which portable generators do people have

[Old Red]

Pictures? There is a lot of military in my area but I have not looked into picking up surplus equipment. Sounds like I should.

Oh yes, these are great. I have the MEP 803A I believe...I should probably start a new thread.

Actually they are not that pretty on the outside, but the inside is just beautiful. Such a powerhouse 1,800 RPM diesel generator that sips fuel and will run most houses. Way underrated these things are.

The pictures will turn right when you click on them.

 

[Gunny]

Are you sure that an 813A? The only 813As that I ever saw were 400 Hz, for starting aircraft. If yours is a 60 Hz, then you've got an 803A, which is a fantastic, dependable workhorse generator.

 

[Old Red]

Are you sure that an 813A? The only 813As that I ever saw were 400 Hz, for starting aircraft. If yours is a 60 Hz, then you've got an 803A, which is a fantastic, dependable workhorse generator.

Yes, I edit the post....it is an 803a..... I was pleasantly surprised (and happy) to learn about these generators. A good diesel 1,800 RPM generator is so expensive and this allowed me to get one for fairly inexpensive.

 

[goeduck]

Yes, I edit the post....it is an 803a..... I was pleasantly surprised (and happy) to learn about these generators. A good diesel 1,800 RPM generator is so expensive and this allowed me to get one for fairly inexpensive.

NICE!! I see a rotary switch that appears to be able to switch to 3 phase? Is that correct?

 

[Old Red]

NICE!! I see a rotary switch that appears to be able to switch to 3 phase? Is that correct?

You can switch it to 3 phase. The 10KW and less are the only military gensets that work in single phase. However....EVERYONE....please do not let that 10KW fool you....all you have to do is look up some youtube videos and you will be amazed.....anyway, the 15KW and larger military units are often less expensive Thant the 10KW, 5KW, and 3KW units because they are 3 phase only and therefore less demand. The hurricanes here and in the carribena put a very very large strain on the supply of these gensets in the US...they got harder to find for a reaonsalbe price because people were gobbling these things up.

I need to start at thread but another cool thing is they have an internal 9 gallon tank but each unit comes with an aux tank fuel pump. You can stick a hose down a 55 gallon barrel or 500 gallon tank or 5 gallon tank and run the things indefinitely. The 5KW gensets look just like the one I have pictured but the consume less fuel....and they will start a 5 ton HVAC....just crazy how the military de-rates these bad boys.....check them out.

Oh, and the power they put out is super clean....much better than most gensets....clean like a Honda inverter genset...these things are built to keep our troops alive and their equipment going.

 

[LittleBill21]

Oh, and the power they put out is super clean....much better than most gensets....clean like a Honda inverter genset...these things are built to keep our troops alive and their equipment going.

do you have a link to the THD numbers or a oscilloscope output?

 

[Old Red]

do you have a link to the THD numbers or a oscilloscope output?

That is over my head...but gaurantee you these guys do. On steelsoldiers.com There is also a member on here who goes by Daybreak1998. This guy has forgotten more about generators than I will ever know. He is in my opinion truly an expert on these military gensets.

Here is a youtube video comparing the military genset vs consumer. This guy on here has some sort of sine wave machine. Mep-82a vs consumer generator - YouTube

Let us know what you find and if you are impressed or not.....

 

[LittleBill21]

That is over my head...but gaurantee you these guys do. On steelsoldiers.com There is also a member on here who goes by Daybreak1998. This guy has forgotten more about generators than I will ever know. He is in my opinion truly an expert on these military gensets.

Here is a youtube video comparing the military genset vs consumer. This guy on here has some sort of sine wave machine. Mep-82a vs consumer generator - YouTube

Let us know what you find and if you are impressed or not.....

Does it look good? Yes.

Based on the video's, does it blow away my HF 7k, genny in terms of sine wave quality? No it actually doesn't. Maybe a bit better, but blow it away not really.

Do i think it will use less fuel and last 10x what mine does while at half volume yes. they also can be synced together with another generator for even more power, which i think is real awesome.

For some comparisons, attached are a couple of my generators plus the output of the MP above, the inverter generator was running at 98% capacity in the picture, otherwise its cleaner then the MP as well.

That said i do think they are a nice genny and will prolly work flawless with everything you own, i would like to see a frequency hold via a meter, which the video did not show

the ELM3000 had about 500 hours on it, and ran electronics i still use today including tv's computers and refrigerators, so how much damage was actually caused? not sure

take a look



and what utility power looks like

 

[LittleBill21]

This group of photo's are from 2 dc -ac inverters,

There is pure sine wave, and the more common modified sine wave. again, i have used a MSW inverter for a long time and all computers are still working fine, i just picked up a PSW last week, photo's for reference again. so how much damage is really being caused? alot of people make you think it will be destroyed in minutes, voltage and hertz stability is generally more important. at least in my experience.

 

[ultrarunner]

Who does make the best Generators to the consumer market?

At work we have Onan for the Hospital with tons of electronics and sensitive equipment controls for sterilizers...

The direct medical devices are often Battery Powered... so power fluctuations would be less of a issue.

Medical Equipment Central Processing tends to not be so forgiving... the 6 seconds power is down until transfer can introduce gremlins... I had proposed dedicated UPS would eliminate a lot of problems with the trade-off being upfront cost and battery replacement... so far a no go.

