Need help with electrikity

[Wilbor]

I have a problem that I am hoping one of our sparkologists can help me with.

I have a Honda EU30is generator that has been working just fine for about 7 years. It has probably done about 1000 hrs. A month or so ago I bought a Watts Clever 240 power monitor to see what various electrical components used while on standby and I had it attached to our upright freezer. On Thursday we had a power outage and I had the generator running when I noticed the hertz on the meter showed 60hz instead of 50hz. I have since checked it several times and the meter is correct. There is no 50/60hz change over switch on the Honda, it should be 50hz

I know I have a problem with the generator and will get it fixed but I need to know if running it on 60hz can cause any damage to any 240v components. It couldn't have picked a worse time to need servicing, right in the middle of the cyclone season!!

[T1 Terry]

as far as I understand it, things will just run faster that operate on a switching power supply, clocks and iduction motors for instance, but it wouldn't effect pure resistance load devices as they are voltage dependant.
It will be interesting to see if my understanding is correct or how far off the mark it is.

[Wilbor]

Terry, seriously, I am from Qld, nothing runs fast up here

[T1 Terry]

I thought that was WA's claim to fame, Wait A month, Northern Territories was Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday and Not Thursday

[generdawg]

... Northern Territories was Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday and Not Thursday

Didn't they make a movie there called "We of the Never Ever". lol

To keep this on topic, you may find the solution to your frequency problem here: Follow the steps given below to alter your generator frequency from 60 Hz to 50 Hz:

P1050207x.jpg

[oldtrack123]

Hi Rob
Higher than normal frequency can affect electrical equipment in many ways
'[1]induction motors will run faster ,that means they will do more work ,that means they draw more current & may overheat
[2]Higher frequency have a direct effect on values of inductors & capacitors
Both heavily used in electronic equipment.
That can really upset how they function with possible damage/malfunction for the equipment
Microwaves are somewhat critical

Just what damage may be done to any equipment depends on how critical frequency is for safe operation.
But a 20% variation from rated frequency can be a problem especially if the equipment is exposed to it for sometime

With an inverter type generator, the engine speed has little efect, as the frequency is electronically controlled in the inverter section
That's why they can be run on ECO throttle
Peter

[Wilbor]

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't think I will risk it on any electronic gear until it is fixed. Would it have any adverse effect on a standard household fridge/freezer?

I have it booked into the Honda man on Monday morning, have no idea how long it may take to repair and hopefully not too expensive but I am not holding my breath on that one

[Wilbor]

Well, I have taken the Honda into the local Honda bloke who put it under load and used a similar plug in watt meter that I was using and it intermittently showed 50hz. He suggested before he racks up a bill I have it tested by a sparkologist. So around to my sparkologist son-in-law and 3 sparkies are looking at it and on tong tester shows it varying from 57-70hz, on a multimeter it shows varying frequencies in the hundreds. Both are tested on Ergon power which show 50hz. The multi meter again shows varying frequency in the hundreds. Head sparkologist recommends I take it to the Honda dealer in Townsville and have them put it on an oscilloscope.

My friend Mr Google comes up with some interesting results. Others around the globe have had similar readings from standard test equipment. Something about how inverter generators make their wave patterns that ‘confuse’ some standard frequency meters.

So maybe, just maybe, my gen set is working just fine. Looks like the only way I will be able to know for sure is for a road trip to Townsville. Bugger really, because Chris drove up to Cairns this morning for a couple of doctors’ appointments and could have taken said generator to the Honda dealer in Cairns who I originally bought it from.

[BruceS]

Keep us informed Rob.
Can you please give me/us, in detail, how you did the test?
What appliance/load you had running through the Watts meter etc.
In a week or two I may be in the vacinity of several members that have noise makers & would love to test each one & post the results here.

[Wilbor]

Hey Boss
When I “tested” it, it was during a power outage and I had the house plugged into the generator; fridge/freezer, upright freezer, Engel fridge, computer/monitor/modem & tower fan. I had a WATTS CLEVER power meter (the one you recommended a few weeks ago) plugged into the upright freezer as I was checking what various appliances were drawing prior to the power outage. The generator had been running for 3-4 hours and as I walked past the freezer on one occasion I noticed the frequency was showing 241v & 60hz. Anyway when the power came back on I plugged the meter direct into the generator with no load and it showed the same, both on eco and non eco mode.

The Honda fix-it man used a bar heater for load and used a similar plug in power monitor that I have, the sparkologist used a Tong Tester and a multimeter that had a hz testing function and used a small air compressor for load.