I recently purchased several nice sets from GL, two 003a's and one nice 004a. I have been reading the posts in this forum with great interest and learning quite a bit from the very knowledgable members here.
I have done quite a bit reading about the wet stacking and am anxious to devise a way to avoid ruining a perfectly good genset. I do find it a bit wasteful to hook up a bunch of load and run a generator just testing/excercising purposes.
I started thinking, rather than hook up a bunch of dummy loads and run the unit, could there be a more productive use for the power being generated? I started to think about people who install solar systems on their houses that put excess energy back into the grid during peak production. Wouldn't it be great to be able to hook a back up generator up inthe same fashion? I've read a bit in the TM's about paralleling the 004's...I know this isn't possible with the 003's. Could an 004 be paralleled with the grid so that energy produced during load testing/monthly excercising be put into the grid?
A quick google search revealed that for larger gensets (15kw) and above, this is a common practice in the UK and is billed as a way to offset the fuel costs associated with monthly excercising.
Id contact your local Power Company, there may even be government programs to assist in the cost of setting it up.
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"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living, and get rich quick theory of life" - Theodore Roosevelt
Here in Fl. I hook lead one to the front left leg, lead two to the right front leg and lead 3 to the left rear leg. Of course netrual goes to the tail. 5 min. load test the gator comes out done to perfection. Yum Yum tastes just like chicken.
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James
1 Bobbed 5 ton with lockers in rear and W/W
30 Outher Military Trucks
4 Military Cranes
3 Military semitrailers
2 Military expandable semitrailers
3 military gens. 3k 5k 10k
And storage of to many Military parts that it might be a sin.
The Following User Says Thank You to Floridianson For This Useful Post:
I recently purchased several nice sets from GL, two 003a's and one nice 004a. I have been reading the posts in this forum with great interest and learning quite a bit from the very knowledgable members here.
I have done quite a bit reading about the wet stacking and am anxious to devise a way to avoid ruining a perfectly good genset. I do find it a bit wasteful to hook up a bunch of load and run a generator just testing/excercising purposes.
I started thinking, rather than hook up a bunch of dummy loads and run the unit, could there be a more productive use for the power being generated? I started to think about people who install solar systems on their houses that put excess energy back into the grid during peak production. Wouldn't it be great to be able to hook a back up generator up inthe same fashion? I've read a bit in the TM's about paralleling the 004's...I know this isn't possible with the 003's. Could an 004 be paralleled with the grid so that energy produced during load testing/monthly excercising be put into the grid?
A quick google search revealed that for larger gensets (15kw) and above, this is a common practice in the UK and is billed as a way to offset the fuel costs associated with monthly excercising.
Any Thoughts?
It is possible to synchronize the MEP-003A gensets. This is common practice in the military. Normally if you see a trailer with two 003 gensets mounted, they are designed to be connected in this way. This allows one genset to be shut down for PM while the other genset continues to maintain power.
For load testing, I simply throw the transfer switch, which is connected to the whole house, and keep adding load. This is simple to do, and works well.
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Gary
US Army 1970-1971 MOS: 11D20
USAR 1972-1973
MVPA: #32652
1998 AM General M35A3 W/W M66 Gun Ring
1969 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 W/W
2000 M149A2 (USMC) Water Buffalo
1968 Johnson M105A2
1992 M116A2 Trailer Mounted MEP-003A Gen Set
30D36R 3 KW Gen Set ex-NC ANG
Last edited by glcaines; 12-13-2011 at 17:25.
Reason: More
A friend in the HVAC field gave me a squirrel cage on its way to the dump. it has 2 5kw emergency heating strip heaters in it and when running, the squirrel cage keeps the heater strips from burning themselves out. I tested my best 002a sunday on 5 kw (70-75% on the load meter) then added a compressor to raise it to 6500 watts (100% on the load meter) and a hair drier to get it to 115% on the load meter. Then I disconnected the compressor and hair drier and jumped to the other 5kw strip heater and ran the unit. It choked to 55 hertz but didn't die in the 30 seconds or so I left it on the 10kw load.
BTW: To power the accessory loads, I used the convenience receptacle I asked questions about 3 weeks ago. Worked fine.
Only problem is the genny is throwing oil at the fan from behind the oil cover. Another gasket problem and I found the small err on the battery side of the oil cover is broken, not good news but i can get one from a donor unit.
Jerry
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M101A3
MEP-002A 10 on hand!
Two to keep, 2 ready to sell.
Two being worked on.
Four being parted out.
For load testing, I simply throw the transfer switch, which is connected to the whole house, and keep adding load. This is simple to do, and works well.
That's what I used to do too (before I bought a load bank); I just waited until a load of laundry was ready to go into the dryer and then ran it on the generator. With this I could hold it at 80% or better load for an hour or two. Of course, this only works on -002 and -003's (I can't fully load my -004 even with everything in the house on at once).
This way it offsets power that you were going to pay for otherwise, without needing to sign up for net metering and all of the hassle that may go along with it.
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71 M35A2: 395's, flatbed, LED lighting, water/meth injection, full hydro, etc.
01 Dodge Ram 5.9: Fast. Real fast.
90 Samurai: onboard air, toyota PS, lockers, 6.5 tcase, Warn 9.5XP etc.
00 Vitara: Unimog 404 axles, air lockers, 4 link, full hydro, W56 tranny, dual cases, 40" pitbull rockers with Stauns, work in progress
01 XJ: Ford 8.8" w/ Ected locker, lock right front, 4.56 gears, SYE kit, custom bumpers, sliders, onboard air, etc.
Lots of MEP's
One very understanding wife
I get all the different ways you can come up with some dummy loads to test the generator, especially the 003's. I too have an 004 and with oil heat in the house and an indirect water heater, short of running my welder at full tilt just to creat a load, I'll be in the same boat as sewerzuk....love your posts about rewiring the 004's btw.
We air dry most of our laundry, so that doesn't help much. What I'm really trying to lean toward is the feasability of some type of net metering arrangement where you get "credit" for the power being produced thereby somewhat offsetting some of your fuel costs associated with regular excercising and also providing the opportunity to really load down something as big as an 004 without having to run a bunch of heaters or elements or antyhing for no real value other than just to run the generator.
If its a pipe dream, no big deal. I just figure that if a guy with a bunch of Solar panels can get credit for his effort, so should a guy with a big genset.
Load Testing Gensets
