Did you know?

[spacesailor]

A steam car made a world record of  , 151 MPH .

243 km/h . 

For those to young to know .

In 1906 the ' Stanley Steamer ' did 127,6 MILES PER HOUR .

205.4 klmtrs per hour .

Charles Burnett 111 ( 3RD ) in 2009 drove his steam car at 139.8 MPH.

SHOWS how the  IC motor . Took us backwards .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

The efficiency of STEAM, is terrible, space.  Nev

[facthunter]

Electric IS the most efficient by a mile.   Nev

[spacesailor]

Not really. 

Just needs 4 cylinders , All different sized . From the smallest high pressure.  To the 

Biggest low pressure cylinder. 

Plus a really efficient radiator to return the water to the ' h2o ' tank .

spacesailor

[spacesailor]

Hybrid cars use petrol to ' charge ' their batteries. 

Is that " efficient " .

spacesailor

PS. : should we add a battery ?.

 

61 MPG .

 

Edited yesterday at 04:06 AM by spacesailor
PS added

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Electric IS the most efficient by a mile.   Nev

What's that in kW per kilometre?

[pmccarthy]

IC engines run on petrol. Electric cars in Vic run on brown coal. I know which is cleaner.

[octave]

21 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

IC engines run on petrol. Electric cars in Vic run on brown coal. I know which is cleaner.

 

OK although I dont really participate in this forum anymore I do occasionally have a poke around.  I can't let this illogical statement go unchallenged.   It is true that an EV is only as clean as the source of power used to recharge its batteries. It is also true that the petrol we burn here in Australia has been brought here by a fuel-hungry tanker ship burning pretty dirty fuel.  Let's look at the rational facts.

 

Do EVs in Victoria rely on brown coal for charging? The first point is that your statement seems to indicate that you believe that all of Victoria's power comes from brown coal.   The fact is that 37.8% of Victoria's power comes from renewables.  The projected and achieved targets are: 

 

• 25% by 2020 (achieved)
• 40% by 2025
• 65% by 2030 (previously 50%)
• 95% by 2035 (new).

It should be understood that the trajectory is towards cleaner power; therefore, with every year that passes, these vehicles get cleaner, whereas petrol cars remain pretty much the same.  As of today the average EV is charged at least a third by cleaner electricity.  I personally pay a couple of cents per KWh for green power. Yes I am aware that the actual power I get comes from a pool of electricity but my retailer buys the amount of power from renewables that equals what I use.  I also generate twice as much power as I need.  I have done some calculations and I believe my rooftop panels could drive an EV for 14000KM per year.

 

I would suggest that an EV even when powered by the standard mix of power from the Victorian grid is still much cleaner than a car that's fuel is shipped in a tanker from abroad and refined (electricity hungry process) and then is put in a road fuel tanker and driven to the petrol station using more fossil fuels which by the way also come to this country in a tanker ship.

 

 

[facthunter]

I  simply made the  statement that an electric  IS the most efficient  of all. They are near 100% efficient. Nothing else gets even close..  Diesel- electric used it as a gearbox.  . Nev

[spacesailor]

These new Hybrids are not plug-in .

They recharge by the IC motor's " regenerative braking " mode .

my neighbours new Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid. & my daughters MG 4 Hybrid.  No charge cable supplied. 

spacesailor

[facthunter]

Sorry . what's that got to do with the efficiency of an electric motor?.    There are situations  where the brakes wouldn't be used enough to recharge the batteries.  It only has about a 50 KMs range on battery but it supplements the engine power at times as well. which is an advantage with hybrids.. You can get away with a lower powered ICE motor.   Nev

[nomadpete]

Welcome back Octave. We missed you. Thanks for your input.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Agreed.. This site desperately needs someone to keep the likes of me in check!

 

Happy new year, @octave

[spacesailor]

As both Hybrids are not plug-in. 

They are  ' battery assisted IC motored ' , & as such should not be counted as green .

If , I acquire a ' plug-in battery ' car . ( as opposed to my plug-in mobility scooter ) .

Then , I Must consider ' rooftop ' solar . To go green ! .

spacesailor

 

 

[facthunter]

Some electricity suppliers are greener than others. The power can come from ANY roof or source. IF it's your roof   you  can do what you liken with it but when there's an excess of Power it can be almost free.  Nev

[spacesailor]

According to Sydney ' solar supplier's '.

No Roof-top " stand-alone " solar is allowed .

It all, has to be " grid " connected. 

Not even on my garage roof .

spacesailor

 

[onetrack]

Well, that's a pretty dumb set of regulations. What kind of idiocy allowed that system to be introduced into NSW? Energy provider lobbyists hold the most sway over NSW politicians?

 

In W.A., there's nothing to stop you from having a stand-alone solar or battery system, you simply have to request power disconnection from Western Power, our energy supplier.

Of course, WP will try and dissuade you from having a stand-alone system, they hate losing customers.

