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[AbaZ]

Shit, I dont even know if thats what you would call it? So here's an idea I am thinking about trying. I have a vacation home in eastern wa. However to get power out there It's going to cost me a shit ton, and I highly doubt we will be using it that much so I need to come up with a cheap alternative to power my single wide. I was thinking about getting a d15 and making it all self contained and burying it in the ground so it will be nice and quite, and attach some kind of generator drive unit to it, so it could power everything. However I don't even know what to search for or what its even called? A few years ago I saw one in a large 65ft houseboat we were on. It was attached to a Mitsubishi 2.4l engine. I dont want to go buy some cheap ass ching chong chow generator that is loud as fuck, or buy some fancy ass one. I want to make my own.

which brings my next question. A d15 idling for 3 days, how much gas would that probably burn?

[crttaz]

why idle it at all?

It won't be idling if generating power. As for keeping the D15 cool, use the heat wasted to make hot water for showers or a parts washer.

[t_cel_t]

wind turbine and a bunch of lead acid batteries
really, washington has pretty good wind speed
http://www.usairnet.com/weather/maps/current/wind-speed/

[rsmith2786]

The cheapest, easiest, simplest way to do this is direct drive to a generator.  You basically have two options for 60 Hz.  A 2 pole setup at 3600rpm or a 4 pole setup at 1800 rpm.  1800 might be the best bet for noise and economy.  Finding the actual generator should be easy.  The somewhat more difficult part is rigging up some sort of control system (mechanical or electrical) that can maintain the engine at relatively constant speed with varying load.  I'd get a simple PID controller and play around a bit.  Not easy without a little controls background though.

[fysh]

http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/israeli-developed-boiled-potato-batteries-may-provide-cheap-power-1.296799

Potato power.

[Hotrodlincoln]

You could also store some power in batteries and shut the d15 off at night when you use the least amount of powere

[Ntrain2k]

How much power do you need?

If you have some electrical experience, this wouldn't be hard to install yourself:

http://sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=off_grid_systems

Almost everything you need in the kit.

[Foowee]

The cheapest, easiest, simplest way to do this is direct drive to a generator.  You basically have two options for 60 Hz.  A 2 pole setup at 3600rpm or a 4 pole setup at 1800 rpm.  1800 might be the best bet for noise and economy.  Finding the actual generator should be easy.  The somewhat more difficult part is rigging up some sort of control system (mechanical or electrical) that can maintain the engine at relatively constant speed with varying load.  I'd get a simple PID controller and play around a bit.  Not easy without a little controls background though.

[random-strike]

idling is the most inefficient speed for a gas an engine

of the top of my head i'd bet it would use a lot of gas.

generators are expensive though

[Kain]

go straight up wood gassification.

[Doug]

How much power do you need?

If you have some electrical experience, this wouldn't be hard to install yourself:

http://sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=off_grid_systems

Almost everything you need in the kit.

If I was building a house I would def look into some of these and also geothermal. If I lived close to a river I would setup a paddle wheel to make energy also.

[jabberwock]

In India communities throw waste into wide, short silo things.  The gas produced is piped to homes for use as natural gas.  Shit in a bucket, cook with the fumes, profit.

[B16CRXT]

Look into Geothermal energy

[SloS13]

get an old VW diesel.

Using the engine heat in an exchanger to make hot water would be goddamn bananas.  do this

[ApexSilver06MR]

solar panels and a shit ton of batteries. 

[Joseph Davis]

go straight up wood gassification.

PRODUCER GAS

[Joseph Davis]

How much power do you need?

If you have some electrical experience, this wouldn't be hard to install yourself:

http://sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=off_grid_systems

Almost everything you need in the kit.

Honestly, a large bank of lead-acid batteries, and the usual AC-DC conversion stuff will do it.  You can manually re-wrap Ford alternators for low speed operation and use them as both wind and water turbines.  One of the hippies the next county over has a couple sealed in 5 gallon buckets for waterproofing, uses the impeller from an old Subaru torque converter, and runs his creek water through it.  Combine that with solar heated water and maybe a propane refrigerator if you're worried about lack of wind/drought/frozen creeks dimming your output.

[j.h.christ]

Look into Geothermal energy

do you have any idea how cost prohibitive this would be for him?

[bluerex]

get an old VW diesel.

Using the engine heat in an exchanger to make hot water would be goddamn bananas.  do this

  +1
exactly how i'd power a grow op in nigger city

[B16CRXT]

Look into Geothermal energy

do you have any idea how cost prohibitive this would be for him?

you realize it pays for itself pretty damn quickly....

[rsmith2786]

Look into Geothermal energy

do you have any idea how cost prohibitive this would be for him?

you realize it pays for itself pretty damn quickly....

you realize it wouldn't?

