Mark Hartford's posts

>>If I understand your post correctly, you are probably pedaling the bike and trickle charging a full battery (how big?) at 1-2 amps. You then turn on the inverter with light bulb (how many watts ?).  Sometime later, the pedaling resistance jumps.   Does the amp meter jump at the same time ?<<

KEN, HERE ARE THE SPECIFICS:
 I have 2, 12 volt deep cycle batteries hooked up to act as one 12 volt battery (negative to negative, positive to positive).  3ach 12v battery: 105 AH @20 hrs.; min. 25 @amps 185.  I have my positive and negative wires from the controller hooked to the same positive and negative posts on the batteries as I do the converter.  I have the positive for each hooked up to battery A and the negative for each hooked up to battery B.  I have a 60 watt light hooked up to inverter. My inverter is 1500w.  The amp meter jumped when the pedaling resistance jumped.  My load light on the controller is on even though the light is not on.  The load light goes off when the easy pedaling starts.

>>I think your inverter/bulb are initially running off of the battery, while you are seeing the trickle charge load.  When the battery voltage drops down below “full”, your charge controller is kicking from “trickle charge” to “bulk charge”, so you are attempting to run the light bulb/inverter and charge the battery simultaneously.<<

Would it change this if I hooked the controller to the opposite posts (still neg. to neg. and pos. to pos.) as I have the inverter hooked up?  I hope that made sense!


>>If you want to test this, try running the battery down a ways with the inverter/bulb.  Then shut it off and start pedaling.  See if you get more resistance and higher amp readings than your current 1-2.<<

Resistance remains light after turning off the light.

Mark

John, how do I send a jpeg of the wiring diagram?  I can also save it as a PDF file.  Mark

I now have my DC motor hooked up properly to my batteries.  My DC motor is run by pedaling an exercise bike.  I am using a 15A solar controller.  When I pedal I get an amp or 2 showing on my amp meter I hooked up between my motor and controller.  My solar controller also shows it charging.  When I turn on my inverter hooked up to the batteries for the purpose of running a light everything works great.  Light is on, pedaling continues at same resistance, light is bright.  All of a sudden my DC motor resistance jumps way up and the bike is hard to pedal.  If I turn off the inverter to the light the pedaling goes back to normal as stated above.  The resistance feels very similar to when I had the amp meter hooked up incorrectly and set up a closed loop between the motor and the meter.

Any ideas as to why the resistance jumps up under these conditions?  Any way to corrected it if it is a problem?  Is it possible that the controller is shutting off the amps to the battery and creating a closed loop back to the motor?

TIA for help and advice.

Newbie Mark

OK, I just noticed something in an ad for a amp meter: It says to connect in-line on the  positive line.  I think I have mine connected with both positive and negative lines.  Again, I am a total novice... Can this be the reason for the load making it difficult to pedal?

Mark

Thanks Dave.  I'll give your ideas a try.  I am a total novice when it comes to electricity. I would love to use the 2.5 hr motor. If I didn't say before, when I have the motor turning (while burning up the rubber wheel) it shows 10 amps being produced.  I put an amp meter on it just to see what it can produce. Does this mean I want to get it down to 2 or 3 amps for it to be easier to run?

My next project will be wind and I know already there is no way will the wind turn this motor. I have another one like it I was hoping to try to use with wind.

Mark

The motor that I have been trying to use turns out to be almost impossible to turn with my exercise bike.  When I do get it going, it burns up the wheels transferring energy from the bike to the motor.

It is 2.5 horse power motor.  I have ordered .5 horse power motor to see if it will turn more easily... I'll let you know.  Mark

Actually, I'm trying to hook up a exercise bike to this to make electricity uaing a 12v system... Mark

Again, thanks to all for your ideas! 

Thanks to everyone again who have responded to my previous posts. 

Here is what I know about the motor: Permanent Magnet DC Motor; model PA140A manufactured by Argord Corporation, Toronto Canada; 2.5 HP Treadmill Duty @ 130 VDC; 18.5 Amps; 6750 RPM; 25 degrees C; CW Rotation; Enclosure Open; External Fan; Thermal Switch 120 VAC, 105+/-5 degrees C; 1.5 HP Continuous duty @ 95 VDC. 

So far I have hooked it up to an AMP meter with the red (positive) and black (negative) wires and it shows production of Amps.  I find a significant difference in resistance of the motor to turn when I do this.  The motor becomes quite difficult to turn by comparison to when the wires are not hooked up to the AMP meter- I assume this has to due with the magnets actually working?

So I still have these two blue wires coming out that I don't know what to do with... could they be the wires to a device that controls the amount of resistance the treadmill has?  I have found a phone number for the Argord Corp. and will call them Monday, but thought someone might know the answer to this... TIA Mark

Thanks for your reply.  I have a new question: I have four wires coming out of my DC motor.  I assume red (positive), black (Negative), and two blue wires (one for grounding and one to attach to the 12/3 wire I am using to connect to the battery controller.  Does this sound right?  TIA Mark

Thanks for the quick reply.  The batteries will have all sides open.  Also, at this point, my plan calls for the inverter to be in the living room and the batteries just below in the basement, connected by a six foot cable.  That shouldn't be any problem.  I want to test it with both in the living room for now.  Sounds like that should be OK as well since again, the batteries will be out in the open.  Thanks also for the tip about the battery cables.  Mark

New guy here - I see all kinds of warnings about getting sparks, including from my inverter,  to close to deep cycle batteries. The converter has about 3' cable with it.  How close is too close for an inverter to be to batteries? TIA MARK