Homemade electric load bank

That is how the transformer rectifier unit for the F16 [converts 3 phase

115 VAC 400 Hz to 28 VDC] was tested by it's designer.
Reply to
Clