Gotta love when something isnt working you go to figure out what you need to fox it and it starts working again Gotta love intermittent probelms What a Joy Matt 15:00 @Diesel Creek
I do wonder if the steady stream of money makes him feel he owes us a lot of content! I'd say he does not, but remember he was reluctant to take donations based on he didn't have enough time to do extra stuff. It's a mindset that takes some time to adjust to.
More likely it's 6kw. Terex RL4000 is 6kw. Edit to add: you hold the push button while you Crank it. It bypasses the shut down safety till oil pressure builds, operates Glow plugs and fuel pump while cranking. Also if it's capacitor regulated, the cap may need changed. Should read 25uF or near the label on it. They are wearable items. Adjust engine rpm to 62hz max.
I bought a 94 VW golf back in 98. The guy said the transmission was gone, it was stuck in 3rd gear, he had VW service it and it would be 3k to have it fixed. I gave him $900 for it also. He lived at the bottom of a big hill so he could not drive it out of where it was in 3rd. He also had kids, car was full of french fries, little toys and loose change. The boot on the stick shift had change all around it. I pulled the boot off, which had a tear in it, and there was a dime stuck down in the hold keeping the stick in 3rd gear. Took me all of 5 minutes to get it out with a pair of pliers and I waved to him as I drove it up the hill. You have to love when a simple thing is over looked and you make out like a bandit. Love your videos man.
I feel like I already told you this a while back, I think you mentioned this machine then, but like I said then: Absolutely convert it to LED. That way you have a light tower AND generator in one, since the lights take so much less power, you'll have plenty of power to spare. You know how it is, if you need mobile lighting, chances are you need mobile power too.
I might be wrong but I believe those lights while super bright, have to cool down after you switch them off before you can turn them back. Not a big deal, but with LED lights you can turn them off and right back on. Not sure its worth the investment for an occasional use item though.
They are probably sodium-vapor lamps. Those put out more Lumen per Watt than LEDs, at least if you take the losses in the circuitry needed for the latter into account. So you can't really save electricity with a swap, but the light would be much more pleasant with LEDs.
Remove that top cover on the generator head and you should have one or more capacitors. Check them, I bet you have a bad capacitor causing the voltage issues.
Yeah I agree a big cap on a generator can also cause you to lose one of your phases off of it and knock your voltage down and then when the cap swings or changes it's capacitance it can cause it to go voltage to go up and down too.
@@pacificcoastpiper3949 yea they can bite hard ,, once the generator is shut down it's not likely to happen ,,if this is an independently excited generator it might have a voltage regulator as well ,, I am familiar with RV type gensets and they don't have capacitors they have an electronic regulator with brushes ,the older units don't even have a starter they use the generator winding to start the engine really old technology sometimes has a second generator to excite the windings in a big unit ,,i have a 1950s era 125KW caterpillar generator here at my farm and it actually has whats called an exciter generator mounted atop the armature housing that's belt driven from the generator end and provides voltage to the rotor which allows the generator to produce power,, it gets used here at my farm to provide backup power
One thing I learnt when working in the gold mines was to always switch the lights on after you have set up the tower and always turn them off before you move the tower. The elements are fragile when hot and bloody expensive too! Good score though, those 3 pot kubotas last forever with regular oil and filter changes.
To get rid of the flickering from the lights, sync your camera shutterspeed to the hertz of the lights. So for example, 110v - 60hz Set your shutterspeed to 1/60 and let the aperture do the light control. This is also the fact for screen/computers and so on
I bought an old sunbelt light tower from Ritchie brothers in Orlando this spring and it was tagged as “inoperable” but I got it home, hooked it up to a battery charger, checked the fluids, and it fired right up.
Capacitors regulate the voltage, they get nasty in light towers. Pop open the cover to the capacitors and it will be a rusty mess I promise. Just replace the capacitors and you should get clean power. Another problem area in light towers is the radiator, make sure you have good flow, good buy for sure. Don't plug in your shop till you get clean power BTW.
wait are we talking about dirty dirty power or dirty clean power? am pretty sure most hand tools are fine with any kind of dirty power. just dont want to hook up like a computer to it that doesnt have an internal regulator inside of it.
@@Thekilleroftanks most hand tools do not do so well. They run but drastically reducing their life. By dirty power I mean anything without a clean and smooth sine wave.
@@Thekilleroftanks if the voltage is too low the electric motor will overheat if the voltage is too high you'll get arks where arks are not supposed to be. Especially if the tools I from a big-box store.
The dirty power might also be causing the light flicker (I think it's too fast too see in person and we only see it because of the rolling shutter effect).
Hey Matt, On that hour meter, the last digit had 1/10 underneath it. I would take that to mean 1/10 of an hour, so the 3000 some odd hours would be correct. You could watch it and see if it increments every 6 minutes or so. Nice score and addition to the farm shop. Thanks for the video! -mike
@dieselcreek Protip: Do not move those lights when they are on. The filament is very brittle when hot. And the bulbs are stupid expensive. So, raise the light pole and turn the direction you need, then power the lights. turn the lights off, let them sit for a minute or two before lowering and storing. It will help the bulbs last much longer.
Curious how difficult it would be to upgrade the lights on that machine, swap over to LED. The truck bay in our firehouse use to have the filament style bulbs. They took forever fully get bright.
They've got LED replacement ones now. A buddy of mine changed his over to them. He uses it on pop up waverunner races in the Keys. He has salt water environment proofed every metal part on it and used DeoxIt on all electrical connectors.
@@firewalker1372 It's actually not too big a deal. These original lights use a ballast in the line. You can see the box that holds these ballasts at the 3:53 mark. To completely eliminate the original lights and replace them with LED, you would also need to remove these ballasts. Basically you remove all of these parts, rewire things to the 120v power goes directly up to the tower, and then replace the light heads with the LED heads of your choice. You eventually end up with a simpler wiring setup, and also less weight. I believe there are some replacement LED bulbs available that you can simply 'plug and play', that will still operate with the ballast installed. But I believe they are pretty expensive. And they will stop working if the ballast ever fails. Doing a complete revamp of the lights is probably the best option overall, and would certainly be cheaper since you can use whatever LED heads you get your hands on.
Indeed, in the air force we used also these kind of light units and it was strictly against procedure to move anything when lit or when the bulbs where still hot. This looks like a HQI, so there should be no filament in it, just two electrodes on each end.
Matt, what you did to that switch was probably wear off the oxidation on the contactors. Switches like that get crusty fairly quickly and lost the ability to pass current. Any electrical equipment like that you buy, before you connect a battery, get a can of contact cleaner, douse the switches fairly liberally making sure you squirt it through holes in the housing so it gets to the internals. Work the switches back and forth pretty vigorously a few times then let it dry. Job done.
Good advice, but after the contact cleaner (which is very corrosive; that's how it works) follow-up with a liberal soaking with WD40 or similar to rinse out the cleaner and reduce future corrosion.
@@JohnCarder +1 on the WD40, the WD stands for Water Displacement. WD40 will reduce the weather from affecting switches & contacts down the road.. Older engines that have points, after cleaning the points, I spray the cap, & rotor down with WD40.
I 99% agree with this, however I have had a starter & solenoid I rather too liberally doused in contact cleaner catch fire once. Which was exciting. The engine had been a right bugger to start and I was loathe to turn the engine off to deal with the fire! In other words, be careful.
