Full Power Switch [RE-wrenches]

[Travis Creswell]

Steve & Roy,

Thanks for all your input.  Yes, the generators that I mentioned are
brushless.  Just how bad is that besides being a throw away gen. head?  They
are priced at $1425 for 4500 Watt and $1710 for the 6600 watt (that is the
cont. rating not surge). That puts them under Steve's $2500 rule of thumb. I
have used several similar to them and they seem to do OK.  They do convert
to propane pretty easily and run very good.  The kohlers that I've used beat
them hands down but they are about 4 time more of course.  If you really
load them down the voltage does drop off.  

Regarding unbalancing, what I most frequently see when I hook only one leg
up a low $ generator to one inverter/charger is the voltage quickly drops
off (under 110) from the parameter that the inverter will accept.  Then the
inverter disconnects itself from the generator.  Then the generator voltage
quickly gets too high for the inverter to accept.  After a while it settles
down and the whole cycles starts again.  The best solution I've found is to
hook up a relatively large load, something like 500 watt quartz works
great,to the unloaded 120 volt side of the generator.  It kind of quirky
telling a customer that he has to turn a light on to charge his batteries. 
I usually seem  to do dual inverter system which solves so many head aches.

What about these small (4000 - 6000) diesel generators that I am seeing
around?  Does anyone know if they are 1800 RPM or 3600 RPM.  I have fiddled
with several older single cylinder diesels.  These new one look just like
the gas ones.

Travis Creswell
  
----------
>From: Roy <roy at four-winds-energy.com>
>To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>Subject: Re: Full Power Switch [RE-wrenches]
>Date: Mon, May 1, 2000, 2:40 PM
>

>Steve...I admit to not fully understanding that aspect of it. I have,
>however, seen the results (at least, what I believe to be the results) of
>running the generator unbalanced over long periods of time: Increased
>bearing wear and exciter circuit component damage. I'm told that the
>armature will spin "off center"...much like an unbalanced tire will when
>most or all of the load is applied to 1 set of the windings. I have not
>personally verified this.
>    The condenser, brush and rectifier damage could also be attributed to
>other factors as well. So....I'm just going along with the generator
>manufacturers' info which states that a balanced load is better for the
>longevity of the unit. I'd love to see some hard facts and figures to back
>any of this up....I can only go with what I've seen in the field so far.
>Roy
>
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