Pow'r Gard - Refinished

[ETN550]

Here is one of the little 3kw Pow'r Gards I finished fixing up and reconditioning. I have a few more to do. The next one is going to be desert tan in a black frame. Some interesting things I discovered along the way.

- They make 120 and 240. They carry full load on 120. They do this by having one of the two stator coils oversized to carry full load at 120 all by itself.

- They have a crude capacitor voltage regulator. Voltage depends on speed. So the speed must be set correctly to arrive at the proper voltage.

- The engine has a charging coil that runs the machine and charges the battery. The generator also has an unregulated 12vdc coil that is not used but has output lugs under the control panel. Having a 12vdc system as opposed to 24vdc is a plus for me.

- They have a great inlet air heater "toaster" style grid.

- They have an automatic decompression release so no need for a lever on top.

- They are very smooth compared to everything else. almost no vibration.

- The military manual states they use 0.3 gph at 75% load and will run 9+ hours on 2.78 gallons.

- They do not have a low fuel shutdown so they must be bled if they are run out of furel. A 17, 14, and 10mm wrenchs are required. I have already resigned myself to taking these size wrenches everywhere the gen will go.

- 3,200 watts is about all they will pull. the engine is a tiny 5.5hp 270cc unit.

 

[derf]

And at 178lbs they are probably about the lightest Diesel gen set you can find. I think they are very similar to the Baldor DG3E except the new Baldors have Hatz power. I have the TM for the 30D36R and manuals for the Robin (Fuji) DY27 motor. Those are some nice looking gensets you have there.

 

[quickfarms]

They are neat

 

[wsucougarx]

I too have one of these nice little gennies. My next generator will be a MEP-016b. Anyways, I am curious about what that rubber hose with the valve on the end does (2nd pic). It's the one that sits on top of the fuel tank.

 

[RIrvin]

Believe that hose is for fuel return from injector.
Very nice unit. The MEP-531A is just a bit lighter at 152lbs(wet) but only 2KW.

 

[ETN550]

I like that 531! Nice condition too. Don't see many of them. There is one on GL now but they don't know what it is but i can tell from the pic.

The hoses on top of the tank come from the injector leak off line and the top of the dirty side of the fuel filter which allows air up and out when an empty filter is filled. The valve has two functions.

First, closing it and the fuel petcock and the tank fill cap vent will prevent any fuel from flowing if the unit is tipped over while in transport.

Second, these units have a provision (which I removed on mine) to take a gravity feed from an alternate fuel tank. However, to use this feature the tank also needs a return vent line going back to it to allow the injector leak off to return. Since there is no aux fuel transfer pump and the aux tank must be above the unit mounted tank then the valve on top of the tank must be closed or the aux tank, when connected, will fill the unit tank and eventually overflow it through the tank cap vent. So, basically when connecting an alternate fuel tank the main petcock is closed and this top vent valve is closed isolating the unit tank and preventing an overflow situation.

For me it makes no sense on this small unit to have all this plumbing so I removed it just leaving the injector leak off and filter vent as shown. Reasons as follows:

1) no aux fuel pump means the aux tank must be elevated.

2) a supply line and a vent line are needed to the aux tank.

3) this engine holds a quart of oil and it is recommended that the oil be checked each time the unit tank is filled. The unit tank holds 2.78 gal. which will last 9 hrs at 75% load (according to the manual). I think it is not wise to hook this gen up to a big fuel source and walk away leaving it run for many hours or days. It is not an MEP. (although it does have a low oil pressure shutdown)

4) the advantage of this little gen is the portability and simplicity of it in the first place.

Just my 2 cents

 

[coyote62ny]

very nice gen sets guys these would be perfict for camping are they quiet. i have two mep-015 gen sets they work great i have added an extra muffler to one and that made it a lot quieter. the muffler i used was off of a honda engine a farmer friend blew up

 

[phil2968]

Believe that hose is for fuel return from injector.
Very nice unit. The MEP-531A is just a bit lighter at 152lbs(wet) but only 2KW.

I picked up one of these for $150! New rubber fuel lines and she fired right up. I think it's a sweet little unit. It also has a slave port for electric starting.

 

[derf]

Believe that hose is for fuel return from injector.
Very nice unit. The MEP-531A is just a bit lighter at 152lbs(wet) but only 2KW.

I sit corrected. I have been on the lookout for the newer MEPs but haven't seen any that were close enough to fetch and reasonable in price, yet.

 

[stampy]

Anybody have a spare starter for one of these?

 

[derf]

Looks like part number for a starter is 255-70502-00.
A quick search and they seem to be $500+ new.