Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Petrol Generator Mod - Inverter AC Output
<< < (3/11) > >>
WanaGo:

--- Quote from: Zero999 on January 09, 2019, 01:18:24 pm ---I can't see of any easy way of doing this. It's going to be a quite complex project.

An inverter will boost 12V or whatever to 340VDC, before converting it to 230VAC. It should be possible to modify an inverter to take 340VDC and convert it to 230VAC by bypassing the internal DC:DC converter and using a switched mode power supply to power the 12VDC control board. The 230VAC from the generator could then be rectified and used to power the inverter. The problem is the output from the generator isn't regulated and there'll be lots of ripple, so you'd need a switched mode power supply, rather than a simple rectifier.

--- End quote ---

Thanks - but did you see the links I posted? These already seem to take the HV DC input, so its just a case of rectifying it, which I already have a 150A 1500V rectifier. The board takes a 15VAC input to power the control board, which is rectifies to DC (you can input 12VDC on many of them too). My thoughts were to rectify the AC from the generator into DC, add some capacitance to smooth it out, and feed it into the inverter board (one of which I linked), and take the 12VDC output of the generator and regulate that and power the inverter controller with that. To me it seems straight forward, but I just have no idea if the boards on Aliexpress do what I think they do.
WanaGo:

--- Quote from: soldar on January 09, 2019, 03:45:28 pm ---The model is Still 2000

Honda made the motor

Airmax made the generator and controls.



You could probably fit huge low pass filters on the outputs.

--- End quote ---

Thats correct, its the STILL2000. This was the only video I could find on the internet of the unit before I brought it.
I put a little video of mine running on Streamable, https://streamable.com/t77d3
It has a badge on the bottom of the frame too for an Auckland company, who I assume imported and distributed them at some point.
WanaGo:

--- Quote from: james_s on January 09, 2019, 06:28:30 pm ---Don't obsess over the small details, just use it, it appears to be working more or less as designed. The varying frequency won't bother anything unless you power electric clocks for extended periods. Did you check the waveform while powering a resistive load?

--- End quote ---

Not sure 'obsess' is what I am doing here. Yes, I could just use it as is, but that's not the purpose of the post.

I have only run motors (fans and drills) and lights on it so far, I haven't extended to much else yet. I haven't wanted to put anything I am willing to destroy on it yet. When I did the tests a few days ago, it was after I had read some stories about blowing gear up due to the poor waveforms, so I haven't yet ventured out to powering much more yet. Later today I will try a few other load types and look at the waveform as I do so. The ultimate aim is to be able to run a stick welder or MIG on low settings, on it. The Stick welder I have is a small DC inverter unit, so if that can run directly then that would be great, just not sure if it has the grunt to power it. Will find out soon I guess.

The power almost never goes out here, so its purpose in life is not so much for backup power in blackouts, is for using gear away from a power source.
DrDeke:
It seems to me like part of your implied question is as follows: "Is it bad/harmful for my appliances to run them on (non-inverter) generator power?"

My power does go out somewhat frequently, which has led me to have this same question. I have not been able to find much in the way of good information about this. (I have a very inexpensive non-inverter generator which, at least in some circumstances, does not provide a very clean AC waveform.)

I see disclaimers from generator manufacturers, saying that "sensitive equipment" may not be suitable for use with their inexpensive generators, but it's hard to know how much stock to put in that.

I see a lot of posts [note: not on eevblog; I mean on other Internet fora] from people who sound relatively uninformed, claiming that cheap-generator power is very bad for all kinds of equipment. Then I read many of those same people claim that a cheap standby or line-interactive UPS will "clean up" such power and make it "safe" for equipment. As far as I can tell this is clearly not the case, which makes me question the claim that cheap-generator power is "bad" for equipment in the first place.

I also see a lot of posts from people saying something along the lines of "I have a cheap generator and I always unplug my computers when I have to run it, but I run everything else on it and have never had a problem." This seems encouraging. Even if the generator power damaged one of my computers, the damage would almost certainly be confined to the power supply, and those are easy/cheap enough to replace, so...

I have been running almost all of my electrical equipment off the cheap generator when need be, and all I can say is, none of it has broken yet. I don't think my generator is powerful enough to run my central air conditioner but, since those are rather expensive, that is probably the only piece of equipment I wouldn't risk with what I've seen so far.

From reading the replies so far to your thread, it seems like people here are somewhat skeptical that the power from your generator is likely to harm your appliances. I would certainly be interested in hearing any additional input people have on this topic; maybe that input would be useful to you, as well.
WanaGo:
Spot on, thank you.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod