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Home > Archive > Alternative Power sources > August 2005 > Off grid fridge
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| Bret Ludwig 2005-08-30, 11:21 pm |
| My grandfather had a vacation cottage and there was no electric because
he had got in a pissing match with REA decades earlier. What he did was
to take a conventional fridge and replace its compessor with an
automotive compressor which he connected to his homemade generator. It
was an old forklift four cylinder engine which he converted to two
cylinder and ran on propane. It had the auto A/C compressor, a regular
car alternator, and a big 400 hertz 115 VAC three phase alternator he
used for 115 volt DC power. The fridge thermostat cycled the A/C clutch
like in a car.
It ate a lot of propane but it was cheap back then and no one cared.
He had a big ham radio setup there all modified to run on 115 vdc, and
worked people all over the world from there. My father used to go up
there a lot ostensibly to check everything out, but in reality he'd
bring girls for the obvious reasons-that was the early 60's and things
were just starting to ring-a-ding-ding. One time he forgot to change
the sheets and Grandpa was furious...
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| Vaughn 2005-08-31, 7:21 am |
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"Bret Ludwig" <bretldwig@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1125454223.295713.267770@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> My grandfather had a vacation cottage and there was no electric because
> he had got in a pissing match with REA decades earlier. What he did was
> to take a conventional fridge and replace its compessor with an
> automotive compressor which he connected to his homemade generator. It
> was an old forklift four cylinder engine which he converted to two
> cylinder and ran on propane. It had the auto A/C compressor, a regular
> car alternator, and a big 400 hertz 115 VAC three phase alternator he
> used for 115 volt DC power. The fridge thermostat cycled the A/C clutch
> like in a car.
Your grandfather must have been quite the tinkerer and scrounger.
>
> It ate a lot of propane but it was cheap back then and no one cared.
Yep, life was different then.
>
> He had a big ham radio setup there all modified to run on 115 vdc
I wonder how he did that? Probably tube-type gear back then that required
high voltages. My guess would be dynamoters or surplus 400 hz power supplies.
Vaughn (WB4UHB)
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| Gordon Reeder 2005-08-31, 6:21 pm |
| "Vaughn" <vaughnsimonHATESSPAM@att.fake.net> wrote in
news:4nfRe.4615$kn4.2659@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:
>
>
> I wonder how he did that? Probably tube-type gear back then that
> required
> high voltages. My guess would be dynamoters or surplus 400 hz power
> supplies.
>
> Vaughn (WB4UHB)
>
Everything runs on DC. At least internally. That is what a power
supply does. It turns AC into DC (and may also change the working
voltage). A lot of the old radio gear had transformerless power
supplies. That meas that the 110VAC was converted directly to
high voltage DC. The gear may not even need to be modified
since DC will flow through a rectifyer if the polarity is correct.
--
Just my $0.02 worth. Hope it helps
Gordon Reeder
greeder
at: myself.com
Hey EVERYBODY!
Unity means let's try to meet each other halfway
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| Vaughn 2005-08-31, 7:21 pm |
|
"Gordon Reeder" <GonzoGreeder@all.to.myself.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96C38933DA6F3greederworldsharenet@216.168.3.44...
> "Vaughn" <vaughnsimonHATESSPAM@att.fake.net> wrote in
> news:4nfRe.4615$kn4.2659@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:
>
>
> Everything runs on DC. At least internally. That is what a power
> supply does. It turns AC into DC (and may also change the working
> voltage). A lot of the old radio gear had transformerless power
> supplies.
Transformerless power supplies were very uncommon in tube-type ham gear for
a variety of reasons.
>That meas that the 110VAC was converted directly to
> high voltage DC. The gear may not even need to be modified
> since DC will flow through a rectifyer if the polarity is correct.
