On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:18:07 GMT, (Larry W4CSC) wrote:

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 11:52:46 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

~~ snippity doo-da ~~

Heck, I've got a Astron RS-30a under my desk that is noiser than hell
and has been since I bought it WAY back when. :)

Junk it. I did mine. If that damned series pass transistor ever
shorts, you can kiss all your equipment hooked to it good bye when the
20-some volts hits them. I don't use analog, series pass regulated
power supplies, here. The ham shack 12V equipment all runs off a bank
of 90-year-old Nickel-Iron cells I got from a demolished Holiday Inn.
They provide about 800AH at 14VDC and are charged by a WalMart
automatic shutoff 10A charger all mounted under the house. This power
supply provides the 120A 14VDC to power my highly-modified TenTec
Hercules II solid state HF linear amp, about 650W OUTPUT. It also
powers all the VHF, scanners, and other 12V toys cluttering up the
desk. It's hooked to a 1KW Tripplite UPS that powers the desk light
and computers/monitors/modems/routers and other network toys in power
outage. The lights in here don't ever blink...(c;

I did something similar when I was really active on the CW bands,
although it is called a Kubota 10 Kw three cylinder diesel generator.
:)

I live out in the woods (so to speak), last house on the power line
and lose power all the time for a long time, sometimes for days.
Heck, it sneezes outside in the winter and the power will blink.

I will admit it hasn't been bad recently, but I'm not giving up my hot
shower and water when the power goes down. :)

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"I object to fishing tournaments less for
what they do to fish than what they do to
fishermen." Ted Williams - 1964

I just made a honey of a deal on Honda's biggest inverter 3KW genset,
the EU3000is. I was bringing my little 1KW back for warranty service
on the carb and this guy with a 5th wheel camper was unloading it onto
the tailgate of his Dodge dually diesel pickup. "How do you like the
3KW?", I asked him. He said it was fantastic but wouldn't start his
15KBtu roof A/C and he was bringing it back to this dealer to trade it
in on a camper twin Honda. I asked him how much he wanted for this
one and he thought a minute and said $1800. I started it, hell it was
brand new. "I'll give you $1500 cash within 30 minutes as soon as I
go home to get it.", I tried. "Hmm...well, that's more than they're
gonna give me on a trade. Deal!" We met at my bank to notarize the
bill of sale and get away from the dealer's salesman that looked like
he was going to kill me...(c; $1800 is the internet price. Dealer
retail is $2K with prep and ad-on taxes about $2400. Man, you can
hardly hear this little box run. SO quiet.....

Why the boat genset manufacturers don't buy Honda's technology and
make an econo-speed inverter genset is crazy. Engine speed has
nothing to do with frequency. Until the load on it get over 1200
watts, the engine stays near its low economy speed around 1000 RPM.
The 3.4 gallon tank will power a 750W load for TWENTY HOURS! With
piston speeds so low, (even at full load it's only running 2500 RPM,
not a constant 3600 RPM) it should last a lifetime. Output is
60.00007 Hz at no load and 60.0036 Hz at 3000 watts on my counter.
Output voltage varies by 8 volts from no load to 3KW. The sine looks
very clean on my scope with very little distortion, even at full load.
It's much cleaner than a Heart in a boat. And there's NO dip in power
as you jerk a hard load onto it. Must have some hefty filter caps in
the inverter's input rectifiers. The actual alternator is a 3 phase,
high voltage tiny little thing. Dry weight with the internal
fiberglass Super Quiet case inside a square steel outer case is only
130#. Two can lift it easily and there is a wheel kit for it if you
want.

http://www.hayesequipment.com/eu3000is.htm

Too bad its exhaust is impossible to weld and output dry stack to.
It's all wrapped up inside the fiberglass and cooled with the blower
in the engine. It'd make a helluva nice sailboat genset so compact.
It's noise level is less than someone talking! The cabinet doesn't
even get warm! It'd be so easy to make a boat model. Guess there
isn't a market for it.

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:18:07 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

....snip

Junk it. I did mine. If that damned series pass transistor ever
shorts, you can kiss all your equipment hooked to it good bye when the
20-some volts hits them.

You probably know this, but you can (actually, must) prevent that happening
by putting a "crowbar" circuit across the output, after the fuse. This is
just a large scr with a resistor from the bus to the gate with a 14 or 15
volt zener to ground. It doesn't conduct until the voltage exceeds the
zener limit and then the scr shorts to ground, blowing the fuse and
protecting the equipment.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 16:10:10 GMT, Larry wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:18:07 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

...snip

Junk it. I did mine. If that damned series pass transistor ever
shorts, you can kiss all your equipment hooked to it good bye when the
20-some volts hits them.

You probably know this, but you can (actually, must) prevent that happening
by putting a "crowbar" circuit across the output, after the fuse. This is
just a large scr with a resistor from the bus to the gate with a 14 or 15
volt zener to ground. It doesn't conduct until the voltage exceeds the
zener limit and then the scr shorts to ground, blowing the fuse and
protecting the equipment.

