Onan Electric plant

[huli]

Ok got it all hooked up runs great But it doesn't speed up under load and only puts out 184 volts. Any suggestions ?

[lokay5]

Originally Posted by huli

Ok got it all hooked up runs great But it doesn't speed up under load and only puts out 184 volts. Any suggestions ?

Check the governor linkage and adjust according to manual.

[grif]

The 15JC manual has a really good troubleshooting flow chart doesn't it? (memory fuzzy). I'd bet there's one for yours as well, if not the same one. One foot in front of the other and don't skip any steps... (Flow charts are and have been my undoing since biology in high school ;-)

[Doug Reed]

Just one note, the generator should run at a constant 1800 RPM, that is required to make 60Hz power for your house. If the speed changes, so does the frequency and that is bad. What you usually would hear is the engine seem to grunt a bit as the heavier load hits it but the speed should come right back to 1800RPM, usually in a small fraction of a second. If the speed hunts or isn't stable, then you follow the flowchart in the manual and hope.

If you have an ACCURATE way to set 1800RPM, you can use it. If you don't have a good way to measure RPM, you can get a Kill-A-Watt meter from most of the larger department stores and hardware stores. A price in the $25-$30 range is about right. More than that you might want to keep looking. Harbor Freight has it on sale fairly often, usually under $25. The Kill-A-Watt meter will measure frequency and voltage for you.

[BigBlockChev]

When you say " But it doesn't speed up under load and only puts out 184 volts." It sounds like it is running slow already, like someone mis-adjusted the governor. It should not speed up or slow down much as the load changes. If it is very far off setpoint it will affect the voltage somewhat, more than the voltage regulator can compensate. So it is important to get the engine speed close to correct before going too much farther. Get a Killawatt or a multimeter with a Hz setting to make your troubleshooting easier. Cheers Dan

[huli]

Ok I have a meter im going to borrow a rpm gauge then start over I think ill install a tach on it

[Tracy T]

I have a gaseous JC as well, it ran poorly I set the points with a dwell meter problem went away. Personally I would get the kilowatt wat meter that shows hertz far more accurate determining rpm on s generator.

Originally Posted by huli

Ok I have a meter im going to borrow a rpm gauge then start over I think ill install a tach on it

See if your meter does HZ.

[huli]

My meter does hertz where do I test it at? thanks Steve

Plug it in to a 120 or 220 resptacle and get a ac reading then push HZ. Try it on your house first. On a 120 resptacle red lead in the smaller hole is hot the larger hole neutral for the black lead. Nothing in the round or gr hole