3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
professor95 wrote: EDIT ADDED 45/5/2013- When this thread started in March of 2005, I never expected to see it survive this long or amass the quantity of information that has been shared here. In...
Forum Discussion
Hurricane Katrina knocked out the power to my home from Monday at noon until Friday night. I put my ELM 3000 into service by wiring it directly (NOT BACKFEEDING) to the sub box that serves all of the lights, refers, freezer, ceiling fans, televisions, etc. in my house. I did physically disconnect the sub box from the main box in addition to throwing the breaker. I thought some readers of this thread might be interested in the performance and some problems that occurred during this 22 hour a day service. I did let it rest 2 hours a day.
It’s already been stated on this thread that the 110 receptacle supplied on the panel should be replaced with a heavy duty polarized one. This modification had been made prior to the hurricane.
The generator worked great for about 6 hours which got us through the 100 + mph gusts as the eye passed here in Petal, MS. Then, I noticed that the lights in the house were flickering a bit so I went to the carport to check the generator. There was what appeared to be an arc inside the control panel on the upper right side. I immediately shut it down and took out the control panel screws and popped off the plastic cover on the backside of the panel. There is a plastic encased capacitor there that is connected with two push on connectors. Evidently one of the connectors had never been tight on the lug. It had arced until it had eaten away most of the lug. I was able to file the remaining part of the lug clean, push the connector on the ‘stub’ and crimp it on with pliers. I cranked the engine, threw the breakers and put my two large refers, chest freezer, and rest of house (excluding central A/C) on line. It worked great for 2 days then it lost all voltage.
When I checked it I noticed the toggle from the 110/220 selector switch on the carport floor! The vibration had destroyed the switch. By luck I had a heavy duty DPDT toggle switch in a junk box. It even had screw terminals like the original switch so I replaced the cheap switch on the panel with a heavy duty one and all was well again. I did consider removing the switch altogether and permanently connecting the two pairs of wires that are connected when the switch is in the 110 position, and would have had I not had a replacement handy.
Other than these two quality control problems the generator performed beyond expectations and my neighbors couldn’t believe what it powered or how quiet it was and how LONG it ran on such a small amount of fuel (about 12 hours). Most of them were running 5500 watt contractor gensets with 10.5 hp engines.
It’s Monday (after Katrina) night now and since Saturday morning the generator has been running at my dad’s.
Conclusion:
I think that the quality control problems associated with the ELM3000 are mainly in the ‘peripherals’ to the engine/genhead. (I forgot to mention that the fuel indicator sticks and leaks)
I think it would be a good idea to beef up the control panel as a preventive measure by 1) replacing the 110 outlet with a heavy duty one as described earlier in this thread, 2) Crimp or solder the connections to the capacitor, 3) replace or hardwire the selector switch. 4) forget the fuel indicator.
Hugh
It’s already been stated on this thread that the 110 receptacle supplied on the panel should be replaced with a heavy duty polarized one. This modification had been made prior to the hurricane.
The generator worked great for about 6 hours which got us through the 100 + mph gusts as the eye passed here in Petal, MS. Then, I noticed that the lights in the house were flickering a bit so I went to the carport to check the generator. There was what appeared to be an arc inside the control panel on the upper right side. I immediately shut it down and took out the control panel screws and popped off the plastic cover on the backside of the panel. There is a plastic encased capacitor there that is connected with two push on connectors. Evidently one of the connectors had never been tight on the lug. It had arced until it had eaten away most of the lug. I was able to file the remaining part of the lug clean, push the connector on the ‘stub’ and crimp it on with pliers. I cranked the engine, threw the breakers and put my two large refers, chest freezer, and rest of house (excluding central A/C) on line. It worked great for 2 days then it lost all voltage.
When I checked it I noticed the toggle from the 110/220 selector switch on the carport floor! The vibration had destroyed the switch. By luck I had a heavy duty DPDT toggle switch in a junk box. It even had screw terminals like the original switch so I replaced the cheap switch on the panel with a heavy duty one and all was well again. I did consider removing the switch altogether and permanently connecting the two pairs of wires that are connected when the switch is in the 110 position, and would have had I not had a replacement handy.
Other than these two quality control problems the generator performed beyond expectations and my neighbors couldn’t believe what it powered or how quiet it was and how LONG it ran on such a small amount of fuel (about 12 hours). Most of them were running 5500 watt contractor gensets with 10.5 hp engines.
It’s Monday (after Katrina) night now and since Saturday morning the generator has been running at my dad’s.
Conclusion:
I think that the quality control problems associated with the ELM3000 are mainly in the ‘peripherals’ to the engine/genhead. (I forgot to mention that the fuel indicator sticks and leaks)
I think it would be a good idea to beef up the control panel as a preventive measure by 1) replacing the 110 outlet with a heavy duty one as described earlier in this thread, 2) Crimp or solder the connections to the capacitor, 3) replace or hardwire the selector switch. 4) forget the fuel indicator.
Hugh