@@JohnCarder I can't speak for the USA but most contact cleaner I've ever used is also a water displacer. Contact cleaner shouldn't be corrosive, it's a deoxidiser and should evaporate soon after use leaving contacts dry. WD40 is flammable and spraying it into places where electricity might form an arc is asking for trouble. Personally I use Ambersil which is a very common brand in the UK which needs no aftercare.
Howdyyawl from the land down under. Matt, I reckon you bought a absolute gem. Those road side work light generating units will fetch $5-10k in second hand condition in OZ. There could be a rgulator or resister problem mayB. Not hard or too expensive to fix. It should do what you want & mayB a little more. Enjoy😊
Low engine speed will result in low voltage and low frequency. You need to speed up the Kubota engine to raise the voltage and frequency. The generator should regulate the engine speed to keep the volts and hertz up. you probably just need for someone to set the governor for you. It's an easy fix. Great videos by the way. Keep up the good work. John
The fuel pump is turned on when the engine oil pressure comes up. The first time you tried to start it I’m guessing it took awhile for the oil pump to prime after sitting for who knows how long that’s why the fuel pump didn’t run at first.
'New' Amida light plant generator looks very promising! As always, your ability to seek, find, fix & utilize older/used equipment (part 1) is on full display in this video.😊 Great to see your enthusiasm bubble up thru the overburden of dust, mud, rust, animal nesting deposits & gamblers anxiety! Yup, another great project start! Carry on Matt!👍👍👍🍺
My strong advice is you fit LEDs work lights to this unit. Not on the tower (though you can do that too if you like), but 12V LED work lights so you can see what you're doing after you've shut down the tower lights. Flick on the work lights, switch off the tower lights, wait for them to cool, then lower and stow the tower, wind up the legs, etc. And the whole time you can see what you are doing courtesy of the work lights. They only need to light up a metre or two around the trailer, so not much power required. Much easier to work when you're not trying to do everything by torchlight, or headlamp. I fitted 2 work lights per side (with each side of the trailer having its own switch) and they work really well on the rare occasions we need to use the light tower.
@@Mitchs The LED lights described above are 15W each IIRC. And I didn't just fit them to the light tower. Lots of our vehicles/equipment have a similar setup, and it's fantastic.
You may have a floating neutral on your 120 outlet. Also remember you can split your 220 outlet out into 120 outlets as well and make two 120 outlets out of it.
What this guy said. Floating neutral. It would have been bonded at the factory but vibration and corrosion could break that bond. Voltage should be close to 120 with no load. As more load is applied to the genset, your voltage will skew further away from nominal. On another note, those are metal halide lights. As the lamps reach end of life the arch tube will turn black (even though they still work). Don't be afraid to change the lamps out. The ballast and capacitor will be working overtime to keep the lamp lit. A lamp is much cheaper than a ballast.
I advise you to deploy the prop stands fully before raising the tower. In any kind of wind the Amidas are unstable as hell and it makes a real mess if one turns over. Also you should make sure that it is upright.
Hey, I like the way you get excited when you get a piece of equipment to start. It's really neat to see how you diagnose and figure out how to get equipment to run.
I worked as an electrician for 30 years and i literally can't count the number of times i repaired something by taking it apart, putting it back together and had it work for no apparent reason.
I managed to buy a 3 cylinder Deutz water cooled generator out of a lighting set several years ago for $700. Best deal I ever found. Runs like a top. 1800rpm so has a tone that is completely different than the 3600rpm generators... Shes one of my prized possessions now...
That little slot on the hour meter is usually just to indicate whether or not its running. While its running, that should either rotate vertically or oscillate between black and white.
convert that to LED and you will be able to both run the lights and power up your off grid workshop at the same time. Plus LED lights are cheap, last a long time and they sip electricity.
Just use caution if you shop there. It can be a casting field for undesirable leftovers. I've seen some real "used car" tricks there. Very little buyer protection at auctions. Caveat emptor.
As others have said, capacitor can cause low voltage. However you should also check your engine RPM. On my light tower generator, -1RPM attributes to about -10 volts
In the USAF we called them Light Carts. Easy to work on if you know what you are doing. Oil pressure switch could have corrosion on the terminals? Check engine speed may be too low also. Buy a used tire if the stem is not loose or worn for your leaking tire.
Same thing in the antique clock business. a lot of people throw away antique clocks that are worth a lot of money and still have a lot of life left in them to buy a new junk that's not worth anything that won't last any time at all. I love bringing antique clocks back to life. And restoring antique tools and machinery.
I love going to the auction yard, however I get outbid a lot because I set a limit and never bid over that limit. Doesn't really matter though its still fun to go to the auctions
It’s common to have some voltage drop under load while lights are on. Ideally, the 110 volt outlet should read within tolerance of +/- 10%. Like you said it is most likely the voltage regulator that’s causing it to be out of tolerance. A minor adjustment to the regulator should bring it back into tolerance. As long as you are not plugging anything in it’s should not be an issue. I’d say it’s a WIN WIN with full tank and lights working just fine.
@@Gigaguenther I don’t remember but it’s a good question. So if he measured ~15% below nominal it might have been more than just an adjustment to get it working. We should ask Matt. He is pretty good about reading comments. Maybe I’ll say something when the next video comes out unless I see something from you. This is great! Matt loves when we give him more work to do.
You likely have an underrun on the generator. I'm not sure if the throttle is governed mechanically or electronically, but that's likely your low voltage issue. Lube some linkages up or find the electronic speed adjustment. You'll want to make the adjustments on and off load to find your balance.
During my 14 year career as the RoadRunner for Tilcon N. Bfd. CT, I picked up countless bulbs and shades for these light plants from the W.I. Clark Co. in Wlfd. Ct. I towed a few Light plants out to Quarries and jobs. Currently we have several lighting up the recently completed Rotaries on Route 42 in Monticello NY. I think until Street Lighting can be installed. Probably in Spring of next year.
Had about 6 in our rental fleet . The company was in Rock Hill SC. At the time . Very dependable parts were easy to get . I think they were 3 cylinders. The only problem I can remember was if the customer ran them out of fuel . We called them light plants. Stay safe.
He's like me, I purchased a Miller Blue Star 2 E portable welding generator from a guy that said the engine (Tecumseh OH160, gasoline) wasn't getting spark to the spark plug. I paid 150 dollars for it got it home and tried to start it, he was right, it had no spark, I messed with it about an hour and then let it sit in the barn for about 5 years, the seen another Generator listed, a Red-E-Arc GX-271 Chopper, made by Lincoln Electric that had a Kohler 2 cylinder (propane) engine, the owner didn't have a propane tank for it and didn't want to pay the cost for one to see if it actually ran well enough to check if it would weld or not but got it running by pouring gasoline into the top of carburetor air intake, it fired off and would run as long as he dribbled gasoline into it, anyway he ended up listing it for 450 dollars, I took a chance and purchased it, got it home and found that the choke was stuck in full choke position and also throttle was stuck in full throttle position, freed both up, used a regular propane tank from a BBQ grill, took the liquid propane hose off the welder and used the hose and regulator from BBQ grill and turned the tank upside down to supply liquid propane to the welder, it fired right up and welded perfectly, best 450 dollars I ever spent. Then I thought Hmmm, wonder if I can get the Miller running, I put another solid state ignition on it that I had and knew that it was a working unit, and still no spark, that type of coil does not use magnets on the flywheel to create the spark, but for the heck of it I pulled the flywheel off and discovered that 2 magnets of the battery charging circuit had come loose and had slid to just under the two timing pins mounted outside of the flywheel, for some reason was causing the solid state ignition to not create the needed spark to ignite the air/fuel mixture, then checked the polarization of the magnets and found that the poles of those 2 out of place magnets were just the opposite that caused the built in sensor of the coil to not magnetize thus causing a no spark condition, JB welded them back into place, reassembled the engine and it too fired right up and welded perfectly, another 150 dollars well spent, Both machines has built in Alternator to power tools like grinders and has enough power to run mig wire units as well, the Miller has 8 kW alternator and the Red D Arc has 9 kw alternator.
