Your last generator Maintenance Run
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grsthegreat
Super Star Member
No, and it never will be. Im not that bored
While some days I crave that level of boredom (largely due to Satan and his Disciples, aka The WorkPlace...) I really don't want to go there either ! 
That vid came out of some RF info I was chasing...... IMO, in an era where cell-towers are what they are (during emergencies), it's good to see some tech effort going into fallback plans. Insurance, that hopefully doesn't get tested for real....
Rgds, D.
That vid came out of some RF info I was chasing...... IMO, in an era where cell-towers are what they are (during emergencies), it's good to see some tech effort going into fallback plans. Insurance, that hopefully doesn't get tested for real....
Rgds, D.
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
after 2 years of looking at a 2008 era 10KW generator sitting on the floor of my shop, i decided i really dont trust selling such an old machine. it was lightning damaged. all internal control wires melted together. i repaired it a few years ago All new wires, new mags, etc. it runs great. fires up in 2 seconds. It has 580 run hours, but is strong running.
but i was tired of looking at it gather dust. so last week i poured a conc pad behind my shop and set generator there. it will power my shop during power outages. i usually get called out for service calls during power outages, and my shop has a 12' x 12' roll up door...not sectional. it SUCKS to manually lift that beast. i used to have to roll out the 6.5kw portable and power the shop to open door, use lights, etc.
i will convert this generator to a 2 wire start switch. it WONT auto start on power outage. i will just use my existing manual transfer switch. i just have to remember to run an exercise monthly, as it will no longer be automatic.
I also ran 1” emt in shop to panel about 40’ away. Will pull wires wednesday.
but i was tired of looking at it gather dust. so last week i poured a conc pad behind my shop and set generator there. it will power my shop during power outages. i usually get called out for service calls during power outages, and my shop has a 12' x 12' roll up door...not sectional. it SUCKS to manually lift that beast. i used to have to roll out the 6.5kw portable and power the shop to open door, use lights, etc.
i will convert this generator to a 2 wire start switch. it WONT auto start on power outage. i will just use my existing manual transfer switch. i just have to remember to run an exercise monthly, as it will no longer be automatic.
I also ran 1” emt in shop to panel about 40’ away. Will pull wires wednesday.
Nice save g ! Good benefit to you, and one less thing going to scrap......
A thought, for anybody who is in a similar position (excess healthy equipment, looking for a home) - consider contacting your local (or, not so local, if nothing nearby) Amateur Radio Club.
Hams love to recycle, and there are often Nice To Do, If....... projects on deck with them. Last year, an AR Club I'd never contacted before (other end of Canada) went FAR out of their way to help me put a programmed radio into the hands of an ailing friend of mine.... so something a State/Province or 3 away is often Not Too Far a drive for them......
A retired friend of mine runs an HF Gateway (digital AR) but has no backup power to speak of for his station @ home, as one example of a pending-project...... Hams are smart enough (usually) that for a recycled ("It's fixed, but......") item from a major fault, they'd understand the risk, and more than likely use it to just charge a battery-bank regardless....
Rgds, D.
A thought, for anybody who is in a similar position (excess healthy equipment, looking for a home) - consider contacting your local (or, not so local, if nothing nearby) Amateur Radio Club.
Hams love to recycle, and there are often Nice To Do, If....... projects on deck with them. Last year, an AR Club I'd never contacted before (other end of Canada) went FAR out of their way to help me put a programmed radio into the hands of an ailing friend of mine.... so something a State/Province or 3 away is often Not Too Far a drive for them......
A retired friend of mine runs an HF Gateway (digital AR) but has no backup power to speak of for his station @ home, as one example of a pending-project...... Hams are smart enough (usually) that for a recycled ("It's fixed, but......") item from a major fault, they'd understand the risk, and more than likely use it to just charge a battery-bank regardless....
Rgds, D.
kozal01
Platinum Member
Thanks to severe storms yesterday morning I’m on hour 26 of my generator maintenance run. 
kozal01
Platinum Member
Thanks man, they are saying tomorrow morning now, so that would be a solid 48 hours on the generator. I am lucky though, tons of damage all around me but I didn't lose any trees thankfully.
bdhsfz6
Elite Member
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Due to a series of severe thunder storms, I'm on hour 9 of my latest "maintenance run". The crew showed up at hour 4, removed a tree from the line, and restored power briefly. As soon as they left, another tree took the line down again and we've been out for another 5 hours so far.Thanks to severe storms yesterday morning I’m on hour 26 of my generator maintenance run.
