I'm having some difficulty deciding which route to go with the options I have; thought I'd post here and see if yall could help!

Backstory:
I currently have a ~5.7Kw (7k surge) gas fueled generator that I've wired into my main panel via an interlock kit. Unfortunately this generator is technically a loaner from my office (family owned business. This means I could lose it at anytime, including during an outage; it's not likely but possible.

Option:
- I have sourced multiple options for slow-sped (~1800rpm) diesel generator sets ranging from 7.5-10Kw for about $1,500. I would absolutely love to have one of these since it would cover every power requirement in my house. Diesel is also easier to store and cheaper (off-road diesel) than gas. A slow-speed diesel will also run for a LONG time without repair and very little fuel. The downside is the equipment is about double the cost of a new gas generator.

- My other option is to replace the loaner generator with a similar gas fueled unit for about ~$700. This is the most budget friendly upfront but would cost more in the long run IF I see significant usage.



Thoughts, suggestions, pointers, brain HELP?

I'm very good at repairing gas engines. Having said that, the simple diesel's I'm looking at are so simple a monkey could probably fix it if you hand him the tools/parts in the right order...

I'm just not sure the diesel is worth the cost difference for the likely sporadic use I'll need...

Difficult to give an accurate assessment since I've only been at my current home for 2 years this month.

In those 2 years we've lost power just a handful of times with only once being longer than a day; that was during Hurricane Irene last year, and that was out for about 3 days.

I'm not located very far from a major distribution center for the power in my area so we're usually pretty quick to be back online.

I originally wanted a diesel but ended up with a gas unit. The reasons I wanted the diesel were for easier fuel storage, longer lasting more stable fuel, and less fuel consumption.

It doesn't sound like your generator is going to be getting a whole lot of run-time - which makes the shorter engine lifespan and higher fuel consumption of a gasoline-fueled generator a less important consideration.

3 days/year would be around 30 gallons of gasoline - assuming you run it full-tilt during the daytime, and shut it off overnight. That's only 300 hours of run-time in 10 years, which is insignificant for just about any gasoline generator.

Check it out and snap it up.

Light towers are great!

They're usually wired for 240 to power the HID lamps, with a receptacle for 120 vac across one of the windings. Mine is at least, it's a Wacker with a 3 cyl Cat engine and a 6kw head. I plan to rewire it's 2 windings in parallel when necessary to double the output at 120 vac.

Holy crap!

That's one heck of a score!

Change the oil, check the filters and the condition of the coolant, put some fresh fuel in it, and run it for a few hours with a sizable load connected.

Will Do!

He has some more; maybe I should post notice in the hometown forum...

The thing runs great! I will be changing the L6-30 receptacle to the more standard L14-30. I already have cords made for that and I want the Neutral tied into my panel anyway.


It has a LSA 37-M6 generator head on it. It's rated 6Kw continuous but doesn't have a rating for standby/surge. From some poking around online, some people suggest the surge capability may go as high as 75A or 18Kw .

Take some of that money you saved on the generator, and invest it in one of these...

Here's da manuals...

http://www.lighttowers.net/Terex_Genie_AL4000_Service_Manual.pdf

Partial head schematic pg 32.

If you want to double the 120 amps/output, DON'T tie the red and black together!

http://www.lighttowers.net/Terex_Genie_AL4000_Parts_Manual.pdf

Looks like 240 on the head for the lamps.

Mine doesn't have much surge capacity [air compressor], but haven't tied the two windings on the head together.


Don't worry abt the waveform unless something goes bad.

Stock a spare capacitor, diodes, and the other few parts for your head and a spare end bearing.

Sigh...

Was farting around with my new 'light tower' this evening and checked the voltage again and today it was only reading 102VAC.

Since I understood these to be capacitance regulated, I pulled the cover off the gen-head and the capacitor that's supposed to have 70uF is only coming out to ~50uF according to my Fluke DMM.

Figures... I check it before buying and it's fine, then the jostling of the trip home must have killed a borderline cap.

Pretty sure it was +/- 5% but it may have been 10%. Either way it's still out of spec.

Out of curiosity, if it WAS in spec, what else would cause the low voltage?

My Fluke meter shows the Freq. at 59.85Hz and I verified the engine speed with my IR Tach at ~1795rpm.

The unit is 12 years old and has 3,000 hours.

According to the gen-head's menufacturer's manual, the Capacitor is the voltage regulator and should measure 70uF. The only other components in the system are the diodes in the gen-head.

I will double check for loose connections as I did change the L6-30 receptacle to an L14-30. However the capacitor showing 50uf instead of the spec'd 70uF+/-5% is likely the cause. I'm picking a replacement Run Capacitor up from Grainger this afternoon.

Oddly none of the HVAC supply houses carry this particular size and would have to order it; they tell me it's a larger than normal size. They stock the 370VAC caps, and while that SHOULD WORK (240V * 1.414 = Max theoretical voltage of 340V) it sure doesn't leave much room for V spikes. Plus the spec's call for a 450VAC capacitor, 440V should be just fine though.


ETA:
I did plug in a 2Kw shop light and double check the voltage before I started looking at other things; voltage was identical load vs. no-load. There have been too many other times in the past when I jumped to conclusions to not do a simple check like that!!