MEP-831A's in Central Virginia

[OverkillTASF]

[TASF]Overkill's MEP-831A troubleshooting

After mistakenly thinking the "MEP-831A troubleshooting" thread was meant to be the one place to discuss all MEP-831A troubleshooting, I've ended up spreading my posts/adventure across several areas. I'm going to edit this, my original post, to serve as a single place for my questions (and hopefully your answers) for my journey with 4 MEP-831A generators. I will refer to the generators the same way I have in my maintenance log: By the serial number looking thing on the outside top of the enclosure. I will try to turn this into a resource for others in the future as well, by referencing links to my fixes or helpful documents. I will update this very top post with my status so that people don't have to read through all the posts to figure something out.

• 54-512G
  • Original condition: Oil drained. Battery disconnected. Fuel tank full. Governor linkages fiddled with.
  • Problems (in order of encountered or fixed):
    • Low oil pressure light. O-ring missing from filter. Replaced o-ring from personal stash. [Solution courtesy of Cord and Dewie38]
    • Engine idle speed at no load, with A6 linkage totally disconnected, relying on mechanical governor, just 3540 RPM (295Hz). Should be 3800 RPM (317Hz). Speed control knob on mechanical governor plate was not quite fully on START. After correction and re-tightening, got to 3648 RPM (304Hz). Do I need to make further adjustments to the mechanical governor? The mechanical governor setting screw does not look tampered with.
    • Adjustments needed to governor actuator linkage. According to section 4-44 in the manual, under the ADJUST procedure, step #2: "Make sure governor actuator lever reaches its stop just prior to the engine fuel lever reaching its stop." Which stops? I obtained the best results by pushing the target as far from the magnet as possible, lifting the mechanical governor throttle as high as it would go, holding both there, and adjusting the rod length to just before it touches the throttle lever. Is that the right way to go? Maybe this is impossible because of my no-load idle speed with just the governor... I'd like to re-write a procedure for troubleshooting governor / throttle linkages.
    • Speed controller adjustments needed. One of the times I got a steady and repeatable 3050 RPM no-load speed, I realized that the "speed" pot doesn't seem to have stops. How low or high does it go? If I happened to have turned it a LOT, how can I get back to "center"? This became concerning to me because the stability and gain adjustments didn't seem to do anything, and according to TM, they're supposed to cause the engine to get "unstable" as you adjust them. Probably won't worry about this until I know that the idle speed is ok.
• 54-241G
  • Original condition: Good oil. Full fuel. Battery still connected but cables destroyed from arcing.
  • Problems
    • No power at convenience outlet. GFI tripping. GFI module defective. Will replace with off the shelf part or ignore. [Test case courtesy of Guyfang]
    • AC interrupter light broken off. Could buy originals from Peerless Electronics or a non push to part from Digikey. It's just a 24 volt indicator. [Original part number courtesy of Guyfang.]
• 54-575G
  • Original condition: Good oil. Full fuel. Battery still connected but cables destroyed from arcing.
  • Problems
    • Circuit interrupter always closed - FIXED [Thanks to kloppk for info on how it's supposed to work]
    • Voltage adjust ineffective, though effects engine revving a little bit - Haven't tested pot, this is on back burner for now.
    • Speed controller linkage out of adjustment
    • Overload light lit
      • Overload indicator even with L1, N, L2 disconnected from A8.
      • I still get AC voltage output (though not enough voltage, but possibly due to engine speed adjustment) with light lit.
      • Opening or closing the voltage selector door doesn't seem to change voltage output.
      • It doesn't cause or attempt to shut down engine.
      • After 4 days with a dehumidifier blasting into the enclosure, no change. I don't think it's a transient moisture issue.
      • It is not just an issue with the malfunction indicator module; I have swapped it with a known working one.
      • The fact that it doesn't try to shut the engine down, does that indicate that it's an "overload" and not a short?

As of this new format, my first post in this thread is here.

True to my nickname, I just "accidentally" (i only wanted one!) purchased 4 MEP-831A's with less than 300 hours on them. (3 of them have less than 200 I think). Silly bidding site and its idiosyncrasies... Paid ~$635 each. (After all the **** taxes and whatnot)

Will probably be active here for a while.

[Edited because I've gotten to inspect them a bit]

 

[DieselAddict]

Be sure to give them a good checkout when you get them home. I've found a high percentage of the ones I've bought had speed controller problems.

