MEP-003A Load test

[Roadracer86]

Hi all,
Anyone have any good ideas on how to load test a MEP-003A without wiring it to a house or shop. I've got one of these beast I bought a couple years ago and never had the unit load tested. Any ideas?

 

[leedawg]

There are numerous threads about this id suggest a little search.

However to answer your question yeah its pretty easy to load test one of these units. Just get a 55 gallon drum or old pressure tank or plastic drum or some type of water vessel that you can cut holes on the side into. Weld in some pipe couplings and buy some hot water heater elements on ebay. I personally used 6 4500 watt 220 volt heater elements to make my load bank. Fill the tank up with water hook the elements up to your generator and throw the breaker instant load. For the 003 id probably buy either 5 2k watt elements or one 4500 watt one and 3 2k ones something like that so you can step it in increments by switching additional elements on or off. I load my MEp 005a all the way up to 100% using this method and it boils 50 gallons of water in about 25 minutes pretty impressive really that tank of water stays hot for a good long time afterwards too.

Good luck.

Lee

 

[Roadracer86]

Thanks Lee for your response. I think I may have the unit sold so the buyer wants me to load test it before he commits which I understand but I was looking for an easy way to exercise the unit without too much trouble. I did search the auxiliary form and found a couple posts but nothing that I could easily do without building some sort of contraption. Any other ideas are welcomed and I may have to bite the bullet and buy some hot water heater elements.

 

[leedawg]

Thanks Lee for your response. I think I may have the unit sold so the buyer wants me to load test it before he commits which I understand but I was looking for an easy way to exercise the unit without too much trouble. I did search the auxiliary form and found a couple posts but nothing that I could easily do without building some sort of contraption. Any other ideas are welcomed and I may have to bite the bullet and buy some hot water heater elements.

Well there are a few other ways that are indeed easier however I question safety with the methods involved. Youl could get two large electrodes like say steel pipes and hook them both to one of the hot leads coming out of the generator ie. L1, and L3 in single phase mode. You could then fill up a plastic (key here is use a plastic tank for your safety) tank with water and then add some salt to it stir it around and then put both of the pipes in the tank no opposite sides and flip the breaker. YOu will get a load and it will vary depending on what the molar concentration of the salt water solution is. Id start out with a pretty small amount of salt and see what happens and then add more sodium chloride till you get the desired load. Again this method seems way more dangerous to me and a good way to get a really good shock but it is pretty cheap and easy.

Another option would be get a long steel cable like 100 feet long and string it up on some poles so it is not touching the ground at all put it on some insulators on the poles and again hook one lead from L1 to one end of the wire and the other L3 to the other end of the wire and throw the breaker. That wire on the poles will get really really really hot and put a pretty decent load on the generator. If it is to great a load it will throw the breaker out and you will have to get a longer cable then to make it work. Again you can see the safety concerns with this method as well.

One other pretty safe way to test it but $$$ is go buy one of those huge ass 3 phase electric heaters and hook it up to the unit and just turn it up to you are at 100% load. I think they have them up to like 25000 watts or something crazy like that then again your looking at at 1500 to 2k investment in the heater but very safe

So if you do any of the above mentioned methods not including option 3 I take zero responsibility in any bodily injury or harm you cause to yourself but they are cheap and easy. Im sure someone else will chime in.

Lee

 

[dangier]

Another way I load test my 003's-visit a local hvac contractor and see it they have any old heat pump indoor sections with the fan and electric heaters for free or very little cost. I found one with the 240 volt fan and 3 5000 watt heaters that I hook up to the 003 and load right up to 15000 watts. I also use it to load test the 002's with one heater. Have a portable breaker panel with 4 double duplex outlets installed that I plug in flood lights (500 watt), portable heaters (1000 watt to 1650 watts), and motors to create different load combinations. One bonus is I can use the heat pump section as a portable heater during the winter for outside jobs.
David

 

[Isaac-1]

Another good choice is an old electric stove top (typically good for about 8,000 watts), these can often be found on craigslist, etc for under $100, Personally I like to use cheap hair dryers, they are each good for about 1,500 watts (often advertised at 1850 watt), and can be found for $5-$7 each at discount stores, even less for used ones at goodwill stores. Of course you have to use some sort of electrical outlet box, but I have a job site spider box for that. Cheap space heaters are another option, but they tend to be bulkier and more expensive than the hair dryers.

