Ironton Gen. DF400H-3410

[Rivets]

Wrong. Hammer is talking about engine RPMs at no load.. It’s rated Wattage is 3250, 4000 is surge Wattage, which means it will jump to 4000 watts quickly when you put a heavy load on it, then drop down to rated wattage. Don’t confuse RPMs and wattage, as one is engine speed and the other is the amount of work the unit can do.

 

[PTmowerMech]

Wrong. Hammer is talking about engine RPMs at no load.. It’s rated Wattage is 3250, 4000 is surge Wattage, which means it will jump to 4000 watts quickly when you put a heavy load on it, then drop down to rated wattage. Don’t confuse RPMs and wattage, as one is engine speed and the other is the amount of work the unit can do.

Lower the RPM's and the generator is going to produce less wattage. In my case, even at 1600 rpm's, the generator is creating 130V.

Watts, from what I understand, is sort of the power. The muscle, if you will.
Amps is how much power
Where as voltage is how fast the power is being fed.

The RPM's the engine is turning has a direct effect on the voltage and the power both.

I didn't check the RPM's when I first started the gen. Only the voltage. And seen it was 183v, I reduced the RPM's as far as I could, trying to get close to the 120V mark. As much as I could reduce the RPM's (about 1650rpm), I was still at 130v. With only 1650RPM's, and still getting 130V, then as hammer stated, it must be a faulty AVR.

 

[Rivets]

Have you tested both receptacles on the 120V receptacles as well as both legs of the 220/240 receptacle? Before throwing parts at this unit I would be checking the wiring.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

PT said
Watts, from what I understand, is sort of the power. The muscle, if you will.
Amps is how much power
Where as voltage is how fast the power is being fed.

Sort of
Voltage is a measure of potential. Devices are designed to be operated at a specific voltage or voltage range.

Watts is a unit of power. This is the voltage times the amps (current flow) P=E x I. Cuurrent flow is determined by voltage divided by resistance.

Frequency in Hz (hertz) is the number of times per second the waveform changes from positive to negative. Some equipment is very sensitive to line frequency, like some motors. and some could not care less. Such as an incandescent light bulb.

Energy is power (watts) over time. You buy energy from the grid in killowatthours. That is thousands of watts per hour.

 

[Rivets]

My students were told to remember it this way. Amps are the amount you want to push through the wire. Volts are the pressure you are going to push on the amount. Ohms are the back pressure you have. Watts are how much work you want to accomplish.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

That is pretty good basic explanation for young students. One of the funniest things to watch was a kid we hired with a 2 years technical degree doing 220v troubleshooting. Lots of theory but not much on real world. He was always quick to point out he had a degree and i didn't.

 

[Rivets]

Hope you left a couple of Briggs condensers, charged and laying around, to teach him that when you assume anything about electricity it can hurt you. My students learned very quickly that you understand and test everything before touching it. When no touch voltage sensors came out, most of my second year students bought one and carried it with them anytime they went into the lab. One day the principal came into our class to observe what we did and touched a low voltage circuit that a student set up showing how electrical fencing work on the farm. He was demonstrating how to change the shock you got by changing the size of the capacitor you hooked into the line. Student thought he was going to be in trouble when he and everyone else started laughing. The principal knew he was in the wring, there was signage all around and another student tried to warn him, but I think he was a little slow on purpose. Student got an A and we were neve observed again.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

The big printers i worked on in the old day job had things called corotrons. A metal sheild with a wire inside the center wire has about 50,000 volts applied to it and bias voltage around 1000 volts applied to the shield. There was enough energy to applied to the center wire it glowed purple. The current leakage to the sheild through air was measured in amps. If you f###ed up and got hit with the center wire your arm goes numb for a few minutes then your entire arm aches to the bone for days. One guy got hit and luckily the customer called 911 because he turned white couldn't stand up. He had gone into arryhthmia. He spent a couple days in the hospital. It also had a flash lamp power supply that flashed 4 massive xenon flash lamps at 2 times a second. The power supply had 6 capacitors that were 1000 farad each. Had lethal caution stickers all over it. New guys learned real quick where not to put your fingers or screwdriver.

 

[PTmowerMech]

Have you tested both receptacles on the 120V receptacles as well as both legs of the 220/240 receptacle? Before throwing parts at this unit I would be checking the wiring.

I've checked both 120v recepticacles. They're both 183.
Are you saying it's possible that the factory hooked up two 120 wires?

 

[Hammermechanicman]

There are different ways to manufacturers wire up portable generators. If engine is running at approx 3600 and you have 183v at the outlet most likely the AVR is bad. Have you checked the 240v outlet voltage? Across the 2 hots, each hot to the neutral.
Most portable generators with 240v will have 2 separate 120v outlets with each one using a hot leg of the 240 to neutral so you can utilize all the generator's power into 2 120v circuits. Looks like that one only has one duplex receptacle so they are either just using one leg of the 240 or they have split the outlet with a different leg to each socket. You can test it by measuring between the two hots of the receptacle. Zero volts on one leg. 240v means the receptacle is split using both 240v legs.