Post
by Harold_V » Mon Jan 29, 2018 1:27 am
My thanks goes out to Patio for his professional guidance in getting this project as far as it is. It has not been easy, as there have been problems that I did not anticipate. One of them was in starting the unit for the first time.
Yeah, it did run well. But it also knocked out a fuse in one leg of the primary side of the service. I didn't notice the bump, but both my wife and Patio did. A slight flicker of the lights, but the unit was well on its way to being spooled up, so it continued to run up to speed, and we let it run for several minutes. Those of you familiar with three phase understand that a three phase motor will operate with one leg out, but it can't start. Once rotating, the other phases will continue to run the motor, but, I expect, at reduced power. Fortunately, all we did was run the motor, with no load.
Only after it had coasted down in speed did we start noticing a lowering of light output. Patio immediately checked the voltage in the shop and found only 69 volts at the receptacles. We called PUD (Public Utility District) and reported low voltage. Patio talked to dispatch and informed them what we had done. A crew of two men showed up about 1-3/4 hours later and found the open disconnect/fuse assembly on the pole about 125 yards from our house. A replacement of the fuse permitted a second firing of the power supply, which it did in grand fashion, with the two PUD employees witnessing the start-up. We were all satisfied that the problem had been addressed appropriately.
As there is no load connected to the output, and I have yet to provide any cooling, we did not excite the generator. My purpose was strictly to see if the unit would operate, so I'd know if I should continue the process of getting it fully operation. For that there is good reason, which I will detail in following posts. I'd like to try to bring the interested readers up to date by starting where I left off last summer. I've been working on the unit as time allowed, and have covered some serious territory.
Thanks for your interest in my project.
H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.