Depends on the size of the tank. We use BBQ size tanks and they work fine for a few hours under normal conditions. But when it's cold, the don't perform well. With a larger tank, I'm betting it will work well. Propane is so much easier, but nothing beats gasoline for being prepared for prolonged outages...Originally Posted by Tensaw
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Yeah, the plan would be to T in and pull from the fairly large house propane tank. Honestly, bypassing the issue with storing and rotating gas is the main driver on this.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
No one is coming. It is up to us.
I have A-iPower 8200/10000 generator.
Purchased 7 months ago, less than an hour run time under load. I was running it monthly. However, yesterday I discovered that it no longer produces power while running. The tech support seems to think the issue is with AVR ?
Any ideas/suggestions on a potential fix? I will probably be returning this one and looking for another.
Generators need to be run under a load. If the units are only started and ran , the power generation portion of the unit is not worked out. It’s a great idea to run them once a month, but use them under a load. I found this out the hard way from similar 10,000 watt Briggs and Stratton generator. It had a similar issue. The motor ran great , but would not produce power.
See the first part of the link below about flashing a non-producing generator with a corded power drill. Residual magnetism that is required to energize the exciter coils can be lost by inactivity and other reasons.
https://homebatterybank.com/can-you-...-with-a-drill/
Gringop
Play that song about the Irish chiropodist. Irish chiropodist? "My Fate Is In Your Hands."
They sent me a new AVR and the generator is producing power. However, I am encountering a new issue:
I have a number of UPSs around the house. While on generator power, they work on battery power, because they don't "recognize the frequency/voltage range". Also, my lights are flickering. The former seems to be a common problem.
- Is there anything I can do with the current generator to make UPS recognize power?
- Is there a different type/brand of generator to try to mitigate this?
No personal experience but my understanding is that a UPS can be sensitive to grounding. Try connecting the generator to a good earth ground using a clean mechanical connection.
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
Went to start generator today with all these brewing storms. Battery dead. Have it hooked up to the tender/charger now. Don’t expect any isssues.
Keeps reminding me that next time I get an electric start generator with a backup pull start, I’m going to make sure that the pull start will actually start the thing without the battery. In the one I have, the pull start won’t work if the battery is dead, which largely defeats the purpose of the pull start…
Finally got my metal cans filled too. Good excuse to cross that chore off the list.
Does the above offend? If you have paid to be here, you can click here to put it in context.
Non-inverter generators need to set to output the correct voltage (around 120v) at the correct frequency (60 hertz). The frequency is dependent on engine speed and is controlled by governor adjustments. Some have a screw/bolt that can be adjusted to vary the governor spring, some just have a tab that can be bent for adjustments
AVRs have a potentiometer that is used to adjust the voltage that the generator puts out. Possibly the AVR as sent from the factory needs to be adjusted to get the voltage correct.
In the video below, at around 18 minutes, it shows the potentiometer being adjusted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awBo...Ymtp2&index=69
Since your generator worked OK before, my guess is that the AVR just needs to be adjusted so you can do that with any volt meter. I would do that first before worrying about the frequency.
To set both you will need a multimeter that reads voltage and frequency or a Killawatt meter such as the guy uses in the video. Its important to adjust both volts and hertz so they are correct under a load, not just with no load. I see that it's a 8,200 watt generator it might take a lot to load that down.
Incidentally, the Youtube channel above has a lot of good generator repair videos, unfortunately they are all pretty long. Thank goodness for fast playback speed settings.
Gringop
Last edited by gringop; 09-24-2022 at 01:36 PM.
Play that song about the Irish chiropodist. Irish chiropodist? "My Fate Is In Your Hands."
Well, the fun continues. Any suggestions from the brain trust?
Generac XT8000EFI
Will not start, with key or pull. Yes it has fuel, yes it has oil.
Tender shows solid red, which supposedly indicates still charging, but the battery meters right at 6 volt.
When I turn the key to “run” the light flashes. There is a beeping sound coming from the opposite side.
So far with brief googling there’s no clear answer on the beeping.
Does the above offend? If you have paid to be here, you can click here to put it in context.
Reply With Quote