We use those at oil refineries for the night shift all the time. FYI don’t crank the post so high, when you see the red paint on the post crank down a little. That’s your warning your going to high, they will tip. Great buy.
17:55 The lights are most likely Sodium Halogen, and the refresh rate is slower than the digital camera's, which is why they flicker on camera. the same as LED (everything). and why you can see the lines from your TV/computer monitor when you take a photo.
I think it's because film is 24 frames per second and light is 60 cycles P/S so it doesn't line up. That's why wheels look like the go backwards some times.
In the oil field we used many light generators. Many long nights. Retired after 50 years, enjoy. Have changed many diesel fuel filters. Oil pressure sending unit to alternator and fuel pump .
I worked at the plant that made those in Rock Hill, SC. Check the capacitor on the top of the generator. It regulates the voltage. Common failure. It is a model Leroy Somer LSA 37 6kW generator. The 4000 means it has 4-1000 watt lights. Check the hertz it should be 59-61 on each leg of the 240 volt twist lock receptacle Each leg should be 110 volts.
I think, because he sometimes works with other people, he is concerned about the safety of the others. So, he calls out 'CONTACT' as a warning that something may (hopefully) start moving.
I'd say you did well over at RB... I get a chuckle, too, when something turns over or actually starts up. Those lamps will last you a while if you're using it mostly as a power plant for the shop lights, etc. You got a good deal, especially after the switch decided to begin working..
Voltage problem could be the wiring connection to the capacitor in the junction box at the top of the generator. Check that first. I did and it solved my problem. Thanks for posting.
I found your channel while being stuck at home after after 2 strokes I was owner operator and long haul trucker for 22 years you channel always enjoyable
I say the filters was for when the boss told someone to change the oil so they just set the filters inside and added oil and told the boss they changed it.......
Question would be whether it is worth for his use case. Would probably have to run a really long time to offset the cost of new lights with fuel savings.
I have a reputation in my family as being able to fix anything. And most of it simply by just touching or trying to turn it on. My family call it "laying of hands" or healing it". It's usually just common sense and luck and being mechanically inclined.
I bought one too from Richie Bros Auction, it needed a tune up, a head gasket and new filters and fluids. Replaced the bulbs and now it works. It is handy for me in the winter. Where I live the days are long in the summer and dark most of the winter. Glad you got one too.
We were taught in the Air Force to hold multimeter leads in one hand so there was no current path through your chest if you get a jolt. 440V aircraft power is no joke. Practice holding your leads like chopsticks. It's not really a safety issue at 120V but it's easier to get into tight spots.
Its not the voltage that kills you, its amps, eveything over 30mA is dangerous. The reason to hold with both hands is because the pins Are isolated at safe to hold, its worse to hold both in 1 hand and touch earth with the other hand, THen you will be the circuit and not the multimeter.
@@kristoffer4752 and how do you get amps when the resistance [of a given current path through he body] is fixed? this is like that old adage about torque and power and a wall that you drive into. it's just half-knowledge that benefits nobody. i dont mean to belittle you, it's just that clichés like this one bear some consideration before sharing them
I would check the capacitors in the excitation circuit, could be a loose wire, or one of the caps is getting iffy. Most likely and oil filled can type, I've had them do stupid things. Only other thing from there is to determine if it is a brush or brushless alternator... if it has brushes, do the obvious and make sure the carbons aren't all worn to nothing, and or that the holders are still ok. should be pretty straight forward. If it's brushless, it's still kinda the same, you just have to make sure there aren't any loose parts on the rotor, but to find that, you may need to split the unit and get the rotor out of the stator. Hopefully it's something more simple like a bad cap or loose connection to the cap. All in all, yeah, I'd say you did pretty darn good!
its to do with the hertz that the power is running at not matching the framerate of the camera and the camera is catching the lights turning off and on. If I remember correctly at 60 hertz they are shutting off and on 120 times per second
@@curtism7203 not really, you might get some slight flicker with an arc lamp but with most lights the filament or even the arc can't cool down fast enough between voltage peaks to cause a flicker (arc lamp ballasts will have some reserve power stored in capacitors and magnetic fields for a very brief period of time). I work in stage lighting as a side gig and the fastest we can turn off tungsten halogen lamps (500W to 750W) is about 0.3 seconds if you just cut power instantly. You only really get AC flicker with fluorescent lamps.
@@jamesbrowne7948 LOL, experts. Old tech incandescent lights, sure. But LEDs and any sort of plasma react instantaneously. These are high pressure sodium, so they are only on when there is voltage applied, so at zero crossing they are off. As they age the effect gets worse. These are probably old.
Those are metal halide lights, they are fed AC power, often 400Hz. The frame rate of the camera causes that strobing appearance. The lights are strobing so fast beyond what the human eye can see.
Be sure and check the slip ring that the brushes run on in the generator head. It should be shinny copper color. If it's dark like charcoal it needs to be cleaned. It will prevent voltage output if dirty. Had to do it on my 6.5k on my motorhome. You can put a piece of fine grit sandpaper on a paint stir stick and stick it through gen head fins and let it gently rub on the slip ring while gen is running. It will clean it right up and restore your voltage with a stable waveform. Not saying this is your problem, but definitely need to check it out.
Running a manual stop diesel with the ignition off should not hurt anything. The alternator will push a little bit of power back through the pilot light but that doesn't really do much. Normally all that happens is that the pilot light comes on. I've done it plenty of times. What you don't want to do is disconnect the battery with the engine running. That can kill the alternator and/or other electronics in the system. I design electronics for a living (among other things) so in the past I've had to put quite a bit of thought into protecting vehicle electronics against battery disconnection and other 'load dump' events.
lol, angry pixies is one I haven't heard in a while... An electrician's helper at our shop mis-wired a small 3 phase motor on a pump and blew it. My boss teased him for a month about letting the 'magic smoke' out of the motor and made him pay half the cost of the replacement. The rest of us messed with him over it for way more than a month, lol.
Watch Wes Work has a great film on trouble shooting Gennies. As a retired sparkie myself, I can tell you,-- WWW has a great show ! REALLY good buy on your part !
Corrosion in the switch is a good guess, it just sort of worked itself out! I had a Ford truck that the 4 wheel drive switch wouldn't work, I opened it up and cleaned and lubed the tiny ball bearing contact in the switch, and it worked perfectly. I'm NO mechanic but I was pretty happy to find the fix suggestion on RUclips, saved me a lot of $!
Inside the generator there should be an attenuator where you adjust the voltage output. Also, adjusting the engine speed faster can increase the output
It will only be the capacitor or AVR module - that’s causing the variable output voltage fluctuation- Depending on the winding configuration it will either have a capacitor or avr - both super easy fixes!
