Absolutely amazing how reliable and functional some of this older technology is. The people designing things like that 'back in the day' were just genius.

@tombeauchamp806

Жыл бұрын

They also didn't have to sacrifice reliability for emissions. EPA is the reason for a lot of the modern fuckery

You really do some great videos. Those bores looked bad but there was no smoke when running even under load so they were not as bad as they appeared. In the U.K.the idiots are pulling down our coal fired power stations before they have a viable generating system. A few weeks ago there was a mad panic to get what they had left running. It was dark and no wind. Well I never, who would have thought that could happen. I would love an old Lister diesel generator but they are like hens teeth. I bought a German 4Kw petrol inverter and I have a little Chinese 750w stinker (2 stroke). They have suggested that if we don't use electric at peak times they will pay us not to. "Sorry dear you'll have to wait till 8 o'clock for your dinner". They can go forth and multiply.

Like many others, I am amazed by how well that thing runs considering the cylinders looked like the surface of the moon inside. I was still confident you would get it running last episode but the fact that it took a 7500w load this episode with compromised cylinder walls is downright incredible. That engine must be designed fantastically well!

@hodwooker5584

Жыл бұрын

It would be fascinating to run that bore scope back into the cylinders after a few hours of additional run time. The rust pits would still be there of course but I wonder how well it would “polish up” when it’s run under a heavy load.

@jasontexter1721

Жыл бұрын

Tech support said "still within tolerance, send it" Machines 40+ years ago, with tolerance for degradation and horsepower loss maybe even 20%. Today's machines are made to fail after a 5% loss of anything 😡😡😡

It seems to use what would be called "saturable reactors". Basically each of those big reactors has two coils, similar to a transformer. One coil is hooked up to DC, the other to AC. When you apply DC to one of the coils, it begins to "saturate" the magnetic core. As the magnetic core gets more saturated, it changes the inductance, which then affects how much AC current can pass through the other coil. You can almost think of saturable reactors as a type of amplifier. A relatively small DC power going through the reactor can control a much larger amount of AC power flowing through the other side. It looks like they combine that with some sort of current sensing shunt coil to create a system that regulates the output voltage based on both output voltage and output current.

@douro20

2 жыл бұрын

Magnetic amplifiers were once commonly used as operators in analog computers used in aircraft instruments and gunnery control systems and are still found as signal amplifiers in nuclear power plant instumentation. The exciters in early dynamometric radio transmitters also often used magnetic amplifiers.

@alancordwell9759

2 жыл бұрын

Great explanation, thanks. If those are ferrite toroidal cores, they saturate very easily - which clearly is an advantage in that application; but for the same reason I heard that you can't use them for output transformers in tube amplifiers because the standing DC plate current of the tube would saturate them and you'd get very little output.

I remember with the old Onan light plants you had to keep the heaters on for a long time but they'd fire right up. FINE job!

@erik_dk842

Жыл бұрын

If an indirect injection engine doesn't start in the first couple of revolutions, you have mostly used the glow plugs for too short time.

I really wonder why some big company that has a bunch of these generators out in operation hasn't offered you a 200+ thousand dollar a year job just running a bunch of other people that don't understand everything but are good at doing things. You're a pretty amazing guy and I love to watch your channel. Plus it's fun to watch old stuff live another life.❤

Personally, I pull odd stuff like pullies off with a large 2 piece bearing puller. Since its in between the pully and the shaft its less likely to damage the pully, unlike the jaw type pullers.

Those compound-regulators work really well. Some German manufacturers still use them for pretty big brushless alternators. If they are put together right, they outperform electronic AVRs, because they have an incredibly fast response time and are very safe. It's basically impossible that they run away and destroy everything connected to the generator.

Imagine if people still made stuff like this 50 years all pitted out still runs fine and does it’s job without hardly any complaints whatsoever :O

You could weld a 3/4", extra length nut (coupler nut) onto the water pump pulley hub and then lay a greased flat washer against the pump impeller shaft end. Then thread a 3/4" bolt into the nut and tighten it with an impact wrench to push the pulley off of the impeller shaft.

Should give that van some traction weight for snowy service calls 😁👍👍

5 star as usual! You are my generator mentor even with me being a retired mechanic. Always a learning moment. Thanks!

Wow this sure seems to be a fantastic generator. It handles a load with ease. They don't make them like this one any more. Thanks for the video's.

Incredible power to size ratio on this one! 7500W and not even a hiccup.. That thermostat and housing was new to me! Great stuff Mike...

Mike is one of the only guys in NJ that cant wait for a blackout !! As always thank you for sharing this video.

Those little onans are great units. Had a newer 15kw on my last service truck that was designed for rv use and it was super quiet(like a box fan on medium in a quiet house in the country). I am curious to see how you install it into your work rig. Going to plumb into the truck exhaust, keep the mechanical water pump or go to like a davies Craig electric setup and the into vehicle system and run a aux fan or complete seperate system? Also curious how you will setup your controls and i dont know if your e350 is diesel or not but if it is are you going to tap into the fuel supply from the truck? What a cool project and thanks for your professional work and time to bring this to us. You are very thorough and a great genset mechanic!

Nice to see the old installation resistance tester. I've got a Evershed and Vignoles version with the varley test information on it.

Nice genset Mike ! Thanks for the expanded explaination of the electrical end. That helps a lot.

Pleas give that survivor a cote of paint ant som tlc, she definitely deserves it😊 love your videos. Greetings from Norway 🇳🇴

happy now I finally have something to watch

I know nothing of the electrical but I love watching all the different old engines. But I think I'm learning a little about it. There's a young Chinese woman with a channel, Lin Guoer, she picks up old engines and get's them running and does a lot of electric motor and generator work. I can't understand a word she says but she's fun to watch 😅.

Amazingly quiet considering no muffler on the exhaust or the air intake. He rewired it for 240 Volt output and added a four terminal strip. I would love something just like this for my basement. I didn't know it was a 7.5 kW unit. The lift pump isn't leaking, that fuel was from the injector fitten that he loosened when testing. Ron W4BIN

Awesome video as always. Keep up the great content

Sounded good...your passion for these has inspired me

Nice! What a great little unit, nice score!

Definitely a winner. Sounds great and holding the load very well. Great naming of the voltage regulator and its components.

That is pretty sweet! I look forward to seeing how you install this :)

Great resuscitation! As always great video.

You could weld a couple of nuts to the pulley center to attach the puller to pull it off. To be a old rusty/crusty it's doing well. Thanks!

Nice work, back up and operational. Thanks for the look.

That regulator would be expensive to make these days but it is very rugged and clearly does the job !

Sounded great when missing, had a motorcycle sound. It would be a great engine to put on an old cruiser.

Diesel powered coffee maker . Nice Job getting it running.

As always, Great video. Thank you

Thanks for the video, thats a very useful unit regards Mike UK

Amazing how great it runs even with the not so hot cylinders. I’ve actually broke loose some engines that have set up and had some good running engines that ran to this day.

Great video! Can’t wait to see how you wire the control box!

I cool my MDJE conversion with a school bus heater core and a home furnace blower. Mine (a 1971 model) has a header tank with a radiator cap above the thermostat. i have considered making a new thermostat housing and using a " 3 way" for a 3208 Cat so the engine gets constant flow. I control the temp with a control system from the HVAC industry set to make on rise and the blower motor is 4 speed so the control is staged to lowest and highest speed, or off if below temperature. Good story- it got hot due to mice nesting in the air duct between the blower and " radiator". They chewed up fiberglass insulation from the sound box. It blocked the air flow. Oberdorfer pump is made in Syracuse, NY.

Nice work, thanks for sharing.

Congratulations Mike. All the best from Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Thank you. I enjoy your videos very much. Take care.

Very impressed!! Enjoy

Really would love to see this again very interesting unit

Good job mike. Love your video. 9 years as a Gen tech

Great job Mike , I love the old Onan gensets .. You just make the WAY BETTER !!

What a great little gem set .. it hardly feels the load… built to last .. 🇬🇧🇬🇧

I am obsessed with those small diesels. They will literally run forever. I am confident that if you could change the oil on the fly. That unit would run for a year nonstop, in its current condition. How many RPM s are you running here? Did I say I love those little diesels???? Cheers!!@

