraction of the gas a generator used.

With that said, I'm not a fan of by Hybrid vehicles, especially the Prius.

 

[Valvestate]

Buy a busted prius?

 

[Sailor]

I have both. My 800 w inverter can run a refrigerator or freezer enough to keep cool. They do not have to be run 24-7. Just a bit here and there.

My vehicle runs much quieter than a genny.

The inverter is way more portable, and any vehicle is your power source.

A few advantages, both are needed IMO.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Bear in mind that an inverter will drain a battery pretty quickly and there are two types of inverters. Anecdotally, when I go to the salvage yard for parts I typically bring a grinder, a battery, and a 750w inverter.

Depends on the load you're putting on it. Grinders draw quite a bit of juice so it's likely that a grinder will kill a battery quickly.

 

[Iroquois]

Love the lawn mower/generator idea. Saw an article in Mother Earth News about 20+
years ago that built a welder this way. Apparently you can weld with 12 volts with small
rods on light metal. I'd unhook the inverter to protect it in this case.

 

[ATOMonkey]

As far as the DIY generator goes, you don't need a battery and an inverter.

An alternator already makes ALTERNATING CURRENT power. It has diodes in it and voltage regulators that turn the AC into DC power.

An alternator without diodes is a generator. The trick is getting it to run at 110-120 V and 60 hz.

More practically, you can buy generators for about $100/kW all day everyday, and often times for less than that. Try putting together a DIY rig together for the same price.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I actually had an idea for a hybrid electric motorcycle. It would use a genny (very small 2 cycle engine), deep cycle battery and an electric motor....run from NY to cali on 2-3 gallons of gas? Carry spare brushes and a rebuild kit in your pocket....

 

[CountryBoy19]

I actually had an idea for a hybrid electric motorcycle. It would use a genny (very small 2 cycle engine), deep cycle battery and an electric motor....run from NY to cali on 2-3 gallons of gas? Carry spare brushes and a rebuild kit in your pocket....

While certainly possible I think you're being a bit optimistic on your mpg.

Today's top colleges building high-mileage vehicles (at the tip of the spear for technology) are getting around 6500 mpg in high-tech, single-passenger, highly aerodynamic vehicles that are traveling quite slow on flat terrain with no stopping involved in a controlled environment on a test-track. These vehicles have tons of money dumped into them for every little part made of carbon fiber this, magnesium this, etc. For the home garage mechanic to get even close to that with a 2-cycle (inefficient) through a generator (electrical losses) into a battery and/or motor (more electrical losses) on a motorcycle (not aerodynamic) through mixed terrain (including mountains), dealing with stops, traffic etc, at a speed that won't get you run over, is pretty unlikely, at least not without making you bank-rupt at the same time.

I'm all for fuel efficiency but I think 2-3 gallon for a cross-country trip is pretty optimistic unless you have money to burn on very high-tech stuff.


Just what I recall from my college's high-mileage team. 3-wheel, single passenger vehicle. Suspension was high-tech alloy that was really expensive to have made. Tires were super special material and design donated by Goodyear (good luck getting Goodyear to donate them to you); they were the size of bicycle tires. Engine was a 4-stroke Honda controlled by thousands of dollars worth of high-tech electronic ignition & EFI components. Body was fiberglass with a very tiny window. Turning radius was unusually large for a vehicle that sat 2'H X 2'W X 8'L. The driver was the smallest, lightest person on the team (95lb girl) and it was still extremely uncomfortable for her to get in and drive for any amount of time. The procedure for driving isn't your normal either. The driver would fire the engine up for about 20 seconds, run up to speed, shut it down and coast for several minutes then repeat. Max speed was 25 mph IIRC, but during competitions they never went much faster than 15 mph because wind resistance increases exponentially with respect to speed.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

While certainly possible I think you're being a bit optimistic on your mpg.

Today's top colleges building high-mileage vehicles (at the tip of the spear for technology) are getting around 6500 mpg in high-tech, single-passenger, highly aerodynamic vehicles that are traveling quite slow on flat terrain with no stopping involved in a controlled environment on a test-track. These vehicles have tons of money dumped into them for every little part made of carbon fiber this, magnesium this, etc. For the home garage mechanic to get even close to that with a 2-cycle (inefficient) through a generator (electrical losses) into a battery and/or motor (more electrical losses) on a motorcycle (not aerodynamic) through mixed terrain (including mountains), dealing with stops, traffic etc, at a speed that won't get you run over, is pretty unlikely, at least not without making you bank-rupt at the same time.

I'm all for fuel efficiency but I think 2-3 gallon for a cross-country trip is pretty optimistic unless you have money to burn on very high-tech stuff.


Just what I recall from my college's high-mileage team. 3-wheel, single passenger vehicle. Suspension was high-tech alloy that was really expensive to have made. Tires were super special material and design donated by Goodyear (good luck getting Goodyear to donate them to you); they were the size of bicycle tires. Engine was a 4-stroke Honda controlled by thousands of dollars worth of high-tech electronic ignition & EFI components. Body was fiberglass with a very tiny window. Turning radius was unusually large for a vehicle that sat 2'H X 2'W X 8'L. The driver was the smallest, lightest person on the team (95lb girl) and it was still extremely uncomfortable for her to get in and drive for any amount of time. The procedure for driving isn't your normal either. The driver would fire the engine up for about 20 seconds, run up to speed, shut it down and coast for several minutes then repeat. Max speed was 25 mph IIRC, but during competitions they never went much faster than 15 mph because wind resistance increases exponentially with respect to speed.

