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.