Your last generator Maintenance Run

[TheMan419]

FINALLY! The power went out. Yippy! High Winds. Battery on main 7.5 Onan Diesel, dead. Battery I had lying around, DEAD! Pulled mule up beside building and boosted it. Everything fine.

I had my Utility Power Resoral Alarm inadvertently switched to Light only, as oposed to a loud horn, and the bulb has been burned out for many years. So four hours into the set running, I see a neighbours outside light on and think, wth! Power had come back, transfer made without me knowing and the generator was still running for maybe up to an hour without load and need. Felt kind of stupid! Gotta get a new bulb!

Sounds like maybe you need a new battery too

 

[Industrial Toys]

My fancy horn and light. Brass horn, US NAVY surplus. Light from BELL CANADA. I detest JUNK!

I hate buying batteries for seldom used stuff. And the "good" used bateries a friend gives me, often aren't. Can't complain obviously.

On another matter, one hundred phone calls and every stone I know unturned, and I just found a used transformer to make that Onan Diesel Inverter 120 Volt Only generator into 120/240. ROADTRIP! And Man, the Exchange rate stings!

 

[3930dave]

FINALLY! The power went out. Yippy! High Winds. Battery on main 7.5 Onan Diesel, dead. Battery I had lying around, DEAD! Pulled mule up beside building and boosted it. Everything fine.

I had my Utility Power Resoral Alarm inadvertently switched to Light only, as oposed to a loud horn, and the bulb has been burned out for many years. So four hours into the set running, I see a neighbours outside light on and think, wth! Power had come back, transfer made without me knowing and the generator was still running for maybe up to an hour without load and need. Felt kind of stupid! Gotta get a new bulb! It's a regular base bulb like you find in an oven, only probably 140volts for long industrial life. Do they even make those any more?

Careful what you wish for......

Good run, gen did well.

Yeah, batteries..... cost of doing business......

IIRC, those rough service incandescent bulbs were rated at least for 130v AC..... so they were a bit dim (vs. a regular bulb at same wattage), but that's no matter for your application.

To handle vibration better (garage door openers was a good domestic use....) they also tended to have thicker filaments, with more/better support mounts.

Other than Amazon, or a specialty lighting store, I'd check at something like TSC or equivalent rural Ag stores...... they were sometimes needed at the end of long remote rural lines, to deal with voltage swings....

Thanks for the After-Action report :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[Industrial Toys]

A real life excercise offers so much more learning than a drill. A dead battery can just be put on charge, or the drill postponed to another day, but these little real life hickups teach you what works and what doesn't.

 

[Fallon]

Any recomendations for a portable 240v capable generator around the 2000 watt range? The quiet inverter Honda 2000is would probably be ideal, but they are 120v only.

Sitting here in Colorado with the wind & snow howling watching the power flicker a bit in the worst blizzard in years.

I'm part way through re-wiring a 35kw PTO generator (dont ask how long). Appropriate manual generator disconnect has been installed for a long time. It would be nice to have a decent small generator to run the furnace & well. I'd also end up using it for camping.

Furnace plate says 600 watts. I stuck my clamp on amp meter on the both wires going to the well pump & got 1.3@ with a peak of 1.5. Under 400 watts seemed pretty low for a 200' or so well, but I triple checked things. The relay box has 1-1.5hp stamped on it, which would be around 1,200 watts tops. It's a cheap meter I don't use much, but should at least be in the right ballpark. At any rate 2,000 watts should run the furnace, well & a few lights. The only monkey wrench is the well is 220v.

If I want to cook dinner, arc weld or power the neighborhood I can finish rewiring the PTO generator & burn lots of diesel running it on the tractor. Looking for something reliable & fuel efficient while being portable when I dont need the big unit.

Any recomendations for a small quiet portable unit that does 120/240v? I'm guessing probably an inverter unit.

 

[hr3]

View attachment 595366 My fancy horn and light. Brass horn, US NAVY surplus. Light from BELL CANADA. I detest JUNK!

I hate buying batteries for seldom used stuff. And the "good" used bateries a friend gives me, often aren't. Can't complain obviously.

On another matter, one hundred phone calls and every stone I know unturned, and I just found a used transformer to make that Onan Diesel Inverter 120 Volt Only generator into 120/240. ROADTRIP! And Man, the Exchange rate stings!

Why wouldn't you just use an LED bulb ???

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Any recomendations for a portable 240v capable generator around the 2000 watt range? The quiet inverter Honda 2000is would probably be ideal, but they are 120v only.

Sitting here in Colorado with the wind & snow howling watching the power flicker a bit in the worst blizzard in years.

I'm part way through re-wiring a 35kw PTO generator (dont ask how long). Appropriate manual generator disconnect has been installed for a long time. It would be nice to have a decent small generator to run the furnace & well. I'd also end up using it for camping.

