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New to me MEP-803a

BeStihl

New member
16
19
3
Location
Kentucky
I have been a member here and GovPLANET for several years. I have used a MEP-017a for home back up but and it does good as long as I shed my 240 loads one at a time. Recently we had an outage that lasted a few days and trying to source gasoline became tough because we were flooded in and I don’t keep a lot on hand. At any rate, I started looking for an 803 again and decided I’d give the auction a try. I found several going up on the 19 March close to me so I hoped the bidding wouldn’t get crazy. I ended up winning a unit with 760hr that was missing a coolant temp gauge and the oil pressure and fuel gauge appeared to not move. I took a gamble and set a reasonable amount and to my surprise won the unit for about 70 percent of my high bid. So I took off to Ritchie bros with a trailer to get my new project Genny.

First thing I did was replaced the coolant gauge and to my surprise the other engine gauges found their respective readings on target, sharing ground I found out after looking at the TM, thanks GuyFang! I also had to replace the fuel return hoses and the main fuel hose from the water separator along with filters, oil and a good going over.

I work in industry so I brought home a rather large 3phase motor and made myself a control circuit to wire it up in Y, as it was a delta 12 lead motor. It started the 15HP motor with a small burp but wasn’t drawing much current due to no load & the series wiring I used. Ran that for a bit and was happy with the response so I filled her with fuel, some atf-don’t shoot me I’m an old diesel guy, and some Seafoam. This set really appears to have had an easy life so I figured the whole wet stacking problem was likely. I powered my house through a 200a manual transfer with 6ga SOOW cord with the N-G unbonded at the Gen side and bonded at the panel. I did run a ground rod on the set though, do you guys do that or just use the house rod?
So I am currently 3.5hr in on running the house (small 2 BR) as usual, A/C, dryer, HW, sewer pump, water booster pump(120v), fridge, TV’s, modems, lights, & ceiling fans. I am impressed as it has ran 40% - 70% (20A-36A) for most of that time. My son took a bath while the wife was drying clothes and I saw some smoke at one point for about 30sec with around 80% load. After that cycle happened a few times the smoke seemed to clear up and she is currently cooching along at about 25%. During the 1.5hr of good load the frequency dropped to 61 from 63 at no load, this is around what I use on my gasoline set so I started there. Now that it seems to have cleared itself out some I have backed it down to 60, should I keep it up higher? It appears to regulate around 5ish percent now that the crud has cleared some. Sorry for the long post but I am a little excited sitting here having a frosty adult beverage as the family is living normal all on a few gallons of D1.

Now to get this puppy set in its final resting place and hardwired to the transfer switch. I am pleased as I have wanted one of these for years and thought it was out of reach. Thanks to all of you guys here for your knowledge base and willingness to teach others your skill set, I raise one to you all you know who you are!
 

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BeStihl

New member
16
19
3
Location
Kentucky
Ok I have managed to put over 100 hours on this unit after fluid and filter changes. I have been happy with the results so far but am having some trouble getting it to put out over 50A, I know that should be really close to max continuous load for this set but I have a few questions. I only experience around 2Hz droop from 0 - 90% load so that seems great from what I read but the trouble starts after that much load.
I have saw a Short Circuit when trying to load the set with a rather large 3 phase motor so I am somewhat confident that K8 is partially working. The problem occurs when I try to hit the machine with a 60A load, it falls on its face but the Overload doesn’t trip. I captured that scenario on video with 2 fluke meters today to verify frequency & amperage and now see why the O/L doesn’t trip, because the frequency and voltage fall low enough that the amperage never gets above max. Maybe I am trying to do too much but I like to know the limits so I can teach the family what loads to shed and when. If 50 is all I can get that will be fine but it sure would be nice if it would pull 60 for a minute without my wife panicking as the lights in the house dim.
I have read on here where others have load tested to that much or higher but maybe my unit just can’t handle it, but that leads me to my question of why?
Here are pics of the set at 90% on the PRC and everything seems fine. IMG_2575.png
So this pic above was with the stovetop burner, hot water heater, well pump and various lights/fans running. I also have no problem running the well pump, HW heater, and A/C unit. The problem scenario is when the clothes dryer & A/C are running at 40A and the HW cycles and she tries to pull 60A. The more I think about it it’s not real smart to run all that at once especially if the O/L did trip it would drop out the whole house. So I realize I have to come up with a load shedding plan to keep the HW heater off until other tasks are completed.

