Volt & Hour meter for a generator?

[RonMar]

Baileynet.com: Main Page has an hour meter on page 81 that is activated from vibration. Internal battery, just attach it and forget it.

Now why couldn't I find one at that price when I was looking for it Most all the ones I found were 50+ dollars.

Snowridge, I don't know about the one in the Bailys catalog that Wayne County hose pointed to, but the ones in your link have a non-replaceable battery. They say the lithium batt should be good for 8+ years, but that might be a factor.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Now why couldn't I find one at that price when I was looking for it Most all the ones I found were 50+ dollars.

Snowridge, I don't know about the one in the Bailys catalog that Wayne County hose pointed to, but the ones in your link have a non-replaceable battery. They say the lithium batt should be good for 8+ years, but that might be a factor.

The one in the Bailey's catalog is the EXACT same one, only without the emblem. Oh, the other difference is price, Bailey's is half price.

By the way, nothing better than ordering the catalogs you guys post links to. It's like Christmas morning when they arrive!

 

[patrick_g]

My cheapie Kill-a-watt I bought at HF has time on it I believe (or am I having yet another "senior moment") but if you use your generator for 220/240 VAC power the Kill-a-watt is essentially useless. I think the max current/power rating is a bit anemic for any "MANLY" sized generators even on 120VAC.

Just how cheap are you? There are lots of DIY approaches for getting an hour meter and or a volt meter. Current meters (to measure the amps being drawn from the generator) are also handy and pretty simple to cobble up cheaply.

Stuff like Digital Hour Meter and Tachometer | Small Engine Accessories | Northern Tool + Equipment is nice but maybe more than you want to spend or you might not need the tach.



Panel Meter 0-15VDC
Model: 22-410 | Catalog #: 22-410

This panel meter is ideal for monitoring a power supply, battery charging system or car electrical s...

It is $12 from Radio Shack. A little fussing and SHAZAM the 0-15VDC meter becomes a 0150vac meter or 0-300 volt for 220-240 monitoring can be switch selected from 0-300 to 0-150 AC pretty easily.

Any of the electronics types hanging out here should be able to whip up a schematic diagram to make the mod(s) and I estimate the cost of additional parts to be under $5.

If you can find a cheap voltmeter (approx 0-15 VDC or so) suitable for automotive use monitoring the 12 volt battery it can be used to monitor 0-150VAC pretty easily or 0-300 to cover 220-240VAC.

I personally recommend the automotive type meter as it may be more rugged as regards surviving vibration. Not all meter movements will live a long life mounted on a vibrating generator.

Pat

 

[RonMar]

My cheapie Kill-a-watt I bought at HF has time on it I believe (or am I having yet another "senior moment")
Pat

Senior moment Pat It does log hours and KWH used, but all that info is lost as soon as you unplug it. You are right, it is small as far as monitored thruput, but then again, my generator can only sustain 3KW anyway... The good thing about it for a portable generator/emergency power application, is that you can plug it into an outlet in the house to see how the generator voltage and frequency are without leaving the house...

 

[George2615]

Another source is alliedelec.com
They have an assortment of hour meters that run on DC 6-28V and AC 115 and 230V priced from $17 and up. Just hook up to your 115 or 230V plug and they will start counting hours whenever you run the generator. Radio Shack has Volt meters. I did a brief search and found you could get an hour meter and a digital volt meter both for under $50 and easily install them. My generator has an hour meter but I'm thinking of adding a digital volt and frequency meters to read the 115 and 230V plugs.

 

[ctpres]

Try ebay search for "hour meter". two brands availe that run on self contained battery and two wires, one to ground and the other wraps around spark plug wire. Install easy, cheap and could be moved around on seaso0nal eq. I'm getting one for ztr and one for generator, might even get one for push mower. Believe one also serves as tach. Typically $25.00 ea shipping included

 

[patrick_g]

Senior moment Pat It does log hours and KWH used, but all that info is lost as soon as you unplug it. You are right, it is small as far as monitored thruput, but then again, my generator can only sustain 3KW anyway... The good thing about it for a portable generator/emergency power application, is that you can plug it into an outlet in the house to see how the generator voltage and frequency are without leaving the house...

Plugging the monitor into the wall in the house will only tell you voltage and frequency and the consumption of any loads plugged into the device. You will have no clue about other loads on the generator (can be important.) There are really simple and cheap meters made for plugging into an outlet to show voltage and you can get the resonant reed type of freq meter that way too.

HF sells digital multimeters so cheap that for in-house use I'd probably wire the leads to a plug to make it convenient to monitor the voltage. for that matter the HF cheapie is sooooo cheap I'd recommend it for monitoring the generator output at the generator. Teh little digital multimeter has an off/on switch to conserve power when not running the generator.

Pat

 

[RonMar]

I agree there are a lot of ways to skin this. Most of these small simple generators are harmonically excited so there is a relationship between output voltage and load. As you load the engine down to it's maximum, the RPM and voltage will droop. With a little experience with the particular configuration, you will be able to tell the generator load by the output voltage/freq. I set my little 3KW for 62HZ no load and it droops to just above 58HZ at it's full load of 3KW. I have an electrical outlet that is half way up the wall in my living room that the pellet stove is plugged into. I place the kill-a-watt into that outlet and at a glance can gauge the generator load.

 

[patrick_g]

I have an electrical outlet that is half way up the wall in my living room that the pellet stove is plugged into. I place the kill-a-watt into that outlet and at a glance can gauge the generator load.

That is a clever and convenient solution for your particular situation.

I have a 6KW (5.5 KW cont) and 12.5 (8 Kw or so continuous) and use them for 240VAC a good part of the time (plasma cutter, stick welder especially the larger one) so I don't use a Kill-A-Watt for those but I may start plugging one in (I have a couple) just to monitor freq, based on your comments.

Thanks for the good idea. Hopefully mine will react similar to yours.

Pat