Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:01:36 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Calculate fuel consumption when idling?
In-Reply-To: <474AE079.9010906@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Well, finally the whole story comes out.
Shame to run a whole giant car engine just to charge a battery, especially
for up to two hours. I hope that's not in a campground with neighboring
campers, even if it is a quietly running stock waterboxer.
And *now* that we know what's really going on, perhaps you need to
consider rpm while charging. Does it charge significantly better at 1,500
rpm than at 800 rpm idle ? Is it more efficient to charge at a higher rpm
for a shorter period ? etc.
How about this - you make your 'standard run' include exactly the same
period of idle charging each trip ? then you're fuel mileage calculations
will include 'trip there and back plus X hours idling."
Methinks a very quiet small Honda generator is really the right device and
method for your purposes. Though it is another device to lug along, take up
space and weight, and they're not cheap, so it's understandable you'd want
to not have one of those if you could help it.
I got it ! .....stationary bicycle driving a generator ! Then you pedal
each day 45 minutes - no pollution, no noise, no burning fossil fuel
inefficiently, plus you get exercise. And how many calories per hour does a
vanagonite burn charging a battery at 5 amps per hour burn ????
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Michael Elliott
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 7:04 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Calculate fuel consumption when idling?
Hi Phil,
I want to find out what difference having the wheels on my van aligned
makes to my van's mileage. I have a "standard" round trip I make, to a
nearby mountain camping area. The last time I made that trip I got 16.2
mpg. I will be making that trip again in a couple days.
This time, though, I will not be using solar power to keep my aux battery
full. I have a battery charger that runs off the alternator and I reckon I
might need to run the engine a couple hours a day to top off the battery.
If I don't have a clue about how much fuel the engine consumes when idling
then I can't factor that in when calculating my mileage after I return in
order to see what diff the alignment made. So that's why I asked if anyone
knew fuel consumption when idling. It wasn't, ah, an /idle/ question.
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
On 11/26/2007 6:04 AM phil cain wrote:
> Here we are trying to figure out what the idle
> consumption is, when the best we can do on the miles
> per gallon/ or idle consumption, is get a close
> estimate, do we have a screw loose somewhere. We are
> not flying a aircraft where the fuel is figured real
> close, we can always pull over to the side of the road
> and walk to the gas station. I have a average of 19-21
> MPG on a 80 Westy that's good enough for me. Phil
>
>
>
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