I found a line of Crompton computerized systems that were specifically designed for generator operation. They seem too good to be true, and pretty much measure/manage everything under the sun. I think that they're shiny and neat, but perhaps overkill for a Listeroid and also possibly too complex for the application for most Lister-based gensets... but we'll see what the price is.
Go to this URL: http://www.crompton-instruments.com/genset.html and then on the right hand side of the screen select "Gen-Set controllers" from the pull-down menu. (Terrible design.) That will get you a big PDF file of all their generator control sets, which are VERY comprehensive and full-featured. I have asked for pricing on the "top of the line" unit (GEN-TRANS-EN/L) which seems to bundle all the possible components into a single panel, and I'm preparing the defibrilator for when I receive the quote. There is also a software package (GEN-SOFT) which allows monitoring of all the measurements over time, which is really interesting to me. If I can reverse-engineer the RS-232 protocol on the serial port, I could possibly write my own shims to turn output from the GEN-TRANS into SNMP-compliant values for monitoring via other systems that I already have in place.
Putting all my eggs in one basket goes against my "KISS" principle, but those panels would save me days of debugging and dozens of components. Plus, it's not an analog system which would be much more robust than a computer-controlled platform like the GEN-TRANS product lines. However, I'm sure I can put some shunts in for emergency operation, and I plan to have the whole panel wired up with quick-release bulkhead attachments, and so maybe I'll make a computer-controlled head unit and a more crude analog relay-controlled unit with the same quick-connect mount.
They provide transfer switch control and generator starting, as well, which is interesting since I'll have at least the auto-start on my system (and yes, they detect start failures and can cycle through various start options.) As I said, it's too good to be true, so I'm not getting my heart set on it.
I'll post here what the pricing is for the various possible devices.
JT
This control computer from Crompton arrived in the mail late last week. I'm pretty much stunned. This has every feature I had thought of, and a few more. For $375 USD for the unit, plus $41 USD for the PC-based software (not needed, but handy) the GEN-TRANS-EN/L by Crompton is a dream for generator control. Transfer switch control, starters, pre-heaters, various sensors, gauges, and level indicators, display on a bitmapped LCD backlit panel with lots of shiny buttons. Very, very fancy. Built in Turkey, designed by people who probably speak German as a first language, by a company based in England, who is owned by Tyco, resold through a distributor in Illinois. Three continents, four or so nations. Whew.
The list of features is very long, so I won't bore anyone with the full rundown. However, this is a very nice panel. As much as I don't like computers in the path of my power and I am very unimpressed with blinkylights, I will admit this will remove a few hundred hours of ugly soldering to relays and lights and probably will do a more reliable job than my make-it-as-you-go electrical control wiring (though I'll have "emergency run" shunts to give convenient manual workarounds if the computer tosses it's cookies.) Plus, after looking at the prices of nice gauges that had any kind of monitoring/shutdown capability, this system is much cheaper than those methods especially when you consider things like hysteresis/flap management. I like big fat analog gauges as much as the next person, but those are only useful if I'm sitting in front of them and watching them, which hopefully will not be my primary job when the generator is running, except when I just want to listen to the engine.
The only shortcoming that I can see is that there are a limited number of inputs and outputs on the system, and they should have had a bunch more - you can only have 6 configurable inputs from a list of 21 possible conditions (not including the large number of "standard" inputs which have their own dedicated input lines like: rpm, fuel level, voltages/amperages on mains/DCalt/ACgenerator, oil pressure, temp, emerg stop button) and only 4 configurable outputs (pre-heater, horn, etc) from a list of 83 possible output indications/controls. Still, I can't think of many things I couldn't do with this, even if I had to make some basic control circuits and systems external to the computer control.
I bought mine from the really helpful folks at K-Tech, Inc. (orders@k-tech.com) Please pester me for questions, since they don't have a lot of direct experience with the unit and Crompton can't be giving them much margin at those prices. I've got the manuals and device in-hand, and I'm open for questions. It'll be two months or so before I'm actually wiring the thing up, but I've gone through the manual and figured most of what I need out already.
JT