wilson ind
Well-known Member
All the solar panels and cloudy days , sun tracking and whatever I noticed living in Colorado , Montana rural have not been as
successful as Diesel power. OK just bear with me. Friends with moderate solar just seemed to be moderately satisfied. Most
dependable and economical was Witty diesel with modern brushless alternator. Experience was while providing maintenance on the
Dugout Ranch in remote south east Utah. Those engines ran for years yes years with out any major repair. I took one to agri
shop to demonstrate maintenance. starting and fuel use. We ran a 6 hour test run at rated rpm no load using so much fuel if I
stated the results most would just say it was false. It was less than one gallon. The ranch engines had old brush type
generators of 6 kw capacity . I sold a spare engine to a fellow just west of Rocky Mountain national park to use with new
alternator of 6 kw capacity coupled to a deep discharge battery pack with Invertor . He used AC during high power usage, only
having battery pack as he said for the kids to have AC for TV and lighting. I have not been able to check back lately. However
after 5 years no major maintenance, and was getting years out of batteries. Admittedly this fellow lived far off the so called
grid. He also stated others hoping for pure solar had to use generator mush of the time as snow covering panels and wind caused
high maintenance on the panels . The engines were the easiest hand starting diesels I have ever worked with. To start one
released the compression , cranking very slowly turning the 700 lb flywheels till approximately 30 rpm was obtained one just
stood back and released the compression device. In the coldest weather this might have to be repeated. I did work with one set
having a DC belt driven starter. One still operated the compression release by hand . On the ranch the things often ran 24-7 as
there were several people living on the ranch and ran water for a lot of cattle.
successful as Diesel power. OK just bear with me. Friends with moderate solar just seemed to be moderately satisfied. Most
dependable and economical was Witty diesel with modern brushless alternator. Experience was while providing maintenance on the
Dugout Ranch in remote south east Utah. Those engines ran for years yes years with out any major repair. I took one to agri
shop to demonstrate maintenance. starting and fuel use. We ran a 6 hour test run at rated rpm no load using so much fuel if I
stated the results most would just say it was false. It was less than one gallon. The ranch engines had old brush type
generators of 6 kw capacity . I sold a spare engine to a fellow just west of Rocky Mountain national park to use with new
alternator of 6 kw capacity coupled to a deep discharge battery pack with Invertor . He used AC during high power usage, only
having battery pack as he said for the kids to have AC for TV and lighting. I have not been able to check back lately. However
after 5 years no major maintenance, and was getting years out of batteries. Admittedly this fellow lived far off the so called
grid. He also stated others hoping for pure solar had to use generator mush of the time as snow covering panels and wind caused
high maintenance on the panels . The engines were the easiest hand starting diesels I have ever worked with. To start one
released the compression , cranking very slowly turning the 700 lb flywheels till approximately 30 rpm was obtained one just
stood back and released the compression device. In the coldest weather this might have to be repeated. I did work with one set
having a DC belt driven starter. One still operated the compression release by hand . On the ranch the things often ran 24-7 as
there were several people living on the ranch and ran water for a lot of cattle.