Bill Rogers’ Book on Home Power

Electrical Engineer, Motor Head, and he’s one of us! Yes, Bill also likes to DIY, you can switch from subjects like reactive loads, to sun gears, motorcycles, fuel injection, and more, Bill’s either right with you, or a step ahead.

UPDATE 020207!  Bill Roger’s the BOOK is reality, see “Books on this site”.

As I may have said elsewhere, Forrest Mims is one of my favorite Technical Writers. An example of his talent is a little book he wrote for Radio shack. The title was ‘Understanding Digital Computers, and between the covers was his Microprocessor called the ‘PIP’, a 4 bit ‘nibbler’ designed to teach you exactly how a microprocessor does what it does at the machine level. Forrest writes in a way where you feel the knowledge is being poured into your head. How does he do this? He writes to convey information, and not to impress his peers as all too many Technical Writers do. He also has a double helping of passion for teaching and for the subject itself, without these passions, he could have never have done it so well! 

Bill Rogers is another EE with passion for a subject, he too understands that there is a difference between ‘teaching’ and demonstrating that you have knowledge of a subject. Bill is old enough and wise enough to know the difference. he also recognizes that there are some DIYer Farm Boys out there that never went to college but have a double helping of good skills, and common sense, and some that have taken the time to learn the basics of AC power. You can see the difference in their projects, their approach, and the questions they ask.

Thirty five Years ago, I sat in an AC theory class; I loved it, but after getting into a JOB where battery and ground, Zeros and Ones were nearly everything, I quickly lost these skills. Yes, I have read and studied some since, but I found Bill’s book was the refresher I needed, and it’s all in one concise little book about 127 pages long. It took far less effort to understand, and it reminds me of having the knowledge ‘poured in’ versus the struggle to learn. NO, you can’t just doze off in the chair with the book, you do need to use your brain, and think about what you are reading, but it’s a joy to learn as Bill presents it. As of this date I go thru my disorganized web pages and find a number of terms that are just a little bit off.. I’ve used KW, where KVA would be more appropriate and more, this book will really help you get back in touch with reality! 

Now for the profound revelation, Bill has that same talent to write and convey information as Forrest Mimms, (One of my Heros); furthermore, Bill has tuned the information to meet the requirements of our DIYer community, and delivers it by discussing situations we may have already observed and found curious or dumbfounding. There is information in this book about building induction generators out of both single phase and three phase motors, and lots more, Bill is the first to provide the information normally missing in other books and articles that will allow these generators to run with far greater efficiency.  Most of what I have read elsewhere will produce results where losses that are far too great too deploy for our requirements and many generators will fail being run in the mode as described on WEBsites and even a few books. All that is required is the application of principles Bill teaches.  Some will think Bill has revealed trade secrets in this book. Common generators are covered as well, and the information about tuning your AC loads for greater efficiency where we can use less fuel to run these devices can pay huge dividends in the operation of our power plants, we can easily apply this knowledge to save money on our commercial power bills too.

There is another profound thing taught in this book, and that is what slow speed power looks like, and how the power is delivered, you will have a better understanding of slow speed than ever before, and few mechanical engineers will paint a better picture, or explain it in more detail than the many charts and graphs in this book.  

Thank you Bill for putting in the effort to produce the information we need!

George B.