 

[Rapracing]

Another good choice is an old electric stove top (typically good for about 8,000 watts), these can often be found on craigslist, etc for under $100, Personally I like to use cheap hair dryers, they are each good for about 1,500 watts (often advertised at 1850 watt), and can be found for $5-$7 each at discount stores, even less for used ones at goodwill stores. Of course you have to use some sort of electrical outlet box, but I have a job site spider box for that. Cheap space heaters are another option, but they tend to be bulkier and more expensive than the hair dryers.

I assume you balance the load between L1 & L3 by putting 3 or 4 hair dryers on each leg?

 

[Isaac-1]

Yes, I split the load if the generator is wired 120/240

 

[Ratch]

Well there are a few other ways that are indeed easier however I question safety with the methods involved. Youl could get two large electrodes like say steel pipes and hook them both to one of the hot leads coming out of the generator ie. L1, and L3 in single phase mode. You could then fill up a plastic (key here is use a plastic tank for your safety) tank with water and then add some salt to it stir it around and then put both of the pipes in the tank no opposite sides and flip the breaker. YOu will get a load and it will vary depending on what the molar concentration of the salt water solution is. Id start out with a pretty small amount of salt and see what happens and then add more sodium chloride till you get the desired load. Again this method seems way more dangerous to me and a good way to get a really good shock but it is pretty cheap and easy.

Lee

Not to mention the hydrogen that'll be produced, setting up a little explosive atmosphere... Sounds like fun.


Op,

your simplest solution is going to be a can of water and some water heater elements. They're $10-20 at Home Depot brand new, 50 gallon drum is $10 on Craigslist, a couple feet of romex, and you're done. I have a 5-gallon bucket with two elements I screwed into a slightly undersized hole in the lid. It works fine for a 5 minute run of 5kw unit. The elements came out of my household water heater after a maintenance cycle earlier this year, so they were essentially free.
If you're selling a genset for $2000 or so, it's not going to kill your budget to buy and build a resistive load bank for $50 or so, and you can reuse it to exercise your own units.

 

[Roadracer86]

Well there are a few other ways that are indeed easier however I question safety with the methods involved. Youl could get two large electrodes like say steel pipes and hook them both to one of the hot leads coming out of the generator ie. L1, and L3 in single phase mode. You could then fill up a plastic (key here is use a plastic tank for your safety) tank with water and then add some salt to it stir it around and then put both of the pipes in the tank no opposite sides and flip the breaker. YOu will get a load and it will vary depending on what the molar concentration of the salt water solution is. Id start out with a pretty small amount of salt and see what happens and then add more sodium chloride till you get the desired load. Again this method seems way more dangerous to me and a good way to get a really good shock but it is pretty cheap and easy.

Another option would be get a long steel cable like 100 feet long and string it up on some poles so it is not touching the ground at all put it on some insulators on the poles and again hook one lead from L1 to one end of the wire and the other L3 to the other end of the wire and throw the breaker. That wire on the poles will get really really really hot and put a pretty decent load on the generator. If it is to great a load it will throw the breaker out and you will have to get a longer cable then to make it work. Again you can see the safety concerns with this method as well.

One other pretty safe way to test it but $$$ is go buy one of those huge ass 3 phase electric heaters and hook it up to the unit and just turn it up to you are at 100% load. I think they have them up to like 25000 watts or something crazy like that then again your looking at at 1500 to 2k investment in the heater but very safe

So if you do any of the above mentioned methods not including option 3 I take zero responsibility in any bodily injury or harm you cause to yourself but they are cheap and easy. Im sure someone else will chime in.

