MEP-804B Transformer Smoked?

[Jimmy Dean]

Welp here goes.
I have a trailer mounted low hrs MEP-804b with low output hrtz and AC voltage. I have looked at the TM's.....and was doing the "S1 held in the start position" while checking the voltage Across A1....... The voltage and hertz corrected at the dials / indicators while held. So i turned up / down the voltage regulator and the engine responded with a load / unload. Aall good then i checked the "S1 held in the start position" for the 3rd time to check other voltages / screw around, then the engine de loaded and the unit started smoking. .. the unit, the electrical. Shut the engine off and started looking for what was smoking / hot. The only thing i found was the transformer at TB8 was hot/ smoked. any helpful thoughts are appreciated. typical internet responses are expected.

Thanks
John in Michigan.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Never mind... I missed that you said you looked at the TM's...

 

[Guyfang]

Is this set new to you?
Have you ever seen it work right?
Have you or someone else done any work on it of late, and if so, what?


Holding the S1 in the start position tooooooo long can do that. Please note, the info below is VERY important when looking for replacement parts. You can NOT mix the parts. So you need to check and see, make sure its right, that you have all the same types of parts in this gen set.

 

[loosegravel]

I had a similar thing happen on an 804B back in December. @kloppk helped me big time. He has custom made A1 voltage regulators. With his VR in place, the transformer is no longer needed. BUT… please do as @Guyfang has suggested first! Identify what VR system that you have before replacing any of the components.

 

[Guyfang]

At the end of the day, thats what I would do, get in contact with Kurt.

 

[loosegravel]

It's kind of interesting. I was holding S1 on this MEP-804B model for longer than normal also when I hear a "popping" sound and then the set stopped producing power. Kurt helped me through the T/S process and we came up with a bad A1 VR. He sent me one of his VR's and it arrived in lightening speed. I installed it and got the machine running again. This time the transformer smoked just like @Jimmy Dean. I couldn't believe how much smoke they packed into that thing! I thought that I hooked something up wrong with the new VR and had that sinking feeing in my gut. Just like being up a creek without a paddle. Kurt walked me through that scenario too. That's when I found out from Kurt that the transformer is no longer needed when using his A1 VR. What a relief that was! I removed that crispy transformer out of the compartment and zip-tied up the wires that went to it. If I'm not mistaken, with his VR the hertz are strictly 60 now. No more 50 hertz. I hope that he corrects me if I'm wrong.

 

[kloppk]

Correct. They are for 60Hz only.
Kurt

 

[Light in the Dark]

Correct. They are for 60Hz only.
Kurt

No backpacking your 804 through Europe then