Zed254
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Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!
looking at an 802A with 4000 hours
- Thread starter justacitizen
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Thank You
69birdman
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I have 3 extra, send me an address & I'll mail ya one.
justacitizen
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a great big THANK YOU to Farmitall and kloppk for GIVING me the stuff to do the quad mod and the MOV mods on my new generator.
justacitizen
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after closer examination i think my generator has been on fire. it looks like the positive battery cable that runs across to the other battery must have shorted to the frame. when the cable arced i think it severed the fuel line and then the fuel pump fed the fire for a short period of time. i know understand the yellow residue under the engine and around must be from an extinguisher,and that must be mildly corrosive. i found some plastic parts that were just slightly deformed from the heat and soot on some of the wires. so guys you need to check the battery cables for chafing were it runs under the engine to the other battery,especially if your unit has high hours. i will look closer in a few days.
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Another way it could have happened is this. If someone un hooks the NEG. battery clamp, on the right side of the gen set first, and drops it into the set, what do you think is going to happen? It looks like the forth of July, is what. A baseball bat should be installed in every location where there are batteries. When some foolish person starts to mess with a battery system in an incorrect manner, the nearest person with an IQ over 0.1 should apply the baseball bat, with vigor. And not stop for a while.
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A good way to prevent the chaffing of battery cables from vibration is to route them in as safe a place as possible and cut sections of 1/2 inch or larger heater hose and split it lengthwise and put over the cables and zip tie in place. Same goes for radiator hoses(not necessarily in the generators) and other wiring. Use appropriately sized split loom around the contact points to provide a wear guard.
justacitizen
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i am not sure what side is the right side but your explanation could very well be what happened because it must have had some personnel close and with an extinguisher close. it couldn't have burned for very long,maybe a few seconds. the fire was contained to the fuel pump side of the engine.
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The 'front' of the machine is considered to be where the fuel tank is. FYI.
justacitizen
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OK Thanks. if i would have guessed i would have said it was the control end. good info to know. so the fire was on the right side of the engine then. something else i noticed is the aux fuel pump is brand new and so is the steel fuel line from it. could that be the source of fuel maybe on the hot manifold ??? kinda fun doing detective work but can also save others a future problem as hours grow.
Zed254
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I had to pull the TM and study the battery connection diagram to understand your point. Excellent tip: Thanks. I'm not used to working with 2 batteries in series and it is now clear that with these units 'always disconnect negative first' can get you in trouble if on the right side of machine. Another case of 'Left is Right and Right is Wrong'!!
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And always CONNECT THE NEGATIVE LAST .
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I learned this as a child from a one eyed mechanic that lost his eye to a car battery accident. He would say remember this! Batteries are a NO NO! Neg Off Neg On!
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Batteries can be soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo simple. But if someone doesn't think, or never learned, they can become a significant emotional experience.
I once had to drive to K-Town, Kaiserslaurten, to work on a generator. After we got done, a soldier shyly asked me to "take a look" at a Hummer, that was "not working right". We went over, and before I knew it, it looked like we were at the super bowl. People every place. Just watching. Like zombies. So I asked this guy what was wrong. He told me that the batteries would go "Bad" and if they swapped them out, the truck started fine for a while, but then went "bad" again. So I told him that in all probability, the alternator was bad. Then I turned around and told them to get slave cables and we would jump off the truck and measure the output of the alternator. EVERYONE moved back a few steps. You don't have to be Sherlock Homes, to notice that. So I got the cables and hooked them up to a M929 truck, and when I had turned around, everyone was at least one more step farther back, and several folks had a fire extinguisher in hand. So then I asked in my old grandfatherly voice, if maybe they had not told me the whole story.
So the other shoe hit the floor. It seems that if new batteries were installed, the truck started fine. If it was slaved off, the truck started to stink, smoke, wires heated up and then began to burn. So I turned around and looked at the whole set up. Both trucks neg ground. Both trucks 24 volts. The hummer can start with new batteries, but not slaved. So I told everyone that maybe the slave cable was bad. Nope, we tries "several". Well, then the M929 truck had a problem. Nope, tried "several" different trucks and "several" different battery chargers. It was lunch time and we all went to chow. I went early back, and pulled up a chair and thought about it. I hate trucks. Always have. Did not work on them unless someone pointed a gun at me. But the charging system is the same as any gen set. After a while I got up, crawled under the Hummer and looked at the wires from the slave receptacle to the batteries. Red on red. Black on black. Hooked up right. Then I looked at the slave receptacle. Then it was clear. Someone, at some earlier time, had switched the + and - cables at the receptacle. As long as a slave cable was not stuck into the hummer slave receptacle, and hooked to another power source, you were in fat city. But as soon as you stuck a slave cable in, (or even tried!) fire and smoke! That was why they had to try "several" cables. They had burned them up. No one wanted to tell me how long they had worked on the problem, so after switching the cables, we tested the alternator and as it was bad, we all decided to reward ourselves with a beer. Or two. I spent the night in the barracks.
I once had to drive to K-Town, Kaiserslaurten, to work on a generator. After we got done, a soldier shyly asked me to "take a look" at a Hummer, that was "not working right". We went over, and before I knew it, it looked like we were at the super bowl. People every place. Just watching. Like zombies. So I asked this guy what was wrong. He told me that the batteries would go "Bad" and if they swapped them out, the truck started fine for a while, but then went "bad" again. So I told him that in all probability, the alternator was bad. Then I turned around and told them to get slave cables and we would jump off the truck and measure the output of the alternator. EVERYONE moved back a few steps. You don't have to be Sherlock Homes, to notice that. So I got the cables and hooked them up to a M929 truck, and when I had turned around, everyone was at least one more step farther back, and several folks had a fire extinguisher in hand. So then I asked in my old grandfatherly voice, if maybe they had not told me the whole story.
So the other shoe hit the floor. It seems that if new batteries were installed, the truck started fine. If it was slaved off, the truck started to stink, smoke, wires heated up and then began to burn. So I turned around and looked at the whole set up. Both trucks neg ground. Both trucks 24 volts. The hummer can start with new batteries, but not slaved. So I told everyone that maybe the slave cable was bad. Nope, we tries "several". Well, then the M929 truck had a problem. Nope, tried "several" different trucks and "several" different battery chargers. It was lunch time and we all went to chow. I went early back, and pulled up a chair and thought about it. I hate trucks. Always have. Did not work on them unless someone pointed a gun at me. But the charging system is the same as any gen set. After a while I got up, crawled under the Hummer and looked at the wires from the slave receptacle to the batteries. Red on red. Black on black. Hooked up right. Then I looked at the slave receptacle. Then it was clear. Someone, at some earlier time, had switched the + and - cables at the receptacle. As long as a slave cable was not stuck into the hummer slave receptacle, and hooked to another power source, you were in fat city. But as soon as you stuck a slave cable in, (or even tried!) fire and smoke! That was why they had to try "several" cables. They had burned them up. No one wanted to tell me how long they had worked on the problem, so after switching the cables, we tested the alternator and as it was bad, we all decided to reward ourselves with a beer. Or two. I spent the night in the barracks.
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justacitizen
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i have been tinkering some with the 802A. the fire blackened some of the engine control wire bundle below the thermostat housing and near the shut off solenoid. everything is working ok but i was thinking about replacing that part of the harness or just replace the whole harness. anyone ever done this?? know where i can get one??? the insulation is intact but where the bundle is zip tied together the plastic coating has stuck them together some.
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The wire harnes is easy. Disconnect the batteries. Disconnect the wire harnes canon plug under the control cube and then simply start to remove each wire connected to the harnes. I don't mark anything. That's what the schematics and wire diagrams for.
Plug in the new wire harnes canon plug. Stretch out the wire harnes in both directions, start hooking it back up, BY THE WIRE DIAGRAMS. Several folks are parting out sets right now. Maybe you can get a harnes. They were stocked parts, so the new harnesses are to be had, as repair parts also.
If you get a used one, make sure it's not for a 400 hertz model.
Did I omit a few things? Yes. I am sure you can figure it out.
There is of course the hackers method. I hate the hackers method. You cut the harnes out. Leave 20-30 cm of each wire hanging off the set. Then lay the new harnes in, and replace one wire at a time. Personally, I think this way sucks. It takes longer, and you redo any miswired problems that someone before you did. It also is hard, when a bundle has melted into a clump.
Plug in the new wire harnes canon plug. Stretch out the wire harnes in both directions, start hooking it back up, BY THE WIRE DIAGRAMS. Several folks are parting out sets right now. Maybe you can get a harnes. They were stocked parts, so the new harnesses are to be had, as repair parts also.
If you get a used one, make sure it's not for a 400 hertz model.
Did I omit a few things? Yes. I am sure you can figure it out.
There is of course the hackers method. I hate the hackers method. You cut the harnes out. Leave 20-30 cm of each wire hanging off the set. Then lay the new harnes in, and replace one wire at a time. Personally, I think this way sucks. It takes longer, and you redo any miswired problems that someone before you did. It also is hard, when a bundle has melted into a clump.