Furnace plate says 600 watts. I stuck my clamp on amp meter on the both wires going to the well pump & got 1.3@ with a peak of 1.5. Under 400 watts seemed pretty low for a 200' or so well, but I triple checked things. The relay box has 1-1.5hp stamped on it, which would be around 1,200 watts tops. It's a cheap meter I don't use much, but should at least be in the right ballpark. At any rate 2,000 watts should run the furnace, well & a few lights. The only monkey wrench is the well is 220v.

If I want to cook dinner, arc weld or power the neighborhood I can finish rewiring the PTO generator & burn lots of diesel running it on the tractor. Looking for something reliable & fuel efficient while being portable when I dont need the big unit.

Any recomendations for a small quiet portable unit that does 120/240v? I'm guessing probably an inverter unit.

How many amps/watts does the pump use when starting???

SR

 

[3930dave]

Any recomendations for a portable 240v capable generator around the 2000 watt range? The quiet inverter Honda 2000is would probably be ideal, but they are 120v only.

Sitting here in Colorado with the wind & snow howling watching the power flicker a bit in the worst blizzard in years.

I'm part way through re-wiring a 35kw PTO generator (dont ask how long). Appropriate manual generator disconnect has been installed for a long time. It would be nice to have a decent small generator to run the furnace & well. I'd also end up using it for camping.

Furnace plate says 600 watts. I stuck my clamp on amp meter on the both wires going to the well pump & got 1.3@ with a peak of 1.5. Under 400 watts seemed pretty low for a 200' or so well, but I triple checked things. The relay box has 1-1.5hp stamped on it, which would be around 1,200 watts tops. It's a cheap meter I don't use much, but should at least be in the right ballpark. At any rate 2,000 watts should run the furnace, well & a few lights. The only monkey wrench is the well is 220v.

If I want to cook dinner, arc weld or power the neighborhood I can finish rewiring the PTO generator & burn lots of diesel running it on the tractor. Looking for something reliable & fuel efficient while being portable when I dont need the big unit.

Any recomendations for a small quiet portable unit that does 120/240v? I'm guessing probably an inverter unit.

For 240v, I think of 5kw gens as the general lower limit. Honda does have a 4kw Commercial unit

https://powerequipment.honda.ca/generators/commercial-4000-gfci but it's pricier than many 5kw units.

A small suitcase 2kw is very useful, because of it's easy portability, and typically gentle fuel consumption, but don't expect to find 240Vac support. Honda, Yamaha, Champion and others offer products of that style.

For your well, you might consider a dedicated DC/AC inverter, with appropriate batteries. One example:

Aims PWRINV5K2412W 5 Watt 12V 24VAC 6HZ | Inverters R Us

Note that it ^ is 240Vac only. I have no experience with that make/model, just citing it as a price point..... split-phase ones are available (240/120 output), for more money.....

Briggs used to have a table in their olde printed manuals, that gave you some idea of the relationship between Starting Watts required, vs. Running Watts...... it's a lot higher than most people expect, and not readily captured with what most people have at home for instrumentation.

Couldn't find that Briggs table online.... but found something better......

What Size Generator Do You Need?

Generic ^, but informative if you haven't seen something like it before. Furnace Fan has quite a range, as one example of Surge.....

Clean voltage output is desirable in general, obviously, but the above table highlights how easy it is to unintentionally create mini/fast brownouts with a small gen..... they might get condemned for "cleanliness", when it's nothing more than (very) short-term overload causing problems......

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Why wouldn't you just use an LED bulb ???

I'm not convinced about low-cost LEDs for all outdoor applications.

The PAR30 LEDs I have outside are doing well, but they are a pretty well-sealed design.

Standard screw-in LED bulbs..... I might have had a lemon, but after about a year, one in my garage (normally not heated) would only turn on dimly. Brought that bulb into the house for 2-3 days, and tried it again..... turned on at full output fine. I suspect our yoyo Winter temperatures combined with high humidity had some of the LED electronics less-than-happy......

Rgds, D.

 

[dragoneggs]

I'm not convinced about low-cost LEDs for all outdoor applications.

The PAR30 LEDs I have outside are doing well, but they are a pretty well-sealed design.

Standard screw-in LED bulbs..... I might have had a lemon, but after about a year, one in my garage (normally not heated) would only turn on dimly. Brought that bulb into the house for 2-3 days, and tried it again..... turned on at full output fine. I suspect our yoyo Winter temperatures combined with high humidity had some of the LED electronics less-than-happy......

Rgds, D.

Hmmm... screw in LED's I can't comment to much regarding outdoor. I use a few in 'covered' porch lights and have had zero issues. Have other LED's (sealed) that are getting 'weathered' with no problems as well.