is this simply belt slip?

[tyssniffen]

so, here's what I've done so far (with Tom from Central Gen's help) which I think, Bruce, is your number #2 advice ?   the red wires?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V0DAmAPiGJw/VpQp5ncr76I/AAAAAAAAGtY/MPRxjngYzdA/s1600/2016-01-11%2B12.15.23.jpg 

[BruceM]

I don't have that memorized, but it looks about right for CGG's AVR hooked up to NOT use the harmonic.  Just follow his diagram carefully.  I hope that will do the trick for you.  After that, I'd try adding some motor run capacitors, about 20-40uF total.  The capacitance is additive if applied in parallel across your 120V output.  So if you had a 12uF and a 22uF that would be 34uF total.  Older motor run caps should be fine in your have them or can find them on the cheap.  They are the ones in the oval metal cans. Don't use motor start capacitors, they will fry in a short time, they are only meant for brief duty cycle.

[EdDee]

Hi Guys,

Ok...jumping in here.... I don't know the system you are using, but have you tried a straight resistive(ie bar heater) load in case its a feedback of sorts from the inverter etc.... that helped me isolate problems a few times in the past.....

Good luck...

Regds
Ed

[BruceM]

Good point, Ed, some resistive load or even a motor load (low frequency inductive) will  help reduce some of the spiking on the waveform peaks that are common with some STs.  Pity we can't get skewed windings on them.  I'm not thrilled the output quality of my ST-3, but I love the price. 

[tyssniffen]

Ok...jumping in here.... I don't know the system you are using, but have you tried a straight resistive(ie bar heater) load in case its a feedback of sorts from the inverter etc.... that helped me isolate problems a few times in the past.....

As in, throw a space heater on there before adding the other (house) load?

[EdDee]

For testing mainly... once you find out if the problem is alternator or load related, its easier to to diagnose further...

[tyssniffen]

Bruce, you said get capacitors that cover 20-40 uF.

so, I'm looking at this 10 (mdf?) UF one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-MFD-uf-370-440-v-vac-volts-Oval-AC-Electric-Motor-Run-Capacitor-HVAC-/400467157669?hash=item5d3db3e2a5:g:NOQAAOSwxH1T48Z~

and getting 3 of them, so I can start with 10 and work up.   is that what you suggest?
and how do they get wired in?  the AC just goes in, and comes back out the same 'post' but opposite side? (can't quite see how those flanges are set up)


In other, not complete testing news: I hooked up my old school table saw and had it running before I switched on the house, and the house seemed to be willing to take that power.  Once I turned off the tablesaw, it seemed the house rejected it again.  I couldn't do a lot of experimenting though.

[mike90045]

till you get a scope on it, to see what the waveform is, it's going to be a wild guess.   Maybe just a bit of too high of voltage ?

[quinnbrian]

I uses a Lister SR2 with a 10KW head to charge my batteries. I'm totally off grid...have been for the last 5 years. My inverter is a Magnum 4844 with built in charger/controller.  With my set up you can dial back how much power goes into the batteries or inverter/charger from the genset. My 10KW head is good for something like 40 amps @ 220 volts ( something around that) , way too much for my battery bank, so I go into my setting and dial back the amount of power going into the batteries. I think I have it set at about 70% , a little high, but has keep the plate clean in the batteries for 5 years, and that good for me.
I don't know much about the Outback system, when we bought our system, we looked at the Outback...and decided on the Magnum inverter.We haven't had a problem with it.
Before we had the Lister, we charged with a 10KW gas gen, and we still had to dial back to match the battery bank.
If you do have the ability to adjust you amp input, I would start low and work your way up , until your genset starts to fail....and knock it down a little from there.
How clean the power is, coming from the gen , hasn't had any effect on anything. The inverter is a pure sine wave inverter, and clean everything up on the inverter side. ST gen heads are not known for there clean power, just like a cheap , made in China genset.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Brian

[Tom]

Outback has similar settings to the Magnum.

[BruceM]

Yes, Tyssniffen, those are the right kind of capacitors.  As Mike says, the best thing to do would be to get a cheap oscilliscope or borrow one and see what your AC looks like. Otherwise, we are "shooting blind".

[BruceM]

Tyssniffen,
I just tried one of CGG- Tom's 115V AVRs on my neighbors 240V setup ST-3, using the the mains for excitation instead of the harmonic.  Alas, I gave you some bum advice as it works very poorly, unlike my own design AVR.

Tom's AVR regulates in this configuration but I won't be recommending this anymore.  The generator buzzed badly from the load imbalance, and it couldn't start a second 1/2 hp motor which it easily starts on the harmonic.   I did talk with Tom this morning and basically I don't think any of his customers use this configuration due to the pathetic motor starting performance.  I think adding a 400VA toroidal step down transformer to feed the AVR might help by eliminating the load imbalance and I may try that.

For this application we can live with the harmonic, so I configured the AVR to run off the Z winding.  In that configuration it works well in limiting the no load voltage, and motor starting is as good as without the AVR.  We aren't using it for lighting at all so, we don't care about flicker and voltage variation for this application.

Best Wishes,
Bruce

[tyssniffen]

resurrecting this thread, as it's time to start pushing AC into the house again.

I think many who commented above (thank you again) might have also seen another thread I did where I got a scope on my 6/1 with the ST3K:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD1t3z0HTBY

and I'm going to be trying to put a space heater on there to smooth that out before turning on the house... but can anyone tell me WHY that sine is jagged?

[buickanddeere]

How about a DC cap across the excitation to smooth the ripple and even the peaks and valleys.

[BruceM]

Wow, your ST-3 gets the award for nastiest waveform!  Do try the motor run caps and see if that is adequate.  Otherwise, I hate to say it but your ST-3 stator /windings are horrible and the cost of of rewind is much greater than the cost of a new head.