Luckily quite a few will fit in the back of a pickup truck.

 

[OverkillTASF]

Thanks sir! Have a short bed Dodge diesel, not sure if I will need to rent a trailer **** it...

I was prepared to invest the time in getting 1 running... it's perfect for my "needs". Considered getting a second one to see if I could fix it up. If nothing else they're good motors right? Definitely didn't want 4....

 

[DieselAddict]

Yea, for what they are the engines are pretty reliable. On the plus side if something does break the engine parts are plentiful and not horribly expensive.

You'll have fun playing around with them.

 

[OverkillTASF]

Just got my invoice... I really don't like GovLiquidiation... In addition to all of the other complaints, I'm apparently being charged $127.92 in taxes on each generator... Trying to find out why. That's 25% tax on the cheapest one, so these came out to $731 each. Arrrrrgh. Gonna measure my truck to see if I can fit them all in the bed, where they're going to live under a tarp for the next few months!

 

[DanM7890]

Usually it's premium and then tax on the whole amount.

 

[OverkillTASF]

Yeah this is what I was looking at which is a tad misleading...


It's a little more clear when I look at the actual invoice.

 

[Scar59]

Just got my invoice... I really don't like GovLiquidiation... In addition to all of the other complaints, I'm apparently being charged $127.92 in taxes on each generator... Trying to find out why. That's 25% tax on the cheapest one, so these came out to $731 each. Arrrrrgh. Gonna measure my truck to see if I can fit them all in the bed, where they're going to live under a tarp for the next few months!

GL has a funny way of listing the taxes. Once you get the invoices it will be straight. I have seen this "over taxed" issue on a lot of invoice. It will be straight in the end. Wish I was close ,I'd take one off your hands.
JC

 

[OverkillTASF]

So far my beefs with GovLiquidation's user experience...

1. "Auto-bid" isn't just "Hey, bid for me up to this amount." It's an obligation to bid up to that amount. I was expecting something more like "Ed, hold my beer and bid on this until I get back." So though I was the top bid around ~$300 on 5 or 6 generators, I was unable to disable auto-bid once I knew I won 1. So I watched it bid for $250 more on items I didn't want. Arrrrrgh.

2. The close time extends each time someone bids. I don't think this is stupid like the auto-bid thing, it makes sense. But it's just not what I expected. It's why I had so many auto-bids configured... in case I couldn't juggle everything, I wanted to make sure I won 1. When it started extending out the close time AND I couldn't change my auto-bids, I knew I was in trouble.

3. There's no indication that you've won! No email? They just disappear from your current bid list. You actually have to go into your bid history and correlate items that show "highest bidder" with items that are no longer in your current bid list. I don't think there's really even any notification of what you won until you get the invoice the next business day.

4. While the invoice is clear, the summary pages are a little nuts.

I should have started out bidding on something like scrap metal! Wife is none too pleased, over there feeding the 2 week old while I tell her I just blew a few grand. I can use them to power the dog house.

 

[Triple Jim]

Maybe you'll come out OK in the end. Green Mountain is charging $2,399.00 each, and their site says that's a sale price.

 

[Chrispyny]

So far my beefs with GovLiquidation's user experience...

1. "Auto-bid" isn't just "Hey, bid for me up to this amount." It's an obligation to bid up to that amount. I was expecting something more like "Ed, hold my beer and bid on this until I get back." So though I was the top bid around ~$300 on 5 or 6 generators, I was unable to disable auto-bid once I knew I won 1. So I watched it bid for $250 more on items I didn't want. Arrrrrgh.

2. The close time extends each time someone bids. I don't think this is stupid like the auto-bid thing, it makes sense. But it's just not what I expected. It's why I had so many auto-bids configured... in case I couldn't juggle everything, I wanted to make sure I won 1. When it started extending out the close time AND I couldn't change my auto-bids, I knew I was in trouble.

3. There's no indication that you've won! No email? They just disappear from your current bid list. You actually have to go into your bid history and correlate items that show "highest bidder" with items that are no longer in your current bid list. I don't think there's really even any notification of what you won until you get the invoice the next business day.

4. While the invoice is clear, the summary pages are a little nuts.

I should have started out bidding on something like scrap metal! Wife is none too pleased, over there feeding the 2 week old while I tell her I just blew a few grand. I can use them to power the dog house.

I completely agree with you in all respects, and a few others i won't bother going into. Night and day in comparison to govplanet.

