🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <80114-815868333@mindlink.bc.ca>,
Richard Hennick <richard@mindlink.bc.ca> wrote:
>Thanks for the battery info, Andy!
>
>In article <47r5nh$4mm@venice.cs.ubc.ca>, amartin@cs.ubc.ca (Andy Martin)
>writes:
>
>> My solution to the weight vs time problem has been to add a dynamo
>> (actually two 'cause I'm running a 12 v system) along with rectifier and
>> voltage regulator.
>
>Is this a homebuilt setup?  If so, do you have a source for schematics?

Yes, it's homebuilt. The schematics  came out of my head.  Here's what
I'm currently using -- modify at will:

                                             
                                           | /| Z1
                                      +----|< |-----+
				      |    | \|     |
                                      |             |
                                      | +--------+  |
 A--+-----+          +----+------+----+-|I Vreg O|--+-------+
    |     |          |    |      |      |   S    |  \       | 
  /---\   |          |    |+     |      +--------+  /R1     |  
  |Gen|   |          | C1===      /         |       \      --- 
  \---/   | +-----+  |    |-     /          |       /     ----- 12v 
    |     +-|~   +|--+    |      |          +-------+      ---  2.7Ah
    +---+   |Rect.|       +--+   |                  |     -----
    |   | +-|~   -|--+    |  | +----+               \       |
  /---\ | | +-----+  |    |+ | |Load|               /R2     |
  |Gen| | |          | C2=== | +----+               \       |
  \---/ | |          |    |- |   |                  /       |
    |   | |          |    |  |   |                  |       |
 B--+-----+          +----+------+------------------+-------+ 
        |                    |
        +--------------------+

R1 -- 220 ohms
R2 -- 2.2K 
C1, C2 -- 3,300 Mfd (probaly overkill), 12V (min)

Z1 -- Diode -- Max Forward current enough to power your load.
	    -- Will see some high (~15 Amp) surges when the battery
	       is first connected.

Rect. -- 3Amp Bridge Rectifier

Gen -- 6Vac @ 0.5A

Vreg -- I don't remember what it was, but pretty much any adjustable
	regulator capable of handling 1.5 amps and dissipating
	a couple of watts will do.  The component values (R1 and R2)
	are based on a regulator with a 1.25V reference, and give
	a nominal charging voltage of 13.75 V.

You can disconnect the generators, and attach an AC adaptor
to points (A) and (B) to charge the battery from the mains.  
I'm using a 13.5V 1.25A adaptor that RP had on sale. 

I got all of the electronics components from RP Electronics.  They had
the appropriate capacitors, the rectifier, and a 13.5v adaptor
on special at the time.  

I expect that I'm seeing a combined loss of 3-4 volts across the
rectifier and regulator.  If I was just charging the battery, 
that would amount to about 20% of the generated power.
However, when I'm running with lights on, only the loss across
the rectifier is relevant which is probably about 1.5 - 2 V --
about 12% of the generated power.
When I'm running on battery alone, there is a 1v drop across the
diode -- about 8% power loss.
These losses will get worse if the system is adapted to 6v.