Generator question

[Rollerman 290]

A friend down the street today offered me an unusual generator.

It's a military surplus job, big Continental single cylinder air cooled engine & told me it was originally out of a tank?....yeah the ones with tracks & the big pointy boom stick on the turret.

Here's the kicker, it put's out 24V DC current.

The price is right so I'll more than likely buy it just to have, but at 24V DC.....what can I do with it?

This would mostly be for a conversation piece, but any advice/insight would be welcome.

Pics to follow later on.

[Gene_S 93]

That is strange Stephen. Unless the military uses 24V lighting or something. Other wise don't big trucks use 24V systems? Maybe its a big battery charger...

[Save Old Iron 1,564]

Stephen,

try to find an AC inverter with 24V DC input capability and you have a 120VAC generator.

[bitten 134]

Sounds very interesting. B)

[Roger from southern Iowa 1]

Looks like Chuck gave you a "reason" to own the generator.

Have fun with it.

[rickv1957 70]

Stephen Rick

[sorekiwi 761]

The price is right so I'll more than likely buy it just to have

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one that does that!!

Kinda related... I worked for a while in an engine shop where the other half of the building was a company that bought surplus military and airplane equipement. A lot of it was stripped for parts, and some was rebuilt and sold all over the world.

There were a lot of little trailers there with turbine engines and big generators built in. I dont remember exactly what the deal was with the generators, but there was something funky with the output that made them next to useless - maybe the output was at the wrong frequency?

Useless or not, there was a lot of cool stuff there, and I never got used to the turbines being fired up on the test stand. It made our 800 hp Indy car engines on the dyno sound tame!

[Sarge 3,462]

If it isn't too large/heavy it would make a great welder source with a pair of series wired car batteries...fixed a lot of stuff on the trail that way.

Sarge

[btrrg1969 11]

That is strange Stephen. Unless the military uses 24V lighting or something. Other wise don't big trucks use 24V systems? Maybe its a big battery charger...

I diesel mechanic for years and I never saw a big truck with a 24v system , however busses and big off road construction use 24v as for step'n down the current from 24 to 12 there has to be a way B)

[Rollerman 290]

Thanks for the replies & ideas.

It's about the size of a dorm fridge & lighter than it looks since it has a lot of magnesium construction.

Once I get it home...today or tomorrow I'll shoot some pics & find out more about the specs.

Like I said, it's unique enough & cheap enough to own even without being usefull....but I'm sure I can find something to do with it.

I though maybe put it on the boat & make Lake Wawasee into a big electrolysis tank?

Fish & clean tractor parts at the same time? B)

[wh500special 2,090]

Tickster,

From what I have seen, the military standardized 24V electrical systems on most all of their vehicles; Hummers, pickups, generators, engine driven AC units, etc. All of the junk we've messed with at work has 24V.

What can you do with it? When did usefulness ever become a requirement for our insane hobbies?

I suppose you could charge two batteries at a time from your electric rider...

Mike,

Chances are the generators you saw were 400 Hz units. The military uses 400 Hz systems for AC power on ships and - I suppose - aircraft since it makes transformer cores smaller and lighter and I guess makes electric motors run more efficiently. Stuff we have manufactured that was ship bound had to be 400 Hz capable which was a bit of a pain in the rear from the perspective of trying to buy off-the-shelf components.

Steve

[gwgdog66 23]

The military uses 24 volt systems on everything. This generator was probably used to charge electrical systems possibly on tanks and aircraft while on the ready line, or doing maintenance services. Just a SWAG without seeing some photo's of it.

[Rollerman 290]

Tickster,

From what I have seen, the military standardized 24V electrical systems on most all of their vehicles; Hummers, pickups, generators, engine driven AC units, etc. All of the junk we've messed with at work has 24V.

What can you do with it? When did usefulness ever become a requirement for our insane hobbies?

I suppose you could charge two batteries at a time from your electric rider...

Tickster?...thats going back aways.

Steve the E rider is a 36V with three 12V batteries...maybe it's time for an upgrade to 48V?

The generators still sitting two doors over.

I may get it tomorrow or when I feel like makeing a spot in the garage for it.

It's not so much a question of I need to have a use for it to buy it...it's cheap & a done deal.

Just curious what I can do with it.

Already looked at some 24V inverters, but need to know the specifics of the gen first.

[Rollerman 290]

Been about two weeks since I started this thread.

Just brought the generator home today.

Looks bigger in my tiny shop....friends garage is a 60X40.

Here are some pics for those curious.

Any input from someone who's knows a little about the engine/generator like horsepower, output, date, etc, etc.

Like I said, I bought it because it was cheap & unique.

[Nick 13]

Havent had Dad take a look at the pictures yet but he had said they used something similar in his tanks and I found the A-41-1 generator was used in the M48 tanks of the 50s. Still looking around but my guess is your A-41-2 is just a newer model?