Hurricane Beryl with Mep 802 and Light tower back up.

[HamAndEggs]

Under 3000, seems very good condition but no paperwork available that I know of

Light towers around here usually have 15K+ hours

 

[Light in the Dark]

I would look the cabinet over to see if there is any visible water retreat line, or rusted fasteners (or anything to indicate it might have been in a flood area). And look over any visible wire contacts for any powder corrosion showing the presence of water.

I would only be suspect in the cost vs hours, based on the fact that these do normally have much higher hours on them before they are sold. Pull the dipstick, see if you have any water in the crankcase (and of course be slightly suspect if it has a fresh oil change). Should be able to demonstrate it running the mast at full power and listen for any running abnormalities.

Not sure if that particular Kubota engine has negative crankcase pressure, or positive crankcase pressure, so I cant be of much help there. Whatever amount of money you spend, just tell yourself once it leaves your hands its never coming back... if thats OK with you, any gamble is potentially worth it.

 

[2Pbfeet]

@HamAndEggs FWIW: there are troubleshooting steps from Marathon below, along with the power generation circuits (brushless) at the end of this Marathon manual.

https://www.marathongenerators.com/generators/docs/manuals/SP0021.pdf

I think that the general issue with capacitor regulated generators is that the output is not super stable, but it depends on what you want the power for, e.g. running lights or heaters that are pretty indifferent to power quality vs say electronics.

All the best,

2Pbfeet

 

[uniquify]

Kubota engine or Kohler?
Around me Kohler parts are harder to come by. Lots of farm equipment uses Kubota though.

 

[Light in the Dark]

6% +/- is the regulated range, not the world's tightest spec. Fine for flood lights, not great for sensitive electronics.

 

[HamAndEggs]

Thanks for that PDF, I'm saving that for sure

Engine is the same as OP's, Kubota D1005

 

[HamAndEggs]

I guess I'll share some generator Beryl pics, just to pay it forward. I know we all love seeing hurricane power outage pics (Or, am I just weird?)









6 days and 6 hours on generator power until utility came back. Generator has a Mitsubishi 4G64 2.4L I4 engine, ran great

Started with 24 hours on the oil and stopped when I hit 162 hours and did an oil change, that was a Saturday morning. I turned off the generator and switched to my cheap Champion Inverter unit via interlock while I changed it. Book calls for 125 hour oil change so I was a bit over, however later on an oil report showed the oil still had plenty of life left in it

Oil started on full and was just over 3/4 on the dipstick at time of changing, but I suspect a fair amount may have been in the unit and not dripped down into the pan, as I was rushing to get it done. I decided to stop and change as the CenterPoint Energy outage map updated to say we may have another 2 weeks of no utility

Fired it back up, and 24 hours later the power came back on...

This unit holds about 5 and a half quarts. My neighbors air cooled 24kw Generac holds just 2 quarts! After the same run time, his oil level was not measurable on the dip stick after starting full

 

[2Pbfeet]

I guess I'll share some generator Beryl pics, just to pay it forward. I know we all love seeing hurricane power outage pics (Or, am I just weird?)

View attachment 948295

View attachment 948296

View attachment 948297

View attachment 948298

6 days and 6 hours on generator power until utility came back. Generator has a Mitsubishi 4G64 2.4L I4 engine, ran great

Started with 24 hours on the oil and stopped when I hit 162 hours and did an oil change, that was a Saturday morning. I turned off the generator and switched to my cheap Champion Inverter unit via interlock while I changed it. Book calls for 125 hour oil change so I was a bit over, however later on an oil report showed the oil still had plenty of life left in it

Oil started on full and was just over 3/4 on the dipstick at time of changing, but I suspect a fair amount may have been in the unit and not dripped down into the pan, as I was rushing to get it done. I decided to stop and change as the CenterPoint Energy outage map updated to say we may have another 2 weeks of no utility

Fired it back up, and 24 hours later the power came back on...

This unit holds about 5 and a half quarts. My neighbors air cooled 24kw Generac holds just 2 quarts! After the same run time, his oil level was not measurable on the dip stick after starting full

I think that lack of oil might behind Generac's call for once daily checks on oil levels on their air cooled units.

All the best,

2Pbfeet

 

[HamAndEggs]

I think that lack of oil might behind Generac's call for once daily checks on oil levels on their air cooled units.

All the best,

2Pbfeet

Yeah, I would check the oil the very least every few days at minimum if I had an aircooled (Spoiler, I wouldn't own an air cooled)

 

[Guyfang]

@HamAndEggs FWIW: there are troubleshooting steps from Marathon below, along with the power generation circuits (brushless) at the end of this Marathon manual.

https://www.marathongenerators.com/generators/docs/manuals/SP0021.pdf

I think that the general issue with capacitor regulated generators is that the output is not super stable, but it depends on what you want the power for, e.g. running lights or heaters that are pretty indifferent to power quality vs say electronics.