Quite right, a stream equals free power for very little initial setup expense. Check out You tuber "MartyT" He has hydro power on his property and just did another video setting up the same system for a friend, great videos.
@@rsmith3062 That Marty is all about recycling item to get more use or converting it to be used in other ways. I could see Matt doing the washing machine hydro electric. 👌🏻👌🏻👍
I'm not an electrician, but may I suggest "GREESE MONKEY" ref his SOLAR SETUP, on his motor home. talk about having something "dialed in" he's got it down pat. For what it's worth, it's the "second setup" on his motor home that's working so good.
Hey Matt if you have an Avr(Automatic Voltage Regulator) controller(small black box under the cover of the Generator unit itself) you want to check the little dials or however you call them,it is like a small plastic tip adjustable resistor that sticks out of the resin (to make the Avr water and shock proof).usually it is two of them on that unit,spray some contact cleaner on it and just move them with a little screwdriver left to right but bring em back to where you started.Over the years moisture gets in them and they corrode causing the generator to put out no voltage or Voltage jumping up and down.If your Unit doesn't have an Avr and is just using a capacitor, check that and put a new one in.By the way it is normal to have voltage drops on small Generators under load or without can be as much as 30v of a difference.Keep the Good Videos coming up,nice Chanel and good Work.All the best from Ireland. Jan/German
I like the way you talk about your projects! You don't repeat yourself (which drives everyone crazy to make a quick exit from the site) No stupid laughing and hey Dude comments). Love your presentations!!!!
The ignition is mechanical so it was probably a dirty terminal that cleaned up a little when you used it - spray some contact cleaner in the ignition and turn it back & forth a few times if it happens again.
I laugh every time you get something started and you celebrate. Matt you find the coolest things love watching your videos keep up the good work and stay safe out there.
I’d change those HID bulbs out to LED retrofits. Brighter, whiter, & a little more durable if the tower gets bumped when the lamps are hot. Wonder if the voltage regulator has moisture in it? Get some CRC electrical cleaner spray. Worth a try?
Lumens per watt are not better with any LED, not a better choice for this application at all. Clean the lenses and possibly the reflectors for best performance.
Capacitors and Diodes are generally your problem on the electric side. Simple Diode test to check Rectifier with just a multimeter on Diode check polarity both ways. Chances are it's either the diodes or capacitors. With Meter on Resistance a cap will charge and discharge, however this only works on small caps. Most caps bulge if they are bad and warp casing. Pretty cheap fix for the most part if that's all your problems. Also wouldn't hurt for a refurb on the electrical side, just a cleaning, replace bearings etc. Also not too expensive but to be done by a Professional or under direction of a Pro just to be safe.
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Gotta love when something isnt working you go to figure out what you need to fox it and it starts working again Gotta love intermittent probelms What a Joy Matt 15:00 @Diesel Creek
Diesel Creek has been a prolific posting BEAST lately! Keep 'em coming!
I know right. I love it. Lot better than the algorithm suggesting 6 yr old videos.
i have had a stuck relay do that on a military genset intermittently
Yes I like it alot
I do wonder if the steady stream of money makes him feel he owes us a lot of content! I'd say he does not, but remember he was reluctant to take donations based on he didn't have enough time to do extra stuff. It's a mindset that takes some time to adjust to.
3d and the rest are
More likely it's 6kw. Terex RL4000 is 6kw. Edit to add: you hold the push button while you Crank it. It bypasses the shut down safety till oil pressure builds, operates Glow plugs and fuel pump while cranking. Also if it's capacitor regulated, the cap may need changed. Should read 25uF or near the label on it. They are wearable items. Adjust engine rpm to 62hz max.
Sounds like you have been reading the spec book.
Michael Greer I recondition these for a hobby 🙂
Ronnie is 100% correct
@@Arby1965 It sure shows
This!
I bought a 94 VW golf back in 98. The guy said the transmission was gone, it was stuck in 3rd gear, he had VW service it and it would be 3k to have it fixed. I gave him $900 for it also. He lived at the bottom of a big hill so he could not drive it out of where it was in 3rd. He also had kids, car was full of french fries, little toys and loose change. The boot on the stick shift had change all around it. I pulled the boot off, which had a tear in it, and there was a dime stuck down in the hold keeping the stick in 3rd gear. Took me all of 5 minutes to get it out with a pair of pliers and I waved to him as I drove it up the hill. You have to love when a simple thing is over looked and you make out like a bandit. Love your videos man.
You can turn the Voltage up from the Regulator to match Idle and High Rpm for the engine 19:00 @Diesel Creek
I feel like I already told you this a while back, I think you mentioned this machine then, but like I said then:
Absolutely convert it to LED. That way you have a light tower AND generator in one, since the lights take so much less power, you'll have plenty of power to spare. You know how it is, if you need mobile lighting, chances are you need mobile power too.
What Tim said, big time!
convert it to LED... when the existing lights break. Why throw out something that's working?
I might be wrong but I believe those lights while super bright, have to cool down after you switch them off before you can turn them back. Not a big deal, but with LED lights you can turn them off and right back on. Not sure its worth the investment for an occasional use item though.
@@robertspear9134 fuel usage alone should make for a quick ROI.
They are probably sodium-vapor lamps. Those put out more Lumen per Watt than LEDs, at least if you take the losses in the circuitry needed for the latter into account. So you can't really save electricity with a swap, but the light would be much more pleasant with LEDs.
Remove that top cover on the generator head and you should have one or more capacitors. Check them, I bet you have a bad capacitor causing the voltage issues.
Yeah I agree a big cap on a generator can also cause you to lose one of your phases off of it and knock your voltage down and then when the cap swings or changes it's capacitance it can cause it to go voltage to go up and down too.
Be very careful though, capacitors bite
@@pacificcoastpiper3949 yea they can bite hard ,, once the generator is shut down it's not likely to happen ,,if this is an independently excited generator it might have a voltage regulator as well ,, I am familiar with RV type gensets and they don't have capacitors they have an electronic regulator with brushes ,the older units don't even have a starter they use the generator winding to start the engine
really old technology sometimes has a second generator to excite the windings in a big unit ,,i have a 1950s era 125KW caterpillar generator here at my farm and it actually has whats called an exciter generator mounted atop the armature housing that's belt driven from the generator end and provides voltage to the rotor which allows the generator to produce power,, it gets used here at my farm to provide backup power
@@wildcoyote34 I learned the hard way with 450 volts in one hand, through me, and out the other hand
@@wildcoyote34 :)...Dude, you know your stuff! Good health and freedom to you and yours!
One thing I learnt when working in the gold mines was to always switch the lights on after you have set up the tower and always turn them off before you move the tower. The elements are fragile when hot and bloody expensive too! Good score though, those 3 pot kubotas last forever with regular oil and filter changes.
Also need to make sure they cool down a bit before turning them back on. It'll blow them out too if they're too hot on a "cold start".
Long live Catweazle😎yours Kühlwalda😁👍
N😢😢 b.v 99 we 4 😢 3 mnk
Wow started right up That is awesome Matt 10:10 @Diesel Creek
To get rid of the flickering from the lights, sync your camera shutterspeed to the hertz of the lights. So for example, 110v - 60hz Set your shutterspeed to 1/60 and let the aperture do the light control. This is also the fact for screen/computers and so on
The generator holds a capacitor. Change the capacitor out and she'll have a more stable voltage.
