On Apr 28, 8:00*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:54:07 -0400, Larry
wrote:

wrote:

Even a car with an alternator needs some little bit of battery power
to get going. The alternator will not put out until you excite the
field, something I found out when I built this
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/redneck_power.jpg
Hence the little Gel Cell.

Now back in the olden days when motor cycles had generators they did
build choppers with no battery, usually based on Triumphs, that only
had a tomato paste can sized capacitor stuffed in there somewhere to
hold enough power to get it going.

Looks like a pressure washer turned into a generator?

Yup, the Honda engine far outlasted the Cat pump. It is still a "first
pull" engine. Howie is right, that is something GM can't compete with.

Both my sailboats original Yanmar 1GM 6.5 hp diesel and its 13 hp 2
cylinder 2GM replacement have a crank that fits on the crankshaft that
supposedly allows hand cranking. I have tried to do so by relieving
the compression but she stops dead when the compression starts. It is
possible that the cranki ng position is too awkward to get good
leverage because it seems it ought to work.
I do know that old Lister diesels could be started by turning the
flywheel by hand, no battery required at all nor alternator. These
diesels are still available as stationary engines for generators and
will run on nearly any oil including cooking oil and even turpentine.
I have heard of people getting used engine oil and running the Listers
on it. Many old commercial fishing boats used Lister diesels and had
no batteries.