1977 VW Beetle diesel conversion on oakland craigslist!

[DrediKnight]

Here is a pic of the install.

Nice and clean but very little room to add much on. The engine has an internal alternator. I did see some folks on another site that wired his internal alt (another brand engine) differently to get more juice. Something like that might help but there are no exposed parts to attach a pulley without cutting up the fan housing. Maybe adding a 2nd battery might give me some more range but I would still be plugging in and I'd like to avoid that if possible.

More pics of this car here (not many detail pics sorry):

1977 Diesel Bug

I do have contact info for the builder but have not contacted him yet. When I do I will ask if I can share with you. He sold this to work on an electric conversion so he may have some other fun stuff!

[MetroMPG]

Thanks, yes - please ask him.

[trikkonceptz]

Internal power supply??? I'm sure its accessible, not easily but accessible.

Job #1 would be to get details on the type and model of engine.
Job #2 would be to see if manufacturer has an upgrade for that type of motor.

While you do that, perhaps a stereo capasitor may be a good first step. They are meant to charge and discharge quickly based on stereo power draw for the "bass", however in your case it may be a good option to keep your headlights on.

Try this site to find a suitable match
Car Audio Stereo at HiFiSoundconnection

[order99]

The first thing i'd do is reduce the load on the electrics-try LED's for the brake lights, turn signals, interior and dashboard. Getting LEDs for the headlights would reduce the load the most, but you might have to experiment a bit to get the high-low beams at the right brightness, and you'd have to check your state's Inspection regulations-it might not be legal in your state.

Also, you could replace the standard Battery with a Deep Discharge version-US Battery makes 6V, 8V and 12v wet cells at over 150Ahrs! You'd still have to charge eventually, but you'd get a much longer range in the meantime, and you would still get a partial recharge from the Kubota.

Is your Beetle a complete hard-top, or does it have a removable Sunroof section? You could always fit a modest-sized Solar PV panel into a Sunroof panel-and if you don't have a Sunroof you can always place several small ones under the Rear Window. Since we're talking about a single battery you'd likely get enough charge in an afternoon to run all night on...

And all this is assuming that you can't adjust the Kubota's generator-which you most likely can.

[guudasitgets]

T
order99
he first thing i'd do is reduce the load on the electrics-try LED's for the brake lights, turn signals, interior and dashboard. Getting LEDs for the headlights would reduce the load the most, but you might have to experiment a bit to get the high-low beams at the right brightness, and you'd have to check your state's Inspection regulations-it might not be legal in your state.

i aggree with that

Also, you could replace the standard Battery with a Deep Discharge version-US Battery makes 6V, 8V and 12v wet cells at over 150Ahrs! You'd still have to charge eventually, but you'd get a much longer range in the meantime, and you would still get a partial recharge from the Kubota.

No; I was in the battery business 150 amp hours divided by a 20 hour rate= 7.5 amp recharge means if it would put out 15 amps ( which it probably doesn't it would take 10 hours at maximum, which it never would, answer just put a real alternator on it.

Is your Beetle a complete hard-top, or does it have a removable Sunroof section? You could always fit a modest-sized Solar PV panel into a Sunroof panel-and if you don't have a Sunroof you can always place several small ones under the Rear Window. Since we're talking about a single battery you'd likely get enough charge in an afternoon to run all night on...

No that won't work either

heres the stats on that:

Technical Specifications
Power: 10 watts
Peak Output: 660mA @ 16.8V
Approximate watt-hours per day*: 70
Approximate amp-hours per day*: 4.62
Dimensions: 397 x 278 x 25mm
Weight: 1.6 kg
* Based on 7 hours of average daily peak sunlight hours
Power: 10 watts
Ok this means for this 150ah battery it would take 32.4 days of pure sunshine to recharge it.
Answer; once again install an alternator

And all this is assuming that you can't adjust the Kubota's generator-which you most likely can.

it doesn't have a generator.

[DrediKnight]

Looks like my alternator is putting out 17amp @ 3000rpm. So unless I can modify/replace it I'm gonna need to add a second alternator. Lombardini might offer alternator upgrades. I'm trying to check on those first. I would also like to go with LEDs where possible, but as the big drain is headlights and I have not found any LEDs for those yet, I need to up the juice.

[MetroMPG]

Are you putting many miles on it? I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would love to see your MPG figures.

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by DrediKnight

Looks like my alternator is putting out 17amp @ 3000rpm. So unless I can modify/replace it I'm gonna need to add a second alternator. Lombardini might offer alternator upgrades. I'm trying to check on those first. I would also like to go with LEDs where possible, but as the big drain is headlights and I have not found any LEDs for those yet, I need to up the juice.

I would then start contacting companies that rebuild alternators. On standard IC engines many companies can rebuild alternators and beef up their their outputs while still using the stock casings.

A company that I used for my xB is Iraggi Alternators, I have a 180 Amp alternator which does a marvelous job at keeping my stereo going. I couldn't find a direct link to them, but their are several people on Ebay that have stores that sell them. I am sure they can put you in touch with them if necessary.

[Formula413]

It looks like it would be very difficult to drive a second alternator via the crankshaft. Would it be feasible to drive an alternator by putting a pulley on an axle? Obviously it won't help at idle but maybe between that and a higher capacity battery it could do the trick? I don't know if these cars have IRS, if they do then this probably wouldn't work.

[guudasitgets]

Is there nowhere you can put a pully on the crank, maybe mount an outboard motor alternator?