Don't move the lights while they're on; risk of damage, and they're not cheap to replace...
YEAH LET them cool down before moving.
Yep, +1, let them cool down a couple of minutes before lowering / moving. They're quite fragile.
He's 100% correct. Those mogul base 1000watt metal halides aren't cheap. FYI- google it, you can get a 300 watt LED replacement for those lamps
@@davep6977 1000w mh bulbs are 30 bucks.
LED swap
I bought an old sunbelt light tower from Ritchie brothers in Orlando this spring and it was tagged as “inoperable” but I got it home, hooked it up to a battery charger, checked the fluids, and it fired right up.
Capacitors regulate the voltage, they get nasty in light towers. Pop open the cover to the capacitors and it will be a rusty mess I promise. Just replace the capacitors and you should get clean power. Another problem area in light towers is the radiator, make sure you have good flow, good buy for sure. Don't plug in your shop till you get clean power BTW.
wait are we talking about dirty dirty power or dirty clean power?
am pretty sure most hand tools are fine with any kind of dirty power. just dont want to hook up like a computer to it that doesnt have an internal regulator inside of it.
@@Thekilleroftanks most hand tools do not do so well. They run but drastically reducing their life. By dirty power I mean anything without a clean and smooth sine wave.
@@7LegSpiders That's the first think you check, for sure.
@@Thekilleroftanks if the voltage is too low the electric motor will overheat if the voltage is too high you'll get arks where arks are not supposed to be. Especially if the tools I from a big-box store.
The dirty power might also be causing the light flicker (I think it's too fast too see in person and we only see it because of the rolling shutter effect).
Hey Matt,
On that hour meter, the last digit had 1/10 underneath it. I would take that to mean 1/10 of an hour, so the 3000 some odd hours would be correct. You could watch it and see if it increments every 6 minutes or so. Nice score and addition to the farm shop. Thanks for the video!
-mike
@dieselcreek Protip: Do not move those lights when they are on. The filament is very brittle when hot. And the bulbs are stupid expensive. So, raise the light pole and turn the direction you need, then power the lights. turn the lights off, let them sit for a minute or two before lowering and storing. It will help the bulbs last much longer.
Curious how difficult it would be to upgrade the lights on that machine, swap over to LED. The truck bay in our firehouse use to have the filament style bulbs. They took forever fully get bright.
They've got LED replacement ones now.
A buddy of mine changed his over to them.
He uses it on pop up waverunner races in the Keys.
He has salt water environment proofed every metal part on it and used DeoxIt on all electrical connectors.
@@firewalker1372 It's actually not too big a deal. These original lights use a ballast in the line. You can see the box that holds these ballasts at the 3:53 mark. To completely eliminate the original lights and replace them with LED, you would also need to remove these ballasts. Basically you remove all of these parts, rewire things to the 120v power goes directly up to the tower, and then replace the light heads with the LED heads of your choice. You eventually end up with a simpler wiring setup, and also less weight.
I believe there are some replacement LED bulbs available that you can simply 'plug and play', that will still operate with the ballast installed. But I believe they are pretty expensive. And they will stop working if the ballast ever fails. Doing a complete revamp of the lights is probably the best option overall, and would certainly be cheaper since you can use whatever LED heads you get your hands on.
Indeed, in the air force we used also these kind of light units and it was strictly against procedure to move anything when lit or when the bulbs where still hot. This looks like a HQI, so there should be no filament in it, just two electrodes on each end.
Matt, what you did to that switch was probably wear off the oxidation on the contactors. Switches like that get crusty fairly quickly and lost the ability to pass current. Any electrical equipment like that you buy, before you connect a battery, get a can of contact cleaner, douse the switches fairly liberally making sure you squirt it through holes in the housing so it gets to the internals. Work the switches back and forth pretty vigorously a few times then let it dry. Job done.
+1 on contact enhancement cleaner. Works well. Used it for many years on all sorts of circuit boards, contacts, etc
Good advice, but after the contact cleaner (which is very corrosive; that's how it works) follow-up with a liberal soaking with WD40 or similar to rinse out the cleaner and reduce future corrosion.
@@JohnCarder +1 on the WD40, the WD stands for Water Displacement. WD40 will reduce the weather from affecting switches & contacts down the road.. Older engines that have points, after cleaning the points, I spray the cap, & rotor down with WD40.
I 99% agree with this, however I have had a starter & solenoid I rather too liberally doused in contact cleaner catch fire once. Which was exciting.
The engine had been a right bugger to start and I was loathe to turn the engine off to deal with the fire!
In other words, be careful.
@@JohnCarder I can't speak for the USA but most contact cleaner I've ever used is also a water displacer. Contact cleaner shouldn't be corrosive, it's a deoxidiser and should evaporate soon after use leaving contacts dry. WD40 is flammable and spraying it into places where electricity might form an arc is asking for trouble. Personally I use Ambersil which is a very common brand in the UK which needs no aftercare.
10:58 "I'm not an electchicken, I don't know." LOL!
Hey Matt, I resemble that remark, are you implying that electricians are chicken?
Sounded to me like he said electician like a technician of electricity. 😀
I pretty Shure he said elechicken!! Lol
His slang is courtesy of another RUclipsr: AVE a foul mouthed Canadian enginerding and prototyping channel. Check him out
Ah good not the only one who heard that😂
Howdyyawl from the land down under. Matt, I reckon you bought a absolute gem. Those road side work light generating units will fetch $5-10k in second hand condition in OZ. There could be a rgulator or resister problem mayB. Not hard or too expensive to fix. It should do what you want & mayB a little more. Enjoy😊
Low engine speed will result in low voltage and low frequency. You need to speed up the Kubota engine to raise the voltage and frequency. The generator should regulate the engine speed to keep the volts and hertz up. you probably just need for someone to set the governor for you. It's an easy fix. Great videos by the way. Keep up the good work. John
The fuel pump is turned on when the engine oil pressure comes up. The first time you tried to start it I’m guessing it took awhile for the oil pump to prime after sitting for who knows how long that’s why the fuel pump didn’t run at first.
I second this comment
@@dwitcraft Yes, the prime position is for priming, the pump isn't supposed to run until the engine starts.
It was blowing white smoke, clearly getting fuel. Just high hour motor not running glow plugs.
The fuel pump circuit would have all the safety switches in it like low oil, high temp, etc. So the fuel pump won't run without oil pressure.
@Big Dill
Hello
How are you doing
HOW WOULD IT START THEN, NO OIL PRESSURE TIL IT STARTS?
@@davidwatsonii9469 the start circuit probably bypasses it until the engine starts running on its own
@@davidwatsonii9469 it said prime for 20 seconds before starting - enough to run the engine till pressure rises
@@neiloconnell2120 I ALWAYS TALK IN CAPS, IT BRINGS THE CRYBABAIES OUT, JUST GO TO YOUR SAFE SPACE, ITS OK
'New' Amida light plant generator looks very promising! As always, your ability to seek, find, fix & utilize older/used equipment (part 1) is on full display in this video.😊 Great to see your enthusiasm bubble up thru the overburden of dust, mud, rust, animal nesting deposits & gamblers anxiety! Yup, another great project start! Carry on Matt!👍👍👍🍺
My strong advice is you fit LEDs work lights to this unit. Not on the tower (though you can do that too if you like), but 12V LED work lights so you can see what you're doing after you've shut down the tower lights.
