Your last generator Maintenance Run

[ultrarunner]

I had a little fun with this researching, yes it gets very complicated and expensive too. IM and RFI can be controlled but not an originally square or notchy sine wave that's supposed to
be smooth. In other words, hard to put humpty dumpty back together again. Unless you basically start "all over" and that's the complicated part. Over my pay grade...

none of the ads on the Westinghouse gen a few of us have lists any thd spec. Had to go to company site, not very encouraging:
Total Harmonic Distortion ≤23%

hopefully that is worst case. How expensive is a THD meter/harmonic analyzer?

How to measure power quality? What devices should you use and what to measure? | EEP

Measuring power quality and finding a bugbear in the network which is messing with the power are considered a highly paid job.

electrical-engineering-portal.com

I have used a work truck inverter since 1990 back when they cost a lot...

The power produced was fine for power tools but my Makita charger refused to work as did some other electronics.

 

[90cummins]

No enclosure its a 9.1 hp diesel
and its very quiet you can stand
right next to and talk to anyone
don't have to raise your voice
3.4 gal tank will run at half cap
for 23 hours or full for 6 hours
Just turn the key and starts
real happy with it. will be using
it to run my air compressor to
put up a fence wood fence using
a staple gun Its a 2021 year

willy

Yanmar must have been busy working on noise emissions.
Is yours an L100??
90cummins

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Our Yanmar Diesel 5500 watt gen
takes 3.4 gal diesel will run for 23
hours on half tank and you have to
be about 5 ft to it to know that its
running

willy

Never found that one before when looking. Looks interesting. They don’t list THD.

 

[Patrick Herd]

So I had an engineering hunch that a "Constant Voltage Transformer" would be the miracle fix in the case of small to medium scale generator power (Last time I covered them was in 2005, I feel old) and yes a CVT will eat a square wave supply and give you a sine wave output: What is a Constant Voltage Transformer - an introduction to the perfect sine wave If it works with a square wave, it will work with any generator that outputs any amount of THD. Not super efficient but perfect for intermittently powering critical loads.

 

[3930dave]

The Age We Live In.....

Lots of pure-sine inverters to choose from now.....

10 Best Pure Sine Wave Inverters in 2022: Reviews & Buyer’s Guide

.....gotta run, so haven't checked it out yet, but on the bottom of that page is a vid about cleaning up old-school inverters......

Rgds, D.

 

[Williy]

90cummins Our model is YDG5500W-6El
I think that I paid aproxx $3500 I ordered it
from K&S Tractors Lubbock, TX early last year

Yanmar Portable Diesel Generator - YDG5500W-6EI, 5500 Watt, 9.1 HP, 120-240 Volt, Tier IV Final

Yanmar Portable Diesel Generator – YDG5500W-6EI, 5500 Watt, 9.1 HP, 30 Amp Plug, Electric Start, Tier IV Final Yanmar L-100W6-GEY air-cooled, 4-stroke, direct injected, diesel fueled engine 5500 watts of start power and 5000 watts of continuous

www.absolutegenerators.com

willy

 

[3930dave]

90cummins Our model is YDG5500W-6El
I think that I paid aproxx $3500 I ordered it
from K&S Tractors Lubbock, TX early last year

Yanmar Portable Diesel Generator - YDG5500W-6EI, 5500 Watt, 9.1 HP, 120-240 Volt, Tier IV Final

Yanmar Portable Diesel Generator – YDG5500W-6EI, 5500 Watt, 9.1 HP, 30 Amp Plug, Electric Start, Tier IV Final Yanmar L-100W6-GEY air-cooled, 4-stroke, direct injected, diesel fueled engine 5500 watts of start power and 5000 watts of continuous

www.absolutegenerators.com

willy

Thanks for the 411 Willy..... small(ish) modern diesel gens are not that easy to find.

Being Yanmar, I'd expect it is well designed for this, but need to ask...... how easily does it pull-start ?

Looks like it has a healthy 12vdc output built-in

Rgds, D.

 

[Williy]

I'm lazy I just turn the key I'm
old and kranky 82
It really don't seem to be that hard
to pull to start it has a lever you push
before you try to start

willy

 

[Patrick Herd]

This discussion makes me miss my old job at the technical college: I had seven figures worth of electrical engineering lab and test equipment at my disposal... I could have setup some really cool demonstrations in response to the questions being asked here.

