Chipper Revs Mod

[Big 'Ammer]

I think an automatic system is adding expense to solve a negligable problem.

 

It won't save much diesel in reality.

 

Dirty sensors will soon be a PITA and add annoyance working when they shouldn't and vice versa and get bypassed to manual control by the ground crew.

 

Training the groundies to knock the revs off in quiet spells is a lot cheaper.

 

My old Kwik Chip had an electric throttle, just a rocker switch on the control panel idle/fast.

 

Its been mentioned earlier to mount this at the hopper end of the machine for convenience.

 

All that said, If you have got a long drag and a tight gap with no where to stack a bit of brash up, a remote system might be of use.

 

Surely its not hard to wire up the electronic throttle switch circuit to a remote button like a car door lock fob or better still a garage door opener (which works further away).

 

Groundy keeps the button in his pocket, five strides away from the hopper he presses the button, by the time hes put the brash in, its up to full speed.

 

Knock the revs off from anywhere on the site from 60 feet away.

 

Give the climber a button too, so he can shout down for stuff/clear the drop zone etc.

 

Thats got to be a good safety feature with a few possibilities.

 

Would'nt be expensive to make and fit.

 

You saw it here first folks, don't forget to send me the royalties when you've made one!

[Dean Lofthouse]

Even more simple, a microswitch on the top feed roller, when it goes fully down it knocks off the revs, groundy comes back, pushes a button revs come back up.

 

Only problem there is if you are feeding a 20ft leylandii stem you'd have to walk along it to get to the hopper then back to the middle to feed.

 

I think you are underestimating the savings that can be made in fuel, wear and tear and noise pollution. Chipper noise is one of the most annoying for everyone, operator and neigbours.

 

I'd rather have a 1000 hour chipper that has done 400 hours chipping and 600 hours on tickover than one thats done 1000 hours at full tilt

 

These are just rough guestimates but fuel wise if a chipper uses 5 litres per hour at full tilt and one litre at tickover.

 

A 2500 hour chipper would use

 

No mod: 12,500 litre = £12,500

 

With Mod : 6500 litre = £6500

 

If a clearance company puts that amount of hours on in two years thats £3000 a year saving on fuel

 

Well worth a modification that would cost all of £80 in parts

[Big 'Ammer]

Its very difficult to quantify.

 

Remember that engine hours are not actual hours. Usually its hours at operating speed.

 

Tickover speed adds engine hours on to the counter very slowly.

 

Difficult to say how much fuel is used at tickover.

 

Then again, you use a lot of fuel opening up the revs to full speed.

 

Constantly shutting down and opening up the engine is going to waste fuel to some extent.

 

Your figures assume also that we are putting white diesel in at £1 / litre, not red diesel at £0.60 / litre.

 

My chipper uses less than 2 litres / engine hour.

 

A large company with a lot of machines may make a significant saving, Joe Average with one machine isn't.

Edited May 16, 2009 by Big 'Ammer

[Dean Lofthouse]

Diesel engines use minute quantities at tickover, the difference between diesel engines and petrol pre injection engines is fuel delivery is a measured and exact amount on the diesel

 

So in effect revving up from tickover is not wasting fuel, whereas petrol engines inject a jet of petrol into the manifold to prevent a flatspot upon revving via the Accellerator pump. So constant revving, derevving will use a lot of petrol, but not so with a diesel.

 

Also, if the chipper operator is not the chipper owner he will not knock the chipper revs down between for the longer periods between feeds, they couldn't care less whether they are wasting the bosses fuel or adding have the chipper on full tilt/stress whilst not feeding. They are not paying service or running costs

 

It also doesn't matter whether you calculate using red or white diesel, the percentages are the same

Edited May 16, 2009 by Dean Lofthouse

[skyhuck]

Its very difficult to quantify.

 

Remember that engine hours are not actual hours. Usually its hours at operating speed.

 

Tickover speed adds engine hours on to the counter very slowly.

 

.

 

I think that is only the old mechanical clocks, like old mogs have on the front of the engine, my mog has an electronic hours clock and counts every actual hour when ever the ignition is turned on.

[Big 'Ammer]

Jensen clocks mechanical, Kwik Chip was digital.

 

If a workable system could be fitted, that wasn't going to be tempremental with dirt, dust and vibration, and could save half your fuel costs, it would be worth having.

 

Providing it wasn't going to cost a fortune.

 

I fully agree that staff tend to leave chippers running flat out, unless reminded not to!

 

Might start a new thread on which chippers are the most frugal on fuel.

[Mesterh]

Chipper noise is one of the most annoying for everyone, operator and neighbours.

 

I would say the mod would be worth it alone just for this reason, anything else fuel reduction, wear reduction etc would be a bonus.