Energy saving
Saving Energy by using batteries
Lets take the wasted energy, a whole lot of used batteries that are still good and run the lighting in the back of the bowling center ............
 
  Of course this will just be the start ...........  Once this is perfected then why not keep going and add a solar charging system to charge the batteries also ........................
 
  If I just keep on building the system maybe we can actually lower the consumption of the business...........
 
   Between this and the now added electric pickup it is a beginning of a new thought towards the now energy crisis we are getting ourselves into .....  battery power can be part of the answer to the problem ...........................
Here we are a lot of lights to power with batteries, I work in the back of the bowling center a lot and it seems such a waste of energy happens back there, first off there are lights on when nobody is using them, there is a lot of wasted energy from the pinsetters so I was thinking why not add some alternators like are on a car to some of the pinsetters that when they are running they can drive some energy into some large battery packs to charge them up then add some inverters to change the 12 volts to 115 volts and drive all the light in the backend ........
 
   So I set out to do just exactly that .............................................
First I needed a place to hide all these batteries ......................
 
2 lines of 10 batteries for lots of amp hours to run the lights ................
 
Underneath this table is perfect, I also have 2 lines at the other end of the bowling center overhead in a storage area that was also perfect ...................
 
So here is the first step install the batteries ...................... hook them in line so they are 12 volts and lots of saving energy !!
 
 
  You can not see them but I also installed two 1000 watt inverters underneath with the batteries as they fit perfect and unseen,   no clutter and a clean look when finished ......................
  Add a real nice face board and everything is hidden and protected out of sight .................
 
  This finishes up where the batteries are kept and this makes it so that if a battery fails it can easily be taken out of the line and replaced................
 
  especially since these are old electric vehicle batteries, might as well use them up before they are taken in and recycled ...............................
Now run some brand new wires and lines of course we need to add a line from the inverters to the overhead lights, I ran two different circuits to seperate out two sets of batteries, in that way you can run anything from one good battery to 10 batteries that are maybe so - so but still useable such as in my case ...........    two sets of lines one is for the 110 volts and the other line is to run the 12 volt charging lines to the alternators ...... even though you do not have to run the low voltage 12 volts in a pipe I feel better since these alternators put out 80 amps of charging voltage ..................................
and then run both sets of lines overhead and to the alternators also , clamp them to the ceiling and add any brackets needed to hold them in place ............  plug in whatever lights .......
the overhead lights I am currently using are 2 F40W flourescents, basically cheap shop lights...
   they draw 1 amp per bulb per hour ............. these have two so it is 2 amps per unit ......
 
  The numbers crunch down to amps x volts = watts .............  simple algorithms
 
   I have 8 units of 2 bulbs each .........  8 x 2 amps = 16 amps per hour total draw ............
16 x 110 (volts) = 1760 watts total draw divided by 4 inverters =  440 watts for each inverter
these are 1000 watt inverters so this will be no problem .................
the draw will be a maximum of 4 amps per hour ...............  the batteries I am currently using are 80 AH batteries .......  simple math   these are rated at 130 minutes @ 25 amp draw .........
260 minutes at 12 AH draw ........... 520 minutes at 6 AH draw   1040 minutes at 3 AH draw
 
So I should get close to 800 minutes at a 4 AH draw ........   over 13 hours of run time for the lights I currently have installed .......  I like to overkill a bit so that I can get a full 8 hours run time out of them even if the batteries are weak .............................
 
If in the future I can add solar charging during the day ..............  I can still add 4 more alternators across the center when needed between the two I am sure I can make a big dent in the electric bill around here ..................
To move on it is time to design the alternator assy. ...  fairly simple since these are high output alternators , we need to increase the rpms until the desired output is hit , these have built in limiters and regulators .....................  added a large pulley a belt a custom holding brkt assy and wired in the relay needed to excite the field (just like the key on your car a alternator must be turned on and off, the relay comes on when the bowling machine is turned on just like you started your car) .........  simple and easy to maintain , that is a must ...............................
put the pinsetter cover back on and plug in all the lights and the system is almost ready ..........
The very last thing for now is add a timer assy to turn on and off the lights automatically ......
 
  So for safety I added a timer to each light assy all the way across the backend .....
 
  I hooked up every other light to turn on with regular electricity and every other light to come on and turn off at the busiest time of the night ...........
 
  I will now test this system for a month or so and then go to full useage and see if it will hold up the entire backend with useage ..................
 
 
   then on to the next tests ......................................