Flick on the work lights, switch off the tower lights, wait for them to cool, then lower and stow the tower, wind up the legs, etc. And the whole time you can see what you are doing courtesy of the work lights. They only need to light up a metre or two around the trailer, so not much power required. Much easier to work when you're not trying to do everything by torchlight, or headlamp.
I fitted 2 work lights per side (with each side of the trailer having its own switch) and they work really well on the rare occasions we need to use the light tower.
I'm about to install some 50w flood lights on the first section on my tower... super nice having a ton of light even with the engine off.. 12v!
@@Mitchs The LED lights described above are 15W each IIRC. And I didn't just fit them to the light tower. Lots of our vehicles/equipment have a similar setup, and it's fantastic.
You may have a floating neutral on your 120 outlet.
Also remember you can split your 220 outlet out into 120 outlets as well and make two 120 outlets out of it.
What this guy said. Floating neutral. It would have been bonded at the factory but vibration and corrosion could break that bond. Voltage should be close to 120 with no load. As more load is applied to the genset, your voltage will skew further away from nominal.
On another note, those are metal halide lights. As the lamps reach end of life the arch tube will turn black (even though they still work). Don't be afraid to change the lamps out. The ballast and capacitor will be working overtime to keep the lamp lit. A lamp is much cheaper than a ballast.
I advise you to deploy the prop stands fully before raising the tower. In any kind of wind the Amidas are unstable as hell and it makes a real mess if one turns over. Also you should make sure that it is upright.
Hey, I like the way you get excited when you get a piece of equipment to start. It's really neat to see how you diagnose and figure out how to get equipment to run.
I worked as an electrician for 30 years and i literally can't count the number of times i repaired something by taking it apart, putting it back together and had it work for no apparent reason.
Congratulations on a sweet deal on this mobile moth attractor.
I managed to buy a 3 cylinder Deutz water cooled generator out of a lighting set several years ago for $700. Best deal I ever found. Runs like a top. 1800rpm so has a tone that is completely different than the 3600rpm generators... Shes one of my prized possessions now...
That little slot on the hour meter is usually just to indicate whether or not its running. While its running, that should either rotate vertically or oscillate between black and white.
convert that to LED and you will be able to both run the lights and power up your off grid workshop at the same time. Plus LED lights are cheap, last a long time and they sip electricity.
@paul
Hello
How are you doing?
That auction yard looks like a toy store for big boys. 👍
the diesel creek property looks like a construction companies
You seem to know a lot about big boys...
Yep!
Just use caution if you shop there. It can be a casting field for undesirable leftovers. I've seen some real "used car" tricks there. Very little buyer protection at auctions. Caveat emptor.
What a great way to start Canada day!
Happy Canada day buddy!
Me three. Cheers everybody!!!!
You probably have a loose connection or more likely a relay was loose or sticking. If it comes back check the relays
As others have said, capacitor can cause low voltage. However you should also check your engine RPM. On my light tower generator, -1RPM attributes to about -10 volts
There was most likely "arc" damage inside one of the wire nut connections and when you stretched the wires it made better connection.
When cranking up the lights, stop when you start to see the red paint on them. Otherwise, well, you'll have to call the elechicken.
Jigulate some wires... and it works! Why am I never so lucky?
When I jiggle wires there's a flash,magic smoke but the magicians' assistant never appears!!(and then I really need to fix it) LOL
In the USAF we called them Light Carts. Easy to work on if you know what you are doing. Oil pressure switch could have corrosion on the terminals? Check engine speed may be too low also. Buy a used tire if the stem is not loose or worn for your leaking tire.
It is always so amazing to see these old discarded machines come back to life!
Same thing in the antique clock business. a lot of people throw away antique clocks that are worth a lot of money and still have a lot of life left in them to buy a new junk that's not worth anything that won't last any time at all.
I love bringing antique clocks back to life. And restoring antique tools and machinery.
I just love how old equipment can sit for generations and run with a little love.
I love going to the auction yard, however I get outbid a lot because I set a limit and never bid over that limit. Doesn't really matter though its still fun to go to the auctions
Good for you for having self discipline enough to set and stick to a limit.
It’s common to have some voltage drop under load while lights are on. Ideally, the 110 volt outlet should read within tolerance of +/- 10%. Like you said it is most likely the voltage regulator that’s causing it to be out of tolerance. A minor adjustment to the regulator should bring it back into tolerance. As long as you are not plugging anything in it’s should not be an issue. I’d say it’s a WIN WIN with full tank and lights working just fine.
didnt he measure those first 93 volts with no load?
@@Gigaguenther I don’t remember but it’s a good question. So if he measured ~15% below nominal it might have been more than just an adjustment to get it working. We should ask Matt. He is pretty good about reading comments. Maybe I’ll say something when the next video comes out unless I see something from you.
This is great! Matt loves when we give him more work to do.
You likely have an underrun on the generator. I'm not sure if the throttle is governed mechanically or electronically, but that's likely your low voltage issue. Lube some linkages up or find the electronic speed adjustment. You'll want to make the adjustments on and off load to find your balance.
@joel
Hello
How are you doing?
During my 14 year career as the RoadRunner for Tilcon N. Bfd. CT, I picked up countless bulbs and shades for these light plants from the W.I. Clark Co. in Wlfd. Ct. I towed a few Light plants out to Quarries and jobs. Currently we have several lighting up the recently completed Rotaries on Route 42 in Monticello NY. I think until Street Lighting can be installed. Probably in Spring of next year.
Had about 6 in our rental fleet . The company was in Rock Hill SC. At the time . Very dependable parts were easy to get . I think they were 3 cylinders. The only problem I can remember was if the customer ran them out of fuel . We called them light plants. Stay safe.
He's like me, I purchased a Miller Blue Star 2 E portable welding generator from a guy that said the engine (Tecumseh OH160, gasoline) wasn't getting spark to the spark plug. I paid 150 dollars for it got it home and tried to start it, he was right, it had no spark, I messed with it about an hour and then let it sit in the barn for about 5 years, the seen another Generator listed, a Red-E-Arc GX-271 Chopper, made by Lincoln Electric that had a Kohler 2 cylinder (propane) engine, the owner didn't have a propane tank for it and didn't want to pay the cost for one to see if it actually ran well enough to check if it would weld or not but got it running by pouring gasoline into the top of carburetor air intake, it fired off and would run as long as he dribbled gasoline into it, anyway he ended up listing it for 450 dollars, I took a chance and purchased it, got it home and found that the choke was stuck in full choke position and also throttle was stuck in full throttle position, freed both up, used a regular propane tank from a BBQ grill, took the liquid propane hose off the welder and used the hose and regulator from BBQ grill and turned the tank upside down to supply liquid propane to the welder, it fired right up and welded perfectly, best 450 dollars I ever spent. Then I thought Hmmm, wonder if I can get the Miller running, I put another solid state ignition on it that I had and knew that it was a working unit, and still no spark, that type of coil does not use magnets on the flywheel to create the spark, but for the heck of it I pulled the flywheel off and discovered that 2 magnets of the battery charging circuit had come loose and had slid to just under the two timing pins mounted outside of the flywheel, for some reason was causing the solid state ignition to not create the needed spark to ignite the air/fuel mixture, then checked the polarization of the magnets and found that the poles of those 2 out of place magnets were just the opposite that caused the built in sensor of the coil to not magnetize thus causing a no spark condition, JB welded them back into place, reassembled the engine and it too fired right up and welded perfectly, another 150 dollars well spent, Both machines has built in Alternator to power tools like grinders and has enough power to run mig wire units as well, the Miller has 8 kW alternator and the Red D Arc has 9 kw alternator.
