Because some others on this forum are probably using their generator sets for off-grid and emergency power, I thought I would share with you some observations about LED lighting.  

Ten years ago, before the automotive 1156 and 1157 socket LED replacement assemblies were available; I built my own 24-volt LED table lamps from inexpensive individual high-output LED's (Light Emitting Diodes) that were becoming available very cheap from China in bulk.  I have our house wired for 24 VDC, in addition to normal 120/240 VAC.  These are totally separate circuits with a 24-volt outlet (or two) in every room.  We have frequent power outages at our remote home site.  These LED lamps are a wonderful improvement over kerosene lamps and candles, eliminating the potentially serious fire hazard.

The situation is even better today with 12-volt automotive replacement bulb assemblies so cheap.  It's even easier now to wire a pair of 12-volt bulbs in series for a 24-volt system, and make a little table lamp out of them.  The situation is also better today because there is more availability of warm-white bulbs, which are more pleasing for room lighting.

The thing I can share with you that might be valuable is that most of the LED bulbs that I have tried are way over-driven in an effort to rank high in the "Lumens-of-output" marketing war.  This means a short effective life for the LED's.   (By this I mean the low-voltage lamps that one might select for emergency or off-grid.  I'm not sure about the 120-volt replacement LED bulbs).

Heat is a major enemy of LED's.  When the LED is driven with a current that is at the very peak of it's rating, or even above peak, the manufacturer does get a LOT of lumens of measurable light output, but there is also a lot of heat generated at the semiconductor junction.  That heat will rapidly degrade the LED, and light output will start to fall off noticeably after a relatively short time.  Interestingly, while the measured lumen output is high, the increase is not easy to discern by eye.  This means the LED can be operated MUCH more conservatively, with only slightly less light apparent output, and with significantly increased life expectancy before light output declines.  

The solution is just to insert an inexpensive voltage dropping resistor in series with the LED bulb assembly.  It can be inserted in negative lead, or the positive lead, it doesn't matter.   Understand that bulb the manufacturers could do this quite easily, but then they couldn't claim such fantastic lumen output figures.

For example, I just finished converting the low-voltage lighting in our camp trailer from 1156 incandescent automotive bulbs to LED's.  I purposely bought a version that has the LED's mounted on a flat circuit board (about 3-inches square) with pigtail leads to an 1156 base that inserts into the existing socket.  This square LED assembly is fastened to the inside of the lamp fixture with double sided tape that comes with the assembly.  The pigtail leads make a convenient place to insert the voltage dropping resistor.  This setup also has the advantage of directing all of the light downward out of the fixture, rather than in all direction as with a round bulb.

The dropping resistor that I soldered in series with each assembly was a 10-ohm, 2-watt resistor.  (The resistors are available on the bay for about $.40 each, including shipping).  This cuts the current through the LED assembly about in half, from almost 500 milliamps to about 250 milliamps.   It does this because the resistor "drops" the supply voltage about 2-1/2 volts.  There is some noticeable reduction in light output, but I bought the largest LED assemblies I could find knowing that I would want to knock the current back.  The lights are still quite bright enough for our needs, and the heat in the fixture is MUCH less that it would be if it was operated without the voltage dropping resistor.  

The optimum resistance value depends upon the current draw (wattage) of the LED assembly, but if you drop the voltage to the LED by about 20% you will probably be close to optimum if you value long LED life with stable light output over time.  Try some resistance values, feel the heat generated by the LED’s, and compare your visual impression of light output.

The resistor does waste some power, but not much.  The incandescent 1156 bulb draws 1.2 amps, which means it’s consuming about 15 watts of power.  The LED assembly, with the dropping resistor, draws 250 milliamps.  This means it’s consuming about 3 watts of power, with 25% of that being dissipated by the resistor as heat.  The resistor is wasting about ¾ of one watt, which is not much at all.   And if the resistor isn’t dissipating the heat, the LED assembly will be, much to the detriment of long life.

The same problem exists with these “super bright” LED flashlights.  They’re nice to have, but don’t operate them on high power for very long.  Light output will fade rapidly, because the LED’s are being over-driven.  Save the “super bright” capacity for times when you really need it, and operate the flashlight on low power setting most of the time.

If you live or plan for off-grid, LED lighting is nearly perfect.  Sitting in the dark is not good for the spirit in a time of stress.

I want to replace the original primitive Lister fuel filter on my CS6/1 with a spin on filter.  I wasted way too much time trying to find an economical base for the spin on elements.  Part of the time wasted resulted from the many combinations of spud threads (where the filter element spins on) and the inlet and outlet thread configurations.  Many times is was very hard to find out exactly what threads are built into the filter base.  Maybe this is really common knowledge to others, but in case any one else has the same idea, I offer what I learned in case it might save you some time.

I learned that 1-12 UNF thread seems to be standard for filters intended for bulk tank outlet filtration.  For some reason, the filter manufacturers give rather sketchy specs for those filter cartridges, but they're probably a less fine filtration.

It seems that filter spin on elements for final filtration mostly incorporate 1-14 thread, although metric sizes also complicate the field.  

The most economical solution that I found was a NAPA 4770 filter base, which is the same as a WIX 24770 base.  They're offered for sale on ebay for about $34 each.  They have 1/2 NPT inlet and outlet, and 1-14 spud for the spin on element.   Elements to fit that base are easy to find in several micron ratings, with and without water drain petcocks, form many manufacturers, which means it's easier to find the bargains.   (I rejected the Indian filter set for sale by CMD because no information is offered in the description.)

My question:  Does anyone have an informed opinion on the optimal micron rating for a Lister CS fuel filter?  Is a 30 micron fine enough?  Or is 10 micron a better choice?  I can't imagine that 2 micron filtration would accomplish anything other than to require more frequent filter replacement, but if I am wrong about that I would appreciate hearing from you.

Here's what I did. The meters were only around $10 each.

I think I have the same meters.  Very inexpensive and quite accurate.  Amazing value.

Found Suitable Gen Head.
Thanks!

I am in the process of assembling my first Lister from a "parts kit".  The only discrepancy I have found in this 12/2 engine so far is that the tappets would not rotate freely because of being gummed up with paint, dirt and rust.  I have them rotating nicely now, but I am puzzled by George's advice on polishing tappet faces.  When I tried to polish the faces on a flat surface, I found that the faces on these brand new tappets are not exactly flat, but are ever-so-slightly concave, as I could only polish a ring on the outer circumference.  But a learn-ed friend of mine says that most flat tappets are not actually flat, but rather are ground with a 60-inch radius convex face, and showed me a reference on the web that says same.  Concave, flat, convex?  Can anyone tell me the correct face geometry for a Lister tappet?