27kw Lima/Deutz gen set

[blazemaster83]

I answered a free ad on craigslist the other day for this. A gentleman was moving and had a ton of old equipment he needed to get rid of. I managed to be the first one to email him so I got a call. The tires are in great shape but the trailer lights did not work so I had to buy a magnetic kit to get it home. I didn't have much time to look it over when I showed up, just hook up and go. It made the 40 mile trip fine. The previous owner said his father found it abandoned on some logging road and filed a fair market value estimate, and a found property claim form(i have both). Then it sat for another 8 years before they gave it to me.

Once I got it home I gave it a much needed pressure washing and cleaned out some mouse nests. It is a Deutz F3L912 air cooled diesel and a lima 27kw generator, 4200 hours. It has a transformer so I believe it should supply single phase and 3 phase. It has 2 large fuel tanks I would guess at about 30 gallons a piece, both half full. The trailer could use some freshening up but the generator seems in pretty decent shape.

I pulled a battery out of one of my other cars, made sure the fuel rack was free, got something to cover the intake in case it ran away and started messing with the controls. I thought it was missing a start button since there was none, and there is a hole in the control panel that looks like a switch was removed but it fired up when i moved the switch to the run position, on the first crank.

I am a bit new to this size of generator, the only other I have used in the past is a simple 5.5kw coleman. Once I got it fired up and replaced some springs for the throttle linkage, it ran quite well. The generator side however only seemed to be putting out 110v per leg of 3 phase. Is this something that I can adjust with the voltage adjust knob? I would like to make sure this thing works before I get into changing filters and buying stuff to get it up to snuff.

Has anyone dealt with a similar gen set? I am not sure what to do other than checking voltage and connections.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

wow score

id make sure theres no fungus amungus in the fuel tanks.

what RPM was it running at? What was the HZ?

Does the gen have taps?

Does it have a nameplate you can post a picture of?

Have a pic of the transformer nameplate?

 

[blazemaster83]

Checked fuel tanks with a flashlight, no fungus. Looks like clean red fuel.

Many of the gauges are not working(oil pressure is).

I would guess about 1800-2krpm. The HZ gauge isn't working.

There is no nameplate on the generator, only for the engine. The nameplate on the transformer is worn off, can't read anything except general electric.

Here are a few more pics.

 

[TRWham]

How were you measuring voltage (i.e. between what 2 points)?

 

[ihateminimumwage]

Definitely a cool score.

Were you reading voltage with a meter, or off of the gauge?

 

[nadogail]

You can determine frequency with either a frequency meter, an analog electric clock, or as I do with my Amprobe Clamp on meter set to Hz.

Once you determine frequency you can extrapolate the speed of the generator.

 

[ttpete]

Judging from the outlets, it's probably single phase 120/240. Is there any kind of a nameplate anywhere that's legible? If it's a 4 pole alternator, it'll have to run at 1800 rpm for 60 Hz.

I found some datasheets for Lima-Marathon generators.

https://www.marathongenerators.com/generators/docs/manuals/GPN006.pdf

 

[larry_g]

The above utube guy does a lot of generators. Maybe you can catch some information there... Good Luck

lg
no neat sig line

 

[pancho400cid]

Very cool! So great it fired up like that.

As touched on, a generator has to have a governor that is tied into the output frequency or at least has to mechanically hold constant speed in order to maintain frequency more-or-less constant. That is part of what the "Engine Protection Device" in the pic is doing I suspect.

I agree it's most likely single-phase. If it was three-phase it would most likely have volts/amps gauges for each phase.

In the J-box, there are plugs for 120 VAC and 240 VAC. My guess is the generator is outputting 240 VAC, and the transformer bucks the voltage to 120VAC.

There is a field control that would vary the output voltage, but it is probably automated and not really intended for the user to mess with.

Awesome score!

 

[ttpete]

Very cool! So great it fired up like that.

As touched on, a generator has to have a governor that is tied into the output frequency or at least has to mechanically hold constant speed in order to maintain frequency more-or-less constant. That is part of what the "Engine Protection Device" in the pic is doing I suspect.

I agree it's most likely single-phase. If it was three-phase it would most likely have volts/amps gauges for each phase.

In the J-box, there are plugs for 120 VAC and 240 VAC. My guess is the generator is outputting 240 VAC, and the transformer bucks the voltage to 120VAC.

There is a field control that would vary the output voltage, but it is probably automated and not really intended for the user to mess with.

Awesome score!

My generator has two 120V windings that can be connected in series for 240V or in parallel for 120V. I connected them in series and took a neutral from the center tap, giving me 120/240 3 wire. It runs the whole house that way.

 

[blazemaster83]

There is another pic I forgot to load, Ill have to do it tomorrow. The gen-head feeds into a 3phase breaker then splits off from that. One side goes to a bank of plugs for 3 phase, the other goes to a 3 phase fuse panel, then into the transformer. Then out of the transformer into the box with the 110/220v plugs. It's def 3 phase after looking closer.

I will change the filters/oil and pull it back out to do testing. Looks like I can get the 3 large gauges, they are still made at about $40 each.

I sure wish I could find a manual so I could figure out what goes in the missing hole in the control panel.

 

[930dreamer]

Check this YouTube video channel;

 

[pancho400cid]

Check this YouTube video channel;

Thanks for that link! I watched all three vids that guy did on his Deutz/Lima, and I don't even own a similar generator. Awesome info.

The gen in his vids has 208 VAC, 3 phase output. That's 208 VAC leg-to-leg, which gives 120 VAC leg-to-neutral. If that's what the OP's has, and the transformer is only single phase, then maybe one phase of 120 is getting boosted to 240 VAC.


...

 

[Norcal]

Thanks for that link! I watched all three vids that guy did on his Deutz/Lima, and I don't even own a similar generator. Awesome info.

The gen in his vids has 208 VAC, 3 phase output. That's 208 VAC leg-to-leg, which gives 120 VAC leg-to-neutral. If that's what the OP's has, and the transformer is only single phase, then maybe one phase of 120 is getting boosted to 240 VAC.


...

The gen sets output could be 480V what which is a good reason for the transformer.

 

[jask]

WOW! nice score

 

[Lassen Forge]

WOW! nice score

Damn, I agree... For a freebie, I think that suckage should be awarded...

Ergo ipso facto... you ****!

 

[mike93lx]

The gen sets output could be 480V what which is a good reason for the transformer.

The OP should confirm this.

As you know 480v is not a home-gamer voltage

 

[jeepxj]

The gen sets output could be 480V what which is a good reason for the transformer.

my thoughts too.


on the plus side its got a 14-50r on it so it can power the house during an outage.

 

[blazemaster83]

I gave this thing a good look over and could find nothing of a tag on the generator side, only a tag on the diesel engine that states model and that it is 27kw. When I checked voltage I checked across the hot leads on 3 phase, I didn't check to neutral. I would like to get some oil and filters for this before I run it again, I believe its been sitting for 10+ years.

If the generator side works, it will be very useful around here when the power goes out. Could power the house, and I have a decent shop full of 3 phase equipment. I don't think it puts out 480v.