Lee

Thanks Lee; thanks again but I think I may buy a spider box and run some hair dryers off it and load the genset that way since I'm pretty paranoid of electric shock; got zapped by a tow truck alternator once years ago and that was enough for me.

 

[Roadracer86]

Another good choice is an old electric stove top (typically good for about 8,000 watts), these can often be found on craigslist, etc for under $100, Personally I like to use cheap hair dryers, they are each good for about 1,500 watts (often advertised at 1850 watt), and can be found for $5-$7 each at discount stores, even less for used ones at goodwill stores. Of course you have to use some sort of electrical outlet box, but I have a job site spider box for that. Cheap space heaters are another option, but they tend to be bulkier and more expensive than the hair dryers.

Awesome, this is a great idea; I could use a spider box anyhow so I'll look for one on fleaBay and go this route; you guys rock, great info thank you.

 

[Roadracer86]

Well, had a change of plans on the spider box; can't find a reasonable price on something that is 50 amp that has enough regular 110v outlets for hairdryers. So Ratch I'm interested in your method of load testing; I found a drum and can buy a couple of 4500 watt 240 volt heater elements at Home Depot. My question is those heater elements are two post or 2 wire connection units. What's the protocol for wiring the romex to these two units from the genset? I'm assuming one leg L1 connects to one post on the 1st element and then the neutral leg which is L0 and then run L3 and L0 to the second heater element? Am I thinking about this correctly? Sorry for the stupid question but I want to make sure I don't cook off in the process. Thanks again.

 

[DieselAddict]

Well, had a change of plans on the spider box; can't find a reasonable price on something that is 50 amp that has enough regular 110v outlets for hairdryers. So Ratch I'm interested in your method of load testing; I found a drum and can buy a couple of 4500 watt 240 volt heater elements at Home Depot. My question is those heater elements are two post or 2 wire connection units. What's the protocol for wiring the romex to these two units from the genset? I'm assuming one leg L1 connects to one post on the 1st element and then the neutral leg which is L0 and then run L3 and L0 to the second heater element? Am I thinking about this correctly? Sorry for the stupid question but I want to make sure I don't cook off in the process. Thanks again.

You can wire them that way but you will be sending each element 120v instead of 240v so the wattage will be half.

You would need to wire up 4 in total to get you near 10kw. You would wire them in two groups. Each pair would be wired in parallel which would bring you back up to about 4500w on each leg of 120v.

That much power at is going to require #6 copper cabling minimum. #4 if you go aluminum.

 

[leedawg]

Well, had a change of plans on the spider box; can't find a reasonable price on something that is 50 amp that has enough regular 110v outlets for hairdryers. So Ratch I'm interested in your method of load testing; I found a drum and can buy a couple of 4500 watt 240 volt heater elements at Home Depot. My question is those heater elements are two post or 2 wire connection units. What's the protocol for wiring the romex to these two units from the genset? I'm assuming one leg L1 connects to one post on the 1st element and then the neutral leg which is L0 and then run L3 and L0 to the second heater element? Am I thinking about this correctly? Sorry for the stupid question but I want to make sure I don't cook off in the process. Thanks again.

I would not wire it this way you are wasting half of the watts of the high watt element you just bought as Roadracer mentioned.

Those are 240 volt elements so L1 and L3 need to go to each terminal respectively then you will get the full load out of each element and you can drop a lot in wire size because its 240 volts not 120. Just go down to home deopot buy a really cheap breaker box beleive square D has a B line called home something and they have a 6 gang box for like 25 bucks or so, get a 50 amp breaker double pole one for each leg of the 240 like another 8 dollars and then run some #10 SSO cord from the genset to the breaker box then just run some 12 guage romex from the breaker to each element so two runs. Then you just throw the breaker in and instant full load. If you want to drop half the load put a single pole high amperage switch on one of the elements also found at home deopot for 8 or 9 dollars. Done.

