Homebrewed Electricity > Controls
Demonstration of Generator Support
kitestrings:
--- Quote ---But if there's a rat's nest plugging the air filter, within milliseconds it will "spit" the genset off and take over again.
--- End quote ---
On a slight side-track- we have a 4 kW Onan gen-set. Nice little unit, LP, low-speed, live PTO (I used it to split my firewood), always starts...well most always. We have it where it can be started remotely from either the house or shop. One fall day I hit the button and it fired once, then made an odd 'ringing' sound like the gear on the starter had misaligned or some such. On subsequent attempts there was no fire at all. Went to the shed to find hair, nest material and a little tail hanging out of a void about the size of your finger where just above the starter.
I spent most all of one day - unhooking everything, schlepping it to the shop, and breaking it in two just to replace a little fiberglass wand with two pencil sized magnets that trigger the coil on the thing. When I spoke to a guy that does RV work, he said "Yeah, we see that all the time. The like the warmth of the oil reservoir."
Thanks for all the feedback. I'm going to read up on it a bit more. Dandy set up though.
~ks
ChrisOlson:
A mouse might be able to disable the starter on one of those old Onans, but otherwise I don't think you can kill one. They're not really the most fuel efficient generator ever designed. But they're one of the toughest. And their windings are really good too and and they put out super clean power. I've seen those old Onan generators put out cleaner power, with less THD, than you can get from the utility.
kitestrings:
Chris,
I thought you might be interested to note:
1) I found your youtube clip still floating about, after watching one of the SE product overviews:
--- Quote ---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5XFDaEMHAQ
--- End quote ---
2) So then I was curious what the thing costs (which I found several commons spots), but I couldn't help notice that Amazon is saying that the 6048 is discontinued - maybe they're supplier - I saw nothing on the manuf's site to confirm this.
--- Quote ---http://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-Inverter-Charger-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B002MW8HU4/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_0
--- End quote ---
Regarding generators, I had an old Onan welder/generator unit years ago. It was bare-bones, not even a recoil start on the thing, but tough as nails. It was a lot like starting an old Farmall, which based on sound you never thought would occur until suddenly it was up and running. We then had a Honda for a few years, and finally went to this Onan. My preference is the slower speed (1,800 rpm) units, if for no other reason than the noise. There's something about the higher speed units that grates on me; just a higher pitch.
~ks
ChrisOlson:
Yes, the XW has been replaced by the XW Plus series - I believe they are the XW+7048 (230V 50Hz) and XW+8048 (120/240V split-phase 60Hz). The XW Plus series is the same as the XW with higher thermal limits. I believe the XW4024 is discontinued in favor of the Conext SW4024.
The new XW Plus inverters were just launched last week:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/schneider-electric-launches-the-next-generation-of-the-highly-successful-xw-hybrid-inverter-261801441.html
Homesteader1:
Hi Chris,
I just read the generator support string and watched the video. I'm interested in the Outback autotransformer that you are using to help balance the loads. Did you install this only after you figured out you had load imbalance or was it something you installed from the get-go? I think this particular autotransformer either steps up or steps down the voltage right? How is it connected to your system? It has two 25A breakers so is this a limiting factor from either your generator or the Xantrex system? The reason I'm asking is this: I'm about to lay out a whole lot of hard earned bucks for either an Outback Radian8048 or the Xantrex XW6848+NA. I will run a diesel generator and want as few problems as possible. What are your thoughts?
Dale
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