Generator - Wood powered

[Mikhail_Reign]

There was a generator post, and I was going to add to that, but it go locked so I needed to make a new one.

 

I had this idea while I was staying at the Barn in Pleasant Valley. All the required materials are there. A wood-gas powered generator.

 

Wood-gas is created by heating wood in a sealed vessel, and then piping the resulting gas into a carburetor of an normal engine. Doesn't need anything crazy - a oil drum (like the many in/around the barn) with a lid would work. You put some wood in the drum and seal it, put the drum over the fire, and run a pipe from an opening at the top of the drum to the carby of an engine. The resulting gas will run an engine fine. You can then get power from the alternator. Personally I would use the tractor that is parked nearby, or just use the ute thats in the shed (you could put the wood-gas gen in the back and just drive it around as it - its what my grandparents did in WWII).

 

Any way - Wood gas. Simple as to make. Any average Joe could have a stab at it with nothing more then duct tape as a binder (a few car batteries put together makes a decent welder tho). Its not high tech, or unknown technology. It was common ground during the war for people to make them at home and convert their car to it to get around fuel rationing. Its also been mentioned on just about every 'survivor' show that been on TV so its not like our character wouldn't know about it.

 

 

[Rusty_Old_F250]

Woodgas is a very cool technology, I've thought about playing around with it, but I have bigger fish to fry at the moment....  

Sam

[cekivi]

An interesting prospect but generators remain a touchy subject on the forums. Mainly due to the (endless) arguments of what type of disaster wiped out all technology. Certain ones would fry engines too so no generators would work. The other question is whether the disaster (in the form of the aurora) are ongoing.

Personally, while wood-gas generators certainly possible, I'm against them being in the game since having electricity would greatly reduce the survival atmosphere in the game. Everything becomes less scary and dangerous if I can use a microwave and fridge again.

[Wastelander]

8 hours ago, cekivi said:

Personally, while wood-gas generators certainly possible, I'm against them being in the game since having electricity would greatly reduce the survival atmosphere in the game. Everything becomes less scary and dangerous if I can use a microwave and fridge again.

Truer a word ne'er spoken
HOWEVER

I do see potential for this as a challenge and/or quest in Story Mode. Gotta pick up civlization somehow, do we?

[Tbone555]

i was once watching Mountain Men, and this dude up in montana had a water generator. i cant remember quite how he did it, but he was pulling electric current from the motion of the stream or something like that.

really, anything that has rotation produces an electrical current which can be routed and used. thats how those green energy power turbines work. hell, if corporations would band together and figure out how to harness the energy our cars produce just by the wheels turning, fossil fuels wouldnt be such a big issue

but even if you jury-rigged a generator, everything youd use that generator for would be fried. your television would be fried, your microwave would be fried, your oven, your lights. the only thing that wouldnt be completely fried, is objects using electricity that were not switched ON during the event. thats my understanding of it, anyway.

[cekivi]

1 hour ago, Tbone555 said:

but even if you jury-rigged a generator, everything youd use that generator for would be fried. your television would be fried, your microwave would be fried, your oven, your lights. the only thing that wouldnt be completely fried, is objects using electricity that were not switched ON during the event. thats my understanding of it, anyway

And that's why electricity, generators and flashlights are such contentious topics: everyone has their own understanding of the game at the moment

[LucidFugue]

5 hours ago, Tbone555 said:

really, anything that has rotation produces an electrical current which can be routed and used. thats how those green energy power turbines work. hell, if corporations would band together and figure out how to harness the energy our cars produce just by the wheels turning, fossil fuels wouldnt be such a big issue

Well most hybrid and electric cars use a dynamo when braking to capture some of the energy from the wheels, but you can't have an engine turning the wheels when you put your foot on the accelerator and somehow capture all that energy without waste and while still moving. That'd be a perpetual motion machine! 

[Rusty_Old_F250]

11 hours ago, Wastelander said:

Truer a word ne'er spoken
HOWEVER

I do see potential for this as a challenge and/or quest in Story Mode. Gotta pick up civlization somehow, do we?

I agree, I don't see this being included in the game as we know it. But I could see it being the focus in a future version of the game... The Long Light anyone? 

Sam

[Rifleman]

On 07/10/2016 at 10:45 AM, Mikhail_Reign said:

There was a generator post, and I was going to add to that, but it go locked so I needed to make a new one.

 

I had this idea while I was staying at the Barn in Pleasant Valley. All the required materials are there. A wood-gas powered generator.

 

Wood-gas is created by heating wood in a sealed vessel, and then piping the resulting gas into a carburetor of an normal engine. Doesn't need anything crazy - a oil drum (like the many in/around the barn) with a lid would work. You put some wood in the drum and seal it, put the drum over the fire, and run a pipe from an opening at the top of the drum to the carby of an engine. The resulting gas will run an engine fine. You can then get power from the alternator. Personally I would use the tractor that is parked nearby, or just use the ute thats in the shed (you could put the wood-gas gen in the back and just drive it around as it - its what my grandparents did in WWII).

 

Any way - Wood gas. Simple as to make. Any average Joe could have a stab at it with nothing more then duct tape as a binder (a few car batteries put together makes a decent welder tho). Its not high tech, or unknown technology. It was common ground during the war for people to make them at home and convert their car to it to get around fuel rationing. Its also been mentioned on just about every 'survivor' show that been on TV so its not like our character wouldn't know about it.

 

 

Could you link the locked topic?

[Rusty_Old_F250]

I believe this is the topic @Mikhail_Reign had in mind

Sam

[Mikhail_Reign]

Also - and this one always bugs me buuuuut - and alternater from a car + radiator fan + car battery. It's not the greatest windmill, and the fan is tiny, but it's everything you would need and (depending on the car) you would only need a shifter to get all the parts (the hatchbacks could be a stupid new engine that you have to do something crazy like split the case to get to the alternator, but those pickups? It's hanging off the side of the block with 2 bolts). You could make better fins, but something like that would power a radio and some lights. More with a decent fan and the winds in a blizzard.

[FQuenot]

I have an other idea for energy.... catch 10/15 rabbits and let them run in a giant wooden wheel... Ok, I go out >>>

[vancopower]

I am more of a gas man but sure any kind of electricity is better than no electricity. Perhaps we can use soft wood to create the fuel like cedar wood.

[cekivi]

Welcome to the forums @FQuenot