Who made the 30 day exercise rule for generators??

[530ktm]

Originally Posted by dpinvidic

I am the OP. The reason I asked is because my coach is in indoor storage in CA.
Last time we had it out was the week before Thanks giving.

With the El Ninio rainy season, we may not be able to make another trip for several weeks.
So that is a two month interval without being run. If this happens several more times, then it means I am closer to a 60 day exercise cycle.

I just wanted to get a feel for how important this is, and if it was worth the trouble of getting it out of storage.

Sounds like a pretty gray area with the wide range of responses.
What was significant to me, was the guys that winterize.

I think it should be OK for me to go 2-3 months if needed.
We are fairly dry here…except when it rains, and indoor storage helps.

This has been a good dialog….

Thanks,
Dan

You will be fine, we live in an area that is pretty friendly to these things.

[montyhp]

Originally Posted by dpinvidic

I also heard the one about the magnets.
In an alternator, the stator is a coil of wire that gets a voltage applied to create the spinning magnetic field. In a generator, it is a permanent magnet.
i dont see how spinning that magnet can remagnetize it.
The same would hold true for an electric motor since it has magnets.....and you never hear about running your motors every month. By the way, they also have commutator contacts.


Dan

I know the theory, just haven't broken in to any gennys to see how they are constructed.

If you run your generator under load it causes some pretty large currents to flow through the coils. As the currents move in relation to the.magnet they induce a magnetic field that can add magnetization to your permanent magnet. If you don't run it, your imperfect permanent magnet slowly demagnetizes.

How long does this take?I have no idea. But I assume the manufacturers do.

I am sure running the motor also is important to boil out any moisture from the oil. I seem to recall hearing moisture in the oil lowers the pH.

[Murf2u]

Originally Posted by montyhp

If you run your generator under load it causes some pretty large currents to flow through the coils. As the currents move in relation to the.magnet they induce a magnetic field that can add magnetization to your permanent magnet. If you don't run it, your imperfect permanent magnet slowly demagnetizes.



How long does this take?I have no idea. But I assume the manufacturers do.

They should talk to the people who make alternators for automobiles. They don't need to be worked to keep their magnets up or coils from absorbing moisture.

I wonder what trade secret it is that they all have but generator manufacturers don't?

Or maybe it's just a quality issue.........

Or maybe it's just CYA..........

[twinboat]

All this talk about magnets.

Alternators have rotors, stators, comutators and brushs.

120 volt AC have no diodes, 12 volt DC do. Otherwise they are nearly the same thing.
Obviously one is bigger.

[pasdad1]

No permanent magnets in most automotive alternators....

I did read that self exciting AC generators rely on residual magnetism in the core to start the process of exciting the field coil. It does say that if the generator is of this type, the residual magnetism can be lost if not used for a long time, and then a process called "field flashing" is required to get the generator back to producing power.

Not sure if the typical RV generator uses this design or not.... ?

[lynnmor]

Originally Posted by pasdad1

No permanent magnets in most automotive alternators....

I did read that self exciting AC generators rely on residual magnetism in the core to start the process of exciting the field coil. It does say that if the generator is of this type, the residual magnetism can be lost if not used for a long time, and then a process called "field flashing" is required to get the generator back to producing power.

Not sure if the typical RV generator uses this design or not.... ?

You have the correct answer. I run my three generators about every year or so if they weren't needed. I drain all gasoline before storage.

[Murf2u]

Originally Posted by pasdad1

No permanent magnets in most automotive alternators....

Really? News to me.

Google PMA type alternators.

AKA one wire alternators.

AKA Delco type alternators. How million of those a year do you think GM made?

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by Murf2u

Really? News to me.

Google PMA type alternators.

AKA one wire alternators.

AKA Delco type alternators. How million of those a year do you think GM made?

I googled, this is what I found.

alternators produce AC power that is then converted to DC power to charge the battery, by a simple electronic device called a rectifier bridge, which, in the case of the 10si/12si, is inside the alternator housing and consists of six diodes. They have a rotor assembly that turns when driven by the car's fan belt, spinning to induce current in the stator coils, which are fixed in place on the inner surface of the aluminum housing, forming a tube around the moving rotor.

In the stock configuration, the rotor assembly is an "electromagnet".* This works fine for charging a single car battery, but some useful power is drained away by this electromagnet, and it requires slip rings and brushes to get power from the battery to the electromagnet's coil windings to make it work. Slip rings and brushes wear out.

The first thing Mike taught us to do today was to tear down the alternator (easily done with simple tools) and then to "rebuild" the rotor assembly using a permanent neodymium magnet. This allows you to throw away the slip rings and brushes and the rotor's copper wound electromagnetic coil,*

[ahicks]

Originally Posted by Murf2u

Really? News to me.

Google PMA type alternators.

AKA one wire alternators.

AKA Delco type alternators. How million of those a year do you think GM made?

Proving only that there is an exception for every rule.

[twinboat]

A PMA alternator can not be regulated.

The voltage to the rotor, thru the slip rings and brushs controls the output.

PMA alternators are use for wind generators.

When one uses a Delco car alternator as a wind generator, it is absolutely necessary to modify the alternator to operate at low RPMs. This is accomplished with two intricate modifications:

One replaces the stock Delco car alternator stator windings with a stator that has more turns of smaller gauge wire.High powered Neodymium magnets are placed on the rotor which gives more power output than standard magnets.

[twinboat]

I googled 1 wire alternator. Found this.

Delco 10SI 63 Amp 12 Volt Negative Ground One Wire Alternator

This type alternator only requires a battery wire hooked to it. The voltage regulator contains circuitry that uses the residual magnetism in the alternators fields to determine when to turn the alternator on. The regulator does this by sensing the RPM the alternator is turning. When the alternator gets to a around 1000 rpm the voltage regulator "turns on". Typically you start your motor, rev the motor slightly then the alternator starts charging.

[Learner]

We winterize, fill the fuel tank and park outside about mid October, It don't run until April. That's what we have been doing for 15 years. The Monaco Knight we have now is plugged in to 110 all winter.
You can expect most anything in Newfoundland winters, So far so good.
Me and Mudder