----- Original Message -----
From: "AA8K73 GMail" <[email protected]>
>
> I added a 130 Volt MOV across the hot and neutral
> of an Astron 50 Amp power supply for a repeater
> and had an interesting effect.
>
> We lost AC power and switched over to the generator.
> When the load was added to the generator, the Onan's
> voltage sagged a bit and the throttle opened to
> bring the speed back. It overshot slightly and was
> high enough to trip the MOV. That short slowed the
> generator down until the voltage was too low and
> then the generator sped up again. And again it fired
> the MOV and slowed down until it cleared. It kept
> oscillating with huge voltage swings until I unplugged
> the Astron power supply.
That's very interesting, all right.
Was this a single-cylinder 3600 RPM generator, or was it one of
the twin-cylinder motor-home generators?
I used to work for an Onan distributorship back when (70's)
and we had a similar problem with a Southwestern Bell setup.
They had a 2.5 LK, which was a single cylinder genset that ran
at 1800 RPM. They switched a 500 watt load in and out several
times a minute. When the 500 W load hit, it did the same thing
you had described. I brought up a 1 KW load (heater elements)
and plugged them in the circuit full-time, and it worked like a
champ, going between about 40% and 60% of full load.
Pretty stable. :-)
Ray, KB0STN
