More on Bush Power

Go find the biggest 240v electric motor you can find that's straight without a gearbox. And I could stall it with a shifter till its burnt out!
Now go get a 12v starter motor off a car...
But this time I will get you to hold the shifter, I'll get the first aid kit :lol:

Well there are a few variables to add to the mix, 1) a Drill has around a 1/4hp on the output side and 2) How old was the drill and what kind of life had it had prior to the test ??,

I have seen Alternators hooked up to all sort of things including pushbikes and stationary motors,

Based on that I can't see it taking around 7hp to power an alternator if someone can get power from one just by peddling a bike, Surely there must be a proper way in order to measure what it takes to drive an Alternator,

I know that wind generator put out very little wattage in relation to their size, but once they get up to about a metre across they start to produce around 500w when max'd out and in a 10mph / 16kph wind they only put out about 10 or 20w and unless the wind is blowing around 30 to 40+kph then most of them struggle just to maintain a bank of batteries just to cover their natural daily loss So if you have 5 X 100Ah batteries loosing 3% a day a wind charger would have to produce 15Ah just to break even and closer to 30Ah just to float them and that is not allowing for the power used in a 24 hour period,

Taking the above in to account depending on the type of batteries being used creates another problem in trying to get the power back in to the batteries, and the cost factor of the type of batteries being used, To stand any change of being able to collect that power AGM would be the bare minimum a person could use, Lead Crystal would be the best option due to the amount of power they can except and being half the price of Lithium.

If the vehicle is not setup to run the 2 later techs then if a person wants the faster charging times then the only way to do that is to run a DC to Dc Charger because the profiles can be set to suit the tech of the battery or by using a Victron MTTP Charge controller and/or Solar, Just because someone hooks up 2 batteries and it runs for a while does not make it the right thing to do, Adding a 100Ah to another 100Ah is just going to make a 200Ah bank and a standard Alternator will never recover those batteries from dead flat not without over heating the alternator at best Or cooking the Alternator at the worst because as the battery size increases so does the Charge time and then the Alternator is having to work Two or Three times as Hard and the Hotter it gets the Less Power it will put out, It's the same as when a power draw Like a Fridge is being run using too thinner power cables where the fridge won't run properly or keeps shutting down, If those 2 Batteries are sucking too much from the Alternator then bad things are going to happen. :/

Car alternator is a generator.
Has a set of diodes to convert to DC and
usually a built in regulator.
They do require 12 v or such to "Excite" them to start producing a current.
Usually sourced via the light from the dash.
Ignition is fed to the bulb then to the field.

They also do take about 5hp to run them.

Yes, but the say 5hp friction drag dose not vary due to the output re-guarding voltage output "smart alternator " surely. !

LOL,
True, Load depends on how much output.

Friction also plays a part as well.

That is why I put the "About" word in.
A variable if you wish.

A lot of them are regulated via the vehicles ecu these days.
Hence the word, "Usually. "

When building a wind generator out of an alternator,
They usually cut the armature windings out and use
a set of fixed magnets.
Less drag and torque to turn them.

mudgee hunter said:

And a back yard experiment years ago seems a bit lame to still be swearing by NJ.
Regardless of HP loss , i believe an alternator working or dead still has the same drag on the crank.
Unless seized due to bearing failure etc.
Therefore I can't imagine any fuel economy change.

Click to expand...

The experiment included the use of a rev counter to try and determine what revs our wind device required. Later experiments failed, not able to get the alternator up to speed using wind power. Have another experiment on the go using the motor out of a Razor Scooter. Once again, spinning it with a drill managed to produce 21 volts. This experiment is gathering dust, still not able to get enough wind speed.

I have a home made wind generator . It is a permanent magnet generator from a tread mill . The blades are carbon fiber that I got from the USA over $150 . No longer used ,for sale $200 pick up only . Might sell the blades and mounting plate separate .Got some photos .

Wind speed depends on the blades and wind ! If I was going to do more , I would get another 3 blades but no longer living in the bush .

My earlier reference to fuel economy was not meant to be alternator related. The Nissan 4.2L turbo diesel is a fuel hog compared to the Chevy 6.5 Turbo V8, nothing to do with alternator drag.
All this definitely comes down to personal choice and what works best for each.

There is a few videos on YouTube of getting the fisher and pykle (?) Washing machines.
As they have a direct AC-DC motor that can be converted..
What's your goal NJ.
Small generator, using an alternator to produce 12v etc for fast charging?
I'm unsure of the rpm needed to get such.
Probably available in googled.
But if your crank is is spining at 1600rpm 2 . That pully rpm is going to be fast!

I bought my blades 11 years ago , just been checking up , I can now buy them from the same company at half the price !

It is called Missouri wind , www.mwands.com It is a good web site , put in a search for "Diagrams and wiring resources "

Lot of good info .