Finally Reliable

As I stated earlier in the Blog it was time to test. After a short trip to the DEPOT I brought back boxes and receptacles to set up a test box.

The 120 plug is split so 1/2 of the 240 feed goes to each plug. and the 240v plug is functional.

 Running with no load the Kill A Watt meter shows 62.4 HZ

 And 122.4 Volts

 After scrounging around for some load to put on the generator I used the two 500w flood lamps and a 950W paint stripping heat gun.

 Still showing a 240v feed from the 220 plug.

 With all loads on the system.

 The HZ dropped to 61.8 with the load so all is still good on generator speed.

 And one of the 110 legs still showing 121.9 with the load on.

I believe at this point in time I can finally say the unit will be reliable enough to install in the coach. Or at least enough that I can take it over to the coach and put it in the basement for 110v power tools as I work on the beast at the storage lot.

Redneck reserection

Today I received from ASAP http://www.partsfortechs.com/ a new regulator for the AC portion along with some new vibration mounts for the control panel.  I put in the mounts, grafted in the new plug for the regulator and assembled the unit.  It started right up.  Voltage from the 240 leads was only 185 volts so after tweaking the voltage pot on the regulator I brought it up to 241 volts with no load.  I let the gen set run on the trailer for 40 minutes with the circuit breakers on and the unit ran flawlessly.  Now smelling like Diesel exhaust I claim Victory!!!  Next step is to connect some kind of load center and load it up to check performance.

Redneck Rebuild

 

Today after running the generator for 17 minutes with a video camera on a Volt Ohm Meter the generator shut down after the voltage from the generator went wild. So it was confirmed that it was a regulator problem. On removal of the regulator for the AC side of the unit I found MORE.

The plug had the bottom pin cut off and an extra wire grafted in to the system when it looks like the contact went bad.  See the red Crimp connector with the bare wire exposed on the bottom?

Here is the other end of the wire soldered to the contact that melted on the old plug when it was plugged in. 

 Do you think there could be a problem here?

It also doesn't look like a good solder job either.

Well Maybe not so much

I just ran the generator set for an extended period of time as an "Acid" test.  After ~45 minutes of run time the diesel engine shut down. It will re-start but exhibited the same symptoms that I started out with. Start and run but only with pulsing the preheat button. I disconnected the safety shut down plug at the overheat sensor but the engine still stops after release of the start button. A new controller board is on the way for it along with some new isolator mounts for the control panel.  Once again time will tell.

It's Alive

 On the trailer with fuel tank lines and battery attached. I was having a hard time starting it.

After some more re wiring on the generator and a replacement battery to get things cranking I found a fuse holder in shall we say heavily used condition.

Not to be put out with having to put fuses in the unit a fast stop at Aircraft Spruce got me some real circuit protection

Now with my VOM I get a good 240 volt feed or two 120 volt feeds at 30 amps each.