Discuss How much electricity will Vauxhall Combo Van engine generate ? in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

You will have to look at the alternator rating plate to tell you. But I doubt it's anywhere near 4Kw.
 
For that kind of load you would be better of with a generator .
What kind of coffee machine is it ? Is this a commercial venture.
 
As a rough guide 4000/12v is 333Amps so no chance with a van generator.S
We could assume the voltage is around 14.5 volts so that brings it down to a more reasonable 275 amps... :D
 
Hi,what on earth is that coffee machine? ...you won't get 4Kw on a standard pitch hook-up.

Tell me,you haven't ram-raided Cafe Nero,in that Combo... ;)
 
Did a job in Rotherham a couple of years back. We used to stop, on the way, at a coffee van local to the job. It was really small and he produced various drinks from his 'coffee machine on wheels'....really professional. I just presumed he had a jenny on board but never asked. Good drinks though.
 
If you really wanted to go down that route, and assuming it's an intermittent load, then fit some extra batteries and a BFO inverter.
When I was fixing our old Kangoo a while back, using current clamp meter to find faiked glow plug, I found that the alternator was managing about 50A at idle :oops: Which I didn't expect. So you'd need to rig up a "fast idle" arrangementvto get the full 100A (or whatever) your alternator should be capable of. Perhap something a bit clever that presses the throttle a little when the battery voltage drops under load.
I wouldn't go down the "split charge" route unless youbare up for some major electrical reconfiguration. A "normal" split charge setup would disconnect your aux batteries (and hence your coffee machine) from the alternator just when you want it. To make a split charge work for a big loads like this would mean rewiring the alternator to the aux battery and making the vehicle battery into the secondary - not trivial, especially with modern monitoring/control computers etc.
There is also the issue of load dump transients. When your 4kW (i.e. 350 to 400A) load turns off, the alternator takes a finite time to turn itself down - and in the meantime it's stuffing out "more than is needed" which result in a spike in system voltage.
This sort of discussion comes up from time to time in Land Rover forums in relation to powering winches ...
An alternative is to fit a second alternator. If the engine is designed to run aircon but it isn't fitted, then fettling an alternator into the aircon pump space might not be too hard. You could also go 24V which would considerably reduce currents and the cable sizes needed.
 
If business is brisk, even though a coffee machine heater is an intermittent load, the average consumption will be well in excess of what is available from the original alternator. As the battery would be working on cyclic charge/discharge, that will incur losses; the inverter will incur losses. 4kW at 12V is just a pain.

If you really want to power the machine from the vehicle engine, fit a 230V alternator to it. Modern units are asynchronous and don't require tight control of engine speed, it simply needs to be running fast enough. Here's an example:

5kW 230V AC automotive generator

Regardless of the configuration, high idle will be needed to achieve the rated output, which the engine and DPF will not thank you for after a solid day's running. The depreciation might be much greater than the cost of a generator, which you can place out of earshot too.
 

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