True enough, but that system was used mainly in mass consumer electronics,
not in ham gear; especially not in transmitters. The primary use of
transformerless tube electronics was the "All American Five" series filiment
AC-DC radio that was made by dozens (perhaps hundreds) of manufacturers from the
40's to the 70's. There were also a few cheap TVs that used that system. You
are correct, that those units would run on DC if the polarity was right
(polarity had to be right because of the half-wave rectifier). They would also
happily run on 400 hz.
Vaughn
>
>
>
> --
> Just my $0.02 worth. Hope it helps
> Gordon Reeder
> greeder
> at: myself.com
>
> Hey EVERYBODY!
> Unity means let's try to meet each other halfway
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| Bret Ludwig 2005-08-31, 8:21 pm |
|
Vaughn wrote:
> "Gordon Reeder" <GonzoGreeder@all.to.myself.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns96C38933DA6F3greederworldsharenet@216.168.3.44...
>
> Transformerless power supplies were very uncommon in tube-type ham gear for
> a variety of reasons.
>
>
> True enough, but that system was used mainly in mass consumer electronics,
> not in ham gear; especially not in transmitters. The primary use of
> transformerless tube electronics was the "All American Five" series filiment
> AC-DC radio that was made by dozens (perhaps hundreds) of manufacturers from the
> 40's to the 70's. There were also a few cheap TVs that used that system. You
> are correct, that those units would run on DC if the polarity was right
> (polarity had to be right because of the half-wave rectifier). They would also
> happily run on 400 hz.
>
> Vaughn
He had one aircraft HF transceiver that ran on 400 Hz when the gen ran
and off a dynamotor when it didn't, but it was very inefficient. He
mostly used Collins S-Line which used the 12 vdc from the genset system
for filaments (it had regular 12 volt starting and ignition electrics,
with a big deepcycle battery) and a homebrew HV supply which was quite
advanced for '64 or '65 when he built it. He started with the standard
12 volt mobile supply but felt it was not efficient enough. He also had
GE Prog line and pre-Prog VHF gear which had its own internal supply
from the 12 volt system.
It was really quite an accomplishment for its time-the engine heat was
used for hot water and room heating in the winter.
I still have the Prog Line and the homebrew Collins supply but the
Collins gear itself went years ago-I needed the money. No one else in
the family wanted the stuff and the cabin's new owners burned it, I
suspect for insurance.
| |
| Bret Ludwig 2005-08-31, 8:21 pm |
|
Vaughn wrote:
> "Gordon Reeder" <GonzoGreeder@all.to.myself.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns96C38933DA6F3greederworldsharenet@216.168.3.44...
>
> Transformerless power supplies were very uncommon in tube-type ham gear for
> a variety of reasons.
>
>
> True enough, but that system was used mainly in mass consumer electronics,
> not in ham gear; especially not in transmitters. The primary use of
> transformerless tube electronics was the "All American Five" series filiment
> AC-DC radio that was made by dozens (perhaps hundreds) of manufacturers from the
> 40's to the 70's. There were also a few cheap TVs that used that system. You
> are correct, that those units would run on DC if the polarity was right
> (polarity had to be right because of the half-wave rectifier). They would also
> happily run on 400 hz.
>
> Vaughn
He had one aircraft HF transceiver that ran on 400 Hz when the gen ran
and off a dynamotor when it didn't, but it was very inefficient. He
mostly used Collins S-Line which used the 12 vdc from the genset system
for filaments (it had regular 12 volt starting and ignition electrics,
with a big deepcycle battery) and a homebrew HV supply which was quite
advanced for '64 or '65 when he built it. He started with the standard
12 volt mobile supply but felt it was not efficient enough. He also had
GE Prog line and pre-Prog VHF gear which had its own internal supply
from the 12 volt system.
It was really quite an accomplishment for its time-the engine heat was
used for hot water and room heating in the winter.
I still have the Prog Line and the homebrew Collins supply but the
Collins gear itself went years ago-I needed the money. No one else in
the family wanted the stuff and the cabin's new owners burned it, I
suspect for insurance.
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