Nifty - I think I'll do that. Thanks.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries:
Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did and so, if I might be judge, God never did make
a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler"(1653)

Got a call from Champion Honda that my little 1KW inverter EU1000i was
repaired (they replaced the carb as I suggested), this morning. Went
over and was handed a $159 bill for the warranty service. After
making a little....well a lot....of noise, I was told to leave the
generator (bill not paid) and they'd call Honda about warranty
payment.

I'd like to publically thank Honda Power Products for settling with my
dealer, this afternoon. Honda picked up the bill. I didn't even pay
for the spark plug it didn't need (replaced 2 weeks ago) or the "valve
adjustment" the technician sold me on the phone it didn't need.

The new carb runs fantastic. Doesn't even have to be choked from
cold!

THANKS HONDA! I'LL BUY SOME MORE!!

Larry
EU1000i 1KW inverter genset
EU3000IS 3KW inverter genset
EG5000X 5KW genset
Honda self-propelled lawn mower
and my previous 12 Honda motorcycles, including the 305 Dream I've
regretted selling since the 60's!

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 16:10:10 GMT, Larry wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:18:07 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

...snip

Junk it. I did mine. If that damned series pass transistor ever
shorts, you can kiss all your equipment hooked to it good bye when the
20-some volts hits them.

You probably know this, but you can (actually, must) prevent that happening
by putting a "crowbar" circuit across the output, after the fuse. This is
just a large scr with a resistor from the bus to the gate with a 14 or 15
volt zener to ground. It doesn't conduct until the voltage exceeds the
zener limit and then the scr shorts to ground, blowing the fuse and
protecting the equipment.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

Oh, I know. Does it have an output fuse? Mine didn't, just the AC
line.

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 06:18:18 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 16:10:10 GMT, Larry wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:18:07 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

...snip

Junk it. I did mine. If that damned series pass transistor ever
shorts, you can kiss all your equipment hooked to it good bye when the
20-some volts hits them.

You probably know this, but you can (actually, must) prevent that happening
by putting a "crowbar" circuit across the output, after the fuse. This is
just a large scr with a resistor from the bus to the gate with a 14 or 15
volt zener to ground. It doesn't conduct until the voltage exceeds the
zener limit and then the scr shorts to ground, blowing the fuse and
protecting the equipment.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

Oh, I know. Does it have an output fuse? Mine didn't, just the AC
line.

The Astron 40 I just checked didn't. I added one in series and stuck the
crowbar after it. It does have foldback current limiting, but that won't
necessarily protect equipment connected to it.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:35:30 GMT, WaIIy
wrote:

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 06:17:15 GMT, (Larry W4CSC) wrote:

and my previous 12 Honda motorcycles, including the 305 Dream I've
regretted selling since the 60's!

Boy, those Honda Dreams were the envy of every guy in the neighborhood.
Heck, I was happy with my Whizzer, though.

Best, most troublefree motorcycle I ever owned......

The red plastic fenders never rusted a bit!

Foldback current limiting assumes the pass transistor doing the
folding back is a functional device, not welded from E to C....(c;



On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:30:54 GMT, Larry wrote:

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 06:18:18 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 16:10:10 GMT, Larry wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:18:07 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

...snip

Junk it. I did mine. If that damned series pass transistor ever
shorts, you can kiss all your equipment hooked to it good bye when the
20-some volts hits them.

You probably know this, but you can (actually, must) prevent that happening
by putting a "crowbar" circuit across the output, after the fuse. This is
just a large scr with a resistor from the bus to the gate with a 14 or 15
volt zener to ground. It doesn't conduct until the voltage exceeds the
zener limit and then the scr shorts to ground, blowing the fuse and
protecting the equipment.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

Oh, I know. Does it have an output fuse? Mine didn't, just the AC
line.

The Astron 40 I just checked didn't. I added one in series and stuck the
crowbar after it. It does have foldback current limiting, but that won't
necessarily protect equipment connected to it.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 03:15:02 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

Foldback current limiting assumes the pass transistor doing the
folding back is a functional device, not welded from E to C....(c;

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:30:54 GMT, Larry wrote:

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 06:18:18 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 16:10:10 GMT, Larry wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 03:18:07 GMT, Larry W4CSC wrote:

...snip

Junk it. I did mine. If that damned series pass transistor ever
shorts, you can kiss all your equipment hooked to it good bye when the
20-some volts hits them.

You probably know this, but you can (actually, must) prevent that happening
by putting a "crowbar" circuit across the output, after the fuse. This is
just a large scr with a resistor from the bus to the gate with a 14 or 15
volt zener to ground. It doesn't conduct until the voltage exceeds the
zener limit and then the scr shorts to ground, blowing the fuse and
protecting the equipment.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

Oh, I know. Does it have an output fuse? Mine didn't, just the AC
line.

The Astron 40 I just checked didn't. I added one in series and stuck the
crowbar after it. It does have foldback current limiting, but that won't
necessarily protect equipment connected to it.
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com

Good point!
--

Larry W1HJF
email is rapp at lmr dot com