storeman
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Finally getting a MEP-002a
- Thread starter Isaac-1
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Isaac-1
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Well the new transistor is in and it seems to have fixed the voltage instability problem. Now it appears my voltage gauge may be bad, and or the CVT is bad. The face plate seems to be loose enough to shake about on the voltage gauge, and at the best of times has about a 10 VAC swing, at the worst of times it shows nothing for a minute or so at a time. The good news is the Hz meter is spot on and the transducer looks new.
Ike
Ike
Isaac-1
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Well I had a little free time today to work on these new to me generators, the MEP-016D received a new hour meter to replace the DC one that was wired to the AC outlet, along with a few other minor things (fine tuning the engine speed, tried to free up the stuck fuel selector valve, gave up and ordered a new one on that, etc.)
The MEP-002a received a new battery meter which required a little re-engineering (new meter was one of a lot of 5 I bought on ebay for $12, it is the same size as the original, with black face and voltage numbers 20-32 VDC, but does not have the push on post connector on the back, and requires a negative wire lead. (I like numbers instead of green zones for meter). The project took a bit longer than it should have as I could not find a 1/4 inch box wrench anywhere, found 5 3/8 box wrenches in the process, and who knows what else.
Overall I made a couple of steps in the right direction, but did find I have some metering problems with the MEP-002a, at random it seems the volt meter will swing high or low, at first I thought it might be a problem with the AVR again (changed the transistor a couple of weeks ago), but once I plugged in an external meter (Kill-a-Watt) I found the voltage was stable at 121 VAC +/- <.5V while the onboard meter would make excursion 30+ Volts off true both high and low, and even at the best of times will drift by about +/- 5 volts or so. This is true for measuring both line to line and line to neutral, I am not sure if it the gauge or the CVT, or both. The onboard load meter has problems also as it reads 25% load even when nothing is connected (I have not checked what it shows under a known heavier load, will try to do that in the morning), still all things considered it is not bad for $350 as the engine seems to run good and now that the transistor has been replaced it generates stable power, it even seems to have came with all new filters, and a new fuel tank.
Ike
The MEP-002a received a new battery meter which required a little re-engineering (new meter was one of a lot of 5 I bought on ebay for $12, it is the same size as the original, with black face and voltage numbers 20-32 VDC, but does not have the push on post connector on the back, and requires a negative wire lead. (I like numbers instead of green zones for meter). The project took a bit longer than it should have as I could not find a 1/4 inch box wrench anywhere, found 5 3/8 box wrenches in the process, and who knows what else.
Overall I made a couple of steps in the right direction, but did find I have some metering problems with the MEP-002a, at random it seems the volt meter will swing high or low, at first I thought it might be a problem with the AVR again (changed the transistor a couple of weeks ago), but once I plugged in an external meter (Kill-a-Watt) I found the voltage was stable at 121 VAC +/- <.5V while the onboard meter would make excursion 30+ Volts off true both high and low, and even at the best of times will drift by about +/- 5 volts or so. This is true for measuring both line to line and line to neutral, I am not sure if it the gauge or the CVT, or both. The onboard load meter has problems also as it reads 25% load even when nothing is connected (I have not checked what it shows under a known heavier load, will try to do that in the morning), still all things considered it is not bad for $350 as the engine seems to run good and now that the transistor has been replaced it generates stable power, it even seems to have came with all new filters, and a new fuel tank.
Ike