As of this morning, the local power company still had over 50,000 customers without power in my part of the state. It could be quite a wait.
WinterDeere
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I've spent most of the last 20 years designing equipment for the electromagnetic compliance (EMC) industry, and have watched the military / EMP-hardening side of the business grow enormously since about 2008. Our big customers on that side of the business were Sandia National Labs, White Sands Missile Range, QinetiQ, Redstone Arsenal, and Dahlgren. These were all public open-bid jobs, so no secrets spilled, there.While some days I crave that level of boredom (largely due to Satan and his Disciples, aka The WorkPlace...) I really don't want to go there either !
That vid came out of some RF info I was chasing...... IMO, in an era where cell-towers are what they are (during emergencies), it's good to see some tech effort going into fallback plans. Insurance, that hopefully doesn't get tested for real....
Rgds, D.
All have been doing various high-energy RF (eg. HERF) testing, and even some simulated nuclear blast EMP pulse testing over the last 10-15 years, although I haven't seen that trickling down much into commercial or consumer electronics.
More interestingly, we've been seeing more work on offensive RF-based weaponry, whereas most past work was defensive. See any use for a transmitter so powerful that can blind or even permanently burn-out an opponent's satellite receivers? That's the present frontier of offensive weaponry, as far as I can see.
JCoastie
Platinum Member
New generator arrived today, Westinghouse iGen11000DFc Inverter Generator, it has a small oil filter screen. The manual makes no mention of this screen at all. I found it poking around. Generator was obviously function checked at the factory, and the filter is dirty. The debris is on the inside of the filter, so I can't just wipe it off.
What is the best practice for cleaning these?
Wait until after a run and it isn't needed for a while, drain the oil, pull the filter and wash it in hot soapy water, fully dry, install and then refill with oil?
I haven't even started this yet, this is how it came. Definitely was new in box.
Also, it lists the spark plug as: F7RTC which I believe is a Torque resistor type plug.
The manual then goes on to state:
I think that might be a typo and you are supposed to use a resistor plug? Resistor plugs tend to correct everything listed in motors that require them.
What is the best practice for cleaning these?
Wait until after a run and it isn't needed for a while, drain the oil, pull the filter and wash it in hot soapy water, fully dry, install and then refill with oil?
I haven't even started this yet, this is how it came. Definitely was new in box.
Also, it lists the spark plug as: F7RTC which I believe is a Torque resistor type plug.
The manual then goes on to state:
I think that might be a typo and you are supposed to use a resistor plug? Resistor plugs tend to correct everything listed in motors that require them.
JCoastie
Platinum Member
I ran a Long Range Navigation station in upstate NY in the late 2000's We put out just under a megawatt LF/MF signal. Once a year we'd get a call from Mercedes Benz, they'd come to test their latest and greatest sports cars at the station to see if/how they were affected by RFI. Different from an EMP, but still pretty cool.
WinterDeere
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They said the same thing, twice, and two different ways. I don’t think it’s a typo.
WinterDeere
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Interesting. The standards for automotive EMC are very well-defined and closely regulated, and there’s no MW-level LF/MF tests in there, so they must have been doing something unique. Also, I suspect their primary EMC compliance testing all happens in Stuttgart, so the guys contacting your office must have been looking at something different than the standard tests.
I suspect your site was pulsed? Maybe TWT? What was the operating frequency range(s)? We were doing very broadband (15-20 octaves) CW power, so even 50 kW amplifiers could fill a semi truck, front to back.
JCoastie
Platinum Member
Last edited:
LittleBill21
Elite Member
That sucks we live about 35 minutes from you, got the warning last night, got everything into the garages, no blip here. we got lucky just some heavy rain.
Interesting - haven't seen one of those screens before.... maybe I'm just behind on this tech !
I'm allergic to adding water near oii..... I vote with Willy re. carb cleaner - some sprays are super powerful, so I'd either back right off with the can, or come up with a liquid solution...... IDK how fragile those screens are.
Haven't looked up your gen yet.... guessing from the "i" - perhaps it's Injected ? If so, the resistor plug may be to avoid interfering with the computer.....
Rgds, D.
Interesting EM territory we've gotten into
IIRC, an early satellite killer was just a shotgun... obviously on another orbital platform.... Time moves On !
Looking for something else online recently, I stumbled across a public call for prototypes from our DND..... I suspect everybody is working on drone-defense enhancements today.....
Rgds, D.
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