Moseley Generator Regulator

[Harold_V]

Through the kindness of our good friend and reader, Rich Carlstedt, I am posting three drawings for the construction of a regulator.

Rich said: "Don't forget to mention using the gen to charge a battery.
Many old timers told me of the burned out bulbs ruining their generator".

Regards the battery, think gel cell.

Thanks, Rich, for your very good and valuable contribution.

Sorry for the relatively large size of the files, but I wanted to make sure that they could be saved and printed with success.

Harold

[throttleartist]

Hey Harold,

This would probably work with my LS Manufacturing dynamos. With modifications?

Andy

[Harold_V]

Andy,

Can't imagine you couldn't get it to work with most anything that has a reasonable demand for steam. It's a pretty simple, straight forward design that could easily be modified for most any purpose, or so it seems.

If you give it a go, be sure to give us a report on your success.

Harold

[Papasmurf7597]

I've had a Superpower Detail generator/alternator on my engine for about five years now. Other than the tiny ball bearings going bad from a lot of use, it worked fine. I did follow the wireing directions to create the conversion from three phase to single phase, then to DC. Radio Shack stuff.
What I did a little differently, was to slow down the alternator to 7.5v
output, used a gell cell 6v. battery as a ballast, and changed all the bulbs to 6v. It worked just fine. The reason I slowed it down was to save the poor little thing from wearing itself out from trying to put out 12v.
I purchased as high a temp tollerant regulator from Granger that I could, and adjusted the pressure until I had the voltage output that I wanted.
The generator/alternator always kept the battery charged even when the headlight and cab light was being used. I also went to a 6v, 5w halogen headlight. Plenty of light.

Take care,

Bruce

[Trainman4602]

Here they are four original Mosley regulator. I would like to sell them all to one person

[Rich_Carlstedt]

I believe the original Mosley Generators were either
3 volt or 6 Volt..I have a 6 volt unit.
I was not aware of a 12 volt..or is it only
Superpower 's version that comes in 12.
Rich

[Papasmurf7597]

Rich,

I was not completely aware of the voltage rateings of the other generators that are out there. The one that I have is definitely rated at
12v, 3phase, AC. A very good diagram was included with the unit. The items needed to convert it to single phase and dc were readily available at Radio Schack.
I do have a new adjustable regulator from Tom Bee, but have not at this time installed it on the engine. The original one from Granger is still hanging in there.
If some one out there has the same unit that I have and has lost the diagram, I would be more than happy to forward a copy to you.

Take care,

Bruce

[mattmason]

Rich,

Please check you private messages or e-mail me at matt@homerailwayjournal.com about your regulator plans.

Matt Mason
Editor, The Home Railway Journal
www.homerailwayjournal.com

[mrb37211]

Live Steam published a "how-to" on building a steam turbo generator in the Sep/Oct and Nov/Dec 1998 issues. The rotor was built with four magnets inserted into the mild steel poles. The coils were on the stator which was made from salvaged transformer (or florescent light ballast) steel. The device generated three phase current which was rectified to feed light bulbs.

I've wondered about the small three phase electric motors now being used for radio control airplanes (instead of fuel motors). Some of them might be the correct size for use in a turbo generator.

Charles

[Kimball McGinley]

I would think a small incandescent bulb would not care about 3-phase current. It has enough thermal mass that it does not flash 3 times for every revolution. Is it the battery that wants a steady current?

[SZuiderveen]

Not only does the battery and/or (some) regulators require dc polarized current, on some systems with a ground, you need dc current to put the negative to the locomotive frame.

Steve Zuiderveen

[Rich_Carlstedt]

To answer some questions.
Three phase power is easy to produce in a generator.
The bulbs could care less about how many phases you have BUT they can only work off two wires, which is a single phase.. what to do with the balance of power? well if all three legs go to rectifiers, you convert the three to a single source and then only need two wires. Neither the battery or the bulbs care if there is line ripple in the power supply.
Obviously the bulbs will work with AC or DC, but DC gives good control.
Also with High output LED's avaiable, the Dc may help there as well.
Rich