Your last generator Maintenance Run
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daugen
Epic Contributor
JPRambo
Platinum Member
I just ordered one of the wall outlet voltage meters. I think it would be a good idea to monitor the house voltage and for the camper.
thanks daugen.
thanks daugen.
daugen
Epic Contributor
You are welcome. I first started monitoring AC in my boat when visiting marinas whose voltage would drop so much on a Saturday night it would really pull some amps and breakers would trip.
Then experienced the same thing at rv parks on a full hot night when all the a/c's are running.
All I can say is 120V is not 120V...not all the time, and thankfully designs allow for some variance. But we all know brownouts are bad news on compressors
and other equipment.
Next i'd like to see a handy dandy cheap meter showing how much the wave form is clipping, what percentage distortion.
Happiness is clean power at the right voltage.
Always a good idea to stick a multimeter probe in your gen under idle and load conditions, particularly heavy load to see if voltage is dipping.
Electric heater might not care but other things would.
During the week on a 99 degree day around 4pm the voltage has dropped as low as 112V. I called up to complain once and mysteriously my voltage never dropped below
113V after that. I wonder what the trip level is for yellow and red indicators on the idiot lights on little gens, for low voltage. Green of course being ok, over a certain number.
Not like there is any industry standardization here, only that 5 percent or less. And 5 percent is pretty poor. Of course the cost for pure sine wave gens is pretty high and
a waste if one is running a space heater. Drew
Then experienced the same thing at rv parks on a full hot night when all the a/c's are running.
All I can say is 120V is not 120V...not all the time, and thankfully designs allow for some variance. But we all know brownouts are bad news on compressors
and other equipment.
Next i'd like to see a handy dandy cheap meter showing how much the wave form is clipping, what percentage distortion.
Happiness is clean power at the right voltage.
Always a good idea to stick a multimeter probe in your gen under idle and load conditions, particularly heavy load to see if voltage is dipping.
Electric heater might not care but other things would.
During the week on a 99 degree day around 4pm the voltage has dropped as low as 112V. I called up to complain once and mysteriously my voltage never dropped below
113V after that. I wonder what the trip level is for yellow and red indicators on the idiot lights on little gens, for low voltage. Green of course being ok, over a certain number.
Not like there is any industry standardization here, only that 5 percent or less. And 5 percent is pretty poor. Of course the cost for pure sine wave gens is pretty high and
a waste if one is running a space heater. Drew
Good points d..... many of us have some kind of basic test meter (or 4 
) around, but there is a lot to be said for being able to continuously monitor line AC.
UPS's may display line voltage, but they often get buried behind or under something.
I don't Prime, so I've added that one to my wish list for the next time I get the A bug.
Rgds, D.
) around, but there is a lot to be said for being able to continuously monitor line AC.UPS's may display line voltage, but they often get buried behind or under something.
I don't Prime, so I've added that one to my wish list for the next time I get the A bug.
Rgds, D.
Einthewoods
Platinum Member
My last run wasn't a maintenance run as the power was out for 15 hours. I had run the gen about 2-3 months ago and all was good. I drain all the gas and run it with sea foam until it quits every time I use it.
Started it up during the power outage and the motor just kept searching. I have now taken the carb off twice to clean it out like crazy. Have run a bunch of sea foam through it and still happening. tried the old, get it racing and put your palm over the carb intake to try and vacuum out the blockage. Tomorrow I am going to take it off once again and use my air compressor with needle and see if I can blow out whatever is causing the issue.
Even with it searching, it ran the 15 hours without issue. I was only trying to keep the fridge and freezers going, so I hooked them through some good UPS's that I have so that the output to them was good. UPS's - certainly abuse on them.
Started it up during the power outage and the motor just kept searching. I have now taken the carb off twice to clean it out like crazy. Have run a bunch of sea foam through it and still happening. tried the old, get it racing and put your palm over the carb intake to try and vacuum out the blockage. Tomorrow I am going to take it off once again and use my air compressor with needle and see if I can blow out whatever is causing the issue.
Even with it searching, it ran the 15 hours without issue. I was only trying to keep the fridge and freezers going, so I hooked them through some good UPS's that I have so that the output to them was good. UPS's - certainly abuse on them.
Good luck with your carb servicing E.
Worst comes to worse, you may be able to buy an entire carb online for a good price.
I used to store dry, but after dealing with a stuck float, I switched to wet storage, with a full tank. So far (about 10 years) so good. My target for generators is to run at 3 months; sometimes that slides to 6 months, but that is still well within what a decent fuel stabilizer delivers. All my small engines get Efree gasoline, with stabilizer, all the time.
Let us know how the carb wrangling goes....
(Edit - just re-read your first paragraph..... are you running it out on pure Seafoam ? I like SFoam, but ultra-high concentrations may cause issues).
Rgds, D.
Worst comes to worse, you may be able to buy an entire carb online for a good price.
I used to store dry, but after dealing with a stuck float, I switched to wet storage, with a full tank. So far (about 10 years) so good. My target for generators is to run at 3 months; sometimes that slides to 6 months, but that is still well within what a decent fuel stabilizer delivers. All my small engines get Efree gasoline, with stabilizer, all the time.
Let us know how the carb wrangling goes....
(Edit - just re-read your first paragraph..... are you running it out on pure Seafoam ? I like SFoam, but ultra-high concentrations may cause issues).
Rgds, D.
ultrarunner
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It is criminal what inferior fuel for many applications is doing to older equipment... just my 2 cents.
