Load test of two MEP-002As, diff results...

[heritageequipment]

Hello,

I stumbled upon this forum a while back and finally had to sign up, there is so much great information here! We have been buying, selling and using surplus equipment for many years. We have a few MEP-002As laying around and I finally wanted to set one up at my house for back-up power. So I cleaned up and serviced two of them, brought one home and are getting ready to sell the second. Below are links to videos of load testing the gensets.



For the load test I just used what I had laying around. I used a 6kW 240V immersion heater and a 8KVA variable transformer to varying the load to the generator. I used ohms law to determine the resistance of the heater was 9.6 ohms. The Powerstat uses the generators 240V single phase output as its 240V input. The output of the powerstat is 0-280V. As seen in the video I made a chart of power consumption at a given voltage. At 240V the heater is using 6000Watts, at 250V it is using 6500watts, and so on.


http://youtu.be/1ybDw8XPSVY - Gen A (500 hr unit) - 8 kw test



http://youtu.be/0HKuWg8dzsE - Gen B (1500 hr unit) 6 kw bog down test


Basically the results are that generator A (the 500 hr) unit coult take a full load at 8,342 watts without skipping a beat, I was very impressed on how good it sounded. Generator B (the 1500 hr unit) works fine at 6000 watts, but as I increased the load from here it would start to bog down, and anthing over 6500 watts was too much and it would bog to a stall if I didnt prevent it. So what is wrong with Generator B? I do notice when being run hard it smells like it is burning oil. In all honesty if the problem cant be adjusted or fixed within 2 hours I think it would be easier to swap in one of these rebuilt crate engines we also have.


PS. I am aware that the test wattage numbers may not be fully accurate without an amp meter due to some theoretical assumtions.

Any ideas.


Thanks,

Kendrick

 

[rosco]

How long did you run it at the 6 kw load? I would run it for at least 3 or 4 hours like that (under load), before I made any assumptions about its potential. Give it a while to burn the cobs out - sounds like it was never worked much under load. I suspect that others will agree on this. Maybe put some fuel conditioner in it. I'll bet she will clean up!

 

[Wildchild467]

This is interesting. I too would like to see how many amps you were able to run through it continuously. I know they are under rated, but proof testing it would be a good. I guess they were rated at 7.5 Kw in their civilian version. Although I don’t know if it was the same generator head.

 

[dependable]

If the motor is tired or out of time, it will bog under heavy load. Comparing the compression on the two units would tell you something.

 

[heritageequipment]

How long did you run it at the 6 kw load? I would run it for at least 3 or 4 hours like that (under load), before I made any assumptions about its potential. Give it a while to burn the cobs out - sounds like it was never worked much under load. I suspect that others will agree on this. Maybe put some fuel conditioner in it. I'll bet she will clean up!

I have ony run it for 20-30 min at 75% load a few times, and only a few minutes with the 6000W heater. I will try a good 3 hour test run this weekend so I dont bother the neighbors too much after work. That would be great if it was that simple, I just have a suspicion there is something wrong. Of the four 002s we have this one was used by the military the most recently, it even had charged batteries with it! I have less run time on Unit "B" from the videos that seems to run better.

If the long test run doesnt fix it, I guess the first step is a compression test, then check timing? Injection systems are intimidating to me, motor swaps are easy

 

[heritageequipment]

If the motor is tired or out of time, it will bog under heavy load. Comparing the compression on the two units would tell you something.

Is there a piston or lobe that can wear down which would require them to be "re-timed" occasionally, or is being out of time generally technician error?

 

[rosco]

No, not even close, with those hours. Lke above, if she doesn't clean up, set timing and adjust valves. Did you download the manuals? Find Spedman's post.... they are all under his name, and couldn't be easier to access. On your load test, if your heat element gets too hot, run hose in larger tank/tub, to keep it cool.

 

[Munchies]

I would start with a valve adjustment.
The TM troubleshooting has a "Generator wont make load" section....


Gummy injection pump, valve adjustment, governor linkage issues etc

 

[Isaac-1]

What Munchies said, I think the TM says they should be checked every 500 or 1000 hours, I suspect it often does not happen in the real world.

Ike