Recent content by steelydan

I tried charging the Optima with my Battery Tender, but it still wouldn't start the genset. So I drained the water seperator (though it doesn't look at all like what the manual shows..) Then, before I went out and bought new batteries, I decided to hook up my Harbor Freight 12V Jump Starter in...

Damn, you're gonna burn up my credit card!

I've got the 12V Battery Tender. Might be time for an upgrade.

It came with two yellow Optima D51Rs when I bought it. I'd hate to buy a new one for $250 to maybe see the other one go bad soon. I'd prolly rather buy two new ones you posted. With your receptacle, how would you hook up the Battery Tender inside? You'd still have to keep swapping the leads...

Optima D51R battery: $250. Holy crap!

I agree, but no harm in trying just to see.

Busted out the Fluke and each of the batteries read ~12.6 VDC. Slave reads ~25 VDC. Left battery voltage didn't budge when I tried to start it. Right battery started at ~12.3 VDC, then dropped to a negative value when I tried to start it. I think I found the culpret. Tomorrow I'll try to...

Hi. I charged them both overnight with my Battery Tender and took them off charge when the charger light turned green. Same procedure I've used in the past. I didn't verify the actual voltage though. Yes, I tightened the connectors till they wouldn't take much more.

Hey folks, I've been lax for a while and didn't start it for at least a couple months. Before that, it's been running reliably. I tried to start it yesterday. The batteries were dead, so I charged them both. IIRC, it sounds a bit different than it used to. I checked the oil and the dip stick...

LOL, yes y'all are a tough crowd. One of the reasons to keep the genny where it is instead of moving it 100 feet away from our and our neighbor's houses is that I could run a typical cord to the neighbor's house in an outage. That'll keep them happy then, and my wife will love the power too...

About 20 feet. Don't run it often, but my wife is real picky about the smell. I run it when the neighbors aren't home mostly. Once it warms up, the exhaust is clear and the smell is greatly reduced, but like I said, the wife has a picky nose.

Right now, it's about 20 feet away from our house. Probably about the same from the neighbor's. It doesn't run often, however we had 2+ days of power loss this winter. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm curious about the turbo suggestion. If I can't trap to reduce the smell, I guess...

Daybreak: Good questions, however I don't know the answers. One of the reasons I bought it was to learn more about diesel engines - I just haven't had the time to do that yet, so I'm just trying for a quick fix so I can run it without folks wanting to kill me.

I was toying with the idea of adding some kind of blower to the end of the exhaust to help propel it farther from the house. It would have to be pretty light weight though.

Hi, I've got my genny pretty close to the house, but since my and my neighbor's homes are 100+ year old, they aren't tight envelopes and the diesel exhaust smell gets into the house. This really pisses off my wife and so you know how that goes.. So, I'm wondering if there are any mods anyone...