Mep-003a governor adjustment procedure

[Daniel262]

Can someone please tell me where to find the mechanical governor adjustment ? I have looked thru the TM a bunch of times and can't find it.
I hooked the unit up to my house and and load tested it and it runs great ,we were pushing over 80A but the hertz would max out over 65 and we had to adjust the throttle manually to keep the Hz at 60 ,Thanks .
Unit has 826hrs

 

[jamawieb]

You have to open the access door above the dip stick. If you look at your injector pump, you will see the throttle linkage, follow the linkage up and that is attached to the governor arm. At the end of the arm, is where you adjust the governor. It has a spring attached to it and right above the spring you will see several notches, these notches are what you use to turn it clockwise and counter clockwise to move the spring up and down. The further up the spring is, the more droop in hertz you will get. I've always found that about mid way down is the best spot. By the way, to use the notches, I usually use a long screw driver and put it on a notch and then tap the screwdriver with my palm to make it move clockwise or counter clockwise.

 

[Daniel262]

Thank you so much for the reply, do I adjust it at full load or only half load or zero load , Or does it even matter?

 

[Daniel262]

Could you please explain droop to me, does that mean at 60 Hz when a load is put on it will drop so many HZ? because mine actually went up maxed out the meter over 65 hurts when I put a heavy load on it

 

[cuad4u]

Droop in this case is how many Hz the generator loses from no load to full load. In a perfect world there would be no droop and Hz would remain at 60 all the time. However in these generators droop is a fact of life. You make the adjustment with the engine off. Then you start the engine and set no load Hz at around 61.5 with the throttle. Ideally you want Hz to be around 59-60 under full load without the governor making the engine cycle or hunt which means engine RPM goes up and down. You want to adjust for as little droop as possible without the generator governor making the engine cycle. On all the 002A and 003A generators I have refurbished I can adjust a healthy engine for about 1.5 Hz droop from no load to full load before the governor makes the engine start cycling or "hunting".

 

[Crawdaddy]

The hertz shouldn't be going up when the set is loaded up, they should be going down, if anything. However, the frequency gauges on these machines are known to go nuts and give crazy readings when the frequency goes too far out of the "expected" range. Have you verified the frequency with an external gauge, like a kill-a-watt? For example, the gauges on my machines will show pegged out as the machine is spinning up and down on startups and shutdowns.

 

[Keith_J]

On the adjustment, you want to get 2-4 hunting cycles when a major load is removed. For example, on my 002A, I load it with a 4500 watt water heater element that is in a bucket of water. The set is running at 60.5 Hz with breaker closed, when the breaker is opened, it jumps to 63 Hz, then falls to 60 three times before stabilizing at 61.5 Hz.

If I adjust for less hunting, droop is excessive. If adjusted for less droop, hunting is excessive. Load off hunting is less an issue than load on droop.

 

[jamawieb]

The hertz shouldn't be going up when the set is loaded up, they should be going down, if anything. However, the frequency gauges on these machines are known to go nuts and give crazy readings when the frequency goes too far out of the "expected" range. Have you verified the frequency with an external gauge, like a kill-a-watt? For example, the gauges on my machines will show pegged out as the machine is spinning up and down on startups and shutdowns.

I agree, verify with a kill a watt meter because the frequency meters are notorious for going out. Usually not the meter but the gauge. When load is applied your hertz should decrease. Hertz is the RPM's of the motor so as you apply load and it bogs the motor down your rpms lower, which lowers your hertz.
Like everyone else said, get the unit started and make sure your engine is not hunting rpms. Then apply load, if you lose a lot of hertz then the spring on the governor needs to be moved down the adjuster. If the spring is to far down the adjuster, then the motor will hunt RPMs.

 

[Daniel262]

Thanks everyone , your help is greatly appreciated , I put the same setup in my barn so I can exercise and run the Genny without dragging it up to the house , I will see if I can borrow my friends Hz meter .
Also has anyone ever replaced the gauge with a digital Hz gauge?

 

[jamawieb]

Thanks everyone , your help is greatly appreciated , I put the same setup in my barn so I can exercise and run the Genny without dragging it up to the house , I will see if I can borrow my friends Hz meter .
Also has anyone ever replaced the gauge with a digital Hz gauge?

Jimc (member here) actually makes digital gauges for these generators and they are GREAT! Anytime I have a unit with a bad gauge or transducer, I'll replace with one of his gauges. They look like stock and are 10x better than the original. I contacted him last week about some and he said that he is currently sold out and wouldn't have any made for a couple of weeks. He sales these gauges on E-store also. I would also like to mention, he is a A+ person to deal with, I had a problem with one of the gauges one time and he sent me a brand new one free.