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MEP 831A Fix-up Thread

kloppk

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Colt,
I took some mechanical measurement's today on one of my 831's for you to compare your actuator and mechanical governor to.
Measurements are shown below as measurement "A" and "B".
"A" is the gap between the magnet and the target on the actuator arm as measured at the top of the two surfaces.
"B" is the distance from the black throttle arm and the bottom edge of the top of the mechanical governor plate.
See pic below for locations of distances "A" and "B".
Click picture below to zoom in.
Governor Settings 9-10-19.jpg

In all conditions below the round ball nut on the actuator rod is firmly seated in the black throttle arm socket.

Condition 1: Generator off and target contacting magnet.
Distance A = 0.00"
Distance B = 4.100"

Condition 2: Generator off and actuator "pinned" for a manual start. Spring loaded pin in holding actuator in near WOT position for a manual start.
Distance A = 1.00"
Distance B = 3.52"

Condition 3: Holding the actuator as far away from the magnet as possible.
Distance A = 1.265"
Distance B = 3.360"

HTH!
 

CallMeColt

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Colt,
I took some mechanical measurement's today on one of my 831's for you to compare your actuator and mechanical governor to.
Measurements are shown below as measurement "A" and "B".
"A" is the gap between the magnet and the target on the actuator arm as measured at the top of the two surfaces.
"B" is the distance from the black throttle arm and the bottom edge of the top of the mechanical governor plate.
See pic below for locations of distances "A" and "B".
Click picture below to zoom in.
View attachment 775965

In all conditions below the round ball nut on the actuator rod is firmly seated in the black throttle arm socket.

Condition 1: Generator off and target contacting magnet.
Distance A = 0.00"
Distance B = 4.100"

Condition 2: Generator off and actuator "pinned" for a manual start. Spring loaded pin in holding actuator in near WOT position for a manual start.
Distance A = 1.00"
Distance B = 3.52"

Condition 3: Holding the actuator as far away from the magnet as possible.
Distance A = 1.265"
Distance B = 3.360"

HTH!
Fantastic information. Tomorrow, I will check mine against these.
 

CallMeColt

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Alright, did a bunch of work today.

Installed the new controller. Very easy. I'd almost recommend just buying this controller if you get one of these units no matter what so you never need to worry about adjustments. It's sent with labels for the wires but I found it faster to just write the letter on the connectors.
71102355_3020237428050472_5388367120889282560_n.jpg

Installed a rubber battery hold down & put some padding on the sides/bottom of the battery to help protect it. Neatened up the battery cables & put covers on the terminals.
Also re-installed the 24v solar charger & hooked all the wires up. Not sure if it is actually working. In the sun or not, the red LED on top blinks?
71258815_2235031256606466_6542072938063986688_n.jpg

Picture of the new hour meter.

70163832_406107506711149_9058185661915332608_n.jpg

Since I was checking it so much, I wrote some of the controller information on the inside of the front cover. During my testing today they were right where they needed to be as per the TM.

70266042_392288591457441_5862025722134003712_n.jpg

Finally stopped the fuel drip from the water/filter assembly. I ended up ordering a complete, cheap assembly with a filter. $17 shipped. The bowl had a small crack & the gasket for the vent/drain would not hold. Way cheaper than the original part number & it works. Search R12T filter on eBay. I kept my WIX one on there & will swap to the R12T filter after I empty this tank.

70556168_2415773978695219_8879963739109982208_n.jpg

I had to remove & rotate the pull start assembly. With it being a "Chanmar" 186F copy, when the pull cord was run through the hole that is provided for it, the teeth that come out to grab & turn the motor were slightly come out & when the motor was running, barley touching. Made a scratching noise & sparked. Also changed the pull handle to a D shape type one.


After a little adjusting & tweaking, all seems to be proper. No more of the linkage lifting out of the fuel lever. I'm still getting a slight up & down at a no load idle but I'm not to worried. On on the threads I have read on here, some have said they had this happen with a little to much oil in it & also when there was a little bit of obstruction in the fuel return lines. Oil will be changed after I do an extended load test. I will check the line for obstructions when I get to figuring out the fuel level sender issue.

