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MEP-831a Troubleshooting

Dewie38

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Milford Ct
If and when you call TRC don't ask for Marge or Ray they both have retired.
The GFCI on the 3 kW is a 10 amp.
On one of the 3 kW's I rebuilt I just put a regular GFCI outlet from Home Depot on it.
How is the main contactor issue you were having (not latching)?
 

R Racing

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Hey Dewie. I'll give that a try if I don't get anywhere with them. The relay seems to be working now. I'm just waiting for the pot to show up so my voltage will adjust correctly. It jumps almost 60 vac because it's damaged. The next unit I have to work on has a extremely stiff govonor on the shaft coming out of the engine?
 

R Racing

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St. Leonard, MD
Well I dug into the next unit today. It needs the contacts for the e stop. it is missing a head nut and may need a head gasket. It wants to start but doesn't .
I believe from the missing nut its loosing compression. Its also leaking some fuel from the sender with the yellow, red, and blue wire. all but 1 screw is missing from its flange. I was able to free up the governor and get the front panel straightened enough to close. I found the gasket sets on e bay. but not any nuts to hold the head on.
 

R Racing

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That's the page I need #4 may order a few to be safe. I'll have to look around and see who sell yanmar parts. I tried yanmar parts online but it didn't recognize the part number?
 

DieselAddict

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What? Do I need come up and install them too! :D

I did a quick search but didn't find them. I was going to at least get the specs so you could pick up something locally.
 

DieselAddict

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Looks like the nut is a M8. You should be able to find those at your local hardware store. Get both a fine (1mm) and coarse (1.2mm) pitch. I've not seen anywhere that info has been listed. If I was going to bet I would bet on it being a 1mm pitch.

Get a higher than standard grade.
 

R Racing

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St. Leonard, MD
I have M8 x 1.25 but it looks to be coarser. I'll hit the hardware store on the way home from work later. But it looks like maybe a M8x1.5 it also had a 14 mm like a heavy nut instead of a 13 mm hex.
 

DieselAddict

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That is very interesting. I would have thought that a head bolt would have been a finer thread pitch than that.
 

R Racing

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From the TM.

Interrupter, Ground Fault (PN: 19541, VPN:29410)

Technology Research Corporation (TRC)
5250 140th Avenue North
Clearwater, FL 33760
Attention: Marge Matson or Ray Wood
Phone: 727-535-0572, ext. 327
Fax: 727-535-4828
OK made the call today. Marge and Ray are no longer with the company. They couldn't find the part number that you gave . And asked if I could e mail them pictures of it.
 

Dewie38

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I told you they retired.
98-19541 is the government drawing number and 29410 is the vendor (TRC) part number.
I don't know why they don't recognize the numbers.
 

R Racing

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Location
St. Leonard, MD
that could be my fault . I gave them the PN 19541 . I tried to give her the other # but she said she didn't need it? On the head nut I took some measurements and found out the manual is incorrect. Its a 9MM X 1.25 . I was able to buy some at DMP fasteners online. I ( installed the new pot on the first gen today and now have 240VAC. I did notice when I went to turn it off it dropped in RPM but didn't shut off like it normally does. So I reached in and pulled the linkage to kill it. getting closer lol
 

R Racing

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Location
St. Leonard, MD
Ok I got a reply that the overload is available for $98.00 and could ship in 5 to 7 days. hopefully the 9mm nuts will show up by the weekend for unit 2.
 

DieselAddict

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I'm headed down to pick up a parts unit on Thursday. Crossing my fingers that the parts I need are good on this one.
 

Cord

Member
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Location
Wisconsin
Ok, finally got back out there and did some more testing. This time we used two heaters, but of which were rated for 1,500 watts. Not a true load bank, but the best I have. We also took great care to follow the instructions in each step. The only exception that I found was adjusting the Gain. The instructions said to turn the Gain clockwise so the target wouldn't hit the magnet when the load is shed. I believe this was a typo and the adjustment was counterclockwise. Turning the Gain clockwise only resulted in the engine being unstable. I had to turn it quite a ways back to get the target to not hit.

Step #13, wide open against the governor was reading 310Hz which means the governed speed is a bit low. I don't see this as being a major problem. Other speed readings were set dead nuts on and were cross checked after each adjustment.

F-G no load: 26 (24 spec) load: 26 (24 spec)
J-H no load: 8.0 (5.3 spec) load: 13.5 (11 spec)
D-E no load: 0 (0 spec) load:: 5 (0 spec)
A-B no load: 175 (178 +/- 2 spec) load: 188 (193 +/- 2 spec)
B-C no load: 175 (178 +/- 2 spec) load: 186 (193 +/- 2 spec)
C-A no load: 175 (178 +/- 2 spec) load: 187 (193 +/- 2 spec)

After adjustment, the unit still does not shut down, although the idle speed is noticeably lower. Although I previously had a 5/16" gap, this time I had to adjust the rod to achieve a 5/16" gap. I forgot to go back after making the other adjustments and recheck the gap.

Try as I might, I could not get a amp reading off the load gauge. Nothing in either AC or DC. I tried disconnecting both wires are reading between them and still got nothing. Set to DC voltage I was able to read 5.4v with full load and 2.4v with no load. At this time the gauge was reading 500 watts regardless of there being a load or not. Earlier I know that I saw it reading 2500 watts with a (supposedly) 3,000 watt load.
 
Last edited:

DieselAddict

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This won't cut and paste nicely from the manual. Have you checked out the meter itself?

4-26
Table 4-4. Unit-Level Troubleshooting (Continued)
MALFUNCTION
TEST OR INSPECTION
CORRECTIVE ACTION
8. NO READING ON
KILOWATT (LOAD)
METER (M2) WHEN
LOAD IS APPLIED
Disconnect P17 from A8 and perform the
following tests:
a. Set multimeter to read resistance.
Multimeter should read 100 ohms at LOAD
meter terminals on back of meter.
b. If 100 ohms is present at LOAD meter, check
wiring between LOAD meter and P17.
If reading is less than
100 ohms, remove and
replace LOAD meter
(para. 4-26.4).
Remove and replace
damaged wiring, as
 
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