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    • True alternator energy

    Solar Expert Posts: 257 ✭✭✭
    in Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems #1
    Home power 70s style

    A not so green, power machine.

    This is what I used to power my home in 83, used it for about a year, until I could buy panels.
    Originally it had 3 alternators, with a potential of 160 to 200 amps, depending on which alternator I happened to have on it. The field was regulated by a rheostat, from a 1970 Cadillac dimmer control. This allowed me to keep the amp output at about 40/50%. The longest I ever got a used alternator to last was about a year, sometimes they would die in the first hour of use. Needless to say I kept a lot of $5 to $15 spares around.
    Fuel cost was only about $13 a month. hated to stop using it, but was really glad to get maintenance free panels. Gas motors have a mind of their own, and it would sometimes refuse to start when it was most needed.

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    • Solar Expert Posts: 1,025 ✭✭✭✭
      #2
      Re: True alternator energy

      Did you have a name for your machine (that can be shared on a family website)? I'm sure it got called lots of names during it's lifetime:p

      Ralph
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    • Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
      #3
      Re: True alternator energy

      looks like and old plow. who said you can't teach an old plow new tricks?:p
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    • Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
      #4
      Re: True alternator energy

      Some sort of primordial proto-generator from the Jurassic period. :p

      Good innovation and recycling! :D
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    • Solar Expert Posts: 1,341 ✭✭✭
      #5
      Re: True alternator energy

      "People on 'ludes should not weld". - Jeff Spicoli
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    • Solar Expert Posts: 257 ✭✭✭
      #6
      Re: True alternator energy
      dwh wrote: »
      "People on 'ludes should not weld". - Jeff Spicoli
      :confused::confused:

      How did you know? Who's watching me??
      As for the welding, after a lifetime of commercial construction. I can tell you if the weld fails it was most likely done by a pro (over confidence is a killer). Rarely have I ever seen a bubble gum weld fail
      Cariboocoot wrote: »
      Some sort of primordial proto-generator from the Jurassic period. :p Good innovation and recycling!

      Yes this was the T Rex of all alternator chargers, a real beast with a loud roar.
      niel wrote: »
      looks like and old plow. who said you can't teach an old plow new tricks?

      You win the door prize, it is/was a plow, a telephone cable layer, used to plow/bury cable from the curb to a house.

      Ralph Day wrote: »
      Did you have a name for your machine (that can be shared on a family website)? I'm sure it got called lots of names during it's lifetime:p
      Ralph

      Obviously female for it sure had it's cycles and moods.:D
      I called her Baby before the first pull of the rope, then it became unprintable. One day, badly needing to her cranked, she refused, and beat a grown man and a 16 year old to an exhaustion. Panels were ordered immediately.
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