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Old 10-17-2010, 11:19 PM   #126 (permalink)
rmay635703
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MN Driver View Post
You might need to reread or reconsider my post. I was discussing highway travel, figuring that I'm not going slower than 60mph, if I could manage a 6500 watts rated genset to power me on the highway at that speed without depleating my batteries on the way,

I'm still depleting the pack at about half the usual rate considering 12kw consumed and 6.5kw going to a charger which will have its own losses. ...so 100 miles, use half of the energy from the battery while half comes from a genset, I'm still likely going to have to stop for a little bit on the way to Madison to let things catch up. ...maybe not a long time but a 6500watt generator would be overkill on side roads but not on the highway. It should provide a good proportion of power, arrive with your pack used and the generator under load.
If you have a lead acid pack and you cut the power consumed in half you will actually be able to travel 2.5-3 times further (just guestimating but most FLA have a High Peurkert exponent which means the less you draw the more capacity you have to use) That is why a few folks can make a commutacar on a 72v set of 6v trojan 105's drive them 100 miles but only at about 22-25mph, those same folks have trouble with 40 miles going 45mph.

Also Its hard to say at what wattage a given genset makes it most efficiently in the wild so to say without some sort of data sheet. My fathers coleman which can output 1500watt continous definately does not run very efficiently at full output, its good to really about 1200watts and can run much of the day, beyond that and its run time is cut in less than half and sounds like its gonna blow to pieces.

Cheers
Ryan
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