STOKERS RUN TIMES and HOUR METERS

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 1:04 pm

What are they useful for?
Who has them and who wants them?
How does one go about getting and installing one?

POST AWAY: :)


 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 1:52 pm

I have an hour meter wired in with the stoker motor. I find it useful to track coal consumption and cleanings.

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Post by carlherrnstein » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 2:59 pm

They tell you how many hours something has run.
Anyone who feels they have a need to know how much something runs.
Pick one out amazon has them, you mount it wherever you think is appropriate and wire it parallel to whatever you want to keep track of.

You could use it to know when to do maintenance, or as rob does to figure your fuel consumption.

I personally don't think its needed but, some people don't think a tachometer is needed on a car.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 3:26 pm

I rarely look at mine any more. :oops:

When I first put the boiler in it was useful to see how it behaved with different feed rates, etc...now I just leave it alone and take out the ashes.

 
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McGiever
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Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar

Post by McGiever » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 4:02 pm

Here's a 110 vac-250 vac model...110 volt hour meter

So many other ones are for DC and less than 40 volt.

 
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Post by Horace » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 5:28 pm

Interesting. I'd find them more useful if it recorded when it ran as well. That would let you know when the T-Stat kicked on versus regular idle fires.

For a very cheap alternative, pick up a pedometer at the Dollar Store. I wired it to a middle mouse button from a sacrificed mouse then attached it to the stove with a magnet, some Erector Set parts and a rubber band. Each time the stoker rotates, it advances by one. Lets me adjust my timers to keep the T-stat from coming on so much.

 
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Post by LouSee » Thu. Jan. 09, 2014 3:41 am

McGiever wrote:Here's a 110 vac-250 vac model...110 volt hour meter

So many other ones are for DC and less than 40 volt.
You can buy those on ebay for half the price. come from china in about 2 weeks.


 
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Post by LouSee » Thu. Jan. 09, 2014 3:43 am

Horace wrote:Interesting. I'd find them more useful if it recorded when it ran as well. That would let you know when the T-Stat kicked on versus regular idle fires.

For a very cheap alternative, pick up a pedometer at the Dollar Store. I wired it to a middle mouse button from a sacrificed mouse then attached it to the stove with a magnet, some Erector Set parts and a rubber band. Each time the stoker rotates, it advances by one. Lets me adjust my timers to keep the T-stat from coming on so much.
Just HAVE to see a picture of that....

 
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Post by Horace » Thu. Jan. 09, 2014 7:00 pm

LouSee wrote:Just HAVE to see a picture of that....
Here you go :D

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Post by LouSee » Fri. Jan. 10, 2014 1:32 am

Sa-weet! Not familiar with the Harmon: so every rotation of the worm/gearshaft hits the mouse button which is wired to the pedometer and electrically 'clicks' it?

I was imagining the pedometer being on a crank-rod of some type, whose motion was be enough to make the pedometer work in its normal fashion - and was wondering what the mouse button was for. :-)

You could just get one of those little clicker-things that ushers used to have to count people and have the arm click that instead of a mouse button and be battery-free...

Nice speaker magnet. :-)

 
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Post by Horace » Fri. Jan. 10, 2014 11:18 am

LouSee wrote:Sa-weet! Not familiar with the Harmon: so every rotation of the worm/gearshaft hits the mouse button which is wired to the pedometer and electrically 'clicks' it?

I was imagining the pedometer being on a crank-rod of some type, whose motion was be enough to make the pedometer work in its normal fashion - and was wondering what the mouse button was for. :-)

You could just get one of those little clicker-things that ushers used to have to count people and have the arm click that instead of a mouse button and be battery-free...

Nice speaker magnet. :-)
That's exactly how it works. I thought of using a baler counter (which is essentially like an usher-person-counter) but another member of the forum used a pedometer so I "borrowed" the idea. I also couldn't quite figure out how to mount a baler counter. The pedometer that I'm using is now three years old and still going strong. Yay, Dollar Tree!

The nice thing about this is I can tell if my stove runs just off the timers - which is what I want - or if the T-stat kicked on. I can also tell how hard the stove ran and if I'm approaching its total limit. For instance, if the stove ran flat-out, constantly fed, for 24 hours, on a 5 RPM feed motor, then its total potential is 5*60*24= 7,200 strokes per day. During the cold snap this week, the highest reading for 24 hours was about 3,300. Therefore, even with an average temperature of 1*, the stove ran at less than half its total potential. I realize that that's not totally accurate because of diminishing returns, but it's not too far off. I do know that it was 74* in the house all day on Tuesday.

It's all just more data for me to play with.

 
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Post by Leadslingingdaddy » Fri. Jan. 10, 2014 11:30 am

Data..Tinkering....All the same isnt it!! :D

 
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McGiever
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Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
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Post by McGiever » Fri. Jan. 10, 2014 11:48 am

Understand the mouse side of this...now how 's the pedometer side set up?

 
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Post by Horace » Fri. Jan. 10, 2014 1:41 pm

McGiever wrote:Understand the mouse side of this...now how 's the pedometer side set up?
I opened the pedo and found that there's a little weight on a spring inside that bounces and closes the circuit each time you take a step. I pulled the weight and the spring out, then soldered wires from the two terminals and ran them to the mouse button. Each time the cam on the stoker feed hits the mouse button, it advances the pedometer by one click.

Here's the original post by syncmaster that gave me the idea:

Build a Hopper Empty/Ash Pan Full Indicator ...Cheap

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LouSee
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Post by LouSee » Fri. Jan. 10, 2014 2:01 pm

Yeah, more data is always cool - as long as its accurate data. ;-)

pedometers usually work with a swinging arm or ball in a arc-shaped track with a weak spring to keep it from just bouncing around and when you run/jog/walk, your body's motion is transmitted to the pedometer, overcomes the spring's pressure and the arm or ball goes from one end to the other and makes a contact, completing the circuit and marking a "stride". You then figure out your running/jogging/walking stride length and you know how far you've gone - roughly.

for this application, I would guess Horace hard-wired he two wires coming off the mouse button to the pedo's switch and voila...


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