Sounds like you have a bit more experience in this field than I do! Perhaps my mileage estimate is a bit optimistic. How would you feel about combining your experience with my optimism and throwing together a prototype? Never know, it could pay off

 

[CountryBoy19]

Sounds like you have a bit more experience in this field than I do! Perhaps my mileage estimate is a bit optimistic. How would you feel about combining your experience with my optimism and throwing together a prototype? Never know, it could pay off

To be honest, I don't have a great deal of real-world experience; I wasn't on the team. I was in the gun-club. I was just good friends with the engine tuner/expert on the team and I remember a lot of the associated "data" and info.

That's not to say I couldn't build something very efficient, but it's not going to come close to what they are getting.

I would love to team up and build a high-efficiency bike but I have a ton of other "cool projects" on my list and not much time to do them. Still plan to build a gasifier with Shibumiseeker one of these days. Plop that baby on the back of your motorcycle and you won't have to worry about your fuel economy as much because you're burning wood to fuel the engine... that is on the list of things to do after I finish catching up around the house, and Shibumiseeker and I finish up our brass life testing we were doing before I deployed.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Yeah, I was really hoping you'd say that! My wife would kill me if I took on yet another project! She's already ticked off about the golf car/motorcycle project sitting in the garage for 2+ years!!!

 

[CountryBoy19]

Yeah, I was really hoping you'd say that! My wife would kill me if I took on yet another project! She's already ticked off about the golf car/motorcycle project sitting in the garage for 2+ years!!!

Lol, reminds me of a project my brothers recently proposed to me, only because I'm partial owner in some of the "interests" involved.

They aren't going for fuel-economy though. They're going for power and performance... in a golf-cart.

We (my younger brother and I) have a '96 Yamaha 600cc snow-mobile that was uh... well, it got "shortened up" about 8 inches when my brother didn't see a creek that he was headed straight for. He plowed straight into the bank and the snow-mobile is about 8" shorter than it's supposed to be. It's pretty much totaled and it's been sitting in the barn since then. The part value isn't much because it's a relatively rare long-sled touring model that has several specialized parts on it. Basically anything that is still good is somewhat specialized or isn't a high-demand part in the used market. They plan to take the drive-train and put it in a golf-cart and turn it into a high-performance golf-cart (at least in regards to engine performance). I can only imagine what going from a standard 50-100 cc 4-stroke golf cart engine up to a 600 CC performance 2-stroke will do in that thing but I hope they follow through with it so I can see, and claim partial ownership (in the engine at least).

While 2-stroke engines aren't exactly efficient they are still pretty awesome machines when it comes to performance and definitely supreme for hp to weight ratio. 2-strokes have a power stroke every revolution as opposed to every other revolution with 4-strokes, and their red-lines are MUCH higher because they don't have any moving valve train to wreck.

Sounds like a pretty fun project to me... I would be right in there with them if I didn't live 3 hours from "home".

Yes, I'm a redneck country boy at heart and a mechanical engineer by profession... that is a very dangerous combination...

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Lol, reminds me of a project my brothers recently proposed to me, only because I'm partial owner in some of the "interests" involved.

They aren't going for fuel-economy though. They're going for power and performance... in a golf-cart.

We (my younger brother and I) have a '96 Yamaha 600cc snow-mobile that was uh... well, it got "shortened up" about 8 inches when my brother didn't see a creek that he was headed straight for. He plowed straight into the bank and the snow-mobile is about 8" shorter than it's supposed to be. It's pretty much totaled and it's been sitting in the barn since then. The part value isn't much because it's a relatively rare long-sled touring model that has several specialized parts on it. Basically anything that is still good is somewhat specialized or isn't a high-demand part in the used market. They plan to take the drive-train and put it in a golf-cart and turn it into a high-performance golf-cart (at least in regards to engine performance). I can only imagine what going from a standard 50-100 cc 4-stroke golf cart engine up to a 600 CC performance 2-stroke will do in that thing but I hope they follow through with it so I can see, and claim partial ownership (in the engine at least).

While 2-stroke engines aren't exactly efficient they are still pretty awesome machines when it comes to performance and definitely supreme for hp to weight ratio. 2-strokes have a power stroke every revolution as opposed to every other revolution with 4-strokes, and their red-lines are MUCH higher because they don't have any moving valve train to wreck.

Sounds like a pretty fun project to me... I would be right in there with them if I didn't live 3 hours from "home".

Yes, I'm a redneck country boy at heart and a mechanical engineer by profession... that is a very dangerous combination...

I have an old Suzuki street bike, 250cc 2stroke, that I'm going to put in my old electric golf car. Stripping the body off of the aluminum frame and making it into a half size sandrail I still need a rear end that will work, maybe from a wrecked 4 wheeler....Just needs brakes, axle and sprocket.....I figure with that motorcycle engine/transmission and most of the weight stripped off the golf car, she should scream pretty good! Hopefully I'll be tearing up the fields before they plant next spring.