Running standby generator w/o grid

[Artur_p]

Hi guys,
I'm new here and was wondering if anyone can help me. I have a Honeywell 10kW Air-Cooled standby generator Model 006032-1 and we can't start it without the grid hooked up, the problem is where we are there is no grid for miles. I contacted Honeywell but all the guy could tell me that it will void the warranty. At this point warranty doesn't matter to me I really need to get this thing running, I'm not sure if its looking for a resistance value or something else but it can't be to difficult to trick. If anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

[gene gene]

Hi Artur,

I'm probably not able to help you myself but there are many people here who most likely can.

If you are able, it might be helpful to change the title of your thread to something like, Help needed, how to run generator w/o grid tie.

Did you receive a wiring diagram in your paperwork with with the genset? If not one might be found some where on the machine, perhaps under a hood even. If you can post an image of that here it would be a good starting point for anyone who has the knowledge to help you.

If you can't locate the diagram I might be able to find it online and post it here for you, but the one that came with your unit would be best.

Good luck, Gene

[Artur_p]

Thanks, I don't have a schematic but I will try to locate one and post it.

[Artur_p]

Thanks to anyone that can help below is a link to a PDF with all the drawings.
http://www.honeywellgenerators.com/g...delnbr=0060321

[Cherryman]

Can't you just use an inverter and a car (or two) battery to start it?

If you hook up an 110V/220V inverter to the batteries and start the generator with it, I doubt the generator will notice the difference.

Be sure to check out the amp draw, to buy the right inverter.

[madhatter]

the PDF is of the switch, are you asking about the switch? the solenoid switch is held closed to the mains circuit when powered, when the mains power goes out the switch will energize the generator circuit. Now I didn't look closely thru the documentation but if the generator needs a feedback signal from the switch to engage then you'd need to rig up some type of dummy signal for the mains side, not sure how to go about that. I think what's the problem is that when the mains power goes out the back EFM from the solenoid trips the circuit for the generator, with no mains power to cycle off there is no back EFM to trip the circuit. sounds odd but what about using a small generator to feed the mains AC to the panel in order to trip the circuit to switch over? of course mains is usually 240V RMS 200amp so that's not really a small generator.

I'm sure a competent electrician could sort the problem for you.

[ewizard]

Right now the link you gave for the honeywell generators is giving a server error. Not even the main site at www.honeywellgenerators.com is working. I'm sure there will be a way to bypass that problem on your generator. But I or some others here will probably need to see a schematic as mentioned.

Or it may be as simple as Cherryman mentioned. You might just need a 12 volt battery and a cheap Walmart 12 vdc to 120 vac inverter. You might need to hook the neutral and ground together and tie that to one of the output wires from the inverter and the other inverter wire to the hot AC input. Unless the honeywell needs to see a true sine wave input a roughly $30 to $40 inverter may work. If it needs a true sine wave inverter then you are looking at a little bit more but low power ones are $60 and up (but the cheapest may only be available from China so you will likely have a month wait). Others more local are usually $100 plus. Of course the cheapest solution is going to be to find that relay or circuit that tells your generator to turn on and fool it.

Now having said all that I did find some specs on it. It appears to use a 12 volt DC battery to start the generator. It also says there is a MODE switch that has Auto, Off and Manual TEST start (3 options). It appears you can manually start the generator in Manual / Test mode. However it also says it will transfer the load to the generator IF the utility (grid) fails. So have you tried this Manual / Test mode? If not give that a try and it may switch right over to giving you power (suggest having something plugged in and turned on). If that doesn't work it's back to the 2nd paragraph above

[Artur_p]

Thanks guys for the help, it turns out that the propane tank was incapable of supplying enough pressure to run the generator. I will need a bigger tank.