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MEP-803 Overload and Burden Resisitors

jamawieb

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I'm helping another member with a unit that has 26 hours after CECOM rebuild, that can not hold 8kw load before an overload fault. It will hold 8kw for approximately 15 minutes, then 10-12kw for 5 minutes before the overload trip. Cleaned the S8 and S6 extensively, swapped K8, checked burden resistors and traced wires with the same results. One item I have noticed is that the burden resistors get extremely hot (burn your fingers) within 3 minutes at 10kw, before the overload trips.
 

kloppk

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Does the current transformer have the correct number of loops thru each coil?
What is the AC voltage across each of the burden resistors at 10 KW?

From my tests I believe the voltage across them should be ~ 5.6 V at 100% load.
 

jamawieb

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Yes correct number of loops. I will test voltage across the burden resistors today and respond back. Thanks.
 

jamawieb

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Found the problem. Apparently when they rebuilt the unit one small wire was put on the wrong location on S8 (reconnection switch). I was in the process of taking a S8 off a donor unit to switch and notice the wire hook up looked a little different so I compared it to the one I'm working on. Sure enough one wire was one location off. Load tested at 12kw for over an hour and then did 16kw for over 5 minutes without an overload trip.
 

Guyfang

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Good work!

Yes, trust is good. Confirmation is often better. You can't check every wire on every set, but when you have an electrical problem, often checking the simple things first, is a good idea. It pays to always have the wire diagram next to the job. And check it JUST one more time before closing the door.
 

jamawieb

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The bad thing was that I checked the wiring first because that was my first thought of the problem. S8 can be confusing when reading it number chart on it and the problem came on wire terminal 14 and 16. When I was checking the wires the first time I just glanced at the location and the wire number and thought okay, its good because everything else had matched. 14 is on top and 16 is on bottom. So when I was about to take the donor S8 out of another unit I noticed it looked different. I had looked at the one I was working on for so long I had a mental picture of it and knew something was off. So I switched the wire that was going from 14 to 16 and it worked.
 
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Guyfang

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When you tell someone you have a lot of experance, what you are really saying is, I have destroyed a lot of shi@ in my life. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, the smell of burning wire harnes is still fresh in my nostrils, from the last time I burnt up something! Been a while, but still humbles me! At least jamaweib found it before the city burned down.

I once worked for for a guy who if he could not find an electrical problem, would hardware the DC circuit breaker. Then fire it up! Where ever it burned up, he would proudly point to, and say, " well, that's were its fuc@ed up at."

Vindicated? No living with me? A harmless old man such as myself? Now I am going to cry myself to sleep!
 

TNriverjet

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Guys, jamawieb was kind enough to assist me in chasing down this weird overload condition. I ran the genset today hooked to an electric range. All burners and oven on draws 13KW. I ran it for 3 hours with all on and one burner on medium to shift the load up and down a bit. Here’s a short video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlnXMuJqtI

On a side note, I also changed the oil on this low hour unit and am now running John Deere break-in oil per Jamawieb’s recommendation. Also installed a small 90 deg elbow on the oil drain to keep the outside a bit cleaner. I found one that threaded into the outlet and allowed me to reinstall my plug in the end.
 
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