Where did cooper bessemer source there engines. I figured CAT with have a LP conversion. I remember running our diesel John Deeres on LP assist when plowing clay. You had to start with LP switched on. It is not likely ke nitrous. It was good for one higher gear or another plow share.
Cooper Bessemer was an in house design and build. Relatively large diesels used for air compressors, oil pipelines, natural gas pipelines, etc. Here is an example of a Cooper-Bessemer Diesel:
Your mention of nitros reminds me of three examples where a diesel was abused:
(1) Winter cold start, impatient driver sprayed a can of ether into the air intake of a
Detroit Diesel. Result, blew out head gaskets and damaged pistons.
(2) New employee not paying attention filled diesel saddle tanks with gasoline. Blew out head gasket, cracked heads, replaced engine, employee fired.
(3) Diesel engine started and ran backwards. Shut down and re-started.
Diesel engines command respect.
Thank you for the renewable solution and minding the environment. We need more people like you
That looks bid enough to power a locomotive. I remember touring GM’s Diesel Equipment Division as a pre engineering student back in Michigan. They used to have some big diesels. How many cylinders is that monster? Looks the size of about two V-12 Merlins.
@stevensegal did not build a dam for 2 billion Pound Stirling, he bought an integrated high end amplifier with switch mode power supply that can perfectly handle the voltage fluctuations and THD of any grid. It cost a nano fraction of your dam and he is playing music he enjoys as he is reporting.
It’s not so unique either as many high end audio manufacturers change to switch mode power supplies. Mola Mola, Linn, Deivalet, that list just keeps growing.
As a wildlife supporter I have a couple of questions about your dam. Did you build a fish ladder into your dam? - Or, have you been referring to the Pitlochry dam?
Just to put you in the picture…!
Stirling is a Scottish city. Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom. The (£) pound.
Ok… A lot of rivers including my personal river don’t naturally host fish (or any marine wildlife, for that matter). Thought I should make this clear to you. Another major concern for me was the wellbeing of all the animals when their natural habitat was destroyed, forests cleared, etc. I can assure you all animals were decanted to 5 star hotels, no expense spared, until they were all safely relocated. To be 100% sure no wildlife will ever return - I have Linn and Devialet switch-mode power supplies plugged into EMI noise analyzers; a cacophony of screeching, grating, rasping, strident noise does the trick perfectly. My god, those power supplies put some amount of noise back into the mains…!
Thanks for the education about Stirling and Sterling, did not know that indeed.
May I ask where about your dam/lake is? I compared it to the Pitlochry dam (in Scotland) because I was impressed with its fish ladder and when I looked inside, there were quite some fish.
Luckily the speakers are connected to the output (and not the input) of those switch mode fed amplifiers, which sound really good.
So, the switch mode power supplies radiate into the grid more than the grid radiates to the amplifier, yet the amplifiers output generates great music quality.
This is indeed nasty for the other gear close by, like sources that are fed with linear power supplies. The good news is that low power sources are are typically not effected by filters.
So switch mode supplied power amp or integrated straight into the wall outlet, low power sources behind filters or for those seeking the end of the rabbit hole reliable power regenerators.
Linear supplied power amps will most likely benefit from the regenerator in case switch mode stuff is close by.
But connecting a switch mode power supply to the output of a regenerator doesn’t seem a good idea, as through the isolation to the grid that noise has nothing but a higher impedance path to ground to go anywhere else but being radiated by the regenerator.
PS Audio solution for mixed switch mode and linear supplied equipment.
Scotsman solution for mixed switch mode and linear supplied equipment.
Like these, low power sources connected to filtered sockets, switch mode supplied power amps to straight to the grid sockets.
Although these cost 8 to 10 x the amount than any power distribution bar with 12 AWG (3,2 mm2) or 2,5 mm2 thick power cord that is utilized even in recording studios, it is still within reason to the total cost of a high end system. But, already paying a electricity bill (power plant) and buying high end equipment, another power plant in my home seems very redundant. Also adding more (complex) equipment doesn’t exactly make the system more reliable.
I admire everybody who has a Power Regenerator who enjoy better music their mind, but it is not for me as you might have guessed.
Neither does PS Audio send us in Europe the Generators to try for free at home, like they did to Michael Fremer, so indeed I have not and will never hear the difference.
Years ago I bought two P10s. One of them burnt itself out and caused smoke damage to the listening room. Insurance paid out for the P10 and they also paid out for redecorating the room. I threw the P10 in a dumpster. My other P10 would misbehave and it became unreliable. It is sitting someplace in my garage. I tried balanced mains transformers, but they restricted dynamics when I connected up the power amplifiers, fine with low level equipment. We have healthy 240 volts here and nothing beats plugging the power amplifiers directly into the mains. I started investigating various things (not going to go into it all, it would take too long to cover everything). This is when I discovered how seriously noisy switch-mode power supplies were / still are.
