Generator solutions

Power out? How about an inverter connected to your car?
Post Reply
bill25
Posts: 2583
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:20 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by bill25 »

Sweet. How much? Did you do the tractor too?
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

I dunno, it was at TSC. Looks like $10 according to website.

I got two of these I think: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... _vc=-10005
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

Test ran with a load. Changed oil. Good to go.

It started in two pulls. My fuel shutoff is working so no flooded intake after sitting. The extra pull may have been required because I ran it dry last time (according to my post anyway).

Tweaked governor again to 60Hz at about 50% load. Ran great, no issues at all.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

Very windy. Power went out around 1:50am or so. Still out. The winds were apparently bad enough that there are quite a few school closings or delays.

I worked for 20 minutes to reattach a damping spring that rides on the throttle linkage that my father in law pointed out when he was last here (he said the spring commonly falls off one end and mine was also unhooked). I guess it is there to reduce hunting at light loads (which this does) so I had to take a few things off to reattach. Got that going and fired it up.

Had some issues with the mixture - it wouldn't run without choke. I had to remove a screw that holds the air filter housing on that also bolts the carb to the intake manifold as part of the spring thing, to get access. I hope I didn't disturb my new paper gasket. There is another bolt anyway. But yeah the mixture seems weird. It is acting either like there is a vacuum leak or perhaps a piece of debris is partially clogging the main jet. Or it will solve itself after running for a while. It's running fine but again the way the mixture dialed in didn't seem quite right. Usually there is about a turn and a half on the adjustment screw where it runs OK and then begins a rich or lean stumble. That line was not clearly present on the rich side which would again point to either a partially clogged main jet or some kind of vacuum leak. Also, it didn't seem to want to idle which is also a sign that something isn't right. When it's dialed in it'll let me hold the throttle closed and it'll idle. Right now it's making power and seems stable so not to worried at the moment but something to look at next time I tinker with it I guess.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

Geez, one of the 20A breakers on the generator tripped! I have NEVER seen that. Obviously overloaded one phase, I think as Jamie was trying to use the Keurig. The kitchen remodel changed around some of the stuff in my breaker panel so I need to redo my phase balance analysis. Just goes to show it does need to be done, especially with a smaller generator. I will see if I can make any sense of it visually without having to test any circuits.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

So just to track...ran from like 6:30 to 9:30 or so. It actually ran out of gas (the tank wasn't empty but that has to do with my non-standard fuel filter setup I think). Filled it up, ran to like a little after noon. And started again at 12:20pm. Estimated restoration is tomorrow 11am but I think we'll be restored long before that.

Oil use is way up. It was halfway down the cross hatch just from a 3 hour run time. That's pretty bad. I added 3oz MMO to the oil and 3oz to the gas. It seemed to like that before so maybe it wants more. The good news is the mixture issue seems to be OK now. Not sure if it is 100% but it's back in the range where I'm comfortable with how it is running.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

2:30pm, fuel, oil. It really liked the MMO. Mixture seems right where it should be and it idles again.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

5:15pm. Using even more oil? It likes it in the gas anyway. Maybe it is time for SAE-30 in this thing...that's spec anyway above freezing.

Oh yeah I ran the dishwasher. Worked fine.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

7:40pm...fuel, oil.

Definitely want to switch to SAE-30 tomorrow. Unless I can't find an SAE-30 heavy duty oil but we'll see.

It almost seems like the Delo 400 15W-40 I like changed its formulation ..noticed more consumption in my Simplicity, too....hmmm.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Generator solutions

Post by kevm14 »

Shut down a little before 10. Turns out power came back around 9:15pm. My PowerBack didn't work again. Not sure what is going on. The only reason I knew is because I got an e-mail. Though, I would have probably switched the main on before going to bed anyway that way if power was restored during the night, everything would just go back to normal.

In other news, my generator does not like microwaves. I seem to recall this with our old microwave. It happens with the new one, too. What happens is, it runs for 30 seconds or maybe up to a few minutes. Then, power to everything shuts off (the generator still runs and in fact you can hear it drop the load). Then after about 7 seconds, power comes back. I have absolutely no idea A) why this is happening or B) how it is even possible. I do not believe it has any kind of time-based resettable overload protection. As far as I know it only has the two manually resettable circuit breakers. Is something overheating and then cooling down perhaps? Or maybe it has another device internally? We tried it a few times just to make sure it wasn't a fluke and it did it. So we stopped using the microwave and it was fine.

Other than a microwave being highly inductive as a load I don't know what to say, and not sure why that would be a huge problem either. Not having a microwave does kind of suck if the basic idea is to have most conveniences still work during an outage. I can give up the oven but the microwave seems handy. At least the toaster works (and being a resistive load of course it does).
Post Reply