Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Industrial Toys]

Older transformer based inverters seemed much more robust. My 3000 watt Alpha ferro-resonant 110/220 inverter has no issue running my jet pump. What it doesn't like is the power from my Onan/Kubota 7.5 KW genset. It will not accept it and won't charge my battery bank, although everything else in the house accepts it and you would never know the genset is running. The frequency requirements seems to be extremely critical.

Last year I bought an Efergy Elite energy monitor after researching what was available. It is stand alone, wireless on a UHF band and accurate. Sure I could use a clamp on meter, but this is much more convenient to see my loads. Good for managing loads when the power is out or for testing/excercise. I also liked the fact that I could talk to the guy that built and designed the monitoring unit. How often in this day and age is that possible?

 

[3930dave]

Thanks Dave I need to do that. Unfortunately I don't remember the Hp... have to dig through an old repair bill. Depth about 180ft. I know we decided to upgrade the pump a notch but don't recall. My gut tells me no problem but I will measure. Oh one more thing... just checked the service panel. I have a 30amp breaker for the well.

Let us know how the testing goes, if you decide to try it.

At 180', I'd prefer to see a conventional pump on 220, but obviously your setup works fine on-grid.

Recent load discussions prompted me to blather on with my :2cents: concerning test strategy for your setup - I'd hate to see that big-screen that you watch during blackouts be compromised !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Older transformer based inverters seemed much more robust. My 3000 watt Alpha ferro-resonant 110/220 inverter has no issue running my jet pump. What it doesn't like is the power from my Onan/Kubota 7.5 KW genset. It will not accept it and won't charge my battery bank, although everything else in the house accepts it and you would never know the genset is running. The frequency requirements seems to be extremely critical.

Last year I bought an Efergy Elite energy monitor after researching what was available. It is stand alone, wireless on a UHF band and accurate. Sure I could use a clamp on meter, but this is much more convenient to see my loads. Good for managing loads when the power is out or for testing/excercise. I also liked the fact that I could talk to the guy that built and designed the monitoring unit. How often in this day and age is that possible?

It is great to be able to talk with the actual designer of a product you are interested in.

I have an older B&D unit that is similar to their IR product - useful for seeing what your grid consumption is.

I see that the model you bought comes with 2 sensors. Can you split the screen to display both sensors at the same time, or do you select one at a time ?

Efergy has online monitoring available - that would be nice for a remote property, as it does also include Temperature.

Rgds, D.

 

[Industrial Toys]

This is my (boat anchor) inverter. Took three girlie men (including myself) to get it up on that shelf up near the ceiling.

I don't believe my monitor has split screen. But I have two monitors. Handy, so I can have one at the genset and one in the house, or walk around and turn loads on and off.

It has all kinds of history and cost functions that I don't use. What I also like but is a pain is the alarming feature. It warns me if the genset loads goes too high. Unfortunately, I have to scroll through twenty (or more) items to get to and change that limit which is different when I am on genset, secondary genset, inverter or utility!

The biggest selling feature was its stand-alone nature. The very last thing I want, when power goes down is to try and deal with IT issues, or worse have to try and call some tech support line!

 

[3930dave]

View attachment 452833

This is my (boat anchor) inverter. Took three girlie men (including myself) to get it up on that shelf up near the ceiling.

I don't believe my monitor has split screen. But I have two monitors. Handy, so I can have one at the genset and one in the house, or walk around and turn loads on and off.

It has all kinds of history and cost functions that I don't use. What I also like but is a pain is the alarming feature. It warns me if the genset loads goes too high. Unfortunately, I have to scroll through twenty (or more) items to get to and change that limit which is different when I am on genset, secondary genset, inverter or utility!

The biggest selling feature was its stand-alone nature. The very last thing I want, when power goes down is to try and deal with IT issues, or worse have to try and call some tech support line!

That's definitely some heavy iron ! Did you have to reinforce the wall ? :laughing:

I posted in another thread recently, about a public MIL call for Tender on a basic drone blocker. The spec required that the product not have any software or firmware - you don't have to worry about software QA, Revision Control, and Update Security....... if you don't have any......

Rgds, D.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sounds like they were looking more for a shotgun sort of weapon system. Very low tech. Maybe controlled by the "security" monkey from Toy Story (3?). I just love that monkey, and wish I had him in my employ.

 

[check]

Wow, sounds great! How expensive does it get?

 

[nikdfish]

Checked the oil, then ran the Champion 7K for about 30 minutes with a 3K load. It was showing 124v @ 60.4 hz under that load & had started at the first press of the starter switch.

Also, I finally got around to putting together a rain shelter for it out of 1" PVC.

What I ended up with breaks down into two sections - top & bottom and the 4 connecting legs. The top is "shingled" with some surplus trim sheet metal & a leftover piece of ridge cap. (blue tape is covering some cut edges with laceration potential - probably need to do something more permanent). BTW, I used pop rivets for joining the components rather than glue. They can get drilled out if I need to modify later. It goes through the door with room to spare when broken down & light enough to carry easily. The "dip" on one side was to give better access to the fuel cap if refueling with the cover on.

I figure it will do for supporting a tarp/plastic-sheet cover when pre-positioning for upcoming bad weather & if needed. I can pretty easily add side curtains or panels if it looks like blowing precip is a possibility while running. Surprisingly, there is no tinny rattle coming from it while the genset is running.

Nick

 

[3930dave]

Thanks for posting Nick.... I'm overdue to run one of mine, and coming close to needing to run the other.....

I like that shelter of yours - compact, light, gets the job done.

I've found with my store-bought pop-up canopy that ground anchors are a good idea, and mandatory in rough weather. Your's doesn't look like it would catch a lot of wind, and the lower horizontal bars look to be a good spot to ratchet strap some cinder-blocks to.

Vibration isolation on your portable gen must be pretty good - I would have expected some "roof-rattle" running on the concrete pad.

Nice build, and as always, a TBN :thumbsup: for pics !

Rgds, D.

 

[kevinwak]

Ran my Honda EU2000i for about half an hour under load today, just because!