But just so I can rest assured that my set is running tip top shape, does this sound about right, should a 60A load pull my set down to 40Hz? I have measured the exact load while on grid power and 61A is where it peaks.
Hopefully I can attach the video of the problem scenario here so you guys can see just how hard it gets pulled down.https://youtube.com/shorts/IapY8UHEvO4?si=Jgy_tnphIR07KG-I
 

LuckeyD

Active member
45
149
33
Location
Vilseck, Germany
In words of my mentor; "GOOD DEAL". I use the same amp probe. You indicate 50 AMPS set at 120/240VAC out. The attached is a pic out of the -10 operators manual. It is also a data plate on your gen. You are at about the limit and keep in mind inrush current as a motor turns on in your house. This is 50 amps per phase, and the L3 is the only phase that is sampled at the regulator. (heaviest load or high current devices or changing high loads on the phase please) Ground rod: We pushed to use an individual rod if possible. Using the house rod puts everything on the same ground plane (g00d). Should not be an issue if the cabling from the house to the rod can handle it. You have covered about all the bases, sounds good, but I would watch the load as you have done. The K8 is a thermal protection device of old school. It is supposed to be rated at 110% overload and 425% for a short circuit. Like a previous post, 61-61.5 no load is a good start on freq and the manual governor usually drops to 59.5-60 at full load without any changes to the speeder control on a good engine. Full load will usually make a hint of smoke using DF1/DF2. You get more as the oil gets cruddy. Good Gens, if serviced well, they serve you well. Please check if the little finger sized regulator protection fuse is in place beside the Main Gen regulator. This is a 3A/250V slow blow fuse added to protect the regulator and main gen quad windings put in between Q1 and regulator terminal 8. A standard 3A fuse will blow if a compressor turns on making non-issue blows an issue. Ask if you can't find an answer to your questions. So far, Supercool! Observe the 250 hour oil changes if possible. Safe genning.....
 

Attachments

BeStihl

New member
16
19
3
Location
Kentucky
In words of my mentor; "GOOD DEAL". I use the same amp probe. You indicate 50 AMPS set at 120/240VAC out. The attached is a pic out of the -10 operators manual. It is also a data plate on your gen. You are at about the limit and keep in mind inrush current as a motor turns on in your house. This is 50 amps per phase, and the L3 is the only phase that is sampled at the regulator. (heaviest load or high current devices or changing high loads on the phase please) Ground rod: We pushed to use an individual rod if possible. Using the house rod puts everything on the same ground plane (g00d). Should not be an issue if the cabling from the house to the rod can handle it. You have covered about all the bases, sounds good, but I would watch the load as you have done. The K8 is a thermal protection device of old school. It is supposed to be rated at 110% overload and 425% for a short circuit. Like a previous post, 61-61.5 no load is a good start on freq and the manual governor usually drops to 59.5-60 at full load without any changes to the speeder control on a good engine. Full load will usually make a hint of smoke using DF1/DF2. You get more as the oil gets cruddy. Good Gens, if serviced well, they serve you well. Please check if the little finger sized regulator protection fuse is in place beside the Main Gen regulator. This is a 3A/250V slow blow fuse added to protect the regulator and main gen quad windings put in between Q1 and regulator terminal 8. A standard 3A fuse will blow if a compressor turns on making non-issue blows an issue. Ask if you can't find an answer to your questions. So far, Supercool! Observe the 250 hour oil changes if possible. Safe genning.....
Thanks for the time and detail of your response. Just to clarify I am using the house GRod with 6ga/4 from Genny to transfer switch, the VR has a 3A time delay fuse & MOV, 61.5 no-load Hz.
The load I was attempting to pull was a resistive one for the most part,
A/C - 12A
HW heater - 20A
Clothes Dryer - 25A

The unit never fails to pull inductive motor loads, but struggles when heat strips pull it up over 50A. I’m not sure the exact cutoff as I don’t have a good load bank to test with. I know it will pull 50A so I may have to buy an old Cook stove to exercise with and find the limit. My curiosity has me looking at a fuel issue or possible crud in the exhaust port. Should this picture below be of concernIMG_2547.jpeg
This black goo is present around cylinder #2 exhaust right where the manifold seals. I did notice a good bit of black smoke the first few times I loaded the set hard with Seafoam & ATF, it left “soot” on top of the machine in about a 8” diameter around the exhaust.
My question I guess is do I need to remove the muffler and manifold to verify there aren’t a partially blocked port?
Thanks for any reply
 

LuckeyD

Active member
45
149
33
Location
Vilseck, Germany
Unburnt fuel residue. Higher loads may burn this tar looking stuff off with time as it cleans itself out on your loads. You may even see small dry looking crumbs all over the gen top cover. This should abate as you run it on those higher loads. This is common with Lister-Petter engines. Gets bad on light loads and I have even pulled the muffler to drain it out in a bucket, and it still rained that stuff on everyone as it cleaned out with high load. Had several with flames shooting out the exhaust. You seem to have dotted the Is and crossed the Ts. The main gens on the TQG were rated at their limits. Naturally they take a but more as a motor starts, but not much. Main gen windings swell as over 100% load is achieved. Serious issues with strong engines arise at they try 120% and the k8 does not engage and a main gen birds nest is made as it eats its self. I Recommend your 50 AMPS a phase to be used as your peak so you may keep things a while. You seem to have an eye on your load. Good! I wish to you and yours all the best, be safe, and keep genning....
 

BeStihl

New member
16
19
3
Location
Kentucky
10-4, I appreciate the insight and I will do as advised. I was just making sure I wasn’t “leaving anything on the table” so to speak, if she will pull 50A then I’ll shed my HW heater while running other loads in case it cycles on. Thanks again for the time and expertise.
 
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