I had to order small #8 bolts for mounting the top vent fan. Once they come, I am going to wire it in. I didn't have any of the wires for the fan past the two pin connector running with the main wire harness. I looked at the TM & it gives me the some of the information that I need, but it doesn't give all because the replacement fan I ordered didn't come with it's wire cord & the pins aren't numbered. Can someone by chance look at their wires & tell me what wires with the numbers on them (101H18 & 102N18 ) go to what pin on the fan & temperature switch? And also, what direction the airflow is? Nowhere does it say if this fan fulls are in or pushes it out.
Fan Wiring.jpg

I measured my mechanical governor heights from the plate of their screwed into to the top of the bold heads. Top one is 0.798. Bottom is .937. Not to far off from what others here on the thread have shared with me.

I did full load test with a 240v 3,000 watt heater for 30 minuets but didn't want to go to long since I noticed a lot of heat coming out of the top vent, even without the fan. I got around 135 deg. Being in south Texas, it's still very hot out. Want to wait to do a real extended load test to clean out the gunk from years of sitting but will once the fan is in. As I said before, I also hooked up a heat gun that pulls exactly 673 watts on low while doing the load test for a bit. The generator kept up but I didn't push it for more than 2 minuets. Lot's of black smoke. When I applied the extra load, the engine revved up, then down a few times until it found the sweet point. I know this unit is rated for 3,000 watts. Is my overload fault not working, or can these units really push that much power? I don't plan to run that much on it at all on a normal basis. If i tried to turn the 3,673 watt load on all at once, it tried then the load is dumped... but no overload fault.

I took some more video today but it will take a bit to upload. Will share that when it's ready. Basically shows & talks about all of this post.
 
Last edited:

kloppk

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... Can someone by chance look at their wires & tell me what wires with the numbers on them (101H18 & 102N18) go to what pin on the fan & temperature switch? And also, what direction the airflow is?
View attachment 776408
The airflow direction is OUT of the cabinet.

As for the wiring it's on the picture you posted.
But to clarify it's...
101H18 goes to P14-1. J14-1 goes to the thermostat S21 pin 1. Thermostat S21 pin 2 goes to the fan pin 1. (This is the hot leg being fed by L1 from the inverter.)
102N18 goes to P14-2. J14-2 goes to the fan pin 2. (This is the Neutral leg being fed by Neutral from the inverter.)

I'll look and see if I can track down a fan cord and the mating connector J14 for you.
 

Guyfang

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Part number for P14 is 03-09-1022. NSN: 5935-01-012-1273 . You need the other side.
This is a MOLEX plug. Should be easy to find both the male and female sides of the plug.
 

kloppk

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Part number for P14 is 03-09-1022. NSN: 5935-01-012-1273 . You need the other side.
This is a MOLEX plug. Should be easy to find both the male and female sides of the plug.
J14 that Colt needs is a Molex ‎0003092022. $0.23
The pins are Molex ‎0002092103‎. $0.16 each

The fan cord is a Guardtec and looks like PN HP50-24 will work. It has 24" leads to work with. $0.85

These are all avalailble thru DigiKey.
 
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CallMeColt

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Thank you! I found the fan cord & have ordered it.

I'm going to use my shop supplies to do the rest. I actually may have the needed connector in my bin but if not, I have something else suitable.
 

CallMeColt

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LED bulb came in today & it works! It also works in my 802A. Here is a link in case anyone else needs one. They have multiple colors.

https://www.aero-lites.com/product-...t-drop-in-led-replacement-for-ge-327-24-28vdc

Now, for all the fan parts to come in so I can wire that up. Then, figure out the fuel gauge problem. Once that is done, the generator will be finished! At least I hope. :) Then I can stop bother you all!
 

CallMeColt

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Rest of the stuff I needed for the fan came in today. Wired it up & plan to test it tomorrow. Thank you everyone for the help!

