Load meter unstable during run

[Jiggy]

During a recent quarterly test run under load, the gauge that indicates the percent load was unstable on my MEP003 generator. I had it at about 50% load and it would occassionally drop to 0 for a while, then back up to indicate a load. It did this a number of times. Voltage and frequency remained constant and no interuptions in the house. One thing that may be related is that when I was stowing the genset, I noticed that the battery connections were slightly melted--I hadn't secured them snuggly to the terminals. Do the batts serve a function other than starting the motor and could this be why I had problems with the load values? Or is it simply the gauge is bad? Thanks much for any help.
Steve

[EricWood]

Jiggy,

I see this is a few days old, but have you checked all the wiring between the meter and the transducer? Sounds like a bad/broken connection. If not, more than likely something bad inside the meter making intermittent contact. Replace the meter first and see what you get.

eric

[Mikey4026]

I know nothing about MEP's (don't see many in commercial service), but I did run into this problem recently during a loadbank job on a SimPower. It had fuses in metal holders that had come loose. It was the feed circuts to the meters off the three legs of a three phase unit. The fuses had spead the fuse holders open. A pair of pliers fixed it, just squeezed them tighter. I would bet you will find the problem in a like spot. I have also seen intermittent contacts in the rotary selector switch. Sometimes, contact cleaner and rotating the switch for a few cycles may clean them up.
Mikey