Some changes to the Doghouse
 

Here is what I did with my exhaust system, there is another one on the other side, in the same location. I ran all new from the turbo and used a y-pipe to slit the system up. The exhaust used to have a low droning noise that came up into the sleeper,...now I have to touch my wall to see if I can feel the engine run.When I first went out the exhaust was a single muffler that ran up the side of the cab on the pass. sidehttp://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...uarterview.jpg. It was very, very loud, so I moved it to here.http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../genset018.jpg



The genset is in a box from Zamzow, I insulated it and placed this genset inside the box. The exhaust system is insulated and the large fan in the left side of the box takes the hot air out of the box and keeps it at 145 degrees.http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../genset036.jpg

The electrical components are all easy to get to, as well as the coolant pump and the belt tension pulley.http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../genset035.jpg

This is the complete unit. I have finally been able to use it for an entire day. I'll be testing it again tomorrow, but as of now it is working better than it ever has.http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../genset034.jpg

This is the muffler, it's all the way in the back,I looped a resonater and a muffler, welded them together and it is very quiet, but still has great flow.http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../genset026.jpg

The tailpipe runs up inside the frame , under the fifthwheel and out. The intake runs up under the hood of the truck.

These are the six deep cycle batteries that are kept charged by the solar during the day, the truck engine while I drive, and the genset.http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../genset033.jpg

Your setup is no good. There are no wire nuts.

or a wad of electrical tape.
or a............ FIRE!!!!!!!!!!

What are the dimensions on that setup?

The box is 48"long 24"by24" square.
The genset is 27"long 14"deep 16"high and weighs about 200lbs.

Is there any particular reason the box is almost twice as big as the generator?

In case of repairs, I like to be able to get in and not be cramped. It also leaves room to get a bigger better unit. When I got the A-Trans unit it was inside a box that left no room for even adjusting the belt. It was a very poorly designed system. Thats probably why they went out of business so fast.

How much do you figure your whole system weighs? I've put together a couple of "apu's" , i started with a used 2 cyl engine from a stright truck reefer......

I figure the system weighs about 350lbs that box and all.

I ran the unit today for a test and after 4 hrs the capacitor (the little black box at the bottom) started to melt a little. So I relocated it to the outside where the ambient temp was 40 degrees lower than the inside of the genbox, and all was well. I got the inside of the sleeper down to less than 63 and it was 102 outside.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../genset035.jpg

Trying to be famous like Rev and burn down the truck? :lol:

Don't jinx me man :shock:
I'm too much of a paranoid, I won't even think of running this thing unattended without 20hrs of test time and thats after all the bugs are out.
Problem with the capacitor was that so many companies make them that they all had diff. temp ranges. The 2 I ordered didn't have the temp range stamped on them so I had to test it to see.
After I moved it to the outside the capacitor barely got warm.

Capacitors are not meat to cycle on and off. They are meant to overcome their barrier potential once in a blue moon at full charge. Moving it will not help. They are not meant to work that hard. Emergency situations are their calling.

Thanks for the input, looks like I'll have to look into the problem a bit closer.

Sorry Doghouse I couldn't help myself, since everyone else is getting their digs in figure why not me. :lol:

Thats OK, believe me I've burned some stuff up in my day. I just don't want it to be my vehicle this time :wink:


Steve,
The capacitor on my unit seems to regulate the current to between 115 and 125volts. Without it the gen head won't even put out any current. Do you suppose this is more a voltage regulator than a capacitor?

I had a diff. capacitor on it and the unit would only put out 4 volts, then I put the old one on and it seemed fine, but the reason I took it off was because it was swinging between 56 volts and 130 volts.

Putting this unit outside sure seems to have made a diff.,....thanks for another night of no sleep while I try to figure this damn thing out. :cry:

Better than a night of sleep because you are busy putting fires out like me. :lol:

I certainly can't disagree with that Rev :lol:

Yes, your right. I don't know what I was thinking about last night when I wrote that. Most generators need a small load to get them going and what works best is a ballast. If you take the capacitor out and plug a small florescent light in that will kick start things into motion. I would still recommend the cap but can't tell you what size to use but I have a feeling it may be huge!

Many people who have small generators at home have a small florescent light that comes on every time the generator starts.

I double checked it today, it works perfectly now that I moved that capacitor away from the ambient heat of the engine compartment. It's been running for 4hrs and it's got the sleeper down to 60.4degrees. I'm going to set the temp. at 73degrees and see how it does cycling on and off for the rest of the day.

I'll bring the marshmallows. :wink:

Out of matches? No problem, park next to Rev.