Or instead of romex just buy some 12 guage thhn wire and use that to make the runs to the elements easy peezy. and for safety I grounded my steel tank.

 

[Roadracer86]

I would not wire it this way you are wasting half of the watts of the high watt element you just bought as Roadracer mentioned.

Those are 240 volt elements so L1 and L3 need to go to each terminal respectively then you will get the full load out of each element and you can drop a lot in wire size because its 240 volts not 120. Just go down to home deopot buy a really cheap breaker box beleive square D has a B line called home something and they have a 6 gang box for like 25 bucks or so, get a 50 amp breaker like another 8 dollars and then run some #10 SSO cord from the genset to the breaker box then just run some 12 guage romex from the breaker to each element so two runs. Then you just throw the breaker in and instant full load. If you want to drop half the load put a single pole high amperage switch on one of the elements also found at home deopot for 8 or 9 dollars. Done.

Ok so I have 4 AWG wire I can run from the Genset to a square D breaker box with a 50 amp breaker and then to some 12 AWG romex. I should only need two heater elements since they should put a 9K load on the set which I think will be fine to test the unit out for 30 minutes or so. Since I'm electric stupid; what do you recommend for a ground since this set is on a trailer. Should I drive a steel stake into the ground and ground the genset from the trailer? Just so I got this right; L0 (neutral) is not used in this set up or does it get wired into the breaker box? I understand the part where L1 and L3 get connected by 12 AWG in parallel to each element from the breaker box but not clear on the genset to the breaker? Can you be a bit more specific since getting fried isn't on my bucket list.

 

[leedawg]

Ok so I have 4 AWG wire I can run from the Genset to a square D breaker box with a 50 amp breaker and then to some 12 AWG romex. I should only need two heater elements since they should put a 9K load on the set which I think will be fine to test the unit out for 30 minutes or so. Since I'm electric stupid; what do you recommend for a ground since this set is on a trailer. Should I drive a steel stake into the ground and ground the genset from the trailer? Just so I got this right; L0 (neutral) is not used in this set up or does it get wired into the breaker box? I understand the part where L1 and L3 get connected by 12 AWG in parallel to each element from the breaker box but not clear on the genset to the breaker? Can you be a bit more specific since getting fried isn't on my bucket list.

Sorry, I was not more clear.

The 4awg is more than fine from the gen to the breaker box.

So from the gen you need to run 2 wires one from the L1 lug and one from the L3 lug onto each of the main power rails in the breaker box you will see them. Since you do not care about 120 v loads for this setup you do not need to run a neutral wire from the L0 terminal. Dont worry bout it. Then you need to snap your 50 amp breaker into the box and run two sets of romex from the breaker going to each element. Id use the black and white wires one for each element. Do not put the elements in paralla between each other run a romex to each element from the breaker that way you are not putting double the amperage on the 12 guage wire. I would then drive a copper grounding rod into the ground a few feet and run an addtional wire from the generators ground lug on the side of the skid frame to that rod and then run another wire from that rod to the breaker box's ground terminal and then run another wire from that rod to the tanks frame. It will work fine if you dont do the grounding but it is a bit safer. take some pics let us know.

Lee

 

[DieselAddict]

The neutral isn't necessary for the load but I would connect in the box it just for safety.

 

[leedawg]

How would that improve the safety its just the center tap to the gen head the ground is for safety no?

 

[DieselAddict]

Unless the bonding jumper at the generator has been removed the neutral and chassis ground are connected. When you install the ground rod you'll reduce the possibility of a shock from touching the box if a load conductor happens to touch the box. It will also give a fault path and trip the breaker.

 

[leedawg]

Got it.

Took the liberty of snapping a couple of pics for the parts for the op.