Mep802 small fire repair help !!!

Mep802 Mice nest small fire repair help !!!

Dang that sucks!

Doesnt look too bad though. Id replace the barrier strip and put new ends on the cables and try it out.

Mice urine will eat through the metal and plastic making a loose connection. As you know, when you have a loose connection with electricity it causes heat. The heat caused the nest to catch fire. Probably came loose when you were transferring from one house to another. Time to seal up all the holes so they can't get inside again.

This is repairable. There are several people parting out gen sets right now in the forum. I would get at least the TB's, then clean it all out. Hook them up, and if you have no other damage, you should be good. But you need to look in every corner, every wire bundle and check out some components. Start with K1. Take it out and bench test it. It's simple. After you check everything out, then do it again. Be a shame if you missed a few wires shorted together, and burn it up again.

Use your camera and take pictures of the canon plugs and wire bundles under the control panel. See if the wires there are not melted.

When you rehook everything, you need to pay max attention to the wire diagrams. Take your time, check each wire befor, during and after you hook them up. Or you will have way more problems then you can ever know. This is not rocket science. But you just need to pay attention.

Good luck. Keep us in the loop.

I hate mice.

Had a mouse issue in exact spot on my 802. No fire, but was one loose connection away from it!! Follow advice you have already received here. The wires need to come off and either the crimped forks cleaned up really well or even replaced. Find another terminal strip on A-----n and either just do one wire at a time or I do know that the wires from the gen head are numbered, be it very small. 1-12. As guy said, this is easily fixable, just take your time and double check everything else. Those little b$#% really mess with a perfectly running generator.

After you get the unit repaired, spend some time screening all the openings to keep out the mice, wasps, daubers, etc. Mice can ruin your day. I have no problem killing every mouse I can. I've had then fill my vehicle blower fan with dog food !! Good luck with the fix...

We should start a thread with tips on mouse prevention.

Nice screening!

robson1015 said:

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After you get the unit repaired, spend some time screening all the openings to keep out the mice, wasps, daubers, etc. Mice can ruin your day. I have no problem killing every mouse I can. I've had then fill my vehicle blower fan with dog food !! Good luck with the fix...

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If you don't know, in picture two, under the "foam" pad directly under the engine, there is another hole.

Guyfang said:

If you don't know, in picture two, under the "foam" pad directly under the engine, there is another hole.

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Guy - Picture 1 is the bottom of the unit under the engine.....

Used 1/8" hardware cloth wire on every opening....

I see wire ties in the last pics, what did you use to fasten the screen on the other parts?

gimpyrobb said:

I see wire ties in the last pics, what did you use to fasten the screen on the other parts?

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1/8" pop rivets with washers

Dang. Im 2 hours north of the original poster. If it can happen to him, it can happen to me. Ugggh!

Chrispyny said:

Dang. Im 2 hours north of the original poster. If it can happen to him, it can happen to me. Ugggh!

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Ugggggh! I live 6000 miles from the original poster, and have seen it countless times!!

Field mice are everywhere and will get into everything, EVERY THING!, especially anything that presents a cozy, or insulated, solar heated space. Why the military didn't spec out rodent proof enclosures is beyond any realm of rational thinking. Two worthless mice can/will ruin a million dollars worth of equipment in a month's time.

Mice can see well into the IR spectrum and can pick out a warm place to nest and a generator encased with a dark colored box around it and a warm engine block is prime pickings for a new home.

Mouse proofing is my next project for my 803a. Anyone who has a generator needs to mouse proof it right away lest they incur an expensive repair bill from the damage.

Guyfang said:

Ugggggh! I live 6000 miles from the original poster, and have seen it countless times!!

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Dang, how far can a mouse travel?

doghead said:

Dang, how far can a mouse travel?

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Depends on who it hitches a ride with.

In 1982 we had a HI-Power radar, (Hawk missle System) start to smoke, and before anyone could climb the berm, catch on fire. 1.5 million dollars. Up in smoke. Cause, field mice. They got up in one of the cabinets, next to a step up transformer, in the kilo volt arena, and that's all it took. That was a real hard winter on us, atop the mountain. I had two MEP-016's smoke test, and a MEP-116A burn up also. So our stupid Duck Hunter Chief got a cat. That stopped the mouse problem. But, then we had CATS. The fool brought a female to the site. We were overrun with cats. To make matters worse, the dam* cats didn't eat the mice. No, no. They left the caldavers outside the maintence building, in the snow. When spring, sprung, the oder of hundreds of dead mice was not to be underestimated.

Oliveone we are neighbors i live just across the river about 30min away.
I would connect the burnt up wires and do a test run before you even replace the terminal block. If it all checks out repair correctly.
Then put hardware cloth over the lower openings and below the engine..theres a hole down there too. Covering the rad opening isnt needed as its not open to anything but the front of the rad.

If this set is mobile and you would like to get it fixed PM me. Its possible to have a quick turn around. They say power may be off until late this week and snow again on wed.