High initial investment for something that is only going to be used a few times a month.  I don't see the payback period being very reasonable on that.

Oh and I'm really liking the cruise control idea.  I can't believe i didn't think of that.

[jagojon3]

Look into Geothermal energy

do you have any idea how cost prohibitive this would be for him?

you realize it pays for itself pretty damn quickly....

Not in a vacation home. Not even in a regular home, takes quite a while.

[bigwig]

Don't mess with solar power unless you're interested in it.  It's not efficient at all.  If you want to run a fridge, you'll need to spend an assload of money on batteries.  If you really do the math and sit down to make a reliable system, it will cost you thousands and thousands of dollars.  It just comes down to sunlight only coming 4-6 hours a day, solar panels not being very efficient, and batteries being relatively expensive.

In the end, your best bet is solar hot water and a generator.  Solar hot water is as simple as getting a lot of flexible plastic tubing and putting it on your roof.  Run cold water through it and it will get hot in no time.  All can be done for a $200.

[hatchboy]

i like the older diesel engine idea, running on ag diesel to be a little more cost effective. i couldn't see it using MUCH fuel being under not much load. Obviously something throttle cable driven would be the easiest for keeping a steady RPM range, put it under load, tighten down nut similar to what we have on our honda intake manifold throttle cable brackets. Possibly using some nigger rigged turbo setup to spin a hot-side and putting a pulley on the cold side instead of having the housing etc, and running another small generator setup off of that into battery's for backup/night time use.

Of course, now that i re-read everything i just wrote, that seems like a clusterfuck and a horrible idea.

[j.h.christ]

Look into Geothermal energy

do you have any idea how cost prohibitive this would be for him?

you realize it pays for itself pretty damn quickly....

you realize you're talking to an IGSHPA accredited geoexchange designer/driller/installer? there's no fucking way on god's green earth you're going to get a big enough loop field or holes drilled for less than a conventional system that's used a few times a month.

if you work the system into your mortgage, it's cheaper over the long run, but when you're talking about a single wide on a couple acres, it's ridiculous.

[AbaZ]

Man you guys suck balls 

The cheapest, easiest, simplest way to do this is direct drive to a generator.  You basically have two options for 60 Hz.  A 2 pole setup at 3600rpm or a 4 pole setup at 1800 rpm.  1800 might be the best bet for noise and economy.  Finding the actual generator should be easy.  The somewhat more difficult part is rigging up some sort of control system (mechanical or electrical) that can maintain the engine at relatively constant speed with varying load.  I'd get a simple PID controller and play around a bit.  Not easy without a little controls background though.

This is exactly what I am talking about. Where can I find something like this? Any info?!

Solar panels, windmills and a shit ton of batteries is way out. I am going to be running a fridge, forced air with AC my big TV, stereo, lots of lights. This houseboat we were on a few years back ran all this shit and the generator was super quiet, it was running on a gas Mitsu 2.4 engine w/ a carb with some kind of direct drive generator on it. I want to do something like this but maybe with a honda engine. I could easily get a honda engine running on a stand for less then a hundred bucks. Running 1800rpms shouldnt burn through that much gas either.

[boosted wagon]

You need to get a good estimate on the power you will require [in watts] and then you can look into a gen  unit to match. Most things your going to plug in will rate the watts used or amps and that can be converted to by going amps x volts . Start by figuring out what your power requirements are and we can go from there. 1000 watts equals 1kW. The controls like stated above is the harder part getting it mechanically running will be relatively simple for a HMT nog.

[HiProfile]

I'd use crome in a p06, 2-4 IACV's in parallel, the idle screw cracked all the way, and idle set to 1800rpm (or 3600rpm). That should flow enough to maintain that speed. If not, just add more IACV's (assuming the ecu can handle that). You might also find a pto controller for a gas engine, they are usually electronic boxes that let you pick your RPM.

A dohc zc with cam gears might be a better bet, since you can adjust cam timing to make lower speed more efficient. A an hx or vx head d15 would probably be good too. I'd just "tune" it to run a little lean. Not very "green" with all the NOx, but mroe gas-happy.

Another simple contraption is used on small Honda power equipment. I've not looked into how it works, but basicly it maintains max RPM with the same mechanical throttle input, regardless of load. It's just springs and levers working on the butterfly.

[keelay]

Another simple contraption is used on small Honda power equipment. I've not looked into how it works, but basicly it maintains max RPM with the same mechanical throttle input, regardless of load. It's just springs and levers working on the butterfly.

Same as used on a riding mower, right? Maybe even make use of a larger (25+ hp) riding mower engine, that already has all that shit in place.

[Jorsher]

I like the idea of using the engine to heat water.  I don't know if it'd put out enough heat, but pipe it around the room for some "free" heat too