Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Not so much of a maintenance run as a test of a new generator. I bought a never used Voltmaster PTO 15/12 generator off of craigslist for a screaming good price. I hooked it to my JD 2320 and ran it for an hour hooked to an old electric stove I had just replaced from the house and didn't have out of the garage yet. With the stove I was able to put different loads on it and test everything out, even find the max of the tractor. It was the perfect test load being from the 80s it was pure analog restive load, could take any hiccups in power if there were any. The generator ran great, held voltage and frequency really well and gave great clean power.

The only downside to the Voltmaster is that the voltage gauge isn't the best to read from the tractor seat. I am going to look at wiring in a digital meter and maybe even a current/frequency setup that is easy to read. If I get it done I will post pics and a "how to".

Nice score, and a great point about old kitchen ranges - could even do some outdoor cooking/baking while testing ! :thumbsup:

Please do post the add-on metering setup; it will be of interest :reading:

Rgds, D.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Been running on the Honda EU2000i for 29 hours now. Only stopped for fuel fills and oil checks. Power was out when I came home from work yesterday, huge snowstorm.

What, you didn't check the oil while it was running? Lol. I saw someone do that during an outage once.

 

[3930dave]

I ran my Honda 2000 about 5 hrs total this last week, powering a 15amp batt. charger, charging batts away from the shop.

While it was doing batt charging duty, it also was running my electric impact wrench...

I LOVE that little thing!!

SR

Nice quiet way to have unlimited (runtime) impact torque ! :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[TractorGuy]

The only downside to the Voltmaster is that the voltage gauge isn't the best to read from the tractor seat. I am going to look at wiring in a digital meter and maybe even a current/frequency setup that is easy to read. If I get it done I will post pics and a "how to".

I replaced the old analog gauges on my Military genset with some digital stuff I bought off that auction site. I had to test for accuracy with my Fluke meters. The generator gauge reads a few volts low but the volt/amp meters are pretty dead on so I add the volt readings from those. I mainly wanted the generator gauge for hertz and that reading matches my Fluke meter. Took a while for the meters to get here from China but they were inexpensive and work pretty well.

 

[dragoneggs]

I replaced the old analog gauges on my Military genset with some digital stuff I bought off that auction site. I had to test for accuracy with my Fluke meters. The generator gauge reads a few volts low but the volt/amp meters are pretty dead on so I add the volt readings from those. I mainly wanted the generator gauge for hertz and that reading matches my Fluke meter. Took a while for the meters to get here from China but they were inexpensive and work pretty well.

View attachment 507209

I like it! I know us old guys are supposed to love analog but that works for me!

 

[daugen]

Me too, I love digital, has to be more accurate or at least readable, and I sure wish better instrumentation was made optional on a lot of
equipment we own. Including my tractors, garden tractors, mowers, lots of machinery. Perhaps it means I'm OCD but I'm really curious how hot my aircooled engines are.
I suppose I could IR temp gun the heads after running awhile, but then how do I know how hot is too much? And how about the engines of these gens after they have run for ten hours straight?
for example, if I knew the oil temp had gone over a certain temperature during a prolonged outage, I'd change the oil promptly. Maybe with synthetic that's irrelevant but old habits die hard.
And I would sure make sure the cooling fins everywhere were clear. Kind of silly on a larger stand by gen; they never get dirty inside. I leave my portable under an open shed roof with a cover on it, but I wonder when Mr Bug is going to crawl in there...we've all taken dead critters out of our machinery, sometimes after we've cooked them awhile.

 

[vsteel]

I have this meter on order and I will let you know how it goes.
ACM2-4-AC1-R-F-C Murata Power Solutions Inc. | Industrial Controls | DigiKey

There is also a version that will give power factor instead of frequency but with the things I would run I want frequency over power factor. When it gets here in a couple of weeks and I get it wired in I will share some pics and let you know if it works as I hope it will.

 

[3930dave]

I have this meter on order and I will let you know how it goes.
ACM2-4-AC1-R-F-C Murata Power Solutions Inc. | Industrial Controls | DigiKey

There is also a version that will give power factor instead of frequency but with the things I would run I want frequency over power factor. When it gets here in a couple of weeks and I get it wired in I will share some pics and let you know if it works as I hope it will.

I've always bought with confidence from Digi-Key. Nice display module, and included CT.

Please do post your installation pics, and impressions of this meter.

Rgds, D.

 

[vsteel]

I have posted a seperate thread on this in the attachments forum. So far I love the meter.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/379195-pto-generator-volt-meter-upgrade-post4761247.html#post4761247

 

[3930dave]

I have posted a seperate thread on this in the attachments forum. So far I love the meter.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/379195-pto-generator-volt-meter-upgrade-post4761247.html#post4761247

Thanks for the update V, and linking it here.

That should be a popular read in the Attachments section.

Rgds, D.