No fire today the unit ran perfectly.
Coolant temp 130
Inside box temp 140
Ouside temp 102
Inside sleeper temp 70
The capacitor never even got warm, and it cycled at least 100 times.
I think after all the problems I might actually have this thing working the way it's supposed to.

How are you managing to keep the inside box temp so low?

He mounted a second AC in it. :lol:

Now that yours is done, come build mine.

I mounted a high temp. squirrel cage fan in the lower left hand corner of the box. It draws air from the right side near the top. It runs off the 12 volt aux. circuit that powers my battery charger when the genset is running. The same unit runs the new 12 volt coolant pump. That way they don't drain my batteries because they can only operate when the genset is running, and the dual function charger tops off the batteries when the genset is running.

If this unit works out, I plan on putting together a 2cyl kubota with a 5,000watt gen head. I'll let you know the cost and send you all the info you need to put it on your truck, but I have a lot of testing to do before then,...so try not to burn your truck up in the meantime.

Is there a squirrel in it? That would be awesome.

If you make it small enough to fit into the box I already have built, I promise not to burn my truck down in the meantime.


Yours runs the coolant through the truck's cooling system, right? What do you have for a radiator fan on it? How do you get it to go through the engine thermostat when the truck isn't running?

One of the first things I wondered about was how the unit is able to flow coolant through the engine while its off. Here's what I've come up with. There are fuzzy bunnies who use buckets to carry the coolant around the thermostat.
Really,.. I don't know, maybe there is a bypass tube that allows full circulation, maybe there is no thermostat in my truck (I wouldn't be surprised) but there is complete coolant flow because the radiator gets hot at the top first and then the bottom tube after about 30 minutes of running. My truck temp gauge reads 130 and the unit has run today for instance for 10hrs non stop without overheating. There is a set of cooling fans, but the size of the cooling system is enough to keep the genset at 130,....but if there was an issue, I have two electric fans that are mounted in front of my radiator(right next to my AC condensor) that operate of the same 12 volt source that the box fan and coolant pump work off of. The thing is that I haven't had to turn it on yet because the genset already runs cool enough.
I like the fuzzy bunny theory better though 8)

What are the inside dimensions of your gen box?
A 2cyl engine will take up less floor space, but be a bit taller. A radiator can be added to the outside, but I do like being able to heat up my engine during the winter.

I can't find my tape measure, so I'll have to go approximate right now. The outside dimensions are 29" wide X 24" tall X 21" deep. The inside dimensions are only slightly smaller than that. If I had to, I could modify the box slightly to give a little more width to it (3 inches at the most). I'd prefer not to have to, however.

I like the idea of running coolant lines to the engine as well, especially if the distance itself is enough to cool the engine down without having to run a second radiator, or an additional radiator fan.

I think those dimensions will work with a direct drive unit, and maybe a belt drive unit if it's placed properly. Do you prefer direct or belt.

I prefer whatever is the hardest to start on fire.

ROTFLMAO :lol: :lol:

I started with this much fuel todayhttp://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...sumptin004.jpg

5 hours later I ended up with thishttp://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...sumptin005.jpg

I estimate that with the new power demand on the genset, and having to run at a higher rpm. I now use 21oz of fuel per hour. When I first did this I only used 12oz per hour. Oh well, it better than ildeing the truck, of having to plan my stops around idleair locations.

1/5 gallon per hour is still pretty darn good.

What new power demand are you talking about? Also, how can you run at a higher RPM. Isn't your system set to run at a very specific RPM like mine?

Also, not sure if you know this but a postal scale is much easier to use doing tests like this and results can be accurately calculated at any time over a very short period.

I'm satisfied with the fuel economy.
This unit has no preset anything. Spin the engine faster and the genhead puts out more voltage. With the new battery charger unit (30 amp) and the addition of the cooling fan to the box, I had to increase the rpm. I have it balanced now so when the AC unit is running it stays at 119 volts, and when the AC cycles off it runs at 129 volts.
The battery charger works between 105v and 130v, so I had to make sure that when the AC cycled off, that it didn't kick off the battery charger overload switch.
Very much a pain in the butt.
I didn't think about a postal scale that would be very accurate, but I didn't have one to spill diesel fuel all over anyway.

After our discussion on running the water lines to the truck and how the thermostat managed to be open, I called Cummins to ask them about it. They informed me that the thermostat is most definitely closed when the truck is shut off, but will open at 180 degrees, even with the truck shut off. So either you aren't running coolant through your engine, or your thermostat is broken and stays open all the time. I suppose it is possible that you are hitting a 180 degree temp on the coolant (and by the time it hits the gauge, it is down to 130 degrees), but somehow I doubt it.


Borrow the one from the post office. DUH.

Does that work the same in a Detroit?
I can't go to the Post Office,...they have my picture on the wall :cry: