how to build your own small power plant

8/2/2019 How to Build Your Own Small Power Plant

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HOW TO BUILDYOUR OWNSMALLPOWERPLANT

ELECTRICAL INDEPENDENCE


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"My stand by battery charger for drag strip / RV use is now a"one wire" Marine alternator of 75 amp rating on a board (a2 x 8) with a 3 hp horizontal shaft Tecumseh running thepulley. My first one, since sold, was a 3.5 hp Briggs &Stratton from a vertical shaft mower. I cut a slot in the frontof the mower deck (but in retrospect, if! had to do it over, Iwould cut the back) and added brackets made from old 1.5"angle iron for the pivot and an old (from the junkyard) slottedalternator bracket for the adjuster. By re-using the mowerdeck, I had a place to mount the entire works, on wheels withan easily-attached (and detached) handle. Iff had been evenremotely bright at the time, I would have cut into the back ofthe deck, so that the alternator and mounts were under thehandle, instead of sticking out the front which made the entirerig about a foot longer than it needed to be. Oh well .... (Live& Learn!)""I actually used old bed-frame rails for the angle iron to makethe brackets. (My neighbor was tossing out an old bed, so thesteel was free!)""It isn't difficult to make this work. If you are after a systemto charge a battery between rounds so you can run the racecar without an alternator, it works great! As a standby powersource, the most expensive thing is the inverter. It has theadvantage that you can run it to charge batteries, andsubsequently run the inverter off the batteries for some lightand silence! In an emergerrcy there is a battery in your car, onein your spouse's car, one in your neighbor's car, etc. so thereis no shortage of ability to store some power. Deep-cycle(marineIRV) type batteries are greatly to be preferred, but ifyou don't have a boat or RV already, you are not likely tohave them around, and the object of this project is to keep

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c os ts d own wh ile s till a vo id in g " be in g p owerle ss ". Ifyou areonly after som e light, use 12 V light fittings and bulbs, andsave the cost of the inverter. Or use an in ve rte r to run th ebea t-r ecover y f an in you r fu rn ace/f ir ep la ce , and c yc le it w iththe refrigerator / freezer to m inim ize the size of the inverterrequired and still use the 12 V lights."We think we have improved upon his idea though, andnre happy to present our version.

W e will discuss how to build your own generator thntlooks something like this.This generator w as built using a 3 horse pow er B riggs an dStratton horizontal shaft m otor, a GM 65 am p autom otivea lt erna to r (with bu il t in volta ge re gu la to r), a u se d car battery,a pulley and V-belt, a 12 volt c ig are tt e l ig ht er outl et b ox w ithfuse, a DC to AC power converter, a low voltage controlsw itch, a scrap of3 /4" plyw ood, a few scraps of2 x 4 lum ber,4 wheels, and two battery cables. W e also used a customdesigned bracket m anufactured for Epicenter to m ake it allcom e together in a snap.

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In the photo above, we used an 8" pulley on the motor.Subsequent testing indicates that a 5" pulley is the correct sizeto use for this application. We have however, provided data(in the pulley discussion section) for 8", 6" and 5" pulley sizes.Please note that a safety guard should be installed to cover thebelt and pulleys! This guard is not installed so that thephotographs show the most detail If you plan to actually usea generator of this type, Please, Please make sure you installa safety guard!What can this generator be used for?

The basic generator (gas powered motor, alternator andbattery only), can be used as a 12 volt power source. This isextremely useful for charging battery banks in RVs, campersor in out buildings. The big advantage to this generator as acharging system is the high current output of the alternator,and thus, the reduced charge time over using solar cells, orAC battery chargers. The other big advantage to using thisunit to charge batteries over just charging them with a car, isthat this generator uses much less gas to do the job (which iscritical in an emergency). Some HAM radio folk use 12 voltequipment that can be powered from the battery until it is lowin charge, and then crank up the generator to recharge thebattery. The high output of this unit also makes it useful forcar lots or fleets for jump starting cars.

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If a D C to A C power converter is added to the basic system ,then a lim ited amount of 120 Volt AC power would also bea va ila ble ! DC to AC power c on ve rte rs e le ctro nic ally c on ve rtthe 12 volt DC power to 60 hertz AC power at 120 volts.T hese boxes just connect to the battery on the generator, andp ro vid e AC p ower o utlets fo r stan da rd h ou se ho ld AC p ower.In our first pro totype (show n above), w e includ ed a 1 40 W att(200 peak) pow er converter for doing som e load testing onth e g en era to r. A lth ou gh n ot re commen de d, w e ran th e p ow erconverter w ith a 150 W att flood light, and had no problem s.T hat load w as a bit over the design lim its of the converter, b utit w orked OK.D C to AC Pow er converters are available in various outputra ng es . T he re a re th re e siz es th at w ou ld b e ap pro priate fo r u sein th is p ro je ct:

M ode l C o ntin uo us P ea k C o nn ector # o u tl et s A p ro x .C o s tPC140 140 Watts 200 Watts Cig. lighter plug 1 $45

PC300 300 Watts 500 Watts C ig. l ighter plug 2 $80

PC500 500 Watts 800 Watts Battery clip on 2 $120

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What used motor should you use'!As David d is cu ss ed , h is firs t v ers io n o f a h ome built g en era to rused a vertical shaft law n m ow er engin e (w hich are very easyto find). These mowers can be had for a song and can befound just about anywhere. They have several of the keycom ponen ts that w ill be required in th is project. T hey have abase that holds th e m otor, and a cable for adjustin g the m otors pe ed . T hey a ls o h av e wh ee ls wh ic h a re v ery c on venie nt if y ouever plan to m ove it! The problem is that there are so m anybrands on the m arket, an d each one it seam s builds there o wnb ase . T o m ak e m atte rs w orse , th ere d oe sn 't se em to b e a re allystandard shape to the base. Som e m odels have fiat surfacesw here item s can be bolted to, and som e bases don't.

T he b ig ge st tas k in b uild in g a h om e b uilt g en era to r is fig urin gout how to attach th e alternator and m otor so that pow er fromthe m otor can be transferred to cause the alternator to spinand produce electricity. T he task is harder if a vertical shaftlaw n m ow er engine is used. It's even harder to im plem entw ithou t special tools (like high speed drills, hole saw s, m igw elders etc.). So for this reason, w e w ill not discuss using av ertic al s ha ft mo to r a nd w ill c on ce ntra te o n u sin g a h oriz on ta lshaf t motor .You will notice that David's second generator used ahorizontal shaft m otor w hich greatly sim plifies the w holep ro je ct. T he tric k is s till th e a ctu al moun tin g o f th e a lte rn ato rso a belt can be used to link the alternator to the m otor.In this project, w e w ill concentrate on how to build it using ahor izon ta l sha ft mo to r:

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In the simplest form , the motor and alternator can each bebolted to a base. The exact mounting configuration of thealtern ato r d ep en ds o n th e mod el o f altern ato r, th e moto r u sed ,and the belt drive configuration. The next task is to com e upwith a w ay to tension the belt. W hat som e creative people,(lik e D av id ), h av e d on e is to u se m iscellan eo us brack ets fromcars to mou nt th e altern ato r to a base. T hen , ad ju ster brack etsfo un d o n ty pical car en gin es h av e been u sed to ten sio n th e belt01 1 the a lternator.T his m etho d requires a high degree of "screw ing around ", tocome u p w ith (o r bu ild ) th e req uired brack ets. Y es, a few trip sto a n au tomotiv e ju nk y ard w in re su lt in f in din g m is ce lla ne ou sitem s than can be used, but at a cost of several hours of tim e!

W hat w ill you need to build a hom e builtgenerator?The first thing you w ill need is a used m otor.

The key to this d esign is th at it w ill req uire a h orizo ntal shaft6


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motor, which can be found on old drum style lawnmowers,roto-tillers, and lawn edgers. The most common motor sizeyou will find on the used market will be a 3 or 3.5 horsepower model. Larger motors are harder to find because mostof them are snapped up for building go-carts or mini bikes.The most common brand you will find is a Briggs andStratton. Newer Briggs and Stratton engines have the gastank, carburetor and exhaust on the same side of the motor. Ifyou look at the old style Briggs shown here, you will note thatthe gas tank is mounted on the opposite side of the motor thanthe carburetor. This means that which ever side the alternatorismounted on, the alternator must clear obstructions. Yes, ourbracket takes this into account!When buying a motor, note how the pulley is attached to theshaft. Most motor shafts have a square keyway (or grove) cutin the shaft. This makes it super simple to replace the pulleywith the type you will need for this project. Also note the shaftdiameter. Most motors in the 3 horse power class have a 3/4"diameter shaft. Avoid purchasing a motor that only has athreaded hole in the end of the shaft! This configuration willprove to cause hours of wasted time figuring out how toattach the new pulley, as David found out when he built hisfirst version.You will notice that after looking at several motor modelsfrom several manufactures, there are a few features that justabout all of them have. The first is that most have the keyedcut out in the output shaft. Secondly, they all have four boltholes at the base for mounting the motor to a fiat surface. Andthe 3rd thing is that they all have four tapped holes on theoutput shaft cover plate. These output cover plate mounting

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holes are a key feature of horizontal shaft motors. Be sure themotor you purchase have them if you plan to use a bracketlike the one we designed!

Output shaft_ ~ cover bolt holes,. . . . .p .- ~ Motor shaft

I ~ :_ 3/4"\ '$ e~ Imaginary.... - .... 3 and 5/8"

bolt circleflow do you know if your motor has the

required holes?Look at where the output shaft is on the motor. Then, noticethat there are two holes above, and two holes below the shaft.They will be located on an imaginary circle, 3 and 5/8th" indiameter, and centered at the shaft center. It sounds morecomplicated than it really is. Take a look at the diagram.We have looked at motors ranging from 3 to 10 horsepower, and have discovered that these output cover boltholes are in one of two patterns.The following motors use a 3 and 5/8th" bolt hole circle:

Briggs and Stratton 3,3.5, 5 horse power.Robin International 5 horse power.Tecumseh 5,6,7,8,10 horse power.Honda 5.5 horse power.

There may be other motors that use this bolt pattern. Larger8


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motors than shown use another bolt pattern which is either61/2" or7 3/4".

C heck the location of the gas tank, (T op V iew )This photo is a top view of a Briggs and Stratton 3 Horsepower motor found on lawn edgers, and shows the gas tanklocation.Most newer motors have the tank, carburetor and muffier onthe same side of the motor. In the case of the 3 horse powerBriggs and Stratton we used, the tank is on the opposite side.The next thing to determine is if the side of the tank extendsbeyond the flat surface of the output shaft cover plate. As seenfrom this top view, the 3 horse power Briggs does (whichadds a bit of complication to mounting the generator). Ourbracket has a cutout which is designed to clear gas tanks ofthis type.

The next thing you need is an Alternator(with built in voltage regulator).

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The pow er source. A GM alternator (w ith bu iltin v olt ag e r egu la to r).

We also used a 65 am p GM alternator with a built in voltageregulator. It is critical that you only use an alternator that hasa built in voltage regulator! If you make a mistake in theselection of the alternator you nlO a very high risk ofdam aging the battery, or w orse yet, causing personal injury!

O ne m ore lim e. Pay special attention to theselection of the alternator! You m ust select a GMalterna tor w ith a b uilt in volta ge regulator. lfyou

are in doubt, consult an expert or partsprofessional!

You r altern ator m u st con ta in a b uilt in vo lta geregulator!

To fully understand the reason for the special notice above,lets review a few things about how an alternator works:We a re g oin g to sk ip (sig nific an t) d eta ils re la tin g to magne tic sand perform a.leap of faith to describe the affect seen w hen analternator is t.urned which has either a built in voltage

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regulator, or an alternator that doesn't have a built in voltageregulator. This discussion assumes that the terminals areconnected as they would normally be, and no additional detailswill be provided for this discussion.In the case of an alternator that doesn't have a built involtage regulator: (very, very bad - don't use!):As the unit is rotated, the output voltage increases. The fasterit rotates, the higher the output voltage goes! So, if it isrotated 'at several thousand RPM, the output voltage wouldreach 70+ volts! This condition is enough to boil theelectrolyte in a battery and could cause explosive results! Donot use this type of alternator!And if a n a lte rn ato r w ith b uilt in vo lta ge re gu la to ris u se d:Now, if an alternator that has a built in voltage regulator isused (and properly connected), the output voltage willincrease until it reaches about 14 volts. That's it. No matterhow fast it is rotated, the output will never go above thatvalue. As it turns out, this is the ideal charging voltage for alead acid battery (a standard car battery). Imagine that!If you select the a lternator we used , there are 4conn ection s that m ust b e m ade.

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VVhite w ire R ed w ire

Delco -Remy110093437A3010 12VNEG

The pins an a Delco-Remy 1100934 37A, 3DIO 12VNEGalternator witb built in voltage regulator:Con su lt a p arts p ro fessio na l fo r a dd itio na l w irin ginformation!BAT: The m ain +1 2V o utp ut. T his lin e co nnects directly toth e "POS " term in al o n th e battery .'G ND : T his is the negative term inal. C onnects to the "N EG "te rm in al o n th e b atte ry .F: T his term inal is the voltage sense line for the alternator,Connect this directly to either the "POS" term inal on theb attery , o r th e "BAT" term in al o n th e a ltern ato r.

R : T his term in al is th e p ow er fo r th e in tern al reg ula to r circu it.This line must be connected through a sw itch to either the"B A T " term inal on the alternator, or the "PO S" term inal onthe battery. This term inal w ill draw pow er from the batteryany tim e the sw itch is on, so YO U MUST sw itch it offw henthe g en erator is n ot in u se, o r yo ur b attery w ill b e d isch arg edo ver tim e th ro ug h th is term in al.

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Another note:W hen the time comes to crank up your generator, you willneed to tum off the sw itch that goes to the "R" term inal. If theswitc h is on, the gener ato r will try to output voltage w hile youare pulling the starting cord on the motor. You w ill find thatit w ill b e nea rly impos sib le to pull th e cordi Ifthe sw itch is off,th en th ere is little to n o resistan ce from th e altern ato r.

What else is needed?The pulley (attach to the motor output shaft):

In our prototype shown above, we used an 8" pulley (w ith a3 / 4 " shaft, and key w ay). W hat w e found w as that the gearingratio was less than ideal. W e have run additional tests, anddeterm ined that a 5" diameter pulley is correct for thisapplication. Either a 6" or an 8" will work if you can't find a5 11 , but you will notice the motor speed decrease as a load isapp li ed . To compensat e (if using a 6" or 8" p ulley ), th e moto rspeed w ould need to be increased prior to a lo ad bein g tu rn ed'..on.With the 8" on the motor, and the motor set to idle, we were

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able to kill the motor when a 150 Watt load was applied. If themotor speed was set above idle, there wasn't much of aproblem, but the alternator was spinning much faster than isrequired. A 6" pulley under the same conditions resulted in aslight motor speed decrease when the load was applied. Thealternator speed was about right. But when a 5" pulley wasused, there was no motor speed change for the same load. Infact, it handled the load while running at idle speed, andturned the alternator at a speed more like found in a car.We are curious how a 4", or 4 1/2" pulley would work, but wewill leave that up to our visitors to explore. We hope someonewill share the results.

P ulle y a nd b elt d ata w he n u sin g th e E pic en te r a lte rn ato r b ra ck et.Pulley U sability M in. B el M a x. be lt E xam ple b eltD ia m e ter Len gth Len gth p a rt n um b er5" Excel lent 36" 38" 15360-153806" V e ry u s ab le 38" 40" 15380-154008 " Undesirable 41' 43" 15410-15430b u t w o rk s

The following E-mail conversation between The Epicentercrew, and David Hooper illustrates the problem:Epicenter asked David Hooper the following:"David, I noticed that when I built up a generator using all8 ''pulley 011 the motor, that the motor was not in its normalpower range. The Alternator was also spinning like crazy,

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and] think it would all work better if the pulley ratio wasc lo se r to some th in g YOll would find in a car, like a 5 or6''pulley 011 the m otor. That w ould spin the alternator m oreat a speed like found in the car, and w ould also increase thetorque seen at the alternator, so load changes would haveless affect on the m otor. "David responded:'I 'll go measure, but it seems to me that] tried to use oneabout an inch or two bigger (diameter) than the size of thea lte rn ato r p ulle y s o th at, w ith th e e ng in e at its " cr uis e s pe ed "(about 2500 RPM) the alternator w ould be at reasonablespeed as well - it doesn't put m it its max power unless itsreally hum ming, but you can't run it 'flat out'forever either,a nd yo u've o nly g ot a bo ut 3 or 3.5 hp to pow er itl Everythingis a c omp romis e/ ""I'd tr y th e 5" but it seem s to m e that m ine was more like a 4"- m em ory fails at this point... Yes the alternator will dragdown the engine speed, but if you are over geared, it w illREALLY do it!"In a follow up E-mail from David:"The 5 inch p ulley should do it. Y ou are absolutely co rrect inassum ing that one of about the sam e size as is used in the car(about a 6'-) w ould be correct to give the right alternatorsp eed- b ut rem em ber that m ost cars sp end m uch of their livesw ell B ELOW 2500 rpm , so the pulley is sized to give acom prom ise belt sp eed for w ater p um p, fan, alternator, etc.In fact many cars have a "stepped" pulley w ith a different

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sizefor running the Power Steering pump, and yet another forthe Ale. "'Here we have a dedicated unit, with only a 3 - 3.5 hp engine,so somewhere in the 5 - 6 inch range should be about it. Inever really did nay experimenting with different sizes andmeasuring max output of the alternator. Does going upfromthe 5" to the 6" increase output, or drag the motor rpm downfor a net loss? Interesting question!"

H I just used some "stuff on hand" and it worked, so I theproceeded to the old maxim 'T f it works, don't fix it!" Perhapsa bit of tinkering might be order after all!"

The Cable s:The small 2 wire plug shown was purchased at a local autoparts store for about $3. This molded connector (with wires)is a replacement part for hooking into the two terminals (R,and F) on the alternator. It saved a bunch of time making twoof the alternator connections and is well worth the cost. Yourlocal parts store will carry something similar. The brand we

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bought was Calterm, Part number 08602.Next, we used standard 6 gauge, 15" battery cables from alocal auto parts store to connect the alternator to the battery.Yes, they are a bit over kill, but at $3.39 each the amount oftime you would spend making your own cables of lesser wiresize (crimping the terminals eot.) is more than the cost of justbuying a pair!We had a note from David on the subject, and willshare it with you:"I suspect that the use of 'full on" battery cables is overkill-there are battery terminals that take wing nut & screw (post)connectors available at many autolRV stores, and you don'tneed to have all that much thickness of wire here - check outthe gauge of the wires from the alternator to the battery of acar - about 8 ga should do, 6ga if you really want a safetyfactor. The "2", '1 ", "0" or "00" gao wires in battery cablesare just overkill in this application - they ARE needed in acar to transmit the large current needed by the starter, but atno other time. Leave 'em in as optional, but costs can bepossibly reduced by using cheaper wires rimless the autoparts store has battery cables at really cheap pricesl) Myconcern is the size of connector needed at the alternator end -getting that connector to fit the "hot" terminal of thealternator without any danger of it touching the case or anyother "ground" is easier with smaller terminals, hencesmaller wires!"A valid set of points. Again, if you get a good deal on thebattery cables (like we did) use them! The brand we used

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was made by Web Wire and Cable MFG Co, Part numbers15-6BK, and 15-6RD.The actual length you will require may be longer dependingon how you mount everything. IS" is the minimum length.What are the costs?Item Qty. Cost Source Notes

Retail Actual paidEpicenterMotor 1 ~15-$25 $0 Garage sale Used- GiftUSED from friendAltemato 1 $10-$15 $0 Auto Used- Giftwrecker from friendPulley 1 $10 $10 Hardware

StoreDC toAC 1 $45-$120 $45 Epicenter Price dependsconverter on powerratingBattery 2 $3.39 EA. $6.78 Auto partsCables StoreAlternato 1 $3 $3 Auto partsplug StoreAltemato 1 $29.95 $29.95 EpicenterbracketMisc. nut 1 $5 $5 Hardware& bolts StoreV belt 1 $6 (new) $0 (used) Auto parts Used fromStore parts car12 volt 1 $15 (used) $0 Auto Used fromwrecker parts car

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Is this bracket for real, or is it Just vapor ware?This bracket is for real! We think this home brew generatoridea is so cool, we did a sma ll production run of brackets.Show n here are the rem nants from th e first pro duc tio n ru n!T he se b ra ck ets a re c ut from 0.190",6061 T 6 alum inum for arec ut w ith c ompute r a cc ura cy using a CNC p la sma a rc c uttu ngmachine.

Here is what 8 real bracket looks like!OK, so how does all this junk hook together?

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A top view of the components. (belt guard removed)The first thing to do is to layout all the components on yourshop floor;This will give you an idea of how much space youwill need to mount all the items on a base. We found that thesmallest size for the platform was the size of some scrapplywood from out back. The minimum size is 28" long, and15" wide ifthe battery ismounted close to the alternator. Thisallows the use of less expensive 15" battery cables. Also notethe location of the power converter. Since you will needaccess to the front of the unit to plug in AC devices, theaccess needs to be away from the belt and pulley.This configuration also provides easy access to the motorstarting cord.Please note!Add about 4 inches to the minimum width of the platform sothat a guard call be built to cover the pulley and beltt Thisprototype was built without a guard so that pictures could betaken, and was not intended to really be used! This is a verydangerous configuration when a belt cover is not installed!Please, Please install a belt and pulley guardfor the safetyofotherst A safety guard can be built using scraps of 2 x 4s,and another scrap of plywood.The next step is to bolt the alternator adapter bracket to themotor, and bolt the alternator to thebracket, Then check theplacement on your mounting platform. You will also need toverify the mounting hole dimensions for your motor. TheBriggs and Stratton 3 Horse power we used, has a bolt patternas shown below:

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Be sure to check your motor for the correct mounting holelocations. Then drill the holes in the plywood mounting baseslightlyover size to aid in positioning the motor. In the case ofth e motor we used, the bolt holes are 1 / 4 1 1 , so we drilled theholes 3/8" to give a bi t of slop so the bolts go into tile base abit easier.

