Lister HA3 Alternator size?

[mrsmelly]

Good afternoon oracle. My bro in law has one of these engines on his boat. At present he uses a petrol gennie to do any washing machine stuff or heavy ish work either direct from the gennie or through his 3kw victron combi. His alternator is about 55 amps so useless for anything other than battery charging. My question is would he be able to run such as say an Iskra 175 amp alternator from this engine? would it need much pulley changing? will it put too much strain on bearings etc? the thought is that he could run his washer whilst cruising, is this a no hoper?

Thanks for any input.

[RLWP]

Not enough info, Tim. In principle, sounds OK for a 3 cylinder engine. But what pulleys has he got?

Richard

[alan_fincher]

Good of you to acknowledge that an HA3 is actually an engine!

Clearly they have more than enough power to drive quite a big alternator.

The main thing with any alternator on a Lister HA, (or similar) engine, irrespective of alternator size, is that it will need to be spun fast enough.

Max speed of an HA is usually 1,800 RPM, so no more than two thirds of what it might be on one of those modern buzzy engines that you prefer.
 

So whilst a pulley ratio of say 3:1 is fine on a faster revving engine, the same ratio on an HA is unlikely to drive the alternator fast enough at normal cruising revs to get optimum output from it.  Ideally I suggest the pulley ratio needs to be at least 4:1, and ideally even greater.  That means the pulley on the engine should be quite big, but a lot of HAs don't have this by default.

So I suggest it rather depends on what he already has, or whether it can practically be changed to something larger.  The power should certainly be there to drive it.  An HA2 is more than adequate in a narrow boat, so he has at least one spare cylinder that can be used exclusively for providing electricity.

[mrsmelly]

8 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Not enough info, Tim. In principle, sounds OK for a 3 cylinder engine. But what pulleys has he got?

Richard

Thanks I will check with him what his set up is

9 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

Good of you to acknowledge that an HA3 is actually an engine!

Clearly they have more than enough power to drive quite a big alternator.

The main thing with any alternator on a Lister HA, (or similar) engine, irrespective of alternator size, is that it will need to be spun fast enough.

Max speed of an HA is usually 1,800 RPM, so no more than two thirds of what it might be on one of those modern buzzy engines that you prefer.
 

So whilst a pulley ratio of say 3:1 is fine on a faster revving engine, the same ratio on an HA is unlikely to drive the alternator fast enough at normal cruising revs to get optimum output from it.  Ideally I suggest the pulley ratio needs to be at least 4:1, and ideally even greater.  That means the pulley on the engine should be quite big, but a lot of HAs don't have this by default.

So I suggest it rather depends on what he already has, or whether it can practically be changed to something larger.  The power should certainly be there to drive it.  An HA2 is more than adequate in a narrow boat, so he has at least one spare cylinder that can be used exclusively for providing electricity.

Thanks Alan as above I will see what he has and he can take it from there

[RLWP]

My reservation is... It would need some careful calculation. The engine may be capable of generating the power, flat out at 1800 rpm. But you can't cruise at that speed, and living with an HA3 at 1800rpm for the duration of a washing cycle would drive you mad.

I'll consult with a fellow Lister enthusiast who lives aboard with one

Richard

[RLWP]

Forgot to ask - this is a 12V boat?

Richard

[OldGoat]

3 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Forgot to ask - this is a 12V boat?

Richard

Perhaps I shouldn't jump in but if 24V I have (what I assume to be is ) a slow(er)  speed alternator - unused - that I'd be happy to let go, provided that it was suitable. It came from a form that worked with G*dr*n*r engines. It's pretty massive. 

[zenataomm]

Dashed good looking Marine engineer and surveyor James Macdonald, hero of this parish, owner of Elizabeth and Morgan 3 wheeler enthusiast bought an HA3 from The Boat Show when they were first exhibited.

He installed it in Tyburn (Abdela & Mitchell tunnel tug originally named Birmingham (II?) ex Wyvern Shipping Co. hire boat) to his merriment and general amusement he discovered the reason it wouldn't start was because it had no compression. None at all, and the reason for that? Well you see, if they don't install pistons and con rods it'll spin on the starter all day long but never fire.

Anyhoo ... I don't know the finer details, but having got it sorted he had his motive power running an industrial welder which enabled him to perform towpath side boat repairs along the Erewash.

Admittedly not under way, but I understand all of the gubbins was still intact when he sold the boat to Mr Michael Fox in the early 80s.

 

I'd suggest in order to run your washing machine while under way like Arthur Bray used to) you'd probably benefit from a couple of mahoosive alternators, a bank of multitudinous batteries and an inverter the likes of which Battersea Power Station never knew existed ...... but what do I know?  I just tell stories.

[mrsmelly]

16 minutes ago, zenataomm said:

Dashed good looking Marine engineer and surveyor James Macdonald, hero of this parish, owner of Elizabeth and Morgan 3 wheeler enthusiast bought an HA3 from The Boat Show when they were first exhibited.

He installed it in Tyburn (Abdela & Mitchell tunnel tug originally named Birmingham (II?) ex Wyvern Shipping Co. hire boat) to his merriment and general amusement he discovered the reason it wouldn't start was because it had no compression. None at all, and the reason for that? Well you see, if they don't install pistons and con rods it'll spin on the starter all day long but never fire.

Anyhoo ... I don't know the finer details, but having got it sorted he had his motive power running an industrial welder which enabled him to perform towpath side boat repairs along the Erewash.

Admittedly not under way, but I understand all of the gubbins was still intact when he sold the boat to Mr Michael Fox in the early 80s.

 

I'd suggest in order to run your washing machine while under way like Arthur Bray used to) you'd probably benefit from a couple of mahoosive alternators, a bank of multitudinous batteries and an inverter the likes of which Battersea Power Station never knew existed ...... but what do I know?  I just tell stories.

Thanks everyone so far, it is 12 volt.Sat here with said bro in law giggling at this post drinking very large g and ts 

[RLWP]

G&T - Naval Officer, is he?

Enquiring minds need to know:

Make and model of washing machine

Make and model of inverter

Size of battery bank in AH. 

We will then perform the necessary rites and incantations to work out if this is a goer. It's looking possible

Richard