That's a really, REALLY, long sentence... lol. Glad it worked out for ya.
@@corelockout6293 how did he by that thing
Wanna sell one?
Believe me, I was just excited when that engine turned over and took off! That is joy.
Check the connectors for corrosion.
Your camera works at ~30 Hz per frame and the generator works at ~60 Hz so you get a beat frequency between them.
We use those at oil refineries for the night shift all the time. FYI don’t crank the post so high, when you see the red paint on the post crank down a little. That’s your warning your going to high, they will tip. Great buy.
Is the Refresh rate on the camera that causes the Lights to look like there flickering hope that info Helps Matt 17:40 @Diesel Creek
Your "repair" of the ignition switch is commonly referred to as an FM repair......F'ing Magic
That looks like an awesome deal. Did you put a real fuse back in that holder? Putting wires in place of blown fuses causes fires.
17:55 The lights are most likely Sodium Halogen, and the refresh rate is slower than the digital camera's, which is why they flicker on camera. the same as LED (everything). and why you can see the lines from your TV/computer monitor when you take a photo.
I think it's because film is 24 frames per second and light is 60 cycles P/S so it doesn't line up. That's why wheels look like the go backwards some times.
In the oil field we used many light generators. Many long nights. Retired after 50 years, enjoy. Have changed many diesel fuel filters. Oil pressure sending unit to alternator and fuel pump .
I worked at the plant that made those in Rock Hill, SC. Check the capacitor on the top of the generator. It regulates the voltage. Common failure. It is a model Leroy Somer LSA 37 6kW generator. The 4000 means it has 4-1000 watt lights. Check the hertz it should be 59-61 on each leg of the 240 volt twist lock receptacle Each leg should be 110 volts.
I get the biggest kick out of your enthusiasm. The rebel yells are sweet!
The way he goes CONTACT!!! with absolute seriousness, as if commanding it to start up
I think, because he sometimes works with other people, he is concerned about the safety of the others. So, he calls out 'CONTACT' as a warning that something may (hopefully) start moving.
Great find Matt, your shop is coming along fine , can’t wait to see your grader painted👍👍👍
I'd say you did well over at RB... I get a chuckle, too, when something turns over or actually starts up. Those lamps will last you a while if you're using it mostly as a power plant for the shop lights, etc. You got a good deal, especially after the switch decided to begin working..
Voltage problem could be the wiring connection to the capacitor in the junction box at the top of the generator. Check that first. I did and it solved my problem. Thanks for posting.
Make sure the engine speed isn’t fluctuating. I set all my generators at 60hz and the voltage should be right around 120v
Sounds about right for, 50hz
Great purchase! I’m always amazed at some of those engines starting after sitting for so long.
There's a guy on YT called "James Condon" that does generators. Might be able to give you some direction on the genny,
I thought about Small Engine Mechanic. I think he showed going through one of those minus the light post once.
You are absolutely correct in shutting down the engine before you turn the switch off!! Many bad things can and will happen otherwise.
I found your channel while being stuck at home after after 2 strokes I was owner operator and long haul trucker for 22 years you channel always enjoyable
Sorry to hear that, Glad you enjoy the show tho!
I say the filters was for when the boss told someone to change the oil so they just set the filters inside and added oil and told the boss they changed it.......
Probably if change those "Xenon" lights to new Led lights.. Will use way less power/fuel. So you can use that left over power for something else.
Question would be whether it is worth for his use case.
Would probably have to run a really long time to offset the cost of new lights with fuel savings.
I thought about it, probably use it a lot more as a generator than light tower so I’m not sure it will be worth it
i think he bought it more for as a genset lol
Buy a few cheap amazon light bars and throw em up on the pole
Those are NOT xenon lamps, they are mercury vapour high-intensity discharge lamps.
I have a reputation in my family as being able to fix anything. And most of it simply by just touching or trying to turn it on. My family call it "laying of hands" or healing it". It's usually just common sense and luck and being mechanically inclined.
I bought one too from Richie Bros Auction, it needed a tune up, a head gasket and new filters and fluids. Replaced the bulbs and now it works. It is handy for me in the winter. Where I live the days are long in the summer and dark most of the winter. Glad you got one too.
I have the same model, I converted it to a portable radio tower. Converted generator from 110V to 240v. Made in USA shipped to the UK!
We were taught in the Air Force to hold multimeter leads in one hand so there was no current path through your chest if you get a jolt. 440V aircraft power is no joke.
Practice holding your leads like chopsticks. It's not really a safety issue at 120V but it's easier to get into tight spots.
Its not the voltage that kills you, its amps, eveything over 30mA is dangerous. The reason to hold with both hands is because the pins Are isolated at safe to hold, its worse to hold both in 1 hand and touch earth with the other hand, THen you will be the circuit and not the multimeter.
@@kristoffer4752 and how do you get amps when the resistance [of a given current path through he body] is fixed? this is like that old adage about torque and power and a wall that you drive into. it's just half-knowledge that benefits nobody. i dont mean to belittle you, it's just that clichés like this one bear some consideration before sharing them
I would check the capacitors in the excitation circuit, could be a loose wire, or one of the caps is getting iffy. Most likely and oil filled can type, I've had them do stupid things. Only other thing from there is to determine if it is a brush or brushless alternator... if it has brushes, do the obvious and make sure the carbons aren't all worn to nothing, and or that the holders are still ok. should be pretty straight forward. If it's brushless, it's still kinda the same, you just have to make sure there aren't any loose parts on the rotor, but to find that, you may need to split the unit and get the rotor out of the stator. Hopefully it's something more simple like a bad cap or loose connection to the cap.
All in all, yeah, I'd say you did pretty darn good!
It's just framerate that causes the lights to flicker... The same thing happens when you record a television or computer screen...
its to do with the hertz that the power is running at not matching the framerate of the camera and the camera is catching the lights turning off and on. If I remember correctly at 60 hertz they are shutting off and on 120 times per second
@@curtism7203 the refresh rate
@@curtism7203 not really, you might get some slight flicker with an arc lamp but with most lights the filament or even the arc can't cool down fast enough between voltage peaks to cause a flicker (arc lamp ballasts will have some reserve power stored in capacitors and magnetic fields for a very brief period of time). I work in stage lighting as a side gig and the fastest we can turn off tungsten halogen lamps (500W to 750W) is about 0.3 seconds if you just cut power instantly.
You only really get AC flicker with fluorescent lamps.
@@jamesbrowne7948 how come it was flickering on his video? he said it wasnt flickering in person.
@@jamesbrowne7948 LOL, experts. Old tech incandescent lights, sure. But LEDs and any sort of plasma react instantaneously. These are high pressure sodium, so they are only on when there is voltage applied, so at zero crossing they are off. As they age the effect gets worse. These are probably old.
