Mep 004a

[Harleyd315]

I have a MEP 004A. We used it during Irene to power my dads house and garage. When I got it back to my shop to go over it I noticed that when I push the toggle switch to test the fault lights only 2 lights come on now. over volt and over amp I think thats it. They all used to come on when the switch was engaged. Any ideas??? Thanks Chris

 

[PeterD]

Well the obvious would be to remove the bulbs and check them... If they are original, it is very possible that you are seeing a vibration induced failure.

 

[Harleyd315]

Thanks Peter, I did think of that and I will get into it tomorrow. The reason I didn't check bulbs first is because the oil pressure light does come but goes off in the test position.

 

[PeterD]

Uh, the battle short switch is not on is it?

 

[Harleyd315]

No battle switch is off. I took each bulb and checked they are all good.

 

[PeterD]

Why is there something in the back of my mind about this 'problem'...

If I have time, I'll review my manuals and see if I see something, but I've a powerful feeling that this is not an unknown issue, but is caused by a specific condition or problem. I'll look and see what is up, but also please confirm which two lights still work...

 

[flyxpl]

I have a MEP 004A. We used it during Irene to power my dads house and garage. When I got it back to my shop to go over it I noticed that when I push the toggle switch to test the fault lights only 2 lights come on now. over volt and over amp I think thats it. They all used to come on when the switch was engaged. Any ideas??? Thanks Chris

I was curious . Did you run two legs to the house and one leg to the garage so that you were using all three phases of the genarator ?

 

[PeterD]

I was curious . Did you run two legs to the house and one leg to the garage so that you were using all three phases of the genarator ?

Can't speak for him, but in my case I have custom built transfer switches that convert the house from single phase to three phase (basically, on a circuit by circuit basis spread the loads across all three phases.) It works quite well, though there are still balance issues as winter power usage is very different from summer (electric heat...)

 

[Harleyd315]

Ok found the problem inside the fault light box. Took it apart and there was a white wire going to each of the lamp holders, jumped from one holder to the next. The 2 lamps that worked were over volt and over freq, the jumper wire from over freq to the next lamp was some how shorted and that interupted the path to the rest of the lamps. Once I repaired the jumper across the 2 holders all the lights came on. Sorry I didn't bring the camera to take a couple of pics. The generator at my dads wasn't balanced, he never looses power so we just back fed thru the dryer outlet to get the house going and ran an extension cord to his garage door opener and lights for his garage off of the plug on the back on the generator. At my place I have the house on two legs and my garage on the other like you described. Was just wundering if balancing the 3 legs of the genset is as critical with light loads as compared to running 2 legs close to max output. Thanks for the input and advice Chris