 

[3930dave]

I'm lazy I just turn the key I'm
old and kranky 82
It really don't seem to be that hard
to pull to start it has a lever you push
before you try to start

willy

With that Decompression lever, should be not too bad....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

This discussion makes me miss my old job at the technical college: I had seven figures worth of electrical engineering lab and test equipment at my disposal... I could have setup some really cool demonstrations in response to the questions being asked here.

View attachment 758465

Nothing like having real-deal instrumentation handy....

I used to work on a former IBM campus.... big enviro test chambers, massive (for the electronics world) shaker tables..... Rgds, D.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Early in my career I did power quality measurements using Dranetz power meters. They cost a few thousand.

 

[Patrick Herd]

Early in my career I did power quality measurements using Dranetz power meters. They cost a few thousand.

I've used a couple of different power quality analysers, favourite so far is the PQ Box series by A-Eberle Network analyzer PQ-Box 150 | A. EBERLE around $20k NZd from memory.

I put it in the main switchboard during this hot changeover to generator test:

the transients were in the order of 6x nominal load current and a lot of black smoke

 

[Williy]

The only testing I ever did was testing all
the PC boards for the 25 inch TV that I
had to put all the little componets and
solder them in the PC boards and a
O-scope, design console, digital multimeter
and a few other things so I can use a
multimeter/ohm meter. I was pretty proud
of building the 25 inch tv from scratch and
when I had it all assembled it worked so no
problems. and that was in 1975
The TV's today have little pc boards just 2
of them power and the other to control tv

willy

 

[3930dave]

The only testing I ever did was testing all
the PC boards for the 25 inch TV that I
had to put all the little componets and
solder them in the PC boards and a
O-scope, design console, digital multimeter
and a few other things so I can use a
multimeter/ohm meter. I was pretty proud
of building the 25 inch tv from scratch and
when I had it all assembled it worked so no
problems. and that was in 1975
The TV's today have little pc boards just 2
of them power and the other to control tv

willy

Heathkit I'd wager

I still have a tube Heathkit audio amp around here somewhere, that somebody else built, and I remember my buddy's older brother building one of their stereo receivers....

Youngsters today hearing us..... "They are just spinning tall-tales again !"

Rgds, D.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Now a days my harmonic measurements are on electronic circuits and I use a spectrum analyzer. We generally put a filter on the 3rd, generally the 5th is outside of the frequency we are concerned with

 

[3930dave]

Now a days my harmonic measurements are on electronic circuits and I use a spectrum analyzer. We generally put a filter on the 3rd, generally the 5th is outside of the frequency we are concerned with

What product area, if I may ask....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I'd been pushing this issue @ work for months, after the Facility Manager balked at the generator svc company's quote for changing out two starting batteries. Yes, it was a ridiculously high quote..... but after wading thru some inter-departmental noise, they got changed out today by one of our own sr. mechanics.

Two roughly Group 31 batteries in series.... one of the old batteries tested well below 100CCA...... definitely giving Murphy waaayyyy too much of an opportunity.....

Many of you will know this, but if you are testing threaded-post battery terminals, make sure to use the post-adapters to test with..... I saw huge differences in CCA test values last year, doing it with and w/o those adapters.

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

here's a treat guys
a genuine Kohler too
at grange fair this morning
4 cylinder, didn't see the output, doubt very much.

I'm overhearing the Kohler rep repeatedly bash Generac
oh Generac doesn't do this
And Generac doesn't do that
They had a 60kw there, couldn't tell which V8 due to custom exhaust. Maybe a 351 Ford?

quite a pile of oil under this old gen, I wouldn't want to get it too hot...

 

[grsthegreat]

here's a treat guys
a genuine Kohler too
at grange fair this morning
4 cylinder, didn't see the output, doubt very much.

I'm overhearing the Kohler rep repeatedly bash Generac
oh Generac doesn't do this
And Generac doesn't do that
They had a 60kw there, couldn't tell which V8 due to custom exhaust. Maybe a 351 Ford?

quite a pile of oil under this old gen, I wouldn't want to get it too hot...

Thats ok, we generac guys bash kohler too.