 

[Old Red]

This group of photo's are from 2 dc -ac inverters,

There is pure sine wave, and the more common modified sine wave. again, i have used a MSW inverter for a long time and all computers are still working fine, i just picked up a PSW last week, photo's for reference again. so how much damage is really being caused? alot of people make you think it will be destroyed in minutes, voltage and hertz stability is generally more important. at least in my experience.

View attachment 541503

Neat stuff, but way over my head. I think the point with these diesel military gensets is their diesel power, electrical power output, etc. The ability to run my whole house. Think about it.....I bought a 4 cylinder diesel generator with 30 hours on it for right at the same price as a Honda Inverter Generator! In the commercial world this unit would cost 10 to 15 grand.....

The generator head itself inside these units are monstrous....they are brushless motors, quiet and are meant to be "prime source"....Which I think that means being used not as a backup but a primary source of electricity....again the troops and their equipment depend on it.

The military has now just moved forward with a new version of the 10 and 5KW units that are just incredible.....but I don't think anyone has seen them hit the market yet. My generator is running an Onan engine and I think the new ones run Kubota engines....how cool is that?

You can probably get all that data from the steelsoildiers forum. All I know is I can run my 5 ton heat pump, 2.5 ton heat pump, and hot water heater at the same time on this thing. It is a beast....and cheap...and diesel, and runs at 1,800 RPMs...and I have an aux fuel setup that will get me 9 days of run time which comes standard on each unit.

 

[goeduck]

That is over my head...but gaurantee you these guys do. On steelsoldiers.com There is also a member on here who goes by Daybreak1998. This guy has forgotten more about generators than I will ever know. He is in my opinion truly an expert on these military gensets.

Here is a youtube video comparing the military genset vs consumer. This guy on here has some sort of sine wave machine. Mep-82a vs consumer generator - YouTube

Let us know what you find and if you are impressed or not.....

Well I sure am impressed. So where would I get one? Curious what they weigh and measure also.

 

[Old Red]

Well I sure am impressed. So where would I get one? Curious what they weigh and measure also.

Before I jumped into one of these units I would spend some time at www.steelsoldiers.com I would learn from them. You are on your own with these. They are military surplus.

There are some on eBay and here. Your Source for Military Diesel Generators and Parts! ⋆ Green Mountain Generators

Just remember that we just went through some serious weather events that put a huge demand on these units...I am not sure what the market is like now. I purchased mine right before all this stuff hit. I know a ton of them went to Puerto Rico. Anyway, I would suggest spending some time learning over at the other forum.

 

[buickanddeere]

I prefer having a "small" portable gasser to run minimum loads overnight etc. Then have a tractor powered PTO generator to be able to run everything as if connected to the utility.

 

[Garandman]

Who does make the best Generators to the consumer market?

Really depends what size you need and how portable you want it to be.

We have three Hondas and a Briggs & Stratton, all inverters.

 

[ultrarunner]

I would imagine it is hard to go wrong with Honda.

Where I worked about 30 years ago they had a Honda Diesel that was super quiet... made for movie shoots.

I don't think Honda markets a Diesel here anymore.

It was about as quiet as my old refrigerator.

 

[Old Red]

I agree...the Honda EU series is darn hard to beat. I have the EU3000 and it is one sweet generator that I have a lot of confidence in for stuff I need to run in that capacity. I also have a pair of champion 2000 watt inverters....they have been good gensets as well. And of course the big daddy so the wifey can curl her hair and take a hot shower...and daddy can have ice cold air blowing in the summer.

 

[Garandman]

I would imagine it is hard to go wrong with Honda..

Yamaha fills in some gaps in output that Honda didn’t occupy until recently, and the B&S Q6500 we bought is substantially lighter and thus more portable. We’ve only run it for two hours past the five hour break in as yet, though.

The high output portables cost more than many of the dedicated whole-house units. A lot of people are getting away from gas powered backup generators because of the problems caused by Ethanol. They are going to propane or LNG because it is more stable in storage. Those aren’t really portable.

Running a PTO genset off a Kubota BX seems like a pretty smart setup.

 

[Soundguy]

This group of photo's are from 2 dc -ac inverters,

There is pure sine wave, and the more common modified sine wave. again, i have used a MSW inverter for a long time and all computers are still working fine, i just picked up a PSW last week, photo's for reference again. so how much damage is really being caused? alot of people make you think it will be destroyed in minutes, voltage and hertz stability is generally more important. at least in my experience.

View attachment 541503

unless you have something with 30+ year old ferro-ressonant power supplies, most newer computer power supplies are switchers, and freq and voltage fluctuations don't bother them much. 50-ish to 60-ish htz, and 90-260vac and they run fine.

As long as you keep a generator within it's load range, and it's rpm, thus frequency is correct, then the sine wave should be near perfect . they still do it the old fashoned way.. magnets/e-mags and balls of copper..

 

[bullbreaker]

Yeah old thread I know ! Sold my Yamaha EF2400iSHC some days ago dureing pre Dorian sw Fla panic .
Rite now down too my JD 404CC 14hp Subaru powered genny . From what I hear Subaru for rite now not makeing gennys .
That dang Subaru powered JD of mine been a beast of a genny . E start n recoil bk up . Never given me a lick of trouble . No oil filters on them . I change the oil before OM specs , no biggie . You dont see many of them around , some even came in yellow .
If your ever in need for one and run across one priced rite imo dont be afraid to buy it .