We are based in Wellington, New Zealand, and can offer sales, transport and advice about these engines, and generators.
Our interest (and maybe yours), is in small-scale electricity generation technology as a whole, but with a particular focus on old-school slow-running diesel engines having only one or two cylinders; based on the designs of Lister, Petter, Changfa.
We have to admit that our favourites are the Lister diesel engines, singles and twins. These slow-revving monsters are just awesome. The Indian replicas (aka Listeroids) are fantastic, and they are hand-built in small batches. The down-side to that, is that parts are not 100% precisely interchangeable and you might expect to have to do some engineering yourself to fix it up once in a while. But their simple design and construction means it’s not hard to work out what’s going on. Note that these large Lister engines are heavy: 450 to 650 Kg depending on the size. So they are not easy to move around.
The ChangFa type engines are not quite as cool … but they do have a similar appeal. Their advantage is that they are mass produced to high standards; parts are readily available online and they are about half the weight of an equivalent power output Lister. Most of the online forums that deal with Listers, have a section for Changfa. Changfa may be the one that defines the type – but there are great equivalents made by Changxing, Changchai, Dongfeng, Jiangdong, Xingdong to name a few.
This website is intended to provide key resources and a starting point for learning about generators, alternators, engines etc. We can provide advice, but the decisions are yours.
To be clear, we have no relationship with the Chinese company Changfa who manufacture this type of engine and are so well known that we borrowed the name for our website. But if someone was looking for an engine or generator of this type … the website name seemed appropriate for these in New Zealand. Neither do we have any affiliation with any other Changfa-style manufacturer … we just like the basic design and want to share that interest with others.
We created the website in late 2024 and are just testing the waters at the moment. Seeing how much interest there is, and whether we can make a go of it.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss options, availability etc.