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Precise RPM control

cranetruck

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In order to set an accurate RPM while charging batteries, I cut a tent rope tensioner into a spacer to jam under the "Throttle" control grip. Without it, the RPM was either to high or too low. No biggie, just thought it may be useful in general. Ideally a throttle control with vernier control would be nice, but who has the money these days...
 

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73m819

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I use something like that to set the rpm when I'm useing the crane
 

cranetruck

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Nice "special tool" Bjorn.
And just what is the ideal RPM for charging batteries?
BC
Oh, anything over 1,000 rpm, I suppose, but wanted something near 1,200, which wasn't to noisy and the ratchet on the throttle control was either 900 or 1,400-1,500...like I said no biggie.
When the Nicads need to be recharged, I run the engine 30 to 45 minutes and the 2-1/2KW initial load is too much at idle.
 

stumps

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If you are out and away from the grid, I suppose this would suffice, but if you want to charge batteries, you would be way better off using a plug-in-the-wall battery charger. Diesel is expensive.

NiCads in a deuce? Do tell! The deuce alternator isn't really suited to charging NiCads. What are you doing?

-Chuck
 

JasonS

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As I'm sure you know, nicads are very prone to thermal runaway. A deuce is also a very inefficient means to charge a battery.
 

cranetruck

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If you are out and away from the grid, I suppose this would suffice, but if you want to charge batteries, you would be way better off using a plug-in-the-wall battery charger. Diesel is expensive.

NiCads in a deuce? Do tell! The deuce alternator isn't really suited to charging NiCads. What are you doing?

-Chuck
Not the deuce, but could be. The 8x8 is equipped with two fuel burning heaters and if they run on the start batteries without the engine then they would not be able to crank it after some time, so the idea of "house" batteries came to be.
Since I wanted to be able to run the batteries down repeatedly without worrying about sulfation and also be able to charge them fast, a string NiCd cells was the solution.

Pictures show the cells and some control wiring. The ammeter shows about 80 amps, which the 100 amp generator can supply.

The Nicads are also used to crank the 10KW genset and an inverter has been installed as well.
Some numbers; It takes about 45 minutes to recharge the 60-70 AH battery bank (approx 1 gallon of fuel).
Charging is done "manually" under my observation with an eye on the cell voltages. The regulator should be set according to ambient temp and in general, IIMSS, perhaps not for everyone. It has worked very well so far.
 
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rchalmers3

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Wow, interesting idea! I'm curious as to why you chose those over ordinary deep cycle lead acid batteries, like those made for golf carts?

Rick
 

cranetruck

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Wow, interesting idea! I'm curious as to why you chose those over ordinary deep cycle lead acid batteries, like those made for golf carts?

Rick
The number one reason is the speed of recharge, compare less than an hour to several hours at best for LA types and I wanted to use the full capability of the 100 amp generator on the truck. I'm replacing the 80 amp gauge seen in the images above with an 150-amp meter, since the generator frequently puts out 100 amps during charging, pegging the needle.

The Nicads can survive many more cycles of discharge/recharge and can be stored in any state of charge indefinitely (=years). Also, almost constant voltage until discharged, better low temp performance and more.

The thermal runaway can be a problem if overcharged, but with proper charging voltage and good instrumentation, I'm not concerned.
There are good reasons why they are used in aircraft...
 

stumps

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Don't know about being much lighter, a 19-cell 24 volt NiCd battery weighs 83 lb (BB-693A) with an AH capacity of 30.
Hmm? That surely isn't lighter. I used to have 12V packs made up of wet NiCad's from surplus airplane starter packs, and I am sure that they were lighter. They weren't marked for A-H capacity (that I recall), but ten of them were physically similar in size to a normal automotive start battery. The big problem with starter service is they lost most of their capacity when they got hot.... great in the frozen north, though.

-Chuck
 

Stretch44875

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Gimpster had a bunch of the viener control cables at one time, cheap.. Maybe he will chime in, or you could PM him. They do work nice.
 
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