MEP018A Genset Regulator---fried

[miltrux]

Took the beast out to test it and get it ready for the impending doom of hurricane season. This has always worked fine in the past w/o issues. Had a bit of trouble firing it up but got it up and running, and, as everyone sez, I have it set to run right up to speed--no idle. Anyway, had it run for about 10 minutes, then proceeded to switch the house over from line power to genset. Had most everything turned off in the house, so I went around and turned on a few lights, in addition to the garage lights. Turned on the house A/C and all was working well. For about 3 minutes. Then power went out, tho engine is still running. Flashed the field-flash switch: intermittent power but shut right off. My local expert (he's on this site and you all know him) gave me a, I think, heat sensor, to replace in the regulator. Got the regulator out but no such item on the reg. Turned the regulator upside down and the bottom is a circuit board full of electronics, and 3 or 4 of the, I don't know, transistors/resistors/whatevers are fried. One is actualyl blown apart.
So, 2 questions:
1. Anyone have or can direct me to where I can get another regulator?
2. Anyone have any idea what would have blown this thing up? Hate to replace it only to have whatever caused this to blow up another one.
Thanx in advance.

 

[glcaines]

Try Delk's Army Navy Surplus. They have a lot of parts for military gensets and usually they are fairly priced. I've also found them to be very fast. Good luck!

Delk's Army Navy Surplus
4705 US Hwy 64 W
Asheboro, North Carolina 27205
+1 336-629-0991

 

[callbt]

got any pictures of this fired board?

 

[miltrux]

Okay, never posted pix here before, hope they show up. They really don't show the damage. Thanx to a fellow member, I replaced the dinosaur with a universal electronic regulator, did a few other minor (but PITA) repairs and I'm back in the generating biz.

 

[Isaac-1]

Is that a Newage SX-460 or knock off copy? Any issues with it yet?

Ike

 

[miltrux]

It's from MTS corp in Miami, got it there at the direction of one of the members here. Only $100. I popped the fuse on its board (don't know how but there seems to be a lot of gremlins in this unit) and after replacing that, seems to work fine.

 

[callbt]

Thanks for the pics.. So if my regulator is fried, this gizmo gets me running again for $100.. sounds like a deal.

 

[Isaac-1]

Price range on the SX460 Chinese knock offs start around $60 or so on ebay and go up to about $300+ for a real made in the UK Stamford Newage SX460. Some of the copies are built better than others, some are sold as cheaper than brand name direct replacement regulators by reputable companies like flight systems, ASAP, etc.

Ike

 

[miltrux]

Yeah, this seems to do the trick. Amazing to me that this little box (it's a bit larger than a deck of cards) can do the job of that loaf-of-bread-sized beast that it replaces. And for substantially less than it's stock replacement. And is much more readily available than an original part. BTW, thanx to panzerwillie who gave me all the details and advice, could not have done this without his help.