recommended diesel generator make???

wg4t50 · March 13, 2014, 05:19:42 PM

Have seen different setups, 220 V at 50 Hz, 220 V at 60 hz, 410V at 50 hz, the reason we seem to get crazy setups, some of the off shore equipment is designed around 50 hz and 1 or 3 phase anywhere from 220 V up to the 410 area, the 410V 3 Phase 50 Hz is used for some goofy tennis court finishing. No clue and have redirected that outfit to seek service elsewhere, they use worn out Honda 2 cylinder belt drive setup, no end to the sloppy junk, and they do not seem to want to fix it proper, just fix for now. WOW, not my class of work.

TomC's diagram of the Power Tech works fine for me.
Dave M

grayhound · March 13, 2014, 05:33:20 PM

I Have the EPS 12 k now 5 years. And is great has not stop one time. Picked mine in Charlotte NC and they made the shroud for the fan.

Larry B · March 13, 2014, 07:02:49 PM

thanks everyone---great info. with a big list of good possibilities. That is exactly what I was looking for. I need to get busy and find a unit at a fair price. I stopped at Kabota dealer on way to shop--$9000.00 for 11000 watt. Going to do a little more looking , maybe find a used unit with low hours for less money. Will check out truck wrecker yards now knowing what might be a possibility. Will remove old Honda generator tomorrow and put back in serice with gas tank and carb. I also have some wiring to finish for new inverter. Trying to get every thing ready for a trip to east coast this summer. Thanks
Larry B

Dave5Cs · March 13, 2014, 09:32:03 PM

We have a 5C with a Kohler 3 cylinder Diesel 15KW water cooled in the old compressor bay behind the front wheel.
Dave5Cs

Ed Hackenbruch · March 14, 2014, 01:48:05 AM

PO put a 4kw Onan Propane generator in the engine compartment on the passenger side of my 5A. My propane tanks are built in and hold about 25 gallons total. It was noisy, could drain my tanks quickly if i used it much, and blocked access to that side of the engine. We only used it once or twice a year so when it started acting up last year i yanked it out and sold it cheap. Was going to buy 2 Honda 2000s and the parallel cable but could only afford one at the time and have used it twice so far when dry camping. We don't use the ac when going down the road so we don't need a larger generator.

Seangie · March 14, 2014, 04:54:40 AM

Quote from: wg4t50 on March 13, 2014, 01:42:58 PM
We have found the most dependable control for these RV type generators, is the DynaGen ES52, very durable and like most things just not idiot proof.
We retro fit them to all sizes of generators, from the very small to a 12V-71 Ex AT&T genset, they work great. .Power Tech uses that control unit, wish Oban did too. So guess what we do to them ?
Dave M

Dave - do these control units have an auto start/stop? Can they be configured to run an older non RV style generator? My old generator (from the 90s) has an on/off 'run/kill' switch and a start switch. So its a 2 step process to start it up. Am thinking about ways to possibly have it autostart/stop based on a voltage meter and a relay but can't quite figure it out. Maybe 2 relays/sensors are needed - one for the run / kill and one to start it.

Sorry if I hijacked....

-Sean

Fulltiming somewhere in the USA
1984 Eagle 10S
www.herdofturtles.org

wg4t50 · March 14, 2014, 06:20:47 AM

Tried to attach the ES52 Manual, too big so lost the entire posting.
Try again,
You only need a wire for start solenoid, low oil press, hi water temp, fuel pump/solenoid, battery then the two wire for start/stop. Very simple, just keep a clear head when adjusting the 20 turn pots for timing/sensing, very easy if you can read and understand. The unit is pretty tuff, but not idiot proof, my favorite expression, "some can destroy an anvil with a feather"

Would search for the DynaGen ES52 manual or I can Email it with an address.
Dave M

kwidd · March 14, 2014, 08:10:28 AM

I have a Universal brand 12KW that I took out my bus before I sold it. It has 2000 hrs on it and runs and works great. If interested give me a call @ eight zero one 391 9214 Kent

Scott & Heather · March 16, 2014, 05:26:56 AM

Quote from: Seangie on March 14, 2014, 04:54:40 AM
Dave - do these control units have an auto start/stop? Can they be configured to run an older non RV style generator? My old generator (from the 90s) has an on/off 'run/kill' switch and a start switch. So its a 2 step process to start it up. Am thinking about ways to possibly have it autostart/stop based on a voltage meter and a relay but can't quite figure it out. Maybe 2 relays/sensors are needed - one for the run / kill and one to start it.

Sorry if I hijacked....

-Sean

Fulltiming somewhere in the USA
1984 Eagle 10S
www.herdofturtles.org

Interested to see what you rig up Sean. I'm wanting auto start/power loss sensing. Come home one too many times to find the power out in our bus and our fridge thawed. Messy, expensive, annoying

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Clumsy fingers may contribute to mistakes.

lvmci · March 16, 2014, 06:12:37 AM

Very interesting Sean & Scott, an electronic guru would have to pipe in about this, I would think it would have to be a relay that would stay open with 110 AC while the generator is operating, when it loses power, the circut would close, allowing 12 volt DC immediatly to starter, but on a timer if the gen didn't start within a given time, inorder to not continually run the starter if no fuel or a problem, all on a master kill if you were on a power pole, the hotels have a system for the casinos like this with massive generators, but its all 220 AC. it would be great if it was all on a chip without mechanical relays, sounds like a great idea, maybe the people who make the surge protectors have something up their sleeves, lvmci...

luvrbus · March 16, 2014, 06:32:35 AM

www.fwmurphy.com they have made the auto starts for generators for a long time

good luck

lvmci · March 16, 2014, 06:58:43 AM

Ems-gc10, impressive, thanks Clifford, tom...

Len Silva · March 16, 2014, 07:13:04 AM

Quote from: Scott Bennett on March 16, 2014, 05:26:56 AM
Interested to see what you rig up Sean. I'm wanting auto start/power loss sensing. Come home one too many times to find the power out in our bus and our fridge thawed. Messy, expensive, annoying

I would be very nervous about the reliability of auto start when I was away for more than a few hours. Whether I used auto start or not, I would opt for an alarm system that could call my phone in the event of a malfunction.

Here is one from a quick search:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Mace-Wireless-Home-Security-System-80355/100654450

lvmci · March 16, 2014, 09:00:12 PM

Dave M, is self starting a concern, have you run across any issues with self starting gensets? Lvmci...

Kitt · March 17, 2014, 04:49:09 AM

Quote from: Seangie on March 14, 2014, 04:54:40 AM
Dave - do these control units have an auto start/stop? Can they be configured to run an older non RV style generator? My old generator (from the 90s) has an on/off 'run/kill' switch and a start switch. So its a 2 step process to start it up. Am thinking about ways to possibly have it autostart/stop based on a voltage meter and a relay but can't quite figure it out. Maybe 2 relays/sensors are needed - one for the run / kill and one to start it.

Sorry if I hijacked....

-Sean

Fulltiming somewhere in the USA
1984 Eagle 10S
www.herdofturtles.org

Sean, you might take a look at Magnum's auto generator start. They have two models - one that interfaces with their inverters and another that is standalone (http://magnumenergy.com/auto-generator-start-stand-alone-me-ags-s/).

Of most interest are their sample wiring diagrams for generators (http://magnumenergy.com/ags-to-generator-wiring-diagrams/). You might find a diagram that fits your generator setup.

-Kitt

'77 Eagle Model 05