Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

For mine, 22kw generac, there is a trickle charger on the battery. Battery is a group 26R. Have not hear of batteries blowing up. Though, generac does caution if temps regularly get below freezing to install the cold weather kit that includes a battery warmer.

grs has posted pics on those kits I think. I like the idea from a belt+suspenders standpoint, but really, a charged battery should be good down to something like -40.

What Generac may be allowing for is conventional oil, at the end of its change cycle. Or, more realistically, oil that is well past Change Due, as some people don't adhere to change intervals. Overly thick oil, at -40, will give the starter a real workout. IIRC, a pad warmer for the oil filter is optional too.

Rgds, D.

 

[zmountaineer]

Ran the 22kw whole house on a simulated "power outage" for 45 minutes. Cooked breakfast & bumped the thermostat up a degree to get the 5 ton heat pump to kick on to increase load. UPS read outs indicated a varying sag as low as 55v for < 5 seconds starting the heat pump before the system returned to 120v output (service tech said sags < 15 seconds were OK). Checked oil (hard to see, synthetic still clear as water on the stick) & it was OK.

Thinking about a hard start kit for the heat pump if there isn't one there already. Will check with HVAC guy on next svc visit for heat season.

Nick
(original plan was to do these 45 minute outage simulations the first of each month, but early AM appointments yesterday made that a no-go)

I've also got a 22kw and 5 ton heat pump. Once that sucker kicks on you hear the generator struggle. You mention a hard start kit but I was looking at a soft start. I was lead to believe these are different.

Sure Start SS1B16-32SN (16-32 FLA) – Ziller Electric

 

[nikdfish]

The tech who serviced our 22KW generac actually mentioned the battery explosion thing. He indicated it had to do with a problem in the trickle charge implementation on some older equipment (& if I recall correctly) in combination with the battery used & that current installs would not have that problem.

Only time will tell...

Nick

ETA: Thanks for the link to the sure start, it may be the more appropriate option. I'll talk to the HVAC guy (have to keep heat pump warranty happy). More $ than the hard start kits, but it does no good to buy a cheap solution if it isn't the right solution ...

 

[3930dave]

The tech who serviced our 22KW generac actually mentioned the battery explosion thing. He indicated it had to do with a problem in the trickle charge implementation on some older equipment (& if I recall correctly) in combination with the battery used & that current installs would not have that problem.

Only time will tell...

Nick

ETA: Thanks for the link to the sure start, it may be the more appropriate option. I'll talk to the HVAC guy (have to keep heat pump warranty happy). More $ than the hard start kits, but it does no good to buy a cheap solution if it isn't the right solution ...

They may have been using sub-standard trickle chargers back then. It will be interesting to see if grs has any comments, if he drops by after installation season ends.

I've only briefly looked at a friend's Generac of this class. I don't recall large ventilation grilles or fans, but then again, I wasn't really looking for those details when I saw it one evening. Are these enclosures well ventilated, or relatively sealed up ? Just wondering about hydrogen build up in the enclosure......

That Sure Start is interesting.

Rgds, D.

 

[zmountaineer]

They may have been using sub-standard trickle chargers back then. It will be interesting to see if grs has any comments, if he drops by after installation season ends.

I've only briefly looked at a friend's Generac of this class. I don't recall large ventilation grilles or fans, but then again, I wasn't really looking for those details when I saw it one evening. Are these enclosures well ventilated, or relatively sealed up ? Just wondering about hydrogen build up in the enclosure......

That Sure Start is interesting.

Rgds, D.

The short sides of the enclosure are open. The right side where the battery sits is the intake and the left side is the exhaust. So all he sir that is brought in, is taken right over the battery.

 

[daugen]

The short sides of the enclosure are open. The right side where the battery sits is the intake and the left side is the exhaust. So all he sir that is brought in, is taken right over the battery.

which means it's constantly dispersing any fumes? Seems ideal...
Walking into my garage after charging my golf cart in there, unpleasant, big garage so not high concentration of gasses but definitely smellable.

Generac gives you this crummy little hole to shoehorn the battery in on the 20-22kw units, always thought that area was poorly designed.

 

[3930dave]

The short sides of the enclosure are open. The right side where the battery sits is the intake and the left side is the exhaust. So all he sir that is brought in, is taken right over the battery.

That's about what I'd expect to hear. While talking with that guy, the only factors I could think of were severe over-charge, and lack of ventilation.

Freezing (brought up by the TBN crew :drink, looks like the only other potential factor.

Things that make you go Hmmmm........

Somebody I know worked on a telecomm crew - one of his buddies opened a cabinet one day, to have a NiCd battery (larger size, not dry cell sized) blow up in his face. SOP for the crews was to always wear safety glasses, so his eyes were fine - ended up with some interesting scars though. Could have been much worse.

I wear prescription glasses all the time, and probably rely on them for protection more than I should.

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

I have only seen one exploded battery before, and this was on the okder 2008 series units. Generac had an ussue with their battery chargers back then. They would constantly charge and if the electrolites wernt kept topped off, boom.

The replacement charger unit eliminated this issue. The new series of generators with the evolution controllers have a built in trickle charger and this does not occure.

On my unit i installed the engine heater and battery heater, and this makes winter starting sound alot easier on the generator. The generator just sounds happier.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Did the batteries explode while on trickle, when attempting to start the engine or when the engine started and the alternator started charging the battery? Just because it was on a trickle charger, doesn't meant that's what blew up the battery. Unless the trickle charger destroyed the battery, but didn't initiate the explosion.

 

[buickanddeere]

Hard start kit adds lots of leading capacitive current into the start winding on single phase equipment . Thus more/greater phase difference and the result is more starting torque.
Soft start really doesn’t work on reciprocating compressors unless the compressor also has an unloader. More of a three phase application with the VFD.