70747956_2334525963490254_241871993807306752_n.jpg

If time permits this weekend, I am going to do an extended load test on it to see if any issues come up. Maybe 5 hours or so at 100%.
 

CallMeColt

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Found some more stuff that I need to fix today. :/

Auxiliary fuel pump is no good. Tested as the TM says too. Nothing. Checked the float switch, pump switch & relay... good to go.

Found the connector loose for the low fuel shut off. Pushed it together & got a low fuel light! Put some fuel in & it went away. Glad it's okay.

So, I'm just going to order a pump & fuel sender.

Now, the question is... what's the best way to get in there to do the work? Looks like you can take off the panel where the fuel cap is & disconnect the hoses. Will it fit between the generator head & inverter? That way bolting the new pump on will be easy & I can use the hole in the back to access the sender.

I really don't want to lift the hole engine & stuff out to get at the tank!

Ordered from Summit Racing after digging in the forum for a while;
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/atx-g17/
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/atx-e1074/

 
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CallMeColt

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I'm out at my off grid place this weekend with the generator. Haven't put a lot of time on it since the weather is nice... Just to charge betteries & run the kitchen. Ran the heat a bit the first morning.

Yesterday afternoon, I was just messing around with different combinations of stuff to see what I can run. The last items I tried were my two window A/C units. It will not run them properly for some reason!

I usually run the generator in 240v mode. When I went to start either unit, they would just rumble a bit when the compressor went to start. The output on the generator showed it going between 1800 & 2200 watts. Then after 20 seconds or so, the window unit compressor **** down & would wait a bit, then try again.

I switched the generator to 115v mode. Each unit would start in this mode, but only if nothing else was running & they couldn't run together.

The window units are 8,000 & 10,000 BTU. Even together, they're not to much for the generator. They run fine on other generators.

It almost seems like the A/C can sense the drop in current when it goes to start & tries to slowly get going, almost like a variable frequency drive on a motor. Because it does that, the generator throttle doesn't react properly. They sort of fight each other & then the A/C gives up to protect itself.

Any ideas anyone?
 

DieselAddict

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What is the wire size between the generator and loads? If you are running in 115v mode you'll need at least #10.

If you have a pretty fast volt meter with a high/low capture feature you can capture the voltage range at the AC unit and at the generator during a compressor start and see if you have too much voltage drop across the wire.

The 831 has decent short term surge capacity (milliseconds) but not a lot of generation overhead otherwise.
 

Guyfang

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Lets not forget cable length. I would assume, and you all know how I feel about that! But assume your cable is fairly short. But if not, that can affect it also.
 

CallMeColt

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What is the wire size between the generator and loads? If you are running in 115v mode you'll need at least #10.

If you have a pretty fast volt meter with a high/low capture feature you can capture the voltage range at the AC unit and at the generator during a compressor start and see if you have too much voltage drop across the wire.

The 831 has decent short term surge capacity (milliseconds) but not a lot of generation overhead otherwise.
10 gauge all the way. I'm not sure if the meter I have is fast but it does have a clamp on ammeter that I could put around the Romex to watch for amperage spike. Also could put the pins in the plug when it's starting.

Lets not forget cable length. I would assume, and you all know how I feel about that! But assume your cable is fairly short. But if not, that can affect it also.
I though about this too. I had a 25ft cable going into the main breaker, then maybe, another 20ft of wiring in the cabin to the units.


With all this being said, my 3,000 watt electric heater in the cabin will start no problem. Same size cable & wire. 240v though.

I have a 15,000 BTU unit in my garage. I may hook it directly up to it & see if it acts the same. If it is, I'm guessing it is resistance somewhere in the wiring. Maybe a loose connection along the way that the bigger generator is able to just overcome?

Always something! Hopefully I can figure it out. My goal was to leave this one out there once it's done so I don't need to always tow the 802A trailer out.

I took a video of what was happening & will upload it to share when I get a chance.
 
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