|
Posted by Ulysses on March 21, 2008, 12:24 pm
Please log in for more thread options
>
> >
> >I did some reading and with two six volt batteries hooked together I
> >wired the hydro into one of the six volters.. sending about 10 volts into
> >it. Like magic the system started charging.
>
> As someone else commented, charging just one 6 volt battery is a
> no-no.
> When you said they were "hooked together", did you mean in parallel? -
> but in that case you sent "10 volts " into both of them - well
> ..before you actually connected them to the hydro. Then reconnect in
> series to use them
> >
> >I've read this is OK but i'd much rather do it right. Today I ran the
> >hydro at full bore and watched my pond.. it didn't even blink.. still
> >over flowing, so clearly I can increase the pipe size at least during the
> >winter. Thats on my list.. take what i've done and dump way more water
> >and add jets and increase the RPM on that alternator.
>
> As I have tried to explain before, the amount of water (size of jets)
> should not normally increase the speed of the wheel (runner) by a huge
> amount - unless you have a lot of losses which you have not accounted
> for. It may even reduce the speed by causing more pipe loss at the
> higher flow.
>
> You still have no idea how much POWER you are producing (no matter at
> what voltage). Have you tried putting a 12v bulb on the output of the
> "alternator" (without the battery connected) and seeing what voltage
> is produced? (I think the alt in perm magnet?).
> The output of the alternator (at dc), ought to be about 24v before you
> connect it to the battery. It should then drop to the battery voltage
> - and hopefully produce some power!
>
> If you cannot get the rpm up (by finding some losses), then either you
> will need to increase the head (usually not possible - and anyway you
> should not need to from previous info), or use a smaller "wheel"
> (runner) (again should not be necessary), or change you
> alternator/generator in some way.
>
> Please describe your alternator again. I think it is a 3-phase,
> permanent magnet device. There are two ways of wiring it (usually),
> either Y or Delta. One will double the voltage. Which way is it wired?
>
> If your current "runaway" rpm is close to what you would expect, then
> you can add jets, or increase jet size until the cows come home - but
> you will never get more rpm out of it. The rpm is governed by two
> factors (neglecting losses) - the "head" of water, and the diameter of
> the runner.. Increasing jet size increases power, but not rpm
> (basically).
I was thinking that his problem might be that the alternator is slowing down
once a load is applied and that more water might give him enough power to
reduce this. Perhaps if he can just get back the rpms that he's losing.
>
>
> >
> >For now its good.
> >
> >I still can't tell exactly how much power is being produced. Like I say
> >on the web page I ran off the battery bank all last night so I was down
> >to 11.4 (according to the xantrex c40 monitor) and tonight I'm just
> >running the hdyro. Its been four hours and now i'm reading 12.4 so its
> >doing something good. These are 2 six volt l16 equiv batteries.
>
> I would be VERY worried if I lowered a battery to 11.4 volts for any
> length of time. I would call that "dead flat". Its definitely not the
> treatment for a new battery. Aim never to let it get anywhere below
> 12v (actually I would never let a new battery get much below 12.3v,
> when not under load).
> >
> >Also finally you get the drag on the alternator when you hit the 'on'
> >switch.. it drags down bigtime.
> >
> >I was such an idiot before thinking that producing 11.5 volts would
> >charge a 12 volt battery.. DOH!
>
> Again - its not 12v you need - its more like 24v (open circuit) for
> your type of hydro system
> >
> >thats a newbie for ye
> >
> >Thats all for now. Thanks again for all the advice. I'm sure my system
> >isn't the best but thanks to you all its much better than it would have
> >been without you.
>
> Maybe so - but I might begin to cry soon if I hear any more about
> expensive batteries being ruined!
>
> I do hope you get those batteries charged up - and then sort out
> exactly how much current your hydro system can actually put out.
>
> Eric Sears.
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap