# Could this generator power my clio



## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi

I was perusing the web this morning as you do, whilst you wait for the family to wake up and I looked at the following site - click here. I was amazed when I saw the picture below which the site owner claims is his generator!

Great site - well worth a look

stew


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Nice site thanks for the link Stew.

*Anyone with an American RV should bookmark the site*. There is a wealth of detail in the drawings and photos. You may not need or have every gizmo that they have but I now know what a pathmaker and equaliser are for.

As to the Genny well I think its a high speed diesel so a little surprised that it seems to be only rated at 5.5KVA I would have expected 10KVA at least from that lump but I'm only really familiar with 230V machines.

Regards

Frank


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Nice site, Stew. Buses like that could convert me to RVs.  

No, they could, really. It looks beautiful.

Dreaming ..................................... 

Gerald


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi Frank, bit puzzled as he lists it at 16.5KV

"or running the enormous 16.5KW on-board generator" 

Olley


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

olley said:


> Hi Frank, bit puzzled as he lists it at 16.5KV
> 
> "or running the enormous 16.5KW on-board generator"
> 
> Olley


Which I thought he puts through a 50A breaker. I'll have to check the drawings again but 16.5kW seems more like it.

Frank

Edit I see now its a 50A supply breaker to feed his 'buddy' socket so you can park up next to him and get 50A 240V supply WOW he could run an Italian camp site!

I think its a 240V generator not 110.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi

What can I tell my clio chaps :lol: 

stew


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi I am trying to get my head around his battery wiring >>>HERE<<< 1234 don't appear to be connected to 5678 and 1234 don't have the live connected, 5678 don't have the positive except to the 12v side.

He says he's running 24v system with a 12v centre tap, now I suggested something similar early in the year to enable the use of a 24v inverter, and was promptly shot down in flames.

Olley


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

olley said:


> Hi I am trying to get my head around his battery wiring >>>HERE<<< 1234 don't appear to be connected to 5678 and 1234 don't have the live connected, 5678 don't have the positive except to the 12v side.
> 
> He says he's running 24v system with a 12v centre tap, now I suggested something similar early in the year to enable the use of a 24v inverter, and was promptly shot down in flames.
> 
> Olley


I don't think the intention was to show the charging circuit just the consumer side.

Thats what the Vanner equalisers are for see

>>HERE<<

note a 10A one is £252!

Hence the advice probably

Frank


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi frank, thanks for the link, you learn something new every day, never new they existed. 

I was trying to utilise an ups (24v 3000watts pure sine wave £100 on ebay) as an inverter, in the end I bought an 1800watt modified from GT. 

I can see by the time I spent money on an equaliser it would have cheaper to buy a 12v inverter. I shall tuck that device away in the old memory box.

Olley


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## 101760 (Nov 12, 2006)

*Answers*

Wow, lots to answer here.

First off, thanks for all the kind words about our conversion. We have been living aboard full-time now for over two years, and it's working out really well for us.

To clear up some of the confusion:

Our generator is an old transfomer-regulated type, of unknown rating. There is no rating plate on the generator head. However, based on wiring, tests, and the size breaker it had when we got it (it came with the bus, and is one of the very few items we salvaged instead of scrapping), it is probably rated close to 17KW standby, or just over 15KW continuous. Use in a motorhome application is something of a cross between these applications, but closer to standby, so I look at it as a 16.5KW unit.

I'm not sure where Frank (sallytrafic) got the 5.5KW number -- if you found this somewhere on the site please let me know and I will correct it. If you calculated it, probably you used the wrong starting point for your math. The generator main breaker is a two-pole 70-amp unit. This generator, as is fairly common in the US, puts out 240 volts in a split-phase arrangement. That's two 120-volt legs with respect to a "neutral" at ground potential, but with a 180-degree phase difference, so that the leg-to-leg voltage is 240. 70 amps at 240 volts is 16.8 KW.

Olley asked about the battery wiring. First, I apologize that the drawing you cited is a bit confusing. That drawing was intended to assist the contractor with not only the wiring but also the physical placement of the batteries, so they are arranged in the drawing exactly as they are layed out on the trays, right down to placement of the terminals. If you look carefully, though, you will see that the negative terminals (indicated by green dots) of 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all tied together, and then to ground, passing first through the shunt for the Link-10 battery monitor. Likewise, the positive terminals (indicated by red dots) of 5, 6, 7, and 8 are connected together, and then to the 24-volt loads via the "24-volt disconnect" switch. Those loads include the Xantrex/Trace SW4024 inverter and the 24-volt input side of the Vanner equalizer.

The confusing part is what happens in the middle. The positives of 1, 2, 3, and 4 are connected together with the negatives of 5, 6, 7, and 8, which makes the whole bank a series/parallel arrangement delivering 24 volts. This "center tap" is also connected, via the magenta-colored wire in the diagram, to the 12-volt load center, and also to the 12-volt output side of the Vanner equalizer. Perhaps you simply missed seeing the connection, also shown in magenta, between the positive post of battery 4 and the negative post of battery 5. Here again, these are the actual wiring connections. This connection sequence, and even the orientation of the batteries (for example, battery 4 is oriented with positive on the left and negative on the right, while 5, 6, and 7 are the other way round) was carefully designed to minimize cable lengths, while also keeping the cabling "balanced" so that all batteries will deplete and charge at the same rate.

I hope this helps clear up some of the mystery.

Thanks again for all the kind words, and feel free to give me a shout if you have any other questions, or find yourself across the pond and in our vicinity.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

*Re: Answers*



Odyssey said:


> Wow, lots to answer here.
> 
> First off, thanks for all the kind words about our conversion. We have been living aboard full-time now for over two years, and it's working out really well for us.
> 
> ...


Yes saw a 50A breaker and saw lots of 110V stuff and multiplied the two.  Realised the answer was silly for such a large lump of a generator. The 50A breaker was your 'buddy' outlet. Once I found that and saw it was 240v I realised that it was a 240V genny (although force of habit made me say 230V as we changed to 230 some years ago in Europe). Didn't find the 70A breakers on a drawing though.

Nice RV though Sean I'm sure there will be lots of people drooling over your photos.

Regards Frank


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