Mep-803a

[chilbun28]

Curious if I can crank the generator and just let it run for several hours here and there just to exercise it without any load or if I need to at least plug in a fan or something into the 110 plug for somewhere to send some power to.

 

[Farmitall]

If you do what you describe, you will end up with "wet stacking".

These generators are designed to be run under a load. You can make a load of sufficient size using 2 electric dryer heating elements and a fan to cool them and a couple of pieces of #10 or #8 wire.

 

[kloppk]

You can also use some portable space heaters. Just need to wire some outlets to the output lugs.
The convenience outlet built into the 803 can only handle 10 amps.

 

[Light in the Dark]

If you can't put a load on it, no reason to even start it. The marginal gain of circulating fuel through the filters can be accomplished just by letting the set prime for the equal amount of time. If you have room for a free electric range (craigslist, FB marketplace, side of the road, etc) they make excellent 'dumb' load banks with decent draw for the larger 803.

 

[chilbun28]

This is great info. Thanks

 

[loosegravel]

Here’s how I put a load on my MEP-803A stand-by unit. It’s a simple brine tank. I leave it right next to where my generator sits. I just have to add water once in a while from evaporation. Never have to add salt, it doesn’t evaporate. I bought a 10’ length of 6 gauge cable with 3 conductors. I should have bought a cable with 4 conductors so I could load test in three phase. I use my hand held electrical measuring tools and compare those readings with the generator gauges.

 

[loosegravel]

Here’s how I put a load on my MEP-803A stand-by unit. It’s a simple brine tank. I leave it right next to where my generator sits. I just have to add water once in a while from evaporation. Never have to add salt, it doesn’t evaporate. I bought a 10’ length of 6 gauge cable with 3 conductors. I should have bought a cable with 4 conductors so I could load test in three phase. I use my hand held electrical measuring tools and compare those readings with the generator gauges.View attachment 889371View attachment 889372View attachment 889373View attachment 889374

Those are grounding rods from a generator that I repurposed. The further down they go into the brine tank, the higher the load becomes. Also, as the brine temperature increases, so does the load. So it’s necessary to keep an eye on it for a short period of time, or the load can increase too far and bog down the generator. Simple yet effective. I can bring a 30kw to it’s knees with this same 40 gallon brine tank.

 

[Guyfang]

Looks like a copy of what we made. But cant be any kids or wildlife around.

 

[loosegravel]

Looks like a copy of what we made. But cant be any kids or wildlife around.

I’m told that nitrogen is an off-gas of using this method to load test. But being that 80% of the air that we breathe is already nitrogen, and this brine tank is outside of my shop, I don’t see a risk. Also, this is considered to be low voltage. Any voltage greater than 500 is considered high voltage, at which point has the potential to arc through the air. I’ve done quite a bit of research on this, and yes I do have respect for electricity and it’s potential. I have put my volt meter on the 2x4 insulator between each conductor and found only millivolts present. I know that would change if the 2x4 was wet from rain. The generator and the brine tank are both under a lean-to cover that I built overhead.

 

[Ray70]

Definitely looks like a cool, simple load bank solution.
I think Guy's point is that you and I know enough not to touch it while in operation, but kids get curious.... and wildlife just doesn't know any better than to bump into it or stick their face in to investigate the water.... assumingly the noise of the generator running would keep the deer and moose away, but.... you never know! especially with kids ( and a few adults too ) and they won't touch the 2x4... they will go right for the ground rods.
Just be safe and don't assume that everyone knows better than to touch things, because they don't!

 

[Guyfang]

That's what I meant. If you can not see it with your own two eyes, it should not be in operation. Other then that, got no problem. Like I said, looks like an exact copy of what we built.

 

[justinn]

As KLOPPK mentioned, the 240v garage heaters work great as a semi portable load bank. I waited for a good deal on the 4500/6500 watt ones and bought a couple of them. You can find them for around 80 bucks if you look around(or cheaper if you use FB or CL). Word of caution though.... they are not really 6500W as far as I could tell, so for an 803A, you'd need 3 of them. At 6500W X2, I can load an 803 to right at 95%. To get to 133%, you will need the 3rd at 4500W. If you are exercising the generator more than actually using it, I would definitely suggest that route to prevent wet stacking.

I hard wired them all together, but really need [to] build something with wheels to move it around easier....

 

[Guyfang]

Curious if I can crank the generator and just let it run for several hours here and there just to exercise it without any load or if I need to at least plug in a fan or something into the 110 plug for somewhere to send some power to.

Lets keep this in perspective. You are not going to hurt anything if you start and run it for short time periods. Yes, its better to run them under a load, but that doesn't mean to NEVER run it, with out a load. You can, if you had to, run it with low or no load 2-3 days, and not really hurt anything. I would suggest loading it up for an hour afterwards, to as close as rated load as possible, but do not worry about short times.

 

[robson1015]