Now position the battery on the base.Provide at least 3" of space between the rear of the alternator

~ "",,,.. otsm eter4 p la ce sT he B rig gs & StrattonM oto r rn cu ntln g h olepattern s, fo r a 3 h orespower.1/6"L

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and the battery. This will provide ample space for access tothe alternator terminals. Next, use some scrap chunks of2 by4s positioned with the 2" side down, to build a 4" tall boxaround the battery. We cut them to length.iand then securedthem to the base from underneath using 2" wood screws.It's much easier ifthe holes are drilled before trying to installthe screws. What we did was to cut the first 2x4, thenpositioned it on the far side of the battery. We marked theouter location with a pencil. Then we moved the battery, andmarked the inside of the 2x4. We did the same thing for theother 3 scraps. Once the out lines of the 2x4s were marked,we "pre-drilled" the holes in the base. Next, we positioned the2x4s (one at a time) back on the base, and drilled into thebottom of the 2x4s from the opposite side of the base, usingthe holes in the base as a drill guide. Then we installed thescrews through the base and into the 2x4 scraps. Oncecomplete, the battery fits right in the boxtNext, install any type of wheels you might have on hand. Weused a few wheels with casters, but if you have an oldlawnrnower around, those wheels would work even better!And finally, bolt the motor to the base, do the requiredwiring, and install the battery.

How to wire itup!

O&lco-Remy1100934 37A3D 10 12VNEG12 Vo l t cer battery

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The basic wiring.T his is th e b asic co nfig uratio n u sin g a D elco -R emy 1 10 09 3437A , 3DI0 12V NEG alternator only. Consult w ith a partsp ro fessiona l for wi ring informat ion .In th is mode , it can only be used for 1 2 volt DC applications.A 1 2 v olt cigarette lighter outlet box can be added to providean easy way to connect 12 volt devices to the unit. If acig arette lig hte r o utlet is ad de d, b e su re to in sta ll a fu se in lin ew ith the outlet box. M ost boxes that can be purchased at anauto parts store come with one. But remember that theamou nt o f p ow er th at c an b e de liv ere d whe n ciga rette lig htersockets are used, can only be as m uch as follow s:Say the lighter outlet box you select has a 20 am p fuse:Then the m axim um pow er that can be delivered through theconnector is 1 2 V o lts x 20 am ps = 2 40 Wa tts. T ha t m ean s th atno appliance can draw m ore than 240 w atts or the fuse w illblow . So, if y ou plan to use a PC 140 (140 w att, 200 peak) D Cto AC pow er converter at full load, it w ill w ork fine. But ifyou elect to use a PC 300 (3 00 w att, 500 peak) at full capacityu sin g th e cig arette lig hte r p lu g, y ou w ill b low th e fu se !D o not attem pt to replace the fuse w ith a higher value!If you plan to use a PC300 or PCSOO at full load, you willn eed to w ire th em d ire ctly to th e b attery . B oth u nits h av e b uiltin fuses. In the case of the PC 300, you w ill need to rem ove thecigarette lighter plug and wire it directly. Note that thism odification w ill void the factory w arranty and if an error is

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made in hooking them UP. you will dam age the unit! ThePCSOO doesn 't have a ligh te r s ty le p lug but d oes h av e clam pon ty pe c onne cto rs (lik e j ump er c ab le s) . Again , ify ou elect tocut them off and perm anently w ire it to the battery, you w illvoid the factory warranty.

Both front and rear view s:

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BUILD YOUn OWN SMALL POWER PLANT

W h e t h e r y o u u s e t h e s u n , w i n d ,o r w a t e r to g e n e r a t e p o w e r , y o u re l e c t r i c a l l y I n d e p e n d e n t h u e c a nb e c O i e . o r e v e r s a t i l e w i t h t h ea d d I t i o n o f a s . a l l . I n e K p e n s l v e ,h o . e - b u i It p o w e r p i a n t .

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how to build your own small power plant

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