Any EE's in the house? I need an EE -> Grease Monkey translation please...

[Rednecktek]

So I saw this video today from Poz and I had thoughts of doing something similar a few times but never had the time. Watching his video I think I see a few things I can do to make it work better, but at about 16:10 he starts getting this toroid/PCB/thing involved and I don't get it.

So, what is it? Why is it needed? How would you size/build something like that if the smallest thing you've ever soldered was a copper pipe?

Can someone explain it to me in layman's terms? I tried Teh Googles but I don't think I'm getting the questions right, so I'm not getting the answers I'm after either.

Help?

 

[timselectric]

I've also looked into doing something like this. But with a 48v tractor alternator.
I think that torid was for smoothing out the pulses.
Which went over my head.

 

[peufeu]

Brushes on these brushed motors make sparks, and that makes noise and voltage spikes, so he wants a filter to get rid of the noise. That's reasonable, but I have no idea whether it's necessary: maybe the Victron charger already has enough input filtering on its own, there's no way to know if he's fixing a problem that exists or not without a whole lot more information.

But then he sticks in a common mode choke coil, I'm not sure it's going to do anything useful... I mean it's mostly going to block radio frequency interference, but it won't do anything about voltage spikes from the brushes.

Personally I'd just use a power line filter like this one. I'm putting the link mainly for the photo, these are not expensive, easy to find including on old junked equipment too. You could even use an IEC socket one from an old switching power supply. It won't care about DC or AC but it should be rated for current and voltage it's going to be used at.

 

[Rednecktek]

Just tried to track down an SCC for a project like this... the Victron he uses is the only one I can find with the right voltage and amperage... and it's about $1000!!!! For that I can buy 2 generators, AC chargers, and lunch! Ouch!!!!!!!

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

Just tried to track down an SCC for a project like this... the Victron he uses is the only one I can find with the right voltage and amperage... and it's about $1000!!!! For that I can buy 2 generators, AC chargers, and lunch! Ouch!!!!!!

It's an interesting project... if you have everything in hand.
Disclaimer: didn't watch past 7:37, too painful.
1. Gas engine
1.1 Size pulleys to achieve maximum voltage for MPPT
2. PMA
3. 3 phase rectifier
4. Properly sized MPPT SCC
5. Done. Have another beer.

 

[Rednecktek]

It's an interesting project... if you have everything in hand.
Disclaimer: didn't watch past 7:37, too painful.
1. Gas engine
1.1 Size pulleys to achieve maximum voltage for MPPT
2. PMA
3. 3 phase rectifier
4. Properly sized MPPT SCC
5. Done. Have another beer.

Can you do that and have multiple voltages though? I've never seen an alternator/PMA rig that can do over 12v.

 

[HighDesertOffgrid]

Can you do that and have multiple voltages though? I've never seen an alternator/PMA rig that can do over 12v.

ONE voltage, Absolutely! My cheap Chinese wind generator (PMA) will put out over 130v, if left to freewheel. The SCC puts a load on it and slows it down while converting voltage into V/I that your system likes. The sail governor on the gas engine will control output to keep a constant RPM. As long as you have the proper pulley ratio, you're golden.