@cesargallo7424

2 жыл бұрын

2.000 rpm? just guessing

@wildman4642

2 жыл бұрын

1800 rpms

@1997cr80r

2 жыл бұрын

Wild man is correct 1800rpm is 60hz

@sureshkumarc.k6534

2 жыл бұрын

It's a 2 cyl by the way

@feildcar4578

Жыл бұрын

I was an aircraft fueler at my local international airport that had a large fleet of new and old equipment one in particular was a late 70s international it pumped diesel originally was jet A-1 but was converted to diesel and pumped 150 gallons a minute had a 3k gallon tank the engine was plumed to run off the big tank instead of the smaller fuel tank well it was mainly used in emergencies to fuel GPUs when day shift ground support fuelers didn't do anything there were around 90 gates and at midnight they all came in back to back and if everything was out of fuel a sorry soul would spend the next 8 to 10 hours fueling tugs and ground support equipment anyways ilthat truck would often get parked on the old side of the ramp that wasn't used and forgotten about we used the truck late October and In late may we needed the truck well after driving around looking for it we found it sitting there idling it was smoking out of the exhaust the heater was apparently left on wide open the blower motor was screaming I mean screaming it was incredibly loud the lights were also left on both headlights were inop the roof beacon was still working but was also screaming and the lense was completely blackened and melted the entire interior was incredibly hot we poured bottled water on the steel plate that was on the floor and it boiled immediately. We revved the engine wide open a few times smoked like you wouldn't believe drive it hard around the ramp and the smoke mostly went away it was allmost 2 gallons low on oil, and just over 3 gallons low on coolant the engine was completely covered the automatic trans was never right again after that honestly the entire truck was never right after that the power steering didn't work and was bone dry on fluid and I mean bone dry but wasn't making any odd noises the engine was extremely clacky and if it was below 60 ish degrees forget about it it was allmost locked up the following winter too much either. It showed 46,253 hours and the hour meter still functions and we were bored one night so we actually timed the hour meter to see if it was accurate and it was about .5 seconds off pretty accurate the thing rattled on the interior like you wouldn't believe it was unbearable to sit in for more than 10 mins at a time. The really odd thing about it was that is was still running and didn't self destruct the batteries were also replaced shortly after. After talking to ground service the truck has been owned by them since new and has never been overhauled. The thing was always hard to start and was addicted to either until it allmost started locking up so ground service showed us to remove the intake tubing and use a propane torch to heat the inlet and that allmost always worked down to about 10 degrees fahrenheit. So yes a small diesel under the right load at the correct rpm could run pretty indefinitely and as far as changing the oil on the fly not hard simply do a fluid exchange set up a line from the drain plug with a valve simply drain a safe amount example drain 1quart and replace with 1 quart do that until your drained oil is allmost as clean as the new oil going in or do it until it's to your liking or do it based on oil capacity say the capacity is 5 quarts so you need to use a toatal of 10 quarts of new oil to safely exchange the fluid while the engine is running..

That is a nice little load bank you have there . Great video .

Great job Mike thanks for sharing 👍🥳

I'd like to get my hands on something like this. Great video, highly enjoyable!

That's a good backup unit mike good on you brother

You [are] the "Genset Whisperer" + I'm a "beggar for that megger"... You are really hitting on all cylinders and bringing back my gear-head memories. Thanks so much. Cheers!

I love watching these projects of yours Mike. The gov on the old girl is doing pretty good!

i'm from the philippines im watching your blog and i''m fond of generators because i had small genset 1kw. i'm exited your new video.

good job enjoyed the video very much neat old generator.

Sweet little unit.

Great video, that's a nice running diesel genset.

Another ready for service ,she snorts good at full power out sounds great

For a second I was looking at the schematic for the mic output! This is going be a nice gen for your truck.

Very fond of all your videos. I just hope you also find time to see what the AC waveform looks like, with and without load, from an oscilloscope. Thanks!

Nothing like having the right tool for the job said Rube Goldberg 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👏👏👏👏👏⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Those Onan diesels are a great little engine. They start easy and run fairly quiet. Regarding the old regulator on your engine, I had to upgrade many to the faster responding modern day electronic regulators. Mostly because starting some larger AC motors would be a problem because of the slow reaction from the regulator and mechanical governor.

Yep - these magniciters are a form of magnetic amplifier - or mag amp .... They ware a staple for precision motor control systems in the US Navy back in the day.

Nice! That exhaust manifold is water cooled in marine applications. Make a small radiator and set up quiet exhaust for service truck. Paint it Onan green. Awesome quality Onan

Herzliche Grüße aus Österreich! Greetings from Austria! 👍 Danke fürs Hochladen! 👍 Thanks for uploading! 👍 Very good and beautiful, thank you! 👍 Sehr gut und schön, danke!

what a nice little genset

I always find your video's enjoyable Mike, but thanks for asking.. ;)

WOW SUPRISED THAT it ran :)

I was going to comment about how quiet that thing runs. Even without a muffler it came across on the video as just a purr. Very nice, indeed!

Not bad, not bad at all, Mike. 7500 watt diesel is, to me, an idea sized gen-set. When you consider the wear that was shown earlier, to the cylinders and wondering too, if this little diesel would be able to keep up it`s power, I for one, am surprised that it performed so well in this test. Great videos `mini-series` you have here, well done!

Fascianting how much can be achieved with a few resistors, coils and diodes just by arranging them the right way.

Now that you got it running and tuned up it should provide years of good service.

Great video of a test platform. Great fun! (8:53 spoiler) the engine starts.

