Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Timely warning in light of all the downed power lines we can expect this week coming up from Louisiana.

I also dropped that link into the Ida thread on here too.

We've had a spot or two of nasty weather here this Summer, but nothing like a Cat 5.

I've spent some time around high voltage systems, so likely have slightly better awareness than average. That said, reflex-reactions can be hard to check - if I saw something on fire, I'd grab a fire-extinguisher too. Too bad somebody else hadn't been there to yell out "Stay the ______ away from that line".

Even if you understand the threat range of high-voltage, it's hard to triage multiple threats, esp. when one has high visibility like fire.

Rgds, D.

 

[Patrick Herd]

Not a planned maintenance run, but we had a pretty massive storm last week:
Power was out from about 02:30 in the morning due to numerous tree branches getting tangled up in the lines. My friend down in town said it was like a lightning storm with all the line clashing going on before things went completely dead.

Equipment:
Powered our house essentials such as internet, computers, lights, and freezers off of our battery backed solar system. No issues to report, batteries were still showing 90+% full when the power came back on at 20:00 that evening. Moved the house back to the gravity water supply in the afternoon as it was getting a bit boring without running water.

"2hp" 2 stroke shoe box sized generator started first pull of the cord after a quick prime of the air intake with some 2 smoke mix. It powered the neighbours hydroponic pumps and tunnel house skin blower from early in the morning until power was restored. Carb drained for next time.

"1600W" off brand inverter generator which belongs to my employer and was at home for a (yet to be done) maintenance run. This one put up a little bit of a fight, taking half a dozen pulls of the cord to get it to go. It went over to the neighbours later in the afternoon as their fridges were starting to warm up a little. The neighbours wanted to watch tv too

All in all pretty successful usage and testing of all the systems. A bigger inverter and new transfer switch which covers the whole house and workshop are a lot higher on the priority list now.

 

[3930dave]

Well played Patrick, things went well for you.... maybe you kept our Murphy standing on his head

Good after-action analysis..... leading to new design targets, always time well spent

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

isn't it wonderful when they all start?
isn't it wonderful when they all keep running?

plenty of hurricane season left.

 

[3Ts]

Just had the local Generator maintenance done on my 22k Generac. However, the controller says the next maintenance due date is Oct 19, 2021. I asked him to reset it because I didn't want it to start warning me about faults in a few weeks. He said it can't be done that when it does show a fault, to just reset it.

Is this real? It can't be reset to show that service was done a little early?

 

[grsthegreat]

Just had the local Generator maintenance done on my 22k Generac. However, the controller says the next maintenance due date is Oct 19, 2021. I asked him to reset it because I didn't want it to start warning me about faults in a few weeks. He said it can't be done that when it does show a fault, to just reset it.

Is this real? It can't be reset to show that service was done a little early?

it can be reset thru dealer menu. problem is that also resets the schedule a and schedule b warnings. not a big deal really.

i always reset the schedules on units i service. but you can wait until the yellow light shows up and just press the enter button 2 times to clear the yellow light. the yellow light does not effect operation of unit.

 

[3Ts]

Thanks

 

[3930dave]

Exercise and "eating" Right..... not just for Hugh Mans.....

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

not a "run" today but while I had the smart charger out for another battery, I let it run on the gen for several hours.
I try to do this two or three times a year to run the final desulphate cycle.

 

[cdaigle430]

Just had my 16KW natural gas Generac services-5th year. I am having them add a wifi monitor this year for 325 bucks-includes one year of montoring-it has the EVO 1 controller.

 

[grsthegreat]

The generac app is ok as far as a basic monitoring device. Personally I like my GenPi unit better. You will need to add battery backup to your wifi router for this to be any use.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

We had a scheduled 6.5 hour "maintenance" power outage last night.

I just ran my Honda inverter generator, it used about 3 qts of fuel...

SR

 

[ultrarunner]

We had a scheduled 6.5 hour "maintenance" power outage last night.

I just ran my Honda inverter generator, it used about 3 qts of fuel...

SR

Sweet…

 

[DieselBound]

Ran mine the other day. Since retrofitting with a new voltage regulator board (generator is early 90s vintage and the old massive capacitor finally started bleeding out) and cleaning up some connections it starts and runs flawlessly. Topped off the tank: can't recall the last time I did this- a 7.5kW diesel is about as miserly a fuel sipper as there is. Now all set for Fall/Winter.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Sweet…

It's hard for me to believe any generator can run over 6 hrs on less than a gallon of fuel, even lightly loaded.

But those small Honda generators are just plain amazing!

SR

 

[ultrarunner]

I’m probably the only person I know with the 1000 Honda Inverter.

Always getting positive comments because it is so quiet and it really does sip.

Just the right size for 95% of my portable jobs…

That said most of the general public wants a generator to run EVERYTHING and doesn't realize 1000 Watts isn’t going to come close… at least here in the city.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I have two Honda inverters, a 2000 and a 2800, I was running the 2800 above.

My brother had an old 850 watt Honda generator that he liked a lot, it was just a little thing but it worked well.

SR

 

[Popgadget]

The generac app is ok as far as a basic monitoring device. Personally I like my GenPi unit better. You will need to add battery backup to your wifi router for this to be any use.

Is there any other option than the Generac app for Evo 2 ?
I added an outdoor access point, and have decent reception at the generator site, the built in Generac WIFI works fine, but there is limited functionality to their app. I’d love to see the load, voltage and frequency when it’s running.

 

[grsthegreat]

The Genmon has a work around for the evolution 2 block for 3rd party monitoring. Hands down better than mobillink.

Home

Generac (and other models) Generator Monitoring using a Raspberry Pi and WiFi - jgyates/genmon

github.com

if you work thru their forum they describe how to build your own, if your familiar with raspberry pi junk, or you can buy complete prebuilt unit. No monthly fees. Great info.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Just installed a Generlink switch on my powermeter and got a Duromax XP12000EH portable generator as my standby setup. Totally manual hook up, did 2x 1.5h break in runs and change the oil twice. From now on I will do a testrun and check it monthly.