I have an MEP-805B 60HZ unit that is working great with low hours... IN 3 PHASE!!

[scootertrs]

I have an MEP-805B 60HZ unit that is working great with low hours... IN 3 PHASE!!! my are bleeding from research trying to figure out if it would be reasonable to convert to single phase... I understand that the 005A was quite doable because it had a 12 wire gen head... I also remember someone stating that if I went to a generator shop they could bring out those pesky missing 2 leads... but I cannot find that info and honestly I am about to acquire a 12 wire gen end and install and give up on the mil genset altogether.

Any suggestions? Anybody living in Florida that would be willing to tackle such a project (for a fee of course) I am open to suggestions (any and all)

Of course, I am grateful for all help, and if it keeps me from beating a dead horse... it is also valuable.

Thank you for your help.

 

[DieselAddict]

I don't recommend doing this to a known good working set until the research has been done to determine the practicality of such a modification. So far as I know there is no information available to do this.

I've been wanting to find a parts unit 804 (or above) to check out the stator and see how hard it would be to convert it to a 12 wire head. But as of yet the opportunity has not presented itself.

Do you need full rated output of the generator? If you can stay within 2/3's capacity and assuming this is for emergency service you should just run it on 2 phases.

 

[Suprman]

You can use each of the 3 120v legs to neutral as individual circuits but you won’t get 120/240 like house power. You can get 208 leg to leg. You need to have somewhat of a balanced load though. In my opinion it is not feasable to convert the gen to single phase. Sell it and buy a single phase gen if that’s what you need.

 

[scootertrs]

that may be the endpoint... but hope springs eternal... i'll give it a week

thanks

 

[Suprman]

Lots of threads about requests for single phase conversion on the tq gen series with 10 wire head. Been discussed for years. No easy way to do it. You can tap the legs like I described above that’s about it. Great generator if you need 3 phase power though.

 

[scootertrs]

You are right in it being a great genset... powers my 3 phase welder with no effort... I may keep it for my shop

thanks again

 

[Hard Head]

You would be better off buying a commercial single phase if you mainly need single phase over 10kw. I have put in quite a few 35kw single phase units and they work just fine and produce around the same single phase output of an 806 and they cost a lot less. You can modify the old 005 units but not the 805 10 wire. I have 805's too but I don't use them very much. My miller 500 single/three phase welder's generator is rated 12/20 kw Same thing goes with the 805. 20kw between L1 / L3 single phase. Don't mess with the generator head!

 

[scootertrs]

it is looking more and more as a 3 phase power unit is it's future... what a shame

 

[fcbrants]

As others have mentioned, you can get 208 across two legs & most equipment will run on 208. Here is the spec plate from my home A/C compressor:



I spoke with an engineer with L3 (the folks who built this beastie) & he suggested I connect single phase loads to legs 1 & 3, as the voltage regulation across those two legs is more accurate.

What you have is a top-flight genset built and tested to survive anything the military can throw at it. I'm paraphrasing, but the Technical Manual (which you should download from the TM section of this forum: https://www.steelsoldiers.com/forumdisplay.php?121-Generator-and-Electrical-TM-s) states that, in the event of a nuclear strike, you basically need to reboot & restart the genset, then operate as normal.

The fact that it's powered by a very common and easily serviced JD 4045 engine (with no emissions controls) is a bonus.

I believe that the more time you spend getting to know this machine, the more you will appreciate it's capabilities.

Cheers,

Franko

it is looking more and more as a 3 phase power unit is it's future... what a shame