I build my own mains filters.
If I plug-in one power amplifier to a power strip there is noise generated - being fed back into the mains from the amplifier (linear PSU) - which is clearly heard through the EMI analyzer / noise sniffer, etc, etc. Plug-in one of my mains filters and the noise disappears. Plug in a Linn Klimax DS DAC /switch-mode PSU / the noise is impossible to quieten! Add more filters and all that happens is the noise changes pitch, shunted about the mains supply from pillar to post. Honestly - it sounds like a machine gun! It permeates to every piece of equipment connected to the mains. The only way is to unplug the switch-mode PSU. Obviously, this is just scratching the surface, but switch-mode PSUs feed a serious amount of CRAP into the mains. @joma0711 uses one on my smaller mains filters and a few surge arrestors.
And the difference the filters made was huge
Switch mode power supplies are evil things, I’ve yet to meet a really well behaved one.
I know they have some advantages too, and not only to the manufacturers (cost and weight to them), but they are bad news
Thanks for the feedback Dirk, would you and @joma0711 mind sharing the home made designs, we can do that off line if you prefer.
I would be interested in making filters my self. I already have a Bill of Material set up utilizing high end DIY filters on PCB and putting them in well grounded and shielded enclosure, but any experience you guys have and want to share is welcome.
You just made me feel unhappy about my NAD M33 purchase .
Don’t worry, I’ll get over it as it sounded extremely good when it was demonstrated to me with a Cambridge Audio CD player stacked right on top of it and plugged into the same a 5,90 EURO household power distribution strip.
But still if I can improve for reasonable budget your information is welcome.
On the subject of more modest gene’s - the Hondas are very reliable and comparatively QUIET. Which is something you may want to consider, dependent on where you end up having to place it, and how close to your neighbors you are. Hopefully the ingress will not be right outside your listening room. Though listening can be a low priority when you’re trying to keep your basement from flooding, etc.
And of course neighbors are a lot less annoyed by the noise keeping them awake if it is powering their fridge.
That all sounds lovely on paper, as long as one is willing to put up with the sound the thing produces
Great advice, I do have two smaller Honda generators at our summer home, and have been kicking around the idea of getting something with more capacity. That and we currently have LP gas storage on the property. With recent early summer storms unfortunately have have seen some duty:
Highly recommended for small loads, won’t run the AC, well, etc, but for refrigeration and lighting they are great. With the last several storms the stereo did not see any real playing time, but the chain saw sure did. A cold beer afterwards hit the spot.
Just to clarify a few points for @dirk and @badbeef, I have no plans to build a dam because I don’t use big Class A/B or valve amplifiers. Indeed, a dam would be well beyond my financial means.Even a small one, even the one in Pitlochry that I drove past several times last summer. I use Class D as it works very well, is small and provides very good value, not least because neither a dam nor a regenerator have been considered necessary. It is completely indifferent to voltage swings.
There is fishing on the River Tummel, south of Pitlochy Dam. The dam is just inside the town. It’s a dreary place of little interest, save for a magnificent shopping centre (House of Bruar) and a castle (Blair Atholl). It doesn’t have a decent restaurant, but there is a nice restaurant selling locally caught fish just outside of town, called East Haugh House. It ws memorable for the fish-themed wallpaper, stuffed fish on the walls and even good edible fish. There was no mistaking the fishiness of the place.
Personally I leave the fishing to others, preferring the eating, but did once engage in the strange Scottish custom of spooning, which involves standing in a shallow river at night and whacking unsuspecting salmon over the head with a long stick (10 to 12 feet from memory) with a spoon on the end, in which you are meant to catch the fish after having stunned it. It would have been easier just to grab them, but there is no fun in that.
Sorry, @Dirk, if I had a dam it would be smaller than yours, as I like small and minimalist. I hate big, lots of boxes, etc. You are correct in that we are all unique, if we were all the same, heaven forbid.
Just relocate adjacent to Sizewell B, pull power out of the air Tesla style. Problem solved.
Dam or no, fab Brit power or no - I sure as hell hope you’re not running the Wilsons with the pizza box.
Actually it’s a Frisbee!
But it would burst into life when you left and returned home ; )
we are all indeed unique characters on here, that’s the appeal for me
young people ( ) tell me “spooning” means something different, i did wonder for a moment where your tale of night fishing was going…
at least it didn’t involve dynamite lobbed in the river!