How long have you had the generator? The first thing to have problems on a gas generator is usually the carburetor (and/or the fuel system). The only thing we've had to service on our gas generators is carbs, filters, and oil changes.
bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
Before the UPS units were plugged in, it ran just fine. Once they were plugged in it sounded like it was struggling/running out of gas - this was resolved by closing the choke a little bit. Do you think that's a frequency problem?110vac at the UPS. I didn't measure what was coming out of the generator.
6 amps per UPS load. It charges very slowly so maybe 7-8 amps. Still, well within the 20 amp circuit limit. Generator has a 220v 30 amp plug as well. It's an 8500w unit. This is it: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Troy-Bilt-6250-8500-Watt-Gasoline-Portable-Generator-with-Briggs-Stratton-Engine/4732729
UPS is two 1500va APC- Smart UPS 1500VA. It's an OLDER version of this: https://www.amazon.com/APC-Smart-UPS-SMX1500RM2U-1500VA-System/dp/B002TIR2Z2/
Josh Luthman
24/7 Help Desk: 937-552-2340
Direct: 937-552-2343
1100 Wayne St
Suite 1337
Troy, OH 45373
On Mon, Sep 21, 2020 at 10:44 AM Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote:
--110v at the generator or the other end of the 175 feet of 10 AWG wire?
And total load is 5-6 amps each including the UPS charging the batteries? What kind of UPS? Something like an APC will have a relatively low charging current, other setups may be quite a bit higher. I know our Alpha UPS units have programmable charging current and I had to lower it in case the only generator I have available is our smallest Honda 1000 VA, otherwise the generator would run for a minute or two and then trip on overload.
Doing the math on voltage drop in the wire, 10 AWG is around 1 ohm per 1000 feet, and you have 350 feet of wire including hot and neutral. So 0.35 ohm times 5.5 amps is 2 volts. Assuming the generator is putting out 120 volts, that wouldn’t account for a 10 volt drop.
Sounds like you suspect the generator can’t handle the load and as a result is putting out low voltage.
What kind of generator is this? Is it an inverter style? What is the VA rating? If it’s just a standard generator for power tools and stuff, a UPS will sometimes find the voltage or frequency out of spec or unstable and refuse to run off it. If it’s just an APC UPS or something like that, sometimes they have a sensitivity setting that you can set lower.
From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Josh Luthman
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2020 9:22 AM
To: AFMUG <af@af.afmug.com>
Subject: [AFMUG] Generator power supply questions
So Friday we have another 3 phase go down in the building. They unplugged it all so that wing had nothing.
As a precaution I start up the generator. When they're cutting the other phases we are using I move it to the generator. The generator complains and the UPS units don't switch over. I drop it to say 90% open choke and the UPS switches over - but it's only 110v. I'd like to know what's going on here.
I have 175 feet of 10 gauge (times 2). Two circuits on the generator, two runs of copper, two UPS. UPS is doing about 5-6 amps each.
What can I do better? Should I? It runs but I'd like to keep it as simple as possible to avoid "teaching someone" to lower it from full open choke.
Josh Luthman
24/7 Help Desk: 937-552-2340
Direct: 937-552-2343
1100 Wayne St
Suite 1337
Troy, OH 45373
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