Regarding changing engine idle (mentioned above) to handle power loads:
I found two aftermarket modules (for Chevy’s anyway) that might handle this. One was a GM module that simply bumped up the idle (to 1500, I think) after X minutes of continuous idle in park or neutral (no throttle inputs). I think it was designed for something like sleeping in a truck stop with the A/C. It just went to a preset RPM and stayed there until you touched the accelerator. The second was and a non-gm brand that somehow tied to alternator output and battery drain. It would advance the throttle to whatever power output was needed to counteract loads on the alternator.
Sorry, I can’t remember exact details about them (it was over a year ago), but a bit of googling will probably find them.
Would love some some more details , I want to turn my Mercedes 300d turbo diesel in to a power generator to run my well and single wide trailer in the woods. I believe it would be a cost effective way since I don’t go to the property that often I have a 5500 watt Coleman and also a 6500 watt Coleman which I want to figure some way to hook up to the car, maybe via a pulley by the radiator pump fan or out of the AC compressor Pullie since the compressor does not work or take the tire off and hook it up there.
I do have a F250 also but I thing the diesel would be cheaper on fuel . Also have a e150 v8 van I could use. My e-mail is healingtv@gmail.com
My cellphone is 3218379974 if you want to text me
I wanted to get off the grid basically, currently paying almost $35 a month for no electric usage , just to be connected which I find ridiculous if I only go maybe 3 weekends in a year
By the way Have not seen a single YouTube video that does this in fact you are the only person I have found that has actually done it. Besides the advantages of it being quiet and inconspicuous, I believe the emergency or just for casual camping use would make a a great idea.
So what he wants is “dyno”… Dynamometer … This is what the engine tuning people use to measure the tune… the performance…
Many dyno’s have the AC induction generator already but they connect it to an eddy current variable load, that converts the electric power to heat. Others may use a mechanical load, like a hydraulic pump to uselessly pump fluid in some container with a large surface area to dissipate the heat without high temperatures.
What it would need is the dummy load replaced with an invertor that will keep the output at the useful voltage …
The dyno controller already has the output to drive a throttle servo … a feedback loop to maintain constant RPM, for example.
Last Fall I purchased a '21 F150 PowerBoost. It’s a Hybred with a 7.2KW inverter built in. It has 2- 120 V receptacles in the cabin and 3 in the bed. The bed also contains a 240V receptacle.
When put in power mode it will start/stop the gas engine to keep the batteries charged powering the inverter.
I have a 2K watt inverter I’ve used in the past during outages. One large car battery will only support about half of that current, a second one would be needed for full load. I would connect it mostly to a pickup truck when I had one, had to leave it idling, but the idling would adjust to the demand, which was pretty constant trying to keep a fridge and a few other devices running. That inverter and an extra battery would be huge improvement over a large expensive wheel powered generator if other options weren’t available.
There’s a Red Green show episode where he hooks up a belt to a Honda Civic’s wheel to try to get power. He attaches an extension to the back wheel, connects a drive belt, jacks up the rear so it will free-wheel, and fires it up. I watched this up until the punchline without connecting the dots, that the Civic was front-wheel drive. It takes off tearing up his whole contraption.
I’m sure duct tape was involved.
But that would be the solution - create a pulley wheel that has the same bolt pattern as the wheel, and jack up the car. And figure out how to not stall it under load. I presume when it is needed, it is a long-term enough solution that it’s worth the setup effort.
I was thinking a large chunk of wood would get behind the wheel and lift the axle off the jack stand. Then the truck would roll back into the street where it would be T-Boned by a bus.
Let me know if you find something I think this is a extremely useful thing when it’s really needed getting tens of kilowatts of power from my vehicle set up in a few minutes during an emergency could be an incredibly helpful I’m pretty much figured out how to do it but actually doing it would be difficult and if somebody already has it all figured out that would be awesome.
If you can send me any kind of information about the way you set this up that would be really helpful I know you wrote me some long time ago but I sure would like to see it if you have something in progress and can you tell us how well it works and how much power you can get off of it?