Those are metal halide lights, they are fed AC power, often 400Hz. The frame rate of the camera causes that strobing appearance. The lights are strobing so fast beyond what the human eye can see.
Spot on. If your camera is 4000 Hz and the electricity 400 Hz, then every 10 "cycles" the frequencies coincide and you get the visible flicker
What fixed the keyswitch was turning it on and off over and over, removing the oxidation from the contacts. A spray can of Deoxit is worth having. :)
C'mon Matt no night shot of the lights Really ! your killin me here .
nor do i care this aint english class
🤣🤣🤣🤣🖕
That fuel pump might run off an oil pressure reading. Thats how my truck is.
6.5 diesel?
@@detroitdiesel-vu3ig 6.0 or 7.3 maybe some others
Many generators use oil level or pressure to cutoff the engine and prevent damage. Good call.
@@detroitdiesel-vu3ig yup its a 93 6.5
@@sampasch3381 I figured. Luckily my 98 did away with that failure point. You can get the new wire harness to bypass that switch as well
10:08 Epic win :) This was fun to watch, always nice to see salvaged equipment get up and running again!
Be sure and check the slip ring that the brushes run on in the generator head. It should be shinny copper color. If it's dark like charcoal it needs to be cleaned. It will prevent voltage output if dirty. Had to do it on my 6.5k on my motorhome. You can put a piece of fine grit sandpaper on a paint stir stick and stick it through gen head fins and let it gently rub on the slip ring while gen is running. It will clean it right up and restore your voltage with a stable waveform. Not saying this is your problem, but definitely need to check it out.
Running a manual stop diesel with the ignition off should not hurt anything. The alternator will push a little bit of power back through the pilot light but that doesn't really do much. Normally all that happens is that the pilot light comes on. I've done it plenty of times.
What you don't want to do is disconnect the battery with the engine running. That can kill the alternator and/or other electronics in the system. I design electronics for a living (among other things) so in the past I've had to put quite a bit of thought into protecting vehicle electronics against battery disconnection and other 'load dump' events.
You let out some angry pixies when you got that panel against the cabinet.
I thought I saw some sparks too and wondered whether something briefly got shorted. Engine kept running though..
lol, angry pixies is one I haven't heard in a while... An electrician's helper at our shop mis-wired a small 3 phase motor on a pump and blew it. My boss teased him for a month about letting the 'magic smoke' out of the motor and made him pay half the cost of the replacement. The rest of us messed with him over it for way more than a month, lol.
@@michaelhompus2475 I'm not sure that he realized that he had bare terminals for both the 110, and 240 on the back side of that panel.
Watch Wes Work has a great film on trouble shooting Gennies. As a retired sparkie myself, I can tell you,-- WWW has a great show ! REALLY good buy on your part !
Oh ok hun thanks for sharing
How are you doing
Your reaction is pure and not overdone. It's a joy when anything you havent heard run before come to life.
Corrosion in the switch is a good guess, it just sort of worked itself out! I had a Ford truck that the 4 wheel drive switch wouldn't work, I opened it up and cleaned and lubed the tiny ball bearing contact in the switch, and it worked perfectly. I'm NO mechanic but I was pretty happy to find the fix suggestion on RUclips, saved me a lot of $!
6:10 That slot is a visual indicator that the hour meter is working. It turns a quarter turn or so every 5(?) seconds or so.
I'm 5-6 hours from RB's in Houston and Fort Worth. That's a good thing: too far to spend a day spending at either....
im only 45 mins from the one in Minnesota but i never go money reasons of course lol
For a guy that hasn't even reached 30 yet, you're sure living the dream. Congrats, Matt!
I’m 19 and first month into training for rigging, I feel like I’m going to see a few of them money trees in my future
Inside the generator there should be an attenuator where you adjust the voltage output. Also, adjusting the engine speed faster can increase the output
It will only be the capacitor or AVR module - that’s causing the variable output voltage fluctuation-
Depending on the winding configuration it will either have a capacitor or avr - both super easy fixes!
Have you got a stream on your land ? (if you have you could go hydro + solar) and stick it to the man :) .
Quite right, a stream equals free power for very little initial setup expense. Check out You tuber "MartyT" He has hydro power on his property and just did another video setting up the same system for a friend, great videos.
@@rsmith3062
That Marty is all about recycling item to get more use or converting it to be used in other ways. I could see Matt doing the washing machine hydro electric. 👌🏻👌🏻👍
Was going to introduce you all to MARTY T. See you are wide seeking.****.
@@rsmith3062 Saw the first part yesterday. second video's up now.
Actually, he apparently has an entire diesel creek. Hasn't been able to get it started, though.
I am extremely interested in seeing you do a solar setup.
I'm not an electrician, but may I suggest "GREESE MONKEY" ref his SOLAR SETUP, on his motor home. talk about having something "dialed in" he's got it down pat. For what it's worth, it's the "second setup" on his motor home that's working so good.
Yeah, he can fire up the light tower, aim it at the solar panels and make power at night! Oh...wait
Hey Matt if you have an Avr(Automatic Voltage Regulator) controller(small black box under the cover of the Generator unit itself) you want to check the little dials or however you call them,it is like a small plastic tip adjustable resistor that sticks out of the resin (to make the Avr water and shock proof).usually it is two of them on that unit,spray some contact cleaner on it and just move them with a little screwdriver left to right but bring em back to where you started.Over the years moisture gets in them and they corrode causing the generator to put out no voltage or Voltage jumping up and down.If your Unit doesn't have an Avr and is just using a capacitor, check that and put a new one in.By the way it is normal to have voltage drops on small Generators under load or without can be as much as 30v of a difference.Keep the Good Videos coming up,nice Chanel and good Work.All the best from Ireland.
Jan/German
I like the way you talk about your projects! You don't repeat yourself (which drives everyone crazy to make a quick exit from the site) No stupid laughing and hey Dude comments). Love your presentations!!!!
Thanks 👍🏼
The ignition is mechanical so it was probably a dirty terminal that cleaned up a little when you used it - spray some contact cleaner in the ignition and turn it back & forth a few times if it happens again.
I laugh every time you get something started and you celebrate. Matt you find the coolest things love watching your videos keep up the good work and stay safe out there.
I’d change those HID bulbs out to LED retrofits. Brighter, whiter, & a little more durable if the tower gets bumped when the lamps are hot. Wonder if the voltage regulator has moisture in it? Get some CRC electrical cleaner spray. Worth a try?
Lumens per watt are not better with any LED, not a better choice for this application at all. Clean the lenses and possibly the reflectors for best performance.
I just love the laugh and joy when something starts!!! My wife banned me from Richie Brothers… as lucky as you’ve gotten, I’ve failed 😞
sorry for your loss brother
Just pretend your Matt and tell your wife youre going BBQ :-)
”Honey, look what i found that was abandoned in the woods ”
Test the voltage when it's actually loaded.
Capacitors and Diodes are generally your problem on the electric side. Simple Diode test to check Rectifier with just a multimeter on Diode check polarity both ways. Chances are it's either the diodes or capacitors. With Meter on Resistance a cap will charge and discharge, however this only works on small caps. Most caps bulge if they are bad and warp casing. Pretty cheap fix for the most part if that's all your problems. Also wouldn't hurt for a refurb on the electrical side, just a cleaning, replace bearings etc. Also not too expensive but to be done by a Professional or under direction of a Pro just to be safe.