All the best,

2Pbfeet


Its great you posted this document. Its helpful to the max. For this thread. But for all intents and purposes, its wasted, for the other hundreds of people who might need it. Its kinda buried. Please, when ever you post something in a thread, also post it in the TM forum. That way, its easy to find, and available to everyone.

 

[2Pbfeet]

@HamAndEggs FWIW: there are troubleshooting steps from Marathon below, along with the power generation circuits (brushless) at the end of this Marathon manual.

https://www.marathongenerators.com/generators/docs/manuals/SP0021.pdf

I think that the general issue with capacitor regulated generators is that the output is not super stable, but it depends on what you want the power for, e.g. running lights or heaters that are pretty indifferent to power quality vs say electronics.

All the best,

2Pbfeet


Its great you posted this document. Its helpful to the max. For this thread. But for all intents and purposes, its wasted, for the other hundreds of people who might need it. Its kinda buried. Please, when ever you post something in a thread, also post it in the TM forum. That way, its easy to find, and available to everyone.

I'd be happy to, but I didn't think that I had the privilege to do so. Where would be the best location as I don't know of a Marathon light tower military version. (My ignorance, I am sure.)

All the best,

2Pbfeet

 

[Guyfang]

Just start a thread in "TM UPLoad" Forum. A moderator will look at it to make sure its not a document that is not allowed to be posted and then he will put the thread where it belongs.

Not your ignorance, our not telling folks often enough to please do it. There are about a billion threads in the forum and I look through some of them to "Mine" for such gems. And this is one of the gems that is real good info. Even if its not military equipment, its info that can be used on military equipment. Thanks!

 

[Bluevic443]

I have been offline all weekend and now just skimming over the replies on my original post. Running the house the short time till I was able to get to the MEP802, the LED/compact florescence would flicker and dim when the AC kicked on. We had all the Tv's and computers unplugged. All my research online confirmed that you cannot wire in an AVR as the windings in the head are just not there. The Marathon heads start adding in the AVR at the 8kw heads.
The wild hair that I do have is the see if the Kubota D1001 could be used to reengine the MEP802 in place of the Lester Petter. That Kubota 3 cylinder runs so smooth!!!

 

[2Pbfeet]

Just start a thread in "TM UPLoad" Forum. A moderator will look at it to make sure its not a document that is not allowed to be posted and then he will put the thread where it belongs.

Not your ignorance, our not telling folks often enough to please do it. There are about a billion threads in the forum and I look through some of them to "Mine" for such gems. And this is one of the gems that is real good info. Even if its not military equipment, its info that can be used on military equipment. Thanks!

Thanks, and posted in TM Uploads.

All the best,

2Pbfeet

 

[HamAndEggs]

I have been offline all weekend and now just skimming over the replies on my original post. Running the house the short time till I was able to get to the MEP802, the LED/compact florescence would flicker and dim when the AC kicked on. We had all the Tv's and computers unplugged. All my research online confirmed that you cannot wire in an AVR as the windings in the head are just not there. The Marathon heads start adding in the AVR at the 8kw heads.
The wild hair that I do have is the see if the Kubota D1001 could be used to reengine the MEP802 in place of the Lester Petter. That Kubota 3 cylinder runs so smooth!!!

So LED lights would work fine when there was no change in load? Thats good to know!

 

[HamAndEggs]

I have been offline all weekend and now just skimming over the replies on my original post. Running the house the short time till I was able to get to the MEP802, the LED/compact florescence would flicker and dim when the AC kicked on. We had all the Tv's and computers unplugged. All my research online confirmed that you cannot wire in an AVR as the windings in the head are just not there. The Marathon heads start adding in the AVR at the 8kw heads.
The wild hair that I do have is the see if the Kubota D1001 could be used to reengine the MEP802 in place of the Lester Petter. That Kubota 3 cylinder runs so smooth!!!

If you could get the light tower for $1500, would you buy it again?

 

[Bluevic443]

If you could get the light tower for $1500, would you buy it again?

The one that I Won had 5200 hours and had a winning bid of $1100.00. Would I buy one again?
I really bought it for the D1001 Kubota engine for the odd chance that I would find the time for the reengine experiment of one of my other MEP802.
If I had the space and the time to keep up the maintenance, I would do it again. Cheap second tier backup and it has flood lights.
Would be a perfect deer camp setup.

 

[HamAndEggs]

$1100 is a great price!

This unit states 120f Ambient max, and some other units I was looking at like a Terex RL4000 show 104f max ambient, which is really odd. It often gets to above 104f...