Puppeteer

Author Topic: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.  (Read 5719 times)

bandmiller2

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 192
    • View Profile
ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« on: February 08, 2013, 01:15:05 PM »
I'am waiting on the electrician to wire in my gen. to a new breaker main panel.As of now I was planning to bring in 220v to the panel.I don't plan on running any 220v stuff only 110v lights and circulators.Would I be better to reconfigure my gen. to strictly 110v and would that cause problems for the electrician.I'am planning to have all the heavy loads blocked out on the pannel. Gen is strictly a backup system. Thanks Frank C.
Fast cheap and easy are seductive sirens,its a rare man that does not court their pleasures.

dieselgman

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3189
    • View Profile
    • Lister Parts
Re: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2013, 01:49:49 PM »
Your ST1 will pull 5kW... so a 10kW head is considerable overkill. There is so much overload capacity there that it will not matter much how it is wired. If you had a head working at capacity, then your answer would likely be wire it only for the largest load. But that would also depend on the construction of your head. If it was a 3-phase head, then a double delta 110 volt only configuration would be best. The next consideration would be how your main panel is setup. Do you have your emergency loads separated in a way that will allow for easy balancing and wiring? Your electrician will likely be able to make suggestions based on what he sees at your site.

dieselgman
ALL Things Lister/Petter - Americas
Lyons Kansas warehousing and rebuild operations

ronmar

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1227
    • View Profile
Re: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2013, 03:10:09 PM »
Was thinking the same thing, that gen head seems a little large for that engine...  If you are wiring it back into your existing panel, you will have to bring in 240 as the existing 120V breakers are(or should be) spread equally across both legs of your existing 240 power input(2 legs of 120).  So if you bring in only 120, you will only be able to power half the circuits in your panel.

One of the hazards of running a generator head that is way too large, is that it is quite easy to load the generator head way beyond the engines ability to maintain RPM.  This can quickly lead to a brownout which could damage equipment.  One way to deal with this is to have that main backfeed breaker sized to the engines output capability, not the generators output capability.  SO 10KW divided by 240V is 41Amps.  5KW divided by 240V is 20A, so you should put the 20A(or even smaller) breaker in place to help limit the potential load placed on the generator.  Way better to pop a circuit breaker and go dark, than to overload and go brown...
PS 6/1 - ST-5.

mike90045

  • Mendocino Metro
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1594
  • Mmmm BBQ
    • View Profile
    • Mikes Solar PV page
Re: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2013, 06:39:24 PM »
... Do you have your emergency loads separated in a way that will allow for easy balancing and wiring? ....

All my loads are emergency loads  :)

dieselgman

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3189
    • View Profile
    • Lister Parts
Re: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2013, 11:52:39 PM »
Mike,

To simplify, we might define your loads as follows:

Emergency - egress lighting, fire alarms/control/suppression systems, heating system(in cold climates).
Standby - room lighting and basic minimal utility receptacles.
The remainder including most of the non-essentials and any very heavy loads would be considered optional for use only in prime power situations.

Some building supply system panels are setup with these loads separated so that a small generator can be used without having to figure out which loads to shed manually.

dieselgman
ALL Things Lister/Petter - Americas
Lyons Kansas warehousing and rebuild operations

bandmiller2

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 192
    • View Profile
Re: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2013, 11:55:08 AM »
You fellas are correct I did oversize for several,I hope good, reasons.My  problem is not too heavy a load but too light a load for mr. Lister hopefully it adds a slight load and the flywheel effect.I don't want to have to worry about overloading and heating the gen.I may in the future drive the 10kw head with a tractor PTO.Ronmar thats  good advice I have a breaker box next to the gen. and will replace the 30 amp with a 20 amp breaker.My generator setup is strictly for backup power.I built a water tube outside boiler many years ago and it needs circulators to prevent overheating.I have a holding relay and inverter running a circulater for short term outages that works well and gives me plenty of time to get the Lister on line.What would make a good loadbank for exersizing the engine.?? Thanks Frank C.
Fast cheap and easy are seductive sirens,its a rare man that does not court their pleasures.

dieselgman

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3189
    • View Profile
    • Lister Parts
Re: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2013, 01:16:44 PM »
We use the little 1500 watt resistive heaters to load our equipment during testing. Hot water heater elements would work fine as well - or electric baseboard elements...  

dieselgman
ALL Things Lister/Petter - Americas
Lyons Kansas warehousing and rebuild operations

ronmar

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1227
    • View Profile
Re: ST-1 Lister and 10 KW gen.
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2013, 07:49:30 PM »
I use electric baseboard heaters.  Cheap, readilly available in second hand building supply stores and at places like Surpluscenter.com. very easy to configure...  250W per foot, I have 3 of them(different sizes, 1, 1.5 and 2KW)) wired in parallel on my generator room wall.  Each has it's own on-off switch.  I can mix and match to provide various loads to the engine with the flip of a switch.
PS 6/1 - ST-5.