Finally bought a MEP-831a

[AfghanVeteran2010]

It was still smoking at 3kw load, it did sound better not running as fast as it was before.

Tonight or tommrow ill set up electrinic gov. When I pluged the actuator back in and allowed it to control it wanted to surge. I change the tension and disatnce when i adjusted the plate so I expected this to happen.

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[DieselAddict]

Let us know how it's going.

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

I tried to set up electronic governor today, I can not get it to stop surging it wants to idle so close to the magnet it gets captured and opens full then repeats. I tried adjusting the length of linkage no luck. When I do apply full load it runs for a min and then bogs out as it did before still smokes at full load too, it's running at 297Hz at full load.

Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Dwnorton1]

Would not be at all surprised if you electronic governor is bad.
You can check between terminal J&H on governor module. Should be outputting 5.3vdc at no load and 11vdc at full load. If it is not steady and bouncing then electronic governor module may be bad. If it is steady in its output at least close to these ranges it should be good. If that turns out to be case could be issues with counterweights on mechanical governor or some other issue. You may have to grab paddle and hold while taking readings because if it is "hunting" it may affect output voltage.

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

Are you talking about the actuator or the SLC100 controller?

 

[Dwnorton1]

Are you talking about the actuator or the SLC100 controller?

J&H directly off of the SLC 100. Those terminals are what controls position of the actuator

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

J&H directly off of the SLC 100. Those terminals are what controls position of the actuator

Okay your referring to the actuator being bad.

 

[Dwnorton1]

No more likely the SLC 100. I have one that puts out 24vdc opening actuator to 100% and some that the pots no longer allow any adjustment. It should be close to 6vdc output between J&H at idle and 11vdc at full load

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

A SLC 100 from GAC is $328 USD, I figured sooner or later I'm going to have to get one from them. 2 year warranty on them too. I think its a balance issue, I changed the position of the set screw and where the black thumb screw sits.

Going to check it to be sure as well

Thanks

 

[Dwnorton1]

, I figured sooner or later I'm going to have to get one from them.



Thanks

I would almost guarantee you will need one at some point. The ones I have had problems with looks like the pots have been over torqued and are heads all stripped out and are loose where you just touch them and speed changes.

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

How does this oil look, about year old and 6 - 10 hrs on it. 25hrs on meter. Oil level is right where it should be.


Thanks

 

[Dwnorton1]

Looks really dark for the hours, but considering you were running yanmar at indy car motor rpm's, it doessn't suprise me.

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

I changed the oil with 10w-30

Replaced oil filter, had a bunch of crap in it.


Filled it up with oil, and fired it up. This time it was idling OK, I took VDC measurement on J,H on SLC100. There a YouTube video below showing this. When it bogs down its under full load.
https://youtu.be/1iiiKEHpCSM

 

[Another Ahab]

The sucker is LOUD, but sure sounds sweet.

What devices did you use to put it under load?

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

I used two 1500 watt space heaters.

 

[Dwnorton1]

The one thing I did notice is that your electronic governor does not even look like it is control. The rod to the mechanical governor seems to be floating. The 831 with similar symptoms as your seems to do same thing. I've noticed on unit than runs well that the arm occasionally is not in contact. To me your SLC100 and actuator seem to be doing their job correctly.
You are also probably in excess of 125% load due to 1PF of resistive load as there are rated at .8pf. My experience is that these gens unlike their big brother TQG's are not quite as derated and don't like to carry load over 100% of rated load.

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

I've seen them near a 3500 watt load with out any issues. I may not be understanding what you mean, is induction load different?

 

[Dwnorton1]

They are rated at .8pf which is taking into account of the inefficiency of and inductive motor. Wasted energy to magnetic field. Heaters are 1PF resistive load. No lost energy. As chart shows below 15amps at 120vac will have a different watt load due to PF.

[h=3]15A to watts calculation with voltage of 120V AC[/h]For AC power supply, watts are equal to the power factor times amps times volts.
watts = PF × amps × volts
For resistive load without inductors or capacitors, the power factor is equal to 1:
watts = 1 × 15A × 120V = 1800W
For inductive load (like induction motor), the power factor can be approximately equal to 0.8:
watts = 0.8 × 15A × 120V = 1440W

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

I seen people load test their mep-831a on youtube with 2 1500watt heaters or 1 3000 watt heater. The gen set meter falls right on 3kw or just shy of it. Their sets handel it just fine, the only diffrence I can think of is that im at 2900 ft above sea level. But what you mentioned might be causing it, ill see if I can find something else than a heater for a load. I also have it in 120 volt mode I am pulling from L1 and L2 for each heater.

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[DieselAddict]

I've seen them near a 3500 watt load with out any issues. I may not be understanding what you mean, is induction load different?

It is different but the real issue is having a gauge that is calibrated for a power factor of 0.8 and how that will under report load for a resistive setup.

One of the things I recommend here is to leave the electronic governor alone and run on the mechanical governor until you have the unit making full power without bogging down. You're adding too many variables into the mix.

When you load the unit up you need to take the voltage and current readings and make sure you haven't overloaded it. Sure there are units that will take 3.5kw of load. There are some that won't. Lets find out where yours stands mechanically engine output wise. Depending on its life before you it is quite possible you have some carbon built up around the rings and its robbing you of some compression and as a result engine output power is not up to spec. That can cause black smoke and reduced power. If it won't run at least 3kw for hours and hours on the mechanical governor without bogging down then you still have a mechanical problem. Don't trust the gauges on the machine. Verify your 3kw with your voltage and amp meters.

Altitude absolutely can play a part here. At 3000' MSL you will be about 10% down on power versus 0' MSL.

You've done a lot of good work on the machine. We need to run the engine problems fully to ground before moving on. Strictly my opinion.