RPM is constant at 1800 = 60 Hertz no matter the load. 1830 rpm equals 61 hertz, 1770rpm equals 59 Hertz. Typically the HP is twice the 7.5 kw or about 15HP. Could be a bit less HP. A15hp Diesel will burn about .75 gals an hour at full power. If the engine is not a full fuel at 7500 watts then it is not working to hard. Probably most fuel efficient at about 3/4 max output. I would incorporate the raw water cooled exhaust manifold into the closed cooling system and I would remove the water cooled exhaust elbow and fabricate a dry exhaust from plumbing and tubing. Tying into the trucks cooling system would keep both engines warm when either one is running. Or a small car radiator with an electric fan would also work.

Fun project!

Please make a video or videos of this being installed and all in the truck. Love all your videos.

I was in prison in Minnesota with David Onan. The grandson of the creator of Onan family generators. Good kid. Played tight end for the goghers and in arena football but had 6 dwi's.

What a sweet little unit...time for a bit of TLC and a freshen up I think.

Amazing Thank you very much.

Sweet engine! good job

The frequency droop is almost perfect as 59 under full load is very acceptable. Two things now need checked. 1.thd total harmonic distortion. 2. Engine fuel consumption under 7500 watt load. This seems maybe the best set for home emergency power I have yet seen on KZread if the thd under full load is less than 15. Good job Mike, a regular radiator with an electric fan would probably just come off the battery charging circuit and not take power from the house voltage. On James Condon's channel a guy went through 4 Predator gensets in ten years. He could have used this old Onan jobbie and still be using it with no failure for probably ten years with maybe 100 gallons of French fry oil per year. Maybe twice that I just don't know what it's thd is.

Nice one, Mike 👍

That engine didn't seem to care. It just kept purring along. Hope you take us along with you when you install it in your truck. Onan made and still makes some great gen sets. We had an Onan generator in our race car trailer and it never gave us any problems.

I note that the original raw water/sea water pump was removed. It is direct driven and there is an opening for it on the left side of the motor next the flywheel. These were very expensive /proprietary and failed frequently by leaking. So my point here is there is an open oil duct that you will likely need to cap off or you will spew oil during motor operation. I had to fabricate a cover for mine when I bolted a jabsco raw water pump on the gen set in lieu of the original one. The jabsco approach has been an upgrade.

COOL! That voltage regulator is basically a saturable reactor or magnetic amplifier.

I assume you plan is to connect it to the cooling system of your truck. That way the block should always be warm for easy starting.

Great work👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✅✅✅✅✅

TY Sir

Fantastic video. I loved seeing you use the old Megger set to test insulation of the windings and expaining how it is used. Brings back memories of electronics and electrical training at the start of my Royal Australian Navy career in the early 90's. Bravo Zulu Mike.

The start with the glow plugs, perhaps only one is working properly? It might explain the running on just one cylinder for a while.

Great set of videos, I'm about to start on a seized MDJE on a boat I've just bought. Any chance you could upload those generator schematics? Hopefully, that side of it's okay but always good to have as much info as possible. Thanks again for the very clear and helpful descriptions.

Very much appreciate all the great content sir. Keep it coming!! I missed what you were tracking with your Klein clamp meter. Also I have never heard of Onan until I came across your channel. How did you discover them? Are they your favorite gen-set?

Impressive!! :-)

How do you know when Mike's happy? 60hz / 240v / low gov droop / full load !! I think there's a shirt in there somewhere? Cheers Mike keep up the good work!

Hi mike hope you all well what's new on content we waiting and love your education thanks in advance sir

@SmallEngineMechanic

2 жыл бұрын

AJ, have been very busy lately but I have the control upgrade job just about finished up on the Perkins gen set. The video on that is still in the works!

You need to duck down to your local wrecker yard and look around for a decent radiator and mount it to the frame along with a fan. Then give it a clean, paint it if you feel the need and re-lube it. I'd also put a cowl with some flame retardant insolation over it, as most of the noise (once you have a muffler) is produced by engine noise.

marine manifolds tend to crack if the water jacket around them is run dry. the raw water pump normally supplies the source of coolant after the the heat exchanger warms it up to prevent shock of cold water on hot manifold.

Incredible resurrection of what was a pile of rusty junk a few videos ago. I never get tired of watching you bring these units back to life. Are you going to drop it in the truck as is or are you going to knock the ugly off of it and give it a fresh coat of paint?

I absolutely ADORE the patina on that thing. Please never paint it. Leave it looking as it is. Looks awesome like that; crusty bur chooch'n anyway.

Great you tube channel, I really enjoy it. Im in the U.K. and on 50Hz so our gennys usually run at 1500 rpm ...When i hear yours running at 60Hz it sounds like its being thrashed to death in comparrison! I imagine it uses a lot more fuel too or the same output? be interesting to know.