 

https://www.westernpower.com.au/news/myths-about-solar-and-batteries/

[facthunter]

You've checked them all? There are people operating OFF grid. People operate lights and gates from small solar panels and many caravans have solar panels.  Nev

[facthunter]

It averages about $400 pa to stay connected to the grid. That's NOT an excessive cost by any measure. Nev

[onetrack]

I have no power connected to my industrial block in a small country town in W.A. It's only 130kms out of town. But a 3 phase powerline runs past the street corner, only 50M away.

However - to try and get the power connected to my block is the biggest rort of all time. I have to submit an extensive plan of what equipment I have, how often it is used, and its location.

 

This is pretty difficult to do, given I don't even have a shed on the block yet. Then I have to submit my power request application, along with a substantial fee - it's $497 just for the application fee, and $1320 for a "small commercial connection".

You then get an invoice for the estimated total installation cost, after you've forked out all this money. But if you decide their total installation cost is not economic to proceed with, you forfeit $550 of your fee money.

 

In addition, it can take up to 14 months to get the power connected. It's a bloody joke. Lots of people, myself included, have just bought diesel generators. The only cost is a bit of diesel when the genset is running. If I go away, there's no ongoing monthly costs to be sucked out of my account.

 

https://www.westernpower.com.au/products-services/install-something-new/connect-my-home-or-business/new-business-commercial-connections/small-commercial-connection/#:~:text=Other fees&text=The cost of an electricity,Distribution Low Voltage Connection Scheme.&text=The type of connection provided,a stand-alone power system.

[facthunter]

Those gensets have plenty of operating problems Electrical as well as Intermittent engine use.   Nev

[facthunter]

Pretty lousy service you're getting over there.  Everything "their" way.  Nev

[onetrack]

Yes, a total lack of competition. I've got a little (6Kva) Kubota genset (GL6000 Lowboy) for single phase, and for running small tools. It's a little pearler, I paid $250 for it at auction, and $250 to get it back to Perth from Karratha. It was powering work caravans, it's a 2019 model, and has done 6,900 hrs.

It's an analog model, no electronic interface, which is good, those electronic controls crap themselves regularly. It's just got a starter-heater switch, and the engine is protected by low water and low oil switches.

It was sold as "non-operational". When I got it, it had an out-of-service tag on it, saying "possible blown head gasket".

 

I tried starting it, and it kicked over compression and the starter kicked out of engagement. I tried it several more times, and it kept doing the same. So, I suspected a faulty solenoid, thinking it was lacking power to keep the starter pinion engaged. But I installed the new solenoid, and it still did the same thing.

So I pulled the starter off and found the pinion fork ("lever" in the book) was made from cheap nylon, and it had worn out completely on one side, and was failing to keep the starter pinion in mesh.

 

I went down to the local scrappers and rummaged though a big cut-open IBC of scrapped starters, and found a couple of likely-looking candidates as a donor for a good pinion lever.

The scrapper wanted $20 for the 2 buggered starters, a bit of a ripoff, but I paid it. You can buy new starter levers off AliExpress for about $8, but I didn't want to wait.

The starter is a Mitsubishi, and the basic starter fits about 50 models of cars and engines, they just modify the nose for different applications.

 

I pulled apart the first scrapped starter, and the lever was buggered. I pulled apart the second scrap starter, and the lever was perfect - so I installed it in my Kubota starter. I reassembled it all, and the engine fired up second kick over compression, and ran like a dream, producing the full 240V without a problem. So much for their mechanics poor diagnosis.

 

I changed the oil and filters (all supposed to have been done recently, but looked like they hadn't been done for at least 500 hours), pressure-washed the whole unit, and it looks a million dollars and performs faultlessly at all times. It only uses about 1.2 litres of diesel an hour.

You can't beat genuine Japanese gensets - the Chinese ones are a real lucky dip, they're a dime a dozen, secondhand - usually suffering from blown engines or fried electrics.

I'm looking for a good 3 phase genset now, about 15-20Kva, but they're in high demand, and all bringing good money, so I just have wait for the right one.

 

Edited 18 hours ago by onetrack

[facthunter]

It's a fair number of hour's. They are not usually in a dusty environment, I suppose. I prefer to remove the sump and clean it with an unknow motor. When they sit the sludge settles and stays there till it loosens when you run it continuously and blocks the primary filter near the oil Pump.. Diesels and sludge ? Tell me about it. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

18 hours ago, spacesailor said:

According to Sydney ' solar supplier's '.

No Roof-top " stand-alone " solar is allowed .

It all, has to be " grid " connected. 

Not even on my garage roof .

spacesailor

 

Do you have a reference for that, because everywhere I have looked and there are plenty of resources to say it is OK to live off grid in Sydney.. and here is an example of one such house: https://medium.com/@BrendonWalsh/the-self-sustainable-story-1db49db24fd3

 

There is a case where the council aren't allowing solar on the roof of heritage listed houses, but, given the space, that won't stop you going off grid with Solar in the back yard (she doesn't have any back yard to speak of, looking at that house). And the council is reviewing its rules to allow it, apparently: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-18/off-grid-inner-city-sydney-house-plan-laura-ryan/104734666

 

Whoever is telling you that is crapping you. Always pays to do your own research