Megawatt Inrush And Small Generators

How will a capacitor help? Are you talking about putting it across the 120V generator output?

dueling thermistors

....and you thought that inbred-looking banjo player sitting on the bridge could duel versus a guitar...

IN A CRUNCH...

Small generator. Too small. When the switch is flipped to start the Megawatt, the generator dies...

The Megawatt needs it's own switch no matter what.

Use the capacitor as noted in the given link.

A pushbutton contact switch called momentary only connects while being pressed.

Wire the pushbutton switch as a very short umbilical to the Megawatt on off switch.

So when the pushbutton switch is pressed the capacitor will charge up

Got it?

Start the generator
Push the capacitor button down and keep it down...until...
You flip the Megawatt switch

The generator should "grunt" when you push the capacitor button
And grunt again, when the Megawatt switch is thrown.

No more generator stalling out.

But if you release the pushbutton and the generator stalls, yank the pushbutton out of the circuit and leave the capacitor connected permanently.

Beatzuh heck out of buying another generator.

***The cap hookup goes on the generator side of the on/off switch

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

A pushbutton contact switch called momentary only connects while being pressed.

Wire the pushbutton switch as a very short umbilical to the Megawatt on off switch.

So when the pushbutton switch is pressed the capacitor will charge up

Exactly how starting capacitors work on a motor, except it is automatic.

I think it was Yamaha generator few years ago who offer boost from starting battery for dealing with AC.
They concept vanish from the market, so I assume it was not working too well.

i bet it was fine for one start
setting the a/c to cycle the compressor, likley put a big strain on the little battery and it was NOT being recharged fast enough,
repeated compressor starts , resulted in non-operation, and bad 12 amphr battery, and lots of service complaints

"So when the pushbutton switch is pressed the capacitor will charge up"

I thought that a capacitor across an AC source would just act as a load with current leading the voltage by 90 degrees and no power dissipated. Did not know that it would charge up and hold that charge until discharged into a parallel load. Learn something new every day!

It corrects a BADLY warped pf. If it didn't there would be no capacitor start motors. WHERE IS THE INDUCTOR WE NEED AN INDUCTOR! Try the generator stator.

This is EXACTLY why I chose a military surplus KATO generator head. Per Kw the stator has about half again the number of windings. Bottom line conclusion: A huge reserve, cooler coils and higher efficiency. It comes with a huge price tag increase because the rotor needs to generate surplus flux to saturate the stator when called upon.

It's very easy to get lost in accepted practices like theory of RCL and come to the conclusion that "Well, that's a wrap". Small generators use a bare minimum of copper in the stator. One needs to actually connect an oscilloscope and analyze what is happening to waveform under duress.

"Golly gee I never figured lag in waveform could cause an inoperative condition, 'cause it isn't explained in books - I mean the theory of application".

Fifty amperes of inrush coupled to an entire fragile generation of waveform means NO WORKEE. Great. That's the problem. Even a fool can find a "problem". It's the resolution of a "problem" that is a challenge.

Throw Dogma a Bone(a) and keep searching :)

MExi
clarify, talking about a 'run' cap ? not a Start Cap ?

why ? its not on the circuit after you release the button ?

what did i miss ?

LScamper wrote:
"So when the pushbutton switch is pressed the capacitor will charge up"

I thought that a capacitor across an AC source would just act as a load with current leading the voltage by 90 degrees and no power dissipated. Did not know that it would charge up and hold that charge until discharged into a parallel load. Learn something new every day!

I thought is charged and discharged at the freq of the AC, like 60 times a second., I thought its purpose is to reduce torque of a starting spinning thingy & reduce pf by shifting the voltage/current waves.