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...
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So I ran all of the tests that I could think of, let me know if there is anything I missed that might be worth the trouble. I could probably get a scope to look at the sine wave but I dont know if that would be of much value.
First the 12v battery (overcharging) output. I hooked up a charged auto battery reading 12.6 volts. Economy mode with no load voltage climbed quickly to 15.75v, ramped up to speed 17v. So leaving this on a battery you like will not do it any favors unless you are going to keep an eye on the voltage.
Kind of to be expected, the obvious answer would be an automatic charger. In the interest of efficiency I may tie this into the solar regulator on my big box trailer that only has a 5 watt panel to keep up the battery for storage but does not keep up very well when the lights and such are used much.
For some reason I wanted to find out what kind of load it takes to demand more rpm from the economy mode. At around 350-400 watts you start to notice by the sound of the engine that it is loading some with no change in speed. 500 watts is where it is obvious that the speed starts to pick up some. Subsequent testing finds that with 1kw loads there is a significant difference in speed with economy mode on and off and at 1750w they match up about the same and loads over that gains more speed, all as to be expected.
So I turn off all breakers in the MH except the input and the A/C. Measure the fan only draw to find 275w lo and 300 hi, consistant front and rear. Give a try to start the rear compressor w/fan on low in the economy mode and no other load and no dice, stalls the motor with too much surge load with the rpm's so low. However I find it does start a 1550 watt resistive heater box load or a 1400 watt microwave from the economy mode. I suspect that with maybe about 600 watts of base load so that the engine has more momentum it may start the compressor but that might be just plain hard on everything. So I start it with economy mode off. I have no way of telling what the surge current was but pressure building starts at 900 watts. It settles in at about 1040 watts but it is not working hard cause it is in the cooled garage. With one a/c running I add 1020 watts of resistive load (heater box on low) to the other plug in and it picks it up kind of reluctantly and carries it. Clicking it up to a Hi 1550 watts for a total of about 2600 watts surge triggers an overload and it idles down and needs shut off and restarted to reset.
So I see what it will take by sneeking up the load slowly and at 2250 watts I add another 60watt light bulb which finds its limits. My altitude is 2650' if that makes any difference, it was likely the electronics kicking it out. At 2250 it was wound up tight like it was near its limits, sounded like 5,000 rpm's.
I check and note what all my loads are...
Reefer takes 315 watts when switched on.
TV, DVR, DVD/VHS and surround consumes 85-100 watts.
Small three stage charger for the coach battery pulls 85 watts in its bulk charging mode.
Batteries were up so did not really test the PD 45 with cw, if I remember right it takes what it wants up to 875 watts. Since the batteries are up and it is in float mode, draw was minimal.
The only additional mods I have planned for it is possibly add that rv recept and an hour meter to be able to see how long it lives. I am hoping at least long enough to pay for itself in gas savings to make the convience factor a bonus. It will save me the most using it on the houseboat. I expect at least a 75% fuel savings over the 8kw westerbake marine 4cyl. I hate running that for several hours a day just to run the chest freezer and keep up on the batteries. The savings in not having to buy so much ice may be a side benefit.
I expect to save at least half or more as an alternitive to running the 5500 onan a good deal of the time. Being able to run a single a/c at night for sleeping while camping in the summertime will be a great comfort for sure when the nighttime temps are high. I can handle a dollar an hour at todays gas prices much better than twice that.
I will come back and own up to it if the smoke gets out of it before its time, but for now I am happy with it as it does everything I need it to do.
I hope that everyone understands that I didnt share any of this to try to convince anyone to buy one of these or sell out of whatever they are using, especially if they like what they have. It is all in the spirit of sharing of knowledge and experience. Not everyone needs to be saved from themselves and if nobody goes out on a limb nothing gets learned.
Ray
First the 12v battery (overcharging) output. I hooked up a charged auto battery reading 12.6 volts. Economy mode with no load voltage climbed quickly to 15.75v, ramped up to speed 17v. So leaving this on a battery you like will not do it any favors unless you are going to keep an eye on the voltage.
Kind of to be expected, the obvious answer would be an automatic charger. In the interest of efficiency I may tie this into the solar regulator on my big box trailer that only has a 5 watt panel to keep up the battery for storage but does not keep up very well when the lights and such are used much.
For some reason I wanted to find out what kind of load it takes to demand more rpm from the economy mode. At around 350-400 watts you start to notice by the sound of the engine that it is loading some with no change in speed. 500 watts is where it is obvious that the speed starts to pick up some. Subsequent testing finds that with 1kw loads there is a significant difference in speed with economy mode on and off and at 1750w they match up about the same and loads over that gains more speed, all as to be expected.
So I turn off all breakers in the MH except the input and the A/C. Measure the fan only draw to find 275w lo and 300 hi, consistant front and rear. Give a try to start the rear compressor w/fan on low in the economy mode and no other load and no dice, stalls the motor with too much surge load with the rpm's so low. However I find it does start a 1550 watt resistive heater box load or a 1400 watt microwave from the economy mode. I suspect that with maybe about 600 watts of base load so that the engine has more momentum it may start the compressor but that might be just plain hard on everything. So I start it with economy mode off. I have no way of telling what the surge current was but pressure building starts at 900 watts. It settles in at about 1040 watts but it is not working hard cause it is in the cooled garage. With one a/c running I add 1020 watts of resistive load (heater box on low) to the other plug in and it picks it up kind of reluctantly and carries it. Clicking it up to a Hi 1550 watts for a total of about 2600 watts surge triggers an overload and it idles down and needs shut off and restarted to reset.
So I see what it will take by sneeking up the load slowly and at 2250 watts I add another 60watt light bulb which finds its limits. My altitude is 2650' if that makes any difference, it was likely the electronics kicking it out. At 2250 it was wound up tight like it was near its limits, sounded like 5,000 rpm's.
I check and note what all my loads are...
Reefer takes 315 watts when switched on.
TV, DVR, DVD/VHS and surround consumes 85-100 watts.
Small three stage charger for the coach battery pulls 85 watts in its bulk charging mode.
Batteries were up so did not really test the PD 45 with cw, if I remember right it takes what it wants up to 875 watts. Since the batteries are up and it is in float mode, draw was minimal.
The only additional mods I have planned for it is possibly add that rv recept and an hour meter to be able to see how long it lives. I am hoping at least long enough to pay for itself in gas savings to make the convience factor a bonus. It will save me the most using it on the houseboat. I expect at least a 75% fuel savings over the 8kw westerbake marine 4cyl. I hate running that for several hours a day just to run the chest freezer and keep up on the batteries. The savings in not having to buy so much ice may be a side benefit.
I expect to save at least half or more as an alternitive to running the 5500 onan a good deal of the time. Being able to run a single a/c at night for sleeping while camping in the summertime will be a great comfort for sure when the nighttime temps are high. I can handle a dollar an hour at todays gas prices much better than twice that.
I will come back and own up to it if the smoke gets out of it before its time, but for now I am happy with it as it does everything I need it to do.
I hope that everyone understands that I didnt share any of this to try to convince anyone to buy one of these or sell out of whatever they are using, especially if they like what they have. It is all in the spirit of sharing of knowledge and experience. Not everyone needs to be saved from themselves and if nobody goes out on a limb nothing gets learned.
Ray
