What do you think? For the KR, it seems that removing the alternator and related pulley from my VW Type 4 has the potential of decreasing the side loading on the engine, and decreasing parasitic loads on the engine so that more power goes to the propeller.
A small rip-cord 500 watt generator will run up to 8 hours on a half gallon of fuel. ?But with the normal loads, the motorcycle battery will support electrical loads a couple of hours at a time. ?So starting and stopping the small generator would provide recharging on an as-needed basis. ?A simple voltage alarm can be used to advise pilot of need to recharge the avionics batteries. During day VFR, most likely the alarm would never be triggered; i.e. battery trickle charger keeping battery topped off in the hanger. Gas from the main tank would be used to run the generator. ?Exhausting would be no different than the main engine. Looking at the space available, the generator I'm looking at will fit in the same space that the retract gear would fit in; I have fixed gear. ?And leave a lot of extra room. ?The space with a bit of fiberglass can be made completely separate from main cabin; with an open to air flow gap between the cabin and generator where the pull cord and controls run through, in case there is a head gasket leak (carbon monoxide). ?Same issue with main engine and one reason for firewall. The 110V outlet feeding a battery charger provides about 30 amps of charging, capacity. ?But for a motorcycle battery it will only take a maximum of about 10 amps, plus about 5 amps for efis and ems system batteries. ?So there is still a surplus of power available for other loads. Because the generator without shrouding (substituting small NACA vent and aluminum baffling), is very small, it can be put anywhere that is CG beneficial. A pulley system bringing the pull cord under the center between pilot and passenger allows for a bi-cep pull so the leverage is favorable without having to do any unusual positioning. ?A 500 watt generator is very easy to start. I'm looking at the Honda generator because it runs with virtually no vibration. What are things I'm not thinking of? ? --? James Dunn
