Military issue MEP-003A Unit

[Merc300SD]

Great site! I know that I will really enjoy interacting here. I just picked up a MEP-003A generator and I need the mufflers or information on adapting the exhaust to a common muffler. Any help would be appreciated.

I am also going to modify it so that it can run on WVO or diesel. I have done this to my Mercedes 300SD with Excellent results! I see people behind me looking to see where the restaurant is at as they follow me.

Also any info on the remote starting and hook-up to a transfer switch would be helpful.
Joe

[B.Ikard]

These had nothing besides the 1" pipe exiting the cooling shrouds....noisy but reliable.


Not shure what "WVO" is but the injector pumps will take diesel, JP 4/8 or similar with no problems and no calibration changes. Most if not all MEP diesels are multifuel or very close.

They were spec'd for "NATO" fuel which is JP8. Most of the time that was all you would get when you drew a tanker load of fuel...


We had several of these in Marietta @ Dobbins ARB-turned in about 4 yrs ago.

Brent

[Merc300SD]

Thanks for the reply.

I guess that I will make a muffler for it as it will be too noisey for running the house on.

Waste vegtable oil is what I plan to run in it after I build the solenoids and three way valves necessary to run it into the engine. WVO needs to be at 160 degrees to be burned without coking up the injectors.

I am here in the Atlanta area so any parts boneyard locations would be nice to visit. The unit is complete and should run well according to the previous owner.

Joe

[pcbye]

Greetings:

Not good for sneaking up and ambushing the enemy, huh:-)

I think any good automotive muffler would suffice. Keep it close to the set so it runs hot to keep from sludging up from fry grease and soot.

One close and one further down stream is good too as long as they flow well.

Regards;

Peter

[Merc300SD]

I agree with you as it isnt the best design to stay covert from the enemy. May as well tell them where you are by dropping leaflets telling them to follow the noise!

I will have it in a small building and plan to wrap the muffler in insulation to keep up the temperature and flex pipe to isolate the vibration. This way it is nice and quiet plus it will produce a "palatable" scent. During the holidays, Ill add scented oils to it for seasonal appeal.
Joe

[pcbye]

Greetings:

Around X-Mas, possibly sheep or goat tallow, or if we new what the actual oil that "Balm" was in biblical times, that might be appropriate also to bring back the essence of a couple of milleniums ago.

While off on this tagent, anyone know if any of our far north Native Americans ever generated power using Whale or Seal Oil? Hum! Buffalo?

This generates some interesting cartoon bubbles in my head anyway.

It might be interesting to know the BTU Value of various animals, along with what some vegatable counter parts are of course. These are "carbon neutral" energy sources, so are environmentally friendly.

This is just in case the BIG ONE comes and we are on our own for the electricity we love so much and the petrolium sources and McDonalds dry up.

Regards;

Peter

[Merc300SD]

Hey,

Osama Bin Ladin's deoderant, early goat! Plus it makes your hair look good...

But other natural oils such as lard and seal will work, but it must smell pretty bad. You also forget another source here in the US. Liposuction clinics! There is lots of raw material there! Siphon off a fat person to generate power, I like the concept! We would never run out of fuel!
I'm so bad!

Peanut oil I have found is the best followed by canola, rape, corn and others. The cetane rating is higher in these diesel generator "food" groups than diesel oil. The main issue is to get it hot enough to reach 160 degrees. With this generator, it is air cooled so Ill have to start on diesel and switch to veggie oil after the electricity heats up the oil.

Also, Mc Donalds does not allow you to take their oil. They dont want liability for waste products getting into the wrong hands.
Joe

[Raymond]

I tried to muffle a MEP 002 and It made no difference. The noise isn't in the exhaust, it's everything else. The 002 and 003 are two of the tuffest and most usefull generators ever built. The engine is a military version of the Onan DJB and DJC which have drive-end Flywheels and starters. Can't swear the gizzards are identical but they are stout, and the generators are wound for 100% capacity at 120v. 1 ph. so they are at least 30% oversize. I loaded my 002 to 10 KW and it didn't even smoke.

[Merc300SD]

That is a good observation concerning the noise. With proper load management, you can conceivably run a home easily with this unit by scheduling everything around the capacity. Of course Ill "load test" it by turning everthing on little by little to see the results. I am looking to place it into a small building, insulating for noise and get it to run the house panel through a transfer switch. With the vegi oil conversion that Ill make for it, payback period for heating and airconditioning costs should be around 4 months total. At 6-8 cents per kilowatt hour, energy costs are getting up there as is the cost for natural gas. There are many free items on Craigslist.com that can be used to defray heating costs with a generator configured properly.

Joe

[Jim Davis]

Raymond, Gunny, what is your opinion or knowledge of whether the MEP-003 has the reserve capacity to handle the startup inrush from a 3 ton central air unit?

[Wayne 440]

You didn't ask me, but I will say it would start it just fine, if the existing load when the AC comes on is not more than about 6kw.

[BTPost]

The Commercial versions are the Onan DJB and DJC, which are rated at
6Kw and 12.5Kw, respectivly. These are fairly conservative and NOT
Engine HP limited, but more Genend Limited. Onan used the same engines
with the Extended Stack Genends and those rated up to 15Kw on the DJC/E's.
You will find the the Military Ratings are Conservative in the Extreme.

[Merc300SD]

I also saw at the home show a device that helps save power and draw caused by motors etc. Its called the Power Saver 1200. Seems like it is a smaller version of a commercial capacitor bank that evens out the demand on an power system. It mounts on the subpanel in a home through a 220 VAC breaker. Ill still need to do a bit more research but it looks promising in buffering the draw an AC unit will draw. Check ou their site, www.utilitysolutions.org

Joe

[Dslsmoke]

[quote=....... whether the MEP-003 has the reserve capacity to handle the startup inrush from a 3 ton central air unit?[/QUOTE]


Well, here is what I did with my 12.0 DJC,.... I have 2 central air units at my house, when they tried to start at the same time (along with other stuff on and running throughout the house) they brought Genny to its knees so to avoid that I installed a delay timer at each compressor.

Now Genny can handle the air handler (inside units) starting by them selves first, then 1 to 1.5 minutes later respectively the compressors start, thus giving enough time in between surges for Genny to catch its breath, works like a charm.

Here is a link http://www.icmcontrols.com/downloads/icm102-ig.pdf


Hope it helps..



Dslmoke

[Raymond]

My MEP 002 pulled two 2tons and picked up a third. 3 tons shouldn't even phase a MEP 003. Worst case you may have to put time delay start on all the fans so the corn-pressor gets up first. Mine are all delayed anyway. A fan tdr costs $11.00. Also a time delay corn-pressor restart to insure the head pressure is gone before a restart attempt. You can put a timer trip on the fuel arm so if it goes full fuel for over 3 seconds or so it quits. These units run full load at less than half fuel and if it stays at full fuel over 2-3seconds something ain't happening that should already have and its time to bail.

[B.Ikard]

Originally Posted by Jim Davis

Raymond, Gunny, what is your opinion or knowledge of whether the MEP-003 has the reserve capacity to handle the startup inrush from a 3 ton central air unit?

Yep, more than likely a 3 ton single phase will be ok....they will handle a momentary 100amp 3 phase surge of a FDECU-4 6 ton compressor but grunt a little.

Brent

[tony1224]

Hello. I got a question.does any body knows how to get 480volts on 3 phase out the mep-003a.i got one but i need the 480volts on 3phase.if any body knows let me know.tony

[K D Redd]

Transformer.

Kent