Hello Everyone,
Sorry for the delay... Not enough computer time
To answer a few questions…
Moving the genset…
I moved the genset out of the basement in pieces (it's a "walk out" basement). The little Kubota carried the pieces to the shed on a carry all (on the 3 point hitch). I left the Listeroid assembled during the move.
It was quite a move, done alone, in a bit of a hurry, right before a big impending snowstorm. Widespread power outages were predicted and I wanted to get the genset operational beforehand. The power DID go out briefly and I got to run the house on Listeroid power for like a half hour
You just know it would have been out for days if I wasn't ready.
The hardest part was getting the Listeroid up and over the door threshold (which is like 5 or 6 inches high). It was cold and had snowed, which didn't help any - see last answer, below
About the frame…
Actually, I had nice tires on the rear but it proved to be too bouncy so I removed them. This is why there is a lunette ring at the generator end of the skid. With the tires on there I was able to pick up the nose using a trailer mover (with the Kubota) and pull the genset around the yard. Worked very nicely, except the bounce when it was running.
So I removed the tires and put back the dock bumpers as seen in the video. Those are rubber truck dock bumpers under there, at three locations. They were fairly inexpensive, not too squishy, and prevented the frame from digging up the basement floor. I used three points of contact for stability. The frame rails are from a rear clip of a Deuce-and-a-Half which I bobbed.
Rotational direction of the ST5…
The fan is straight bladed. I didn't want the radiator plumbing over the generator and I didn't want the belt on the cranking side of the engine, although that flywheel is smooth. I had a bugger of a time getting the belt to track on the other, grooved, flywheel. So, I put the generator on the valve side of the engine, causing it to turn counter clockwise. Electrically speaking, it really doesn't matter which way it turns.
Wiring...
I wired the two stator coils in parallel for balanced loading at 120 volts. I did not bond one side to the frame. Instead, I brought them both out, along with a ground (which goes to the frame). One of these lines is deemed "hot" at the transfer switch and feeds the branch circuits. The other line passes through and make its way to the main service entrance panel, where it is connected to the house neutral. This gives the generator its reference to neutral.
The frame ground from the generator goes to the ground bar at the service entrance panel. The service entrance ground bar is connected to the water pipes and to the lightning protection system, which has six ground rods at the perimeter of the house, driven ten feet into the ground. This gives the generator its reference to ground. I wired it this way to prevent having a loop in the neutral.
Because the generator gets its ground and neutral reference from the main service panel, running it "local" (not plugged into the house) causes it to have no ground and no neutral. In "local" mode we'll just say it has L1 and L2, which are 120V apart.
Bare feet…
No, not an ironman - that's for sure… Ha Ha… Although, I will say that the feet are pretty tough by this point. I live my life totally barefoot and have been doing so for over eight years, due to a back problem. I was essentially crippled and couldn't do much of anything - barely could walk at all. Today I hike on the toughest of trails, I run, and I once again can play with heavy iron things
Yeah, no tropical critters here - but I do have to watch for frostbite. I hate winter but the feet stay bare. Snow makes things a bit difficult for me at times.
-John (Boston)