"New" MEP-002A Purchase

[Keith_J]

The issue with loading via the conveinence outlet is it only draws off one winding so it could cause hunting of engine speed. It will put out over 1800 watts before tripping the breaker.

on frequency meters, they LEAK and most units have spent time outside so they rapidly corrode. There is a permanent magnet inside and rust chips are magnetic so that gums up the works.

The meter is a 200 micro ampere full scale deflection movement, I have a source of NOS movements, I can swap the scale from a failed meter onto a new movement in a new case for under $30.

If if you have a multimeter with 0-300 micro amp measurement range, you could disconnect the meter from the transducer and hook up the multimeter to see if the transducer is good. If shot, just get one of the digital reproduction meters.

 

[Forester]

You didn't do any harm, the convenience outlet have there own 15 amp breaker. The breaker will throw before any damage is done. I believe Isaac-1 is correct, it's more than likely just the transducer going out(this is very common). You have 2 options, we have a member here that makes a new digital meter, that replaces the transducer and gauge or buy a used transducer (if you need one let me know, I have some good ones available). You can also go to harbor freight and buy a kilowatt meter that can plug into the convenience outlet to read the hertz and voltage, you can also plug this into the house so you can watch everything inside the house.
So how did the governor work with the 70% load?

If one were to ignore the HZ meter the unit did quite well. You could hear the engine labor/respond when the load was applied and/or removed. Before the meter went on the fritz there was very little drop in the meter, but that is all suspect now.... I hope that I wasn't running at to low of a RPM. I adjusted the throttle based on the HZ meter, and based on the meter I never had to adjust the governor.

I'll first pick up a multimeter that has a HZ function. I have a dated one that I'm either not using correctly(manual is long gone), or the HZ function doesn't work - can't get a HZ reading on the house power so using on the generator is pointless. I'll redo the test with that meter and go from there.

Thanks much for the help!!

 

[CDR]

Wow that thing is cleab

 

[Forester]

Update

Was walking through the local big box store the other day and saw one of the plug in HZ/Volt meter others here have spoken of. $20 so I bought it.

I tested it on the house power to make sure unit and user were on the same page. It read 60 so I started up the generator.

Plugged it in and it was reading 52 HZ... I gave it more fuel and when the plug in meter read 61.5-62 the meter on the unit was pegged. So i am assuming that the transducer is bad. I let the unit warm up and the HZ went up to 62.

I plugged in my 10' and 6' baseboard heaters and could still only come up with 75% power use. Regardless the HZ held at 59.4 to 59.7.

 

[Keith_J]

May not be the transducer but rather the meter. The one way to test the system is to disconnect the input to the transducer (120 VAC) and using an old power cord, feed the transducer 120 VAC utility power, looking at the meter. With generator off, naturally. It should read 60Hz.

Next, test the meter for continuity, should be 300-500 ohms. Not open, not a dead short.

Next test is with a 0-200 micro amp ammeter in series with the meter. At an indicated 60 Hz, it should be 100 micro amps. If utility power won't cause the transducer to produce 100 micro amps, the it is a bum transducer.

 

[rustystud]

Just buy "Triple Jim's" HZ meter and gauges. Work just fine !

 

[dangier]

Just buy "Triple Jim's" HZ meter and gauges. Work just fine !

Rusty,
JimC does (did) the digital meters and gauges. Triple Jim does a/c-d/c voltage regulators.
David

 

[Ray70]

I almost suggested "Jim's" meters too but couldn't recall which Jim and couldn't find the add in the classifieds.... so I left it alone... unfortunately Rusty fell into the trap instead...

 

[rustystud]

Rusty,
JimC does (did) the digital meters and gauges. Triple Jim does a/c-d/c voltage regulators.
David

My bad! To many Jims around here ! LOL .

 

[Triple Jim]

It was a very popular name in the late '50s. Two of the guys I hung out with in my high school and college days were Jims. Others got confused when we were around, but we seemed to know which Jim was which most of the time. 20 years or so ago, Justin was the name to give to your kid and Jim was passé.

 

[Isaac-1]

That reminds me of going to high school, we had two Jim Thibodeaux's there was big Jim and little Jim, both the same age, but big Jim was always about twice the size of little Jim. This is not to say big Jim was giant, he was probably 6'1" 240 pounds when we graduated, but more that little Jim was probably 5'3 or so and maybe about 120 pounds.