So I haven't put a meter on everything but the charge meter is always showing negative when the genset is running. Does that mean it's drawing more than charging? I would assume that it's not charging at all and using the battery a bit. i don't remember the amps in the negative. The batteries seem to continue to work and start the unit fine but I only use it for a few hours at a time maybe every other month. I did run the batteries to zero once leaving the CP lights on for 5 days. They charged back up just fine once the charger was done having a heart attack.
Side note, I will be putting a led light strip in there or at least leds in the bulb sockets in the near future. I don't need to be sneaky with little green lights that produce almost no light at all.
I am having an electrician replace my breaker box next week and going to have him wire the genset into the panel. Would it be advisable to run 120v into the genset for convenience. Maybe to hook up battery tenders for 24/7 topoff of batteries?
The unit is a MEP-004 utility with sx460 regulator.
Something else I'm thinking about is creating a governor out of an arduino and stepper motor. I could put a frequency sense circuit in and adjust the throttle via stepper. I would have to have lots of safety protocols in place to make sure it doesn't run away if the code has a glitch. I'm just not sure how fast the response time will be. If I try to adjust fast I run the risk of overshooting and "searching". Too slow and there may not be a point. Other issue is that I don't know if I'll ever load the thing enough to need anything better than manual throttle.
I have to add one more thing in case someone comes here and doesn't know about them. I initially wired my genset in to my panel myself knowing it wasn't code. I knew the main MUST be off before kicking the genset breaker on. I know that's BAD but it worked well. I didn't want to spend $400+ on a manual transfer switch but I didn't know any alternative. I just ran across an alternative. Generator Interlocks are little metal things that set on the face of your breaker panel and wont let you have the genset breaker on at the same time as the main. Physically can be done. If you buy a brand name one it will be NEMA approved and should pass code. They are expensive for a little piece of stamped metal ($50) but worth it. The new panel I have going in is a 200 amp 42 slot square-d and the interlock kit is made by square-d for my panel. I hope this helps someone else that is struggling with cost vs safety. I had never heard of them.
Side note, I will be putting a led light strip in there or at least leds in the bulb sockets in the near future. I don't need to be sneaky with little green lights that produce almost no light at all.
I am having an electrician replace my breaker box next week and going to have him wire the genset into the panel. Would it be advisable to run 120v into the genset for convenience. Maybe to hook up battery tenders for 24/7 topoff of batteries?
The unit is a MEP-004 utility with sx460 regulator.
Something else I'm thinking about is creating a governor out of an arduino and stepper motor. I could put a frequency sense circuit in and adjust the throttle via stepper. I would have to have lots of safety protocols in place to make sure it doesn't run away if the code has a glitch. I'm just not sure how fast the response time will be. If I try to adjust fast I run the risk of overshooting and "searching". Too slow and there may not be a point. Other issue is that I don't know if I'll ever load the thing enough to need anything better than manual throttle.
I have to add one more thing in case someone comes here and doesn't know about them. I initially wired my genset in to my panel myself knowing it wasn't code. I knew the main MUST be off before kicking the genset breaker on. I know that's BAD but it worked well. I didn't want to spend $400+ on a manual transfer switch but I didn't know any alternative. I just ran across an alternative. Generator Interlocks are little metal things that set on the face of your breaker panel and wont let you have the genset breaker on at the same time as the main. Physically can be done. If you buy a brand name one it will be NEMA approved and should pass code. They are expensive for a little piece of stamped metal ($50) but worth it. The new panel I have going in is a 200 amp 42 slot square-d and the interlock kit is made by square-d for my panel. I hope this helps someone else that is struggling with cost vs safety. I had never heard of them.
