Puma / Dorman 6LE / MacFarlane B46B / 110 kVA Generator Resurrection

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awemawson:
Thanks Tom for the kind words.

Tomorrow first thing I need to do is rig up a pair of switches to simulate low oil pressure and high temperature. They are both normally closed switches on the engine, but I've inverted their functions in the software set up at the moment to aid testing, but do want to ensure that they actually work - there was far too much excitement last time I rigged the controller !

awemawson:
First thing today I drilled yet another switch hole in the control panel, messing up the paint again ! I think this time it may get a label stuck over it :clap:

I decided that it would be far safer to have a key operated switch isolating the supply to the DSE3110 controller to prevent fiddling - now I only have momentary key switches 'on hand' so I've ordered a two position key actuator and put a normal switch head on until it arrives.

Then I went ahead and lashed in a pair of switches to better understand how the control handles Oil Pressure and Temperature errors. Both are normally closed switches but the control expects the Oil switch to be fleeting, and open as the engine runs, whereas the Temperature switch should be always closed. The slight complication for this is I want the Open state of the temperature switch to turn on my panel light. This was easily solved by putting the switch in parallel with the indicator and having a pull up (1K5 ohms) actually drive the indicator in fault conditions.

All seemed fine, so I took the plunge and installed the panel, being acutely aware that it was at this point last time that things went horribly wrong. :bugeye: Not so this time. Pressing the Start button resulted in the generator starting - How novel :ddb: However the controller stopped the engine after 15 seconds reporting 'Over Heat' - obviously it was not ACTUALLY over heated - I'd not fully mastered the control and had set it up with the Heat switch operating anti-phase.

Another thing that I'd noticed was I'd left it set up for showing Phase / Neutral volts rather than Phase / Phase - another simple bit of configuration.

Just a simple re-configuration of the controller via it's USB port, but do I shove the software on a laptop and do it 'on site' or do I un-wire the control panel and do it back at base.

Obviously advantageous to have the software on a laptop for the future, so I tried loading it to my robust XP based Panasonic Toughbook, but it was having none of it. So I pulled my domestic Win7 based laptop out of the house and had far better success - there is something distinctly peculiar about configuring a 1970's generator via a laptop :lol:

So I made the two tweaks and it all does as expected - Oil Light initially illuminated as is the 'Not Charging' light until the engine starts when they both go off, and as the engine is stopped the Not Charging stays alight until the engine is almost stationary, and the oil light comes on quite a few seconds later as the pressure decays - all very satisfactory.

After that success I installed the socket for the Trickle Charger, and re-wired the charger itself - this is to keep the batteries alive long term as the generator site idle most of it's time.

So not much to do now apart from sorting out some safety panels in the main cabinet to keep fingers out of live bits, and to re-engineer the exhaust so it is integral with the generator as far as moving it is concerned.

John Rudd:
Good work Andrew.... :bow:

I commissioning new/old stuff....fault finding especially...

awemawson:
Thanks John, it's been quite an interesting learning exercise, which I suppose is a lot to do with why I do these things.

Just need to make it a bit more transportable to be able to shift it to its final location - I may put temporary axles and wheels through the pair of holes that pierce the lower RSJs (I still have a set of four very heavy duty low speed wheels that I used to move my Induction Furnace down to the bottom of the garden at my last place all those years ago. That involved an OSB 'road' over a soft lawn !)

hermetic:
ON BOYS! ON TO THE FURNACE!! Your week has been good Andrew, mine so far has involved, in no particular order, a failed freezer and a blocked drain at my mothers, which looks like it is actually caused by a full septic tank down the garden , about 2 ft under a greenhouse, my wifes stairlift failed same day, and is in bits and bound for the workshop tomorrow, and to cap it all tonight my youngest daughter (14) sends me to the supermarket to buy halloween sweets, then tells me when I get back she is "off with her mates" and leaves me on door duty I have had enough of this week, and its only Thursday! Tommorow I will get some shop time, albeit on the stairlift which I will chuck up on the tube as this weeks video, along with a few other bits.
The generator looks splendid, and is now worth many times what you paid I bet! can't wait to see it used in anger on the furnace, good luck with it all!
Phil

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