Mep501a

[SublimeMudTime]

Soooo I picked up this MEP501A from Camp Ripley, MN a month or so ago for $120.

I changed fuel lines, added some diesel and oil and then primed it by discreetly blowing into the fuel tank. I did it discreetly because the neighbors would have mistaken pressurizing the fuel tank with kissing it...

A couple of pulls and she fired up!

Now what kind of fun should I have with a 28V generator?

 

[Suprman]

I have one. Tried to use it to jump start a truck a while back without luck. Maybe good for running some 28 volt lights or something. I didn't play with mine after that.

 

[Guyfang]

We used them to run our battery charging operation, but on a small time scale. One, or max, two batteries at a time. We also used them to keep our vehicle batteries up to snuff, when we were using radios, and parked. The gen set uses way less fuel than say, a M113, or any truck I ever set in, during my 20 years service. We also used it, with some success, running a 24 volt impact gun. Wasn't real good, but did the job. Like Superman, we used them to jump off trucks. What we didnt do was try and jump the truck when we had it hooked up the gen set. We hooked up a slave cable, and let it run for an hour. Disconnected it and then tried to start the truck. This was in a Motor Poole, and we did not have to go anyplace fast. The downside of this is that if you do not hook it up to the charging station, you did not have any control over how much a charge you were inputting. A killer with lead acid batteries.

 

[SublimeMudTime]

So, is the slave port for starting it also wired to the gen output when you flip the breaker on? I have hot tested the output yet. Just got her fired up and let it buck for a few minutes till the smoke cleared and rpms evened out.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

 

[Guyfang]

10. ON-OFF Load Circuit Breaker ON - Closes AC circuit to supply power to load terminals. OFF -Opens AC circuit to shut off power to load terminals.
11. NATO Slave Receptacle Supplies power to diesel engine start and air intake heatercircuits when connected to external 24 VDC power source via aNATO power cable.

I took the above statements right out of the TM.


I should clarify. We did not hook our slave cable to the "Slave Recpt". We had an old beat up slave cable, that was missing one end. We simply tinned the leads, and put them in the output terminals.

 

[SublimeMudTime]

I've read the entire TM and was thrown off by your post hence the question.
Using the single ended slave cable explains it. Thank You.
Another slave port is now on order to turn this into a truck maintenance charger. My friend has a 5-ton dump, HEMTT and M998 that could use a little top off in the winter.

 

[Guyfang]

You live where it's cold, so that's a good idea. We mounted a DC gen set on a cart, and drug it around to help jump off our 50-60 vehicles, on our missile site. The way we did it was to also mount batteries in the cart. The batteries helped with the jump, the gen set kept the batteries charged. The site was on top of a large hill. Can't call it a mountain. Elevation was 500-550 meters above sea level. When it rained in the valleys, it snowed up there. Winters could get a little cold up there, and we were at a high point in the Cold War. Being able to march order our gear and leave fast was a priority.

 

[rustystud]

I have two MEP-501A's and one MEP-531A . I love these little units ! The A/C unit is perfect for our little travel trailer. If you don't like the 28 volt MEP-501A unit then find a beat-up MEP-531A and install the generator on it. These little Yanmar engines seem to go forever !

 

[SublimeMudTime]

And I just got off the phone with my buddy wondering if I had the slave cable. I did. He lives an hour away and high centered the HEMTT on some dirtbike trail by his place... The 5 ton dump's batteries were low I guess and he wanted to use the HMMWV to jump it to do some pulling. He improvised I guess.

Well next weekend we will be prepared for a lot of fun by using the 501a to top off all truck batteries before we all start having fun with offroading at his place.