I have always believed in performance in a different way. When I was 8 years old, I had been driving tractors for 1 year. Old tractors, like the ones you see at tractor and farm equipment shows. Well I had been driving a 1954 Massey Harris Ferguson Pony. I was introduced to the Antique Power Club of Alaska, Branch 52 of the EDGE&TA (Early Day Gas Engine & Tractor Association) and we had a show out at the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry (MATI for short), and we were having a 'tractor race' but it was a race of a different sort....
Last one to the finish line without stalling wins.
So we would idle them down, back off the mags, tweak and adjust the carburetors, open the petcocks (for the Johnny Poppers), tighten up the brakes, toe in the front wheels (if yours was a wide, not trike front) and open the radiators, do everything possible to get these things slowed down further than they already were.
So with engines popping at around 50 to 100 rpm, oil pressure barely registering, we raced. The course was a straight line, only 1000 feet long. I came in last, which meant I was first across the line. That stunk.
It was the notion of base torque. Doing the most amount of work with the least amount of energy. Well as time went on, I purchased my own antique tractor, one year, I idled it way back, adjusted the distributor, and cranked the brakes up to 'barely moving' and won the race walking next to the tractor holding the steering wheel. The oil pressure gauge was showing 'ZILCH!!' and yet it still ran, the tachometer, which is mechanical, was showing only 40 rotations per minute.
So when you build your electrolyser, or any alternate energy system for that matter, think about it in doing the most amount of work for the least amount of fuel or energy expended. Go for the 95% efficiency factor, and let the rest go. Try for the least wattage to attain the most hydrogen. Aim for the most power, with the least amount of fuel.
This is where you will find this board to be aimed. Burning rubber off the tire? I am certainly not impressed. Driving 2 hours one way, dropping a 2 bottom plow into the soil and running full throttle for 10 hours, and driving 2 hours back on the same tank of fuel (in my case 5 gallons on my tractor) is what will impress me.
Running a car is great. Want to really go under the radar and make a serious difference? Power Generation, Stationary Power, Farm Equipment.
See Farm engines are built different. They are DESIGNED to be run at 100% load, full throttle for continuous abuse. Do that to a car/ truck engine, and it won't last for a lunch break. See now that is power, and engineering. If they could make a 100% electric farm tractor that could run full power for 20 hours, and recharge from the solar panel on the roof of the barn, and only switch out the battery packs when needed, That would almost guarantee a change in things.
What about a Stationary Power Plant that could power and heat a home for a month on a gallon of Gasoline, or Diesel? What about Hydrogen?
See Where this is headed?
You can have your electric car and drive it too, but it doesn't have to cost you a bazillion dollars in the long run!
AlaskaStarStatistics: Posted by AlaskaStar — Sat May 31, 2008 5:15 am
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