 

[Landbarger]

You do have to be careful and pay attention if you're trying to juggle several 'least expensive' options at a time...particularly when the auction times are being extended sporadically.

All the same, I was looking at those same MEPs. When do you think you'll be picking them up? I'm tempted to help you out with your problem.

 

[Landbarger]

What part of Central Virginia are you located in, btw? Are you along 81, 29, or 95 by chance?

 

[OverkillTASF]

Still trying to arrange pickup with base and figure out who I can tap to help... my buddies have either moved away or succumbed to depression and can't be counted on. I think it's me....

I'll PM you.

 

[OverkillTASF]

Turns out they're light enough that the GL contact helped me and that was enough. Got all 4 in the truck with the tailgate down. Initial inspections... I'm happy so far. The two I've poked at seem to have good compression and turn over well, and still have the batteries installed! One of them, I checked the oil and just hit run and it worked, battery and all, sans power output. Someone has screwed with the throttle linkage so it can't shut itself off, and it is reporting overload/short... I'm hoping that's just from a wet inverter... Not sure whether to go crazy with the WD40 or what.

No evidence yet of any bad tampering in either of those two, haven't gotten to look at the others.

 

[JRM]

I completely agree with you in all respects, and a few others i won't bother going into. Night and day in comparison to govplanet.

I noticed the same thing with GL, they didn't refresh the current high bidder- im darn glad I lost that bid. Removed my credit card from file after that. I won my 803A on iron planet aka govplanet and had a wonderful experience at pickup, they knew I was on the road for 15 hours and was just slightly late- John stayed for my pickup saving me from a extra night sleeping in the passenger seat. A+
Oh, and it was a turn key runner with golden fresh oil. How cool is that!

 

[DieselAddict]

Turns out they're light enough that the GL contact helped me and that was enough. Got all 4 in the truck with the tailgate down. Initial inspections... I'm happy so far. The two I've poked at seem to have good compression and turn over well, and still have the batteries installed! One of them, I checked the oil and just hit run and it worked, battery and all, sans power output. Someone has screwed with the throttle linkage so it can't shut itself off, and it is reporting overload/short... I'm hoping that's just from a wet inverter... Not sure whether to go crazy with the WD40 or what.

No evidence yet of any bad tampering in either of those two, haven't gotten to look at the others.

Dont mess with the throttle linkage until you have all the alarms resolved. Until all the controls are working the throttle controller wont work properly.

 

[OverkillTASF]

Dont mess with the throttle linkage until you have all the alarms resolved. Until all the controls are working the throttle controller wont work properly.

Right now it's TRYING to shut it off but can't because the target is so far away from their monkeying. So I hit the kill switch and it just keeps running and running. Should I not at least adjust it so that it CAN shut it off? I can tell that it's trying, and when I hit the battle short, it seems to STOP trying to kill the engine.

As for the overload, I noticed that the circuit interrupter light is always on, and flipping the switch doesn't do anything, so following that out is my next bit.

 

[DieselAddict]

I would recommend against doing anything to the throttle until you have the unit otherwise working properly. Its a finicky adjustment.

Until you have the unit otherwise working properly you won't know if the throttle controller is working properly. That should be one of the last things you tinker on. Get all the other problems out of the way first.

 

[OverkillTASF]

The contactor K1 has me a little confused. I'm familiar with relays... checking that the theory of operation is the following:

1. Upon starting the generator, the load contacts on the contactor (A1-A2, B1-B2) will be closed. The indicator light on the control panel should be green.
2. Flipping the AC circuit interrupter switch to OPEN and then allowing it to return to center will open the load contact on the contactor. It will remain OPEN, latch OPEN, even after the switch is released. The indicator light will go out.
3. Flipping the AC circuit interrupted switch back to open will close the load contacts again and the light will re-light.

My AC interrupt light is green at all times and the switch doesn't do anything to the contactor, despite seemingly working after a reading on the switch leg continuitiy.

What's confusing to me is that S5 is a momentary switch, but the contactor "remembers" the last selected mode. Looking at the diagram for S5, it looks like switching between open and close might switch J7/P7 between negative and positive, but I'm not quite sure. If that's the case, then I assume that K1 by design latches into whichever state it was last actuated into... but I don't understand what pins 3 and 4 do. It looks like there are relay load contacts between 3 and 4... but I can't quite grasp why. Anyone got some light reading to lay on me?