[ausev] adding an electric generator

[Brian Lasseter]

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 1:25 PM, John Flores-McLaughlin
<johnfm101 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm new to the group after purchasing a 1986 toyota mr2 conversion. I
> have a question about adding a gas-electric generator with my charger
> while driving. Would this cause a current overload to my batts? here
> are my specs.
>
> 72 V system with 8 volt Energizer golf cart batteries, 7245 Alltrax
> Programmable Controller (www.alltraxinc.com) and the D&D Motor ES-15A
> (www.ddmotorsystems.com). The charger is onboard 72 volt - 20 amps
> smart charger made by Quickcharger (www.quickcharge.com)


20A at 72V is only 1.44kw... and that little power is unlikely to help
you in cruising down the highway.  How many amps does your car draw
when you are cruising at something like 50mph?


The tricky parts though are making sure your generator is large
enough, clean enough to be legal on US roads, and that it generates a
nice sine wave for the charger.  I would direct you to the following
reading. Manzanita Micro http://www.manzanitamicro.com/ has some
specific notes on using Generators with his PFC chargers:
http://www.manzanitamicro.com/Appnote1R3.doc

Also, there are some general notes on why using a generator is mostly
impractical (and very polluting) in the Electric Car Conversion
wiki-book: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_conversion_chapter:_technologies#Range_Extenders

And some number crunching on the Seattle EVA chapter Wiki...
http://www.seattleeva.org/wiki/Generator_Emissions

There is also some good reading in the AustinEV archives...
http://www.google.com/search?q=generator+-HHO+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.austinev.org%2Fpipermail%2Fausev%2F

-- 
TTFN,
Brian "Lasso" Lasseter

"No Sane man will dance." -Cicero (106-43 B.C.)