MEP-802A and MEP-803A fuel consumption

Hi,

New to the forum but hope to be able to contribute in the future.

I am interested in picking up a 802A or 803A but having a hard time deciding which one. I would like the extra power of the 803A but most of the time (especially nights) it would be over kill and waste of fuel. I really only need the added power when well pump and other large loads start at the same time.

Does anyone have part load fuel consumption data based on your experiences running these? Or maybe one of you is interested in this data and willing to make a test. I suppose the fuel hose could be placed in a graduated cylinder and calculations made after 15mins at a set load (1/4 or 1/2 load)?
If the 803A only used 1/2 gal per hour at 1/2 load I would just get one of those because thats not too bad but 1 gal per hour is more than I want to use for long periods.

Thanks

I answered your question (sort of) in my thread... Once I run mine longer than just to test it, I'll update you...

Thanks, I wanted to get feedback from others too so I started a thread. I would love to hear your experience on the 803A once you get some hours on it.
After reading that you ran the 802A for 24 hours on 5 gal, I am really unsure what I should do because that is really good. I usually keep 100 gal of diesel on hand so that would run me several weeks!

i have a 5000w Yanmar diesel right now and besides it shaking itself apart, it is slightly underpowered for my home.

jimbo913 said:

Thanks, I wanted to get feedback from others too so I started a thread. I would love to hear your experience on the 803A once you get some hours on it.
After reading that you ran the 802A for 24 hours on 5 gal, I am really unsure what I should do because that is really good. I usually keep 100 gal of diesel on hand so that would run me several weeks!

i have a 5000w Yanmar diesel right now and besides it shaking itself apart, it is slightly underpowered for my home.

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Usually the Yanmar engines run real smooth !? Maybe you have an injector problem.

It only had 5 hrs on it when I bought it. It is a Yanmar L90 single cylinder engine and I think thats how single cylinders run. I have seen videos of 802A's running and they dont appear as smooth as the 803's (especially noticeable during shutdown) so more cylinders and mass even out the bumps. I am sure that it is most dramatic going from 1-2 cylinders.

I believe the 802a runs the crank in sequence with both cylinders, meaning both cylinders come to TDC at the same time. That is why they are louder and rougher than the 803a. The 803a runs each cylinder 180 out, makes everything run a lot smoother.

jamawieb said:

I believe the 802a runs the crank in sequence with both cylinders, meaning both cylinders come to TDC at the same time. That is why they are louder and rougher than the 803a. The 803a runs each cylinder 180 out, makes everything run a lot smoother.

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My 803 definately runs a little smoother than the 802 and after reading this, it makes perfect sense why that's so. After setting up my 803 and prepping for an outage, we have not lost power once this year. I'll provide info on consumption when I have a chance to use it. I am load banking a friend's 802 this weekend and plan to post the results of the test like I did for my 803. While running it in 3 phase at 208 volts, I was able to produce 15,300 watts for 18 minutes before tripping the overload. We hit it with 25k watt spikes and watched it bog burp black smoke and recover like it was nobody's business and go right back to producing stable voltage. I'm guessing the 802 will make 7500 watts at least and put up with an occasional 15k spike. Honestly, I'd likely opt for the 802 if I didn't need the extra power. Being total electric, I had to have the 10k for my heat, etc. if you are heating with gas, go for the 802 and save diesel. Both are fine units IMHO...

Depends how big your wallet is the 803 seems to fetch big bucks

I am having a hard time deciding which to get. I have a pellet stove for heat so it only needs 400w to run it but it needs clean power or the pcb can burn out. Do these units put out power like comes from the power company or are they unstable like any run if the mill non inverter generator?
Another option is to run an ac to dc power supply and power my sinewave inverter but that requires 950w to run a 400w device so not efficient use of my limited power.
As for A/C we could always go to the RV, and use the generator to power it.

I located the following units today:
-1994 803A with 96 original hours for $5500
-1999 802A with 40 hours since reset $3000
-2010 802A with 30 original hours $4000

Thoughts?

Glockfan - I will anxiously be awaiting the load testing for the 802A. If possible keep an eye on voltage drop to see how bad the spikes are because they can damage equipment. If it bogs and maintains voltage I would be surprised.

These are brushless alternators so they have low THD. You'll have no issues with the cleanliness of the power.

If you want an extra layer of protection you can put the stove on a line interactive sine wave UPS.

jimbo913 said:

I am having a hard time deciding which to get. I have a pellet stove for heat so it only needs 400w to run it but it needs clean power or the pcb can burn out. Do these units put out power like comes from the power company or are they unstable like any run if the mill non inverter generator?
Another option is to run an ac to dc power supply and power my sinewave inverter but that requires 950w to run a 400w device so not efficient use of my limited power.
As for A/C we could always go to the RV, and use the generator to power it.

I located the following units today:
-1994 803A with 96 original hours for $5500
-1999 802A with 40 hours since reset $3000
-2010 802A with 30 original hours $4000

Thoughts?

Glockfan - I will anxiously be awaiting the load testing for the 802A. If possible keep an eye on voltage drop to see how bad the spikes are because they can damage equipment. If it bogs and maintains voltage I would be surprised.

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All the MEPS that I know of put out "clean power" . When my power goes out I fire up either the MEP-002A or MEP-003A then go online to see what's going on in the world. Computer handles it just fine, so I'm pretty sure your stove will also.

Yes, they produce clean power. I use a 002a to power my house when a power failure occurs. I power plasma tvs, computers, outdoor wood furnace and anything else I want. Also don't be fooled by the hours on the units, the hour meters are swapped out a lot. For a true reset, make sure it has the reset tag on the side of the control cubicle.

DieselAddict said:

If you want an extra layer of protection you can put the stove on a line interactive sine wave UPS.

Click to expand...

That was my thinking. Anything you're going to run on generator that's sensitive should be on a ups to clean the power and control shutdowns. If you run out of fuel in the middle of the night or have some other issue that causes an engine stall (overheat, oil pres sender failure, etc), voltage and frequency will get out of whack for a moment or two while it spins down, and before the contactor drops out (contactor on an 80x; breaker on an 00x that will pass everything to the line). Even though it's not terribly different than transients and brownouts that can come down your utility line without warning, you're more likely to see fluctuations on generator power, even if it's producing nice clean power.

Edit, just saw page 2:
Most electronics are fine with rough power, but I've seen plenty fail because of power faults. If you end up on generator a lot, it's good insurance to use a UPS on precision electronics. I have my TV and home entertainment rack on a UPS, and servers in my basement on UPS's. They're helpful when they alarm in the middle of the night because the genset shut off (002 oil pressure sender wire vibrated off). And they also protected my stuff when the well pump came on and dropped frequency for a few seconds (I didn't realize unit was very overloaded).
Keep in mind, the 00x series were designed in the 70's.

Keep in mind a UPS and Online UPS have a pretty vast price difference. Not sure you can touch an online one from under $500, and no APC units for under a grand.

Most UPS's in the consumer / office market are standby. Even the sine wave ones.

Agreed, online units are not priced for average consumers to use all over the home. But a standby will generally be good enough to come online with a significant voltage drop or frequency deviation.

jimbo913 said:

Hi,

New to the forum but hope to be able to contribute in the future.

I am interested in picking up a 802A or 803A but having a hard time deciding which one. I would like the extra power of the 803A but most of the time (especially nights) it would be over kill and waste of fuel. I really only need the added power when well pump and other large loads start at the same time.

Does anyone have part load fuel consumption data based on your experiences running these? Or maybe one of you is interested in this data and willing to make a test. I suppose the fuel hose could be placed in a graduated cylinder and calculations made after 15mins at a set load (1/4 or 1/2 load)?
If the 803A only used 1/2 gal per hour at 1/2 load I would just get one of those because thats not too bad but 1 gal per hour is more than I want to use for long periods.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I meant to answer this and forgot...
I've also run my MEP-802 on 5 gallons for a day. I think I ran my 002 during hurricane Sandy on even less, and it had a fuel leak then.

I'll post the results of the load test of the 802a sometime this weekend. We will likely loadbank it on Friday afternoon...

Perfect. Hoping you can figure out what a good stable max rating is for the 802A.

I know everyone likes photos so here are some of a 2010 802A that I was looking at. Has 18 original hours on it and comes with fuel hose. Still unsure if I want to make the leap at the asking price of $4k and/or wait for an 803A, but need to decide after the load testing..

That is one nice looking unit.

That is a nice looking unit. Looks brand new aside from the exhaust manifold. The color and sheen of the manifold bothers me. Like it was clear-coated or soaked in petroleum to make everything look better.
$4000 is probably an appropriate price if it carries load.