Nor'Easter..running on Generator

That must be a heck of a generator, or you disconnected the fridge to go run trains 😀

It most likely has to do with the waveform shape of the voltage. The utility system puts out a real good sine wave that things can rely on. A small whole house genset does not put out a good sine wave and that can effect loads. Kind of like that CW80 power supply that Lionel developed. I think it has a chopped sine wave output. Some equipment does not respond well to that. Gunrunner John knows all the details. But glad you are back to the utility system!

Jim K

What type of generator? Permanent (Generac) or portable?

Permanent installs have pretty good regulated  voltage and cycles output. Many  portables dont have regulated outputs.

IIRC legacy needs a solid ground to work properly. Could be how the gen is connected to the house too.

Glad you got your power back.

@Snkbittin posted:

,I noticed Locomotives acting strange ..not responding to some commands ..The only diffrence was house was on my Generator...

@RSJB18 in on to something important here.

This is most likely a an electrical grounding problem in your house.  If you're using TMCC or Legacy earth ground is critical for successful transmission and reception of commands.  That's why the power brick (wall wart) for the command base (Base 1, 1L, or 2) has the ground pin on the end that plugs into the wall outlet.

When you plug it into a properly-grounded outlet everything works fine.  Since it's not fine when powered by the generator I think that the generator isn't grounded properly.

You probably need to get a licensed electrician to check it out.

BTW -- It's also a safety issue for anything else you're powering off the generator.

Mike

Thanks Guys..I know Generators put out "dirty" power as told to me by my electrician buddy and being its a portable..well as far as rolling around a 300lb generator is portable..its in my garage ..seperate garage and goes into my system thru that panel ..now with power back its back to awesome...I also have a suspended ceiling in that room and the support grids are all part of my ground plane ...I didnt run them long at all once I noticed the issue

A permanent whole-house generator (ours is by Kohler) is one of the very best investments we've added to the home.  Absolutely worth every penny.

Besides the random storm-induced situations, there are too many grid-related situations occurring locally and nationally to not think proactively about home electrical power.  The 'green' rush will only exacerbate future issues.

All of the above IMHO, of course.

BTW, our installer also provides annual inspection/maintenance of the generator....worth considering when selecting a service provider.

@Snkbittin posted:

Thanks Guys..I know Generators put out "dirty" power as told to me by my electrician buddy and being its a portable..well as far as rolling around a 300lb generator is portable..its in my garage ..seperate garage and goes into my system thru that panel ..now with power back its back to awesome...I also have a suspended ceiling in that room and the support grids are all part of my ground plane ...I didnt run them long at all once I noticed the issue

You must be south of me, we had a short outage of maybe a minute. The storm was supposed to hit us pretty hard but seemed to stay east and south.

Have you checked the generator output with a multi-meter capable of reading frequency? I recently made some minor repairs to my Generac portable and found it was putting out 134 vac at 68 Hz. That's not good on many electrical devices, your trains may have been trying to tell you something. Portables are made to idle at certain speed to maintain correct output. It is a simple process of adjusting the throttle until you get correct frequency of 60 Hz. My Generac is an older model that uses a large motor run cap for voltage regulation so everything keys off of motor speed.

@turkey_hollow_rr posted:

You must be south of me, we had a short outage of maybe a minute. The storm was supposed to hit us pretty hard but seemed to stay east and south.

Have you checked the generator output with a multi-meter capable of reading frequency? I recently made some minor repairs to my Generac portable and found it was putting out 134 vac at 68 Hz. That's not good on many electrical devices, your trains may have been trying to tell you something. Portables are made to idle at certain speed to maintain correct output. It is a simple process of adjusting the throttle until you get correct frequency of 60 Hz. My Generac is an older model that uses a large motor run cap for voltage regulation so everything keys off of motor speed.

This will work until you put a load on the generator and the engine slows slightly due to the load. Then you could be under voltage/ frequency, which is just as bad.  That's why they come out of the factory a little higher than standard 120/60. If a portable is one's only option then adding good quality power conditioners on critical loads is an option down stream.

Many mfr's make portables with inverters that condition the power and maintain steady outputs. A few more $$$$ but worth it if necessary.

https://www.amazon.com/Generac...erator/dp/B07H8S6L5G

@RSJB18 posted:

This will work until you put a load on the generator and the engine slows slightly due to the load. Then you could be under voltage/ frequency, which is just as bad.  That's why they come out of the factory a little higher than standard 120/60. If a portable is one's only option then adding good quality power conditioners on critical loads is an option down stream.

Many mfr's make portables with inverters that condition the power and maintain steady outputs. A few more $$$$ but worth it if necessary.

https://www.amazon.com/Generac...erator/dp/B07H8S6L5G

I set mine, which is an inverting generator, with no load to just under 61 Hz. When I load up the generator with all 10 transfer switches, including my digital well controller, it reads 120/60. When my portable's output was off (68Hz) this controller would throw a fault code and shut down, my first clue to something amiss.

If you look at the throttle mechanism it is a balanced spring system that will adjust for surges and load drops. Mine is 8kW with a 10kW surge.

edit: my 240vac/30amp backup has 10 switches, not 16

If it really affects your operation and enjoyment enough to complain about, use the dirty supply to float a battery string, then use that DC to drive clean inverters. The output of those will be perfect for the trains, computers, and other devices that like clean sine waves.

Or, take a look at the output of battery back-up devices (the ones that sit under your computer desk and beep when they lose input power.)  Some of the more expensive ones provide perfect voltage and wave forms.  You can plug them into your dirty generator supply.

I dunno, even with my Generac 10KW standby generator running.  Running trains during a power outage (and we had several multi-day outages over the years) was the last thing on my mind...  I had more important things to worry about.

Rusty

Just run your battery powered trains during a power outage.   Oh wait, you say you don't have any battery powered trains...

Lol ..I only ran them long enough to see there was a problem..weather was crappy so I worked on the railroad ..Im not concerned I cant run trains during an extended power outage

@turkey_hollow_rr posted:

You must be south of me, we had a short outage of maybe a minute. The storm was supposed to hit us pretty hard but seemed to stay east and south.

Have you checked the generator output with a multi-meter capable of reading frequency? I recently made some minor repairs to my Generac portable and found it was putting out 134 vac at 68 Hz. That's not good on many electrical devices, your trains may have been trying to tell you something. Portables are made to idle at certain speed to maintain correct output. It is a simple process of adjusting the throttle until you get correct frequency of 60 Hz. My Generac is an older model that uses a large motor run cap for voltage regulation so everything keys off of motor speed.

Im in East Bridgewater..it was a mess around here

Around here there is usually nothing else to do but wait it out so why not have as many entertainment options as you can during a power outage. We have satellite tv, stereo and soon-to-be train layout all on the generator.

@Snkbittin posted:

Im in East Bridgewater..it was a mess around here

S. New Hampshire. You were much closer to those 90+ mph winds than us.

I think my next purchase will be a standby generator...

From my research, the difference between a 12KW and a 22KW is only a little over 1K, so if I do it, I'll go with the bigger unit.  After all, the trains take a bit of power.

Sounds like what you really need is live steam