Lightning Auto-start?

[shazam]

We had a thundershower this morning around 5AM. Lightning, but nothing within several miles based on the 'one-onethousand' methodology. After one bolt of lightning the MEP803a started up, ran for about 5 seconds, then shut down. Ever heard of such a thing? Obviously the timing of the two could be coincidental, given the distance away of the lightning.

For background, the 803 sits on a concrete pad outside, hard-wired thru a utility/gen exclusive breaker to the main panel. There is a remote manual switch for the gen near the breaker box. Pretty standad stuff...

Thoughts? WAGs?

Next step is to fire it up, and make sure there are no continuing issues.

Thanks!
Jim

 

[Light in the Dark]

And you are 10000% positive your machine turned on? I assume its grounded through your homes ground (through the hard wire), versus a rod at the machine? Don't fire a thing up until you do some investigating. I would unhook the Negative terminal on the dead crank side battery and start looking the machine over thoroughly (including taking the gauge lid and roof off over the controls.

If you really had some sort of anomalous AC current event start your machine (over DC circuitry)... the how, I am not sure... but it would have been over lines rated to carry DC low voltage and you may have some serious hidden problems. It would have involved some significant arcing through the machine to accomplish this.

Time to investigate with a fine tooth comb. I had a direct lighting strike (35' from my 802A, halfway up a giant pine tree which split in half as a result) and thankfully there was no ground rod at the machine acting like a conductor back into the machine. I had no issues after the fact, but mine also did not turn on.

You really need to look over every wire, every connector, every everything to see if there is burnt smell, wire jacked or component discoloration, melted metal (start switch contacts, etc). Good luck, I will be watching this thread. Share photos of anything you find.

 

[shazam]

As they say..God protects fools and children. At the time of your reply I had already started the generator and was pulling over 30 amps a side using the clothes dryer etc. It was showing 60 cycles, 118 volts a side. Yikes! I immediately shut it down.

As to your first question...yessir, it ran. It's 20 feet from our bed and my wife and I were both awake. Yes...it's grounded thru the hard wire to the box.

Out to the box to start the investigation! Thanks!

I'll ask the follow-up question early...What if I don't find anything?

Jim

PS- For those questioning the sanity of having the gennie 20 feet from the bed. There's an 'insulated concrete form' wall between them (solid...6" of concrete 8" of foam) that reduces the roar to a pleasant background noise.

 

[shazam]

First look appears ok...normal smell.

 

[Guyfang]

This is a double posting. What thread do you want to go away?

 

[shazam]

This is a double posting. What thread do you want to go away?

The other one..."Lightning Auto-Start Feature"

Thanks!
Jim

 

[kloppk]

I suspect the 2 wires for the 2-wire Remote Start board picked up some electricity from the strike causing the Remote Start to initiate a start. After the start electricity disapated the Remote Start saw the lack of stray voltage and then did a generador stop

 

[Light in the Dark]

I suspect the 2 wires for the 2-wire Remote Start board picked up some electricity from the strike causing the Remote Start to initiate a start. After the start electricity disapated the Remote Start saw the lack of stray voltage and the did a generador stop

That could have been a useful addition to the first post, presence of a remote start system.

 

[shazam]

That could have been a useful addition to the first post, presence of a remote start system.

I agree...I wasn't clear in the initial post. "There is a remote manual switch for the gen near the breaker box." I'll use the correct terminology next time. We're all still learning.

Thanks to both of you!

Jim

 

[Light in the Dark]

I agree...I wasn't clear in the initial post. "There is a remote manual switch for the gen near the breaker box." I'll use the correct terminology next time. We're all still learning.

Thanks to both of you!

Jim

I probably lead you on a wild goose chase without the clarification... and probably some unneeded concern too. Glad to hear its operating correctly.

 

[shazam]

Flip side is, I took a real good look at everything. You can't do that often enough! Thanks again!

Jim

 

[peapvp]

We recommend twisted pair shielded wire for switch if not run in conduit. The Autostart wires should also be run separately from power wires.

 

[peapvp]

Btw. our systems are designed to always start, rather then not start.
These are Military Devices

 

[peapvp]

The common issue on those generators is the connection between chassis and Terminal L0 which is usually tied in with PE and N on the other end.
This creates two poles in the generator between chassis and Terminal L0
Any stray voltage originating from the utility side will feed back into any generator.
The L0 connection will then build a voltage differential to Genset chassis causing a gigantic spark.

This scenario is applicable to any generator with or without any type of auto start system

solution: make a jumper in generator between L0 and chassis.
The jumper should be 2ga copper or larger

 

[peapvp]

And, if in doubt, contact the expert first

 

[Guyfang]

All TQG's should have a connection between LO and chassis ground.

 

[peapvp]

All TQG's should have a connection between LO and chassis ground.

correct, but some folks like to remove them see post #28

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/neutral-bonding-at-the-generator.77291/page-2

 

[kayak1]

correct, but some folks like to remove them see post #28

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/neutral-bonding-at-the-generator.77291/page-2

Post #29 helps more. The bond should only exist in one location.

Think of the generator as a sub-panel.

Improper Subpanel Bonding and the Dangers It Can Bring To Your Home

Is your meter box wired wrong? Here's how you can tell, along with the dangers of improper subpanel bonding when it comes to neutral wires.

www.whittinspections.com

Sub panels are allowed separate grounding rods, and they aren't allowed bonding between the ground and the neutral.

 

[peapvp]

Post #29 helps more. The bond should only exist in one location.

Think of the generator as a sub-panel.

Improper Subpanel Bonding and the Dangers It Can Bring To Your Home

Is your meter box wired wrong? Here's how you can tell, along with the dangers of improper subpanel bonding when it comes to neutral wires.

www.whittinspections.com

Sub panels are allowed separate grounding rods, and they aren't allowed bonding between the ground and the neutral.

The Generator is not a sub panel. It's a Generator.

If you separate the bond in the Generator, then you open up a can of worms, as we have seen in this case.
These particular MEP Generators were specifically designed to have this bond. Removing this bond creates a unsafe and unstable condition within these Generators, as the Neutral here is tied to the Genset Frame together with the negative post of the 24VDC Battery Supply.

If ground separation / ground loop prevention is absolutely necessary in a setup, then you will have to go through a isolation transformer between Genset and ATS.
But do not remove the Bond between L0 and Frame of Genset

 

[Guyfang]

Perhaps, we need to take a step back here. While you CAN hook up a military generator set to power your house, It was not designed to do so. Military Power Generation is designed to power military equipment in the field. In the field requires a Neutral Bond. This is fact.

From Peter:
These particular MEP Generators were specifically designed to have this bond. Removing this bond creates a unsafe and unstable condition within these Generators, as the Neutral here is tied to the Genset Frame together with the negative post of the 24VDC Battery Supply.

When you hook up a Military generator to a house, things change. I am an electrician. But here in Germany. Cant tell you what should or should not happen when a Generator is hooked up to a house/building in America. Everyone quotes all kinds of laws and rules that apply in America. But I am also certain, those rules can be different from state to state. So maybe you all need to go back to basics. Quote the Federal laws and rules, and maybe think about the fact that you are asking a generator designed to run in the field, and are now trying to make it compatible to "City Power", if you will.