AC will not run off generator

[um saudade]

Sailor Chic:

You are right in that if it had brushes the brushes could be an issue but it does not have brushes. This genset has the exciter winding co-wound into the stator, thus no dc connections to the rotating field on the armature, thus no brushes.

If it did have brushes it would not have a saturation capacitor to help regulate the output AC.

Check the capacitor.

[twistedtree]

You said the voltage dropped from 130V to 116V with everything except the AC on. How much load is "everything except the AC"? Do you have a way to measure frequency? Is that stable?

When you "crank up the voltage to 130V", how did you do that? Is there a voltage regulator, or did you speed up the generator, which by the way would impact the frequency?

Assuming your load isn't real big, I think the voltage sag you describe will lead you back to the source of your problem. Voltage regulator, brushes, or other parts related to voltage regulation depending on the type of regulator.

[Dflatimer]

Sort of what I was thinking. I'll pull the cap after holiday weekend and have it tested. Thanks again. DL

[Speakrdude]

Did you ever figure out the problem?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Speakrdude.

[HopCar]

Welcome aboard Speakrdude. Thanks for asking the question. I hope the OP sees this and gives us the answer. I'd like to know as well.

[Dflatimer]

Gents,
Yes. After loads of testing and consulting with two electrical engineers we determined that the generator had bad exciter windings. I never fixed it and the dirty power ended up frying my Ac control board. So now I use a portable household AC which surprisingly tolerates dirty power better. Being that I spent almost 14000 on engine and fiberglass work last year it wasn't in my budget to have this repaired. There is a test manual out there for this generator and ultimately led us to this discovery. I can probably find that if anyone is interested.

[David Hughes]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

very few people have AC on their boats. There is no reason you should. You can achieve the exact same thing using far less energy, much more reliable and simple.

1. wind sock
2. electric fan
3. Put tarps above deck to prevent direct sunlight from hitting the deck.
4. salt/fresh/salt spray incoming air in a duct, to dry/cool/dry it
5. pump cool deep water (5-10 meters) up hose through heat exchanger in boat.
6. Insulate boat properly and have very large tanks of water which circulate through radiators outside to cool at night, and keep the boat very cool all day. Also you can drip water onto radiators to make them cooler. Same system can be adapted to keep the boat warm in winter.
7. Drink ice water
8. Sweat

I can think of many more, but maybe you can try some of those or come up with your own.

This guy has obviously never been in Florida in the summer. That method is worthless, unless his definition of AC is reducing inside temp from 93 to 88, but doing nothing about humidity. No offense, but it takes serious BTU's to deal with tropical heat....


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