Making an emergency whole house generator out of 3rd Gen Tacoma?

This guy knows how to have a good time.

 

Is it Friday in Kiribati yet?

 

You ever hook your laptop battery up to your bicycle just so you can watch a few minutes of porn? That's some wicked torture there, man.

 

Idk but if you found one of those people with a 3rd nipple, we could wire them up to run 3 phase.

 

We should all be like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV0BYz7Obd4

 

I guess according to osha rules well have to wear arc flash gear to check his nipple volts.

 

When I used to work in industrial maintenance I watched a video about arc flashes similar to that one and it really messed with my head for a while.

 

Maybe. Maybe these guys could've used arc flash gear though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObevFZMohuA

 

I ain't gonna watch them. Seeing one dude on fire is enough for my lifetime. I saw the one about the guy in some sawmill using s 600v meter on a 2300v wire

 

I only practice lock-out-tag-out. Hope his nipple rings can take a masterlock.

 

This is funny as hell. But I'm home sick with nothing else to do, so why not..

Cheap? No. Rigged up? Maybe..?

Let's start at the beginning. How do we get the power from the truck engine to the generator? Disconnect the drive shaft and rig something small the sits under the truck to redirect the power to the generator.. maybe a belt system? Will need a custom driveshaft for this. Something thats the right length and doesnt interfere with the carrier bearing or rear end. Should also keep in mind the angle of the u-joints. Or we just use the rear wheels. Neither of those sound even remotely safe imo. Id be looking for a chassis dyno-style setup if using the wheels. Or lots of wheel chalks and guarding for the prior method. Or maybe we go right to the flywheel of the engine?

Ok so now we got that figured out, from there it cant be too hard to get the power to the generator itself. A sturdy frame for everything to sit on and gear box of some sort will do nicely. But wait, what ratios? Well that depends on where we are hooking in. Generally speaking 60hz power (USA) is generated by spinning the genset at 3600 rpm EXACTLY. While our setup doesnt have to be exactly 3600, you will see your lights flicker if it fluctuates at all and isnt really great for some electronics to be more than a few Hz away from 60.

Hmm well ok, what gear is the transmission going to be in? AT or MT? If an AT is the torque converter locked up or not? If using the rear wheels we also need to consider the ratio of the rear end as well as everything else.

Ok we found ratios that work. Or did we.. After all this math is done, what is the engine RPM? Does it make the required power at that RPM (hp to kW)? Did we account for drive train losses?

Now we get to the fun stuff. How to control the engine rpm.. Arduino controller with a linear actuator on the gas pedal and an RPM sensor on the genset is the first thing that comes to mind. But I have no idea how that would work or if it would be quick enough to react to the changing loads of the house. Maybe we add a friggin uge flywheel to the genset and hope theres enough rotational inertia to absorb any changes in load? Maybe we go full send with a mechanical governor on the genset and a linkage all the way back to the gas pedal? (that would be the coolest, but neither cheap nor "rigged")

Maybe we say all this is and we rectify the output of the genset to DC, filter it, and run it through inverters back to AC at whatever voltage / Hz we want. But now we just made things super expensive and also decoupled the system, so the fluctuating loads may have an even bigger impact now.. would depend on the equipment used.

Of course this doesnt consider the simple stuff like the gas needed to run the truck at roughly one RPM for hours on end. Or any of the ATS equip needed to safely tie it into the entire house. Or the work needed to get it all setup. But hey, still kinda interesting

 

So you’re saying there’s a chance!

 

Its definitely possible to rewind an automotive alternator to output 120vac ( https://www.qsl.net/ns8o/welcome.html ).

Whether its a good idea is a whole other discussion - but I checked my practicality at the door...sooo...


I wonder how many electric eels you could fit in the bed?

 

Whatever. I’ve finished on a bike.

 

Ok that’s nice but now I have to go to Walmart so put the drive shaft thing back in I gotta go

 

hook an impeller to the tailpipe and have it turn a generator? since we're having fun with it. if

ARB 72X10 Orange Bushranger X-Jack Kit

exhaust can lift a truck, it can turn a wheelie thingy to turn another wheelie thingy.

 

its my Friday