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The generator is a variable speed AC unit. It makes AC, not DC, by default, so I may as well use that.
The plan is to just plug the car's charger into the generator. The charger varies the DC voltage and amperage to the batteries, depending on their state of charge. While driving, it would most likely mean that the charger would just go all out. The charger does have user adjustable maximums for amperage and voltage, so I could tell it how hard to work.
By just using the charger, it also means that the generator could be adapted to different electric vehicles easily, even if they are different system voltages. (Electric motorcycle sidecar range extender?)
I have thought about weighing the propane before and after for a measure of how much fuel is used. It uses any standard propane tank. I would think it would run all day on a BBQ tank.
I believe that as far as generators go, this one is fairly compact and efficient. It has a ring of permanent magnets on the OUTSIDE (rotor) and an electromagnet stator on the inside. Sort of like an inside out permanent magnet motor, but with no brushes or commutator. The computer control manages the speed of the generator (it's variable speed) and adjusts the speed depending on the load.
I don't expect that a propane tank is any more dangerous that having a gas tank on a car. People pull camping trailers all the time that have a propane bottle or two strapped right to them. I was also thinking that the generator, propane tank, and anything else that ends up as part of the "Hybrid pack" would all go together in some sort of box/covering/pod thing.
The generator has electric start, and there was even a remote panel available for it. A four pin cable is built into the unit to run to that. It should be pretty easy to put a big red START button on my dashboard.
I got the engine to run a little bit tonight. (I don't think I have quite the right regulator.) When I ran a volt meter to the power output, voltage was all over the board. It may have been just because of only having the engine run so briefly, or it might be an issue with the voltage regulator.
I won't have any more time to work on it until next week, buy it looks really promising.
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