NextGen 3.5 w/ Victron Multi-Plus 3000

[homer1958]

I am looking for a fellow by the name of Bob Perry on this forum... boat name "Born Free"

He has this exact set-up and am looking for some advice... Anyone know him or have this combo or had any troubles with it due to NextGen dirty power until under load?

Thnx

Brian

[btrayfors]

Well, Brian, you found him. Only his name is Bill. Bob Perry is the designer -- and a pretty famous one at that :-)

I've got the 3.5KW NextGen and the Victron Multi-Plus. What can I do to help?

BTW, my direct email is bill at wdsg dot com

Bill
S/V Born Free -- a Golden Wave 42
(one of Bob Perry's little know but best designs)

[colemj]

Please keep this on the forum - we have the 3000 with the Nextgen 5.5kw and would like to hear of experiences or potential problems. So far, we haven't had any, but we have only had the combo for a couple of weeks and the Nextgen does have dirty power.

Mark

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by colemj

Please keep this on the forum - we have the 3000 with the Nextgen 5.5kw and would like to hear of experiences or potential problems. So far, we haven't had any, but we have only had the combo for a couple of weeks and the Nextgen does have dirty power.

Mark

OK, Mark...will try to at least summarize here. Brian is going to call me to talk about his issues.

BTW, does your Victron accept the NextGen generator power without putting some load on it first? Mine doesn't -- even when I've got all the "dirty power" things set properly. It's a real pain.

My Iota charger accepts the dirty power just fine. Haven't had a chance yet to try the ProMariner Pronautic-P....it's supposedly very tolerant of dirty power, too.

I'm going to try some experiments when I get time.

Bill

[colemj]

Yes, our Victron accepts the NextGen power without prior loads. So does our Iota 90A, although the Iota causes the generator output voltage to increase from 125V to 135V. I think this has something to do with the lack of power factor correction on the Iota confusing the generator regulation. I get the same response out of the Victron when I turn off its power factor correction.

Ours is the capacitor regulated generator and not the AVR. The frequency jumps all over the place when measured with a frequency meter, but becomes a steady 60Hz when a resistive load is applied. I think there are a lot of harmonics that confuse the meter and that resistive loads either remove them or act as electrical ballast to make them smoother.

We also seem to blow the regulating capacitor every 200-300hrs. I wish I could figure out why. I have moved the capacitor externally into a cool place and checked all the wiring connections on the generator end, the panel end and all the loads. There aren't any unusual loads on the system. Luckily, the capacitor only costs $10 and changing it now that it is external is as easy as changing a lightbulb.

Mark

[btrayfors]

Interesting stuff, Mark. Thanks for that.

The VR unit on my 3.5 blew one summer, with not very many hours on the generator. Mine is inside the sound shield enclosure.

When replacing the VR unit, the NextGen dealer here (who is himself an EE) said that overheating after shutdown can be problematic, so recommended that before shutting the generator down it's a good idea to let it run without load for several minutes.

Bill

[colemj]

I don't think overheating is our problem. The capacitor is mounted externally in a cool place. Also, I always let the generator run without load for a couple of minutes and after shutdown, I run blowers both into and out of the enclosure for several minutes.

Our previous generator was a Phasor with an AVR and we would blow the AVR a couple times a year. The AVR costs a few hundred dollars, so this wasn't fun. I never figured out that problem either.

So, I think the problem is somewhere in our electrical system from the panel inward. However, I am at a loss as to what that could be after going through it in detail.

On the other hand, changing the equivalent of a $10 lightbulb 2-3 times a year isn't all that bad considering I have fishing and beach walking and exploring competing with my repair/troubleshooting time...

Mark

[DotDun]

If you have an isolation transformer, connect the genset to the input (move the shorepower transfer switch). The IT will clean up a lot of harmonic distortion.