Hi there, this is my first post on this site. I have been trying to find help with this issue from a few places and have had no replies
I am in Niger, West Africa. On our compound we have a back-up generator due to intermittent grid failures. When I arrived in May, I was told, being the only engineer on site, that the genny was not working. I was handed an AVR and was told that the local guy didn't know how to connect it. When I saw the genset it became clear why. The AVR that is on this Dale genset was probably from an old Honda Single Phase unit. Only L3 and L4 were connected to it as well as F1 and F2 for the exciter stator.
After a bit of rewiring and bodging the new (new as in not used before, but still old) Markon MS3000 AVR into the housing, I was able to connect L1, L2, L3 and L4, and of course F1 and F2. Started the genset... and... 17volts output! Scratched my head for a while and tinkered a bit more. No joy. So I flashed the exciter stator with 12v dc... 220volts for like, 3 seconds, then back to 17-19 volts. I wanted to determine what was up with it, so I hooked the exciter straight up to a 12v battery and let the genset run. It sat fine at around 200 volts for a few minutes. I turned it off, hooked F1 and F2 up again, ran it and VOILA... 40v.
The dc voltage across f1 and f2 is 3 or 4volts.
I cannot get it to maintain a 12v feed. I do not have the equipment to check ohms or continuity, because we are in the middle of nowhere and I didn't come with tools.
After all this fannying about, I was talking to one of the other missionaries and turns out the genset was doing what it is doing now, before I came. The local generator guy (who has less tools than I do) said it must be the "card" ie, the AVR, so the Markon card was purchased in country. So it is just doing what it was doing before.
I have taken off the exciter windings to inspect, and it was very dirty, so I have cleaned but as yet not reconnected.
Please advise, we have been without back-up power for! God bless.