cheap 12 volts!!!!

Discussion in 'Electrical Systems' started by terabika, Aug 27, 2005.

  1. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    I am a poor person, happily so. I made a 12v generator by going to walmart and buying a 100$ lawnmower (4.5hp) and then to disco auto parts and buying a 70 dodge alternator for 39$ with lifetime waranty and 2 pin chrysler regulator (yes, I know it has a steep temp compensationcurve etc.) and some 2x2 wood and a bit of ext. grade ply. I have 65 amps output for less than 200bucks! I did make a water injector for the exhuast for an extra 50 bucks to quite her down a bit. I can fool the regulator to charge at higher voltages by a resistor between regulator and bat. I It works great! I do not use tinned wire anywhere on my boat but rather ,I use regular old speaker wire of appropriate guage and I solder all terminals then use sealer from soldered joint to insulation. I have run wires outside on purpose trying to forces failure. I await the engineers to tell me I cant do that which I have already done :) I checked federal state and local regs and there is nothing illlegal about this! lol ...I put a cheapo fuse bank in a tubaware conainer and screwed it down such that , with the lid on, I have a water tigt fuse compartment for CHEAP.....but many will deride me for accopmlishing all with little money as my boat shall surely sink and I shall surely drift to some unknown leper colony and die a hideous death for not feeding the capitalist gods! lol HA! many spend more on a regulator than I spent on my whole charging system! and it is very light...
     
  2. yipster
    Joined: Oct 2002
    Posts: 3,486
    Likes: 97, Points: 58, Legacy Rep: 1148
    Location: netherlands

    yipster designer

    superstores here now sell lightweight 2 stroke 400 watt generators for less while i bought a heavy 1000 watt 4 stroke for over a 1000
     
  3. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    terabika:
    Either you can't do research or it is all baloney. The regulations specifically forbid the use of unshielded generators in a vessel. Also, the ignition in the motor is illegal for the same reason.
     
  4. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    Gonzo, I was actually joking about "checking with fed state and local" because so many people told me I could not do it. What do you mean by unshielded? why is the ignition in the motor Illegal? Unshielded magnetically? thermally? Fumes? Please be more specific as I liket o know which laws I am breaking:) Thanx
     
  5. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
    Posts: 19,126
    Likes: 498, Points: 93, Legacy Rep: 3967
    Location: Eustis, FL

    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Gonzo, as you can tell by his argumentative style and blatant disregard for his own safety or others (like the boat or two next door that burn to the waterline because he no brained himself into a hole, taking them with him) What really bugs me it the potential lose of life, limb and property, not his as the world could do a touch better without him, but for those unaware around him. Be this loved ones he brings aboard his death trap or folks who've spent a life time of effort saving for their retirement cruise, who may unfortunately be berthed alongside when his world goes spiraling down hill because of this ridiculous notion of beating the rule makers or price setters, to which he seems to be rebelling. This is someone we'll be reading a headline about, it's just a matter of when.

    Personally, I think he's fundamentalist Muslim, with his talk of capitalist gods and all. Maybe he's a former communist, but since that's out of vogue now he's converted to the non-secular *******ness of Islamic fundamentalism. He says he's poor and seems quite proud of it. I say we take up a collection and buy him a ticket to a country he can fit right in, like somewhere in the Congo Basin.
     
  6. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    Wow hahaha You know absolutely nothing about my boat or how the genset is on the boat, yet you make all manner of moral proclamation! it is funny! Why do you call it a deathh trap? you have no information about it to make any of these judements! I am not a communist but an expose on the economicunderpinnings regaurding my statement about capitalist gods would go well beyond you capacity I am sure. My argumentative style? vs you calling me all sorts of foul names? you sure are judgemental...or just mental :) It escaped you that I wrote that I am at anchor I am sure, so there are no one around me to die.... You are making many asumptions which are entirely incorrect but it does not surprise me at all.... have a good day!
    "Personally, I think he's fundamentalist Muslim" : this statement is predicated on a false assumption, you dont think...and it is obvious!
     
  7. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    Blatant disregaurd for safety? please explain! I am very safe!
     
  8. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    Gonzo, you are incorrect as I just looked and those regs apply only to "permanently mounted " AND electrically started gensets! If you read closely, and took time to think about it, a 100$ lawnmower from walmart is probably not electric start. My genset is niether....but, as I wrote before, I was being sarcastic to those who continnually tell me that I cannot do this, that and the other (like using 7/19 galvinizedwire for standing rig)...funny though, that once I checked, I was right and you were wrong :) You sould get more information before you leap from the cliff of judgementalism! ....and sharpen your contextual comprehension skills so that you can see sarcasm more readily....:)
     
  9. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    What I wrote: "I am a poor person, happily so."
    What you wrote about it:
    "He says he's poor and seems quite proud of it"

    Happily and proud are not synonyms. which leaves that ;because I am happy, I must be proud of being poor. POOR reasoning skills! Ilogical ! Statistically there is very little corelation between happiness and wealth (re:statistical abstract of switzerland showed a higher corelation between the degree of democracy [it is a federal system] within a state and happiness than between wealth and happiness) there are many other rearch findings similar to this. Your ad hominem attacks are fruitless
     
  10. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    terabika:
    Each time there is critizism of any of your claims, you say it was sarcasm. Can you specify which are claims and which are "sarcasm" and "jokes". It is difficult to understand what you are actually saying.
     
  11. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    "Each time there is critizism of any of your claims, you say it was sarcasm"
    Incorrect, I wrote that I looked at regulations you mention and they only apply to permenently mounted and electrically started gensets. Mine is niether. Therefore, your ascertion that I am illegal is incorrect. WHere is my "Blatant disgregaurd for safety"? It is easy to dream up some scenario in which my way of doing things kills millions and leads to the deforestation of whole continents, but it is far from reality. I have never caught fire or anything else like this. I do not try to feed 50 amps through 16 gauge wire or anything of the like. I feel perfectly safe using things like galvanized wire for rigging but I have been told no sane person would venture off shore with this. There are different thresholds at which various people feel safe. I can except others, sad that some can't do the same. :)
     
  12. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    Is the generator deck mounted and the tank outside too? Is it properly protected with a GFI?
     
  13. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    Please read in depth description in the very first post of this thread. It is mounted on deck but not to the deck. It does not matter if it is above or below (according to coastie regs as it is not electrically started). I do not know if, according to the USCG,a 12v alternator is supposed to have a GFI ( I do not see how such a thing could exist since a GFI senses the difference in potential between the ground and neutral conductors), did you think it was 110ac? It is a 100$ lawnmower engine, tank is on the engine and a 39 $ alternator. Cheap enginuity eh? I have little air flaps on rods that, when the air from coolling system draws on them, close switches to activate alternator field and waterpump. This way I put a quart in, start her up and dingy in....you don't think I want to be on board when she catches fire do you? ;-)
     
  14. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
    Posts: 16,790
    Likes: 1,714, Points: 123, Legacy Rep: 2031
    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    Once more there is more nonsense than data. In previous posts you claim that you are joking or being sarcastic.
    Wires are regulated under title 56 CFR.
    BIA has a color code for wiring. Speaker wires doesn't qualify
    Voltage drop is 3%for electronic equipment, panels and nav lights
    5% for general lighting.
    The regulations pertain to any electrical equipment that is in the vessel. Switches, blowers, alternators, etc. need to be shielded. If you really did the research can you please quote title and article, or was that also a joke?
     

  15. terabika
    Joined: Aug 2005
    Posts: 46
    Likes: 0, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: 10
    Location: cocoa beach

    terabika Junior Member

    I apologize, I did a very cursory puruesal of the regs and I was only looking at one part pertaining to generators, you never did answer my question about shielding?? BIA ?? I do not know who they are or why I care what they want?? USCG was what I was looking at and they may requires color coding but it is enough for me that the spealer wire has a stripe going down one conductor so this allows me to diferentiate positive and negative. Therefore, the purpose is served and my system is as safe as a color coded one. I do pay attention to voltage drop and schedule wire guage accordingly. I earlier wrote that I ussual go one size higher even, especially for long runs up the mast and to running lights. or thin conductors...please explain shielding. Besides, I never wrote that I actually care about regulations! To some people, regulations are the security blanket and they need this. Fine! But I consider myself able to judge things independantly and make MY own risk assesments. GFI's in a house are a good example. I grew up without GFI's in houses and I never knew anyone STUPID enough to play with their toaster oven (hair dryer, etc) while bathing! Yet, because their are one or two stupid people just waiting to further murky the gene pool whom the government feels a need to save, we are now required to put these in any outlet within X feet of water. (the preceeding was an example of sarcasm (about gene pool not GFI)if you did not get it). I am safe....and I am sailing!
     
Forum posts represent the experience, opinion, and view of individual users. Boat Design Net does not necessarily endorse nor share the view of each individual post.
When making potentially dangerous or financial decisions, always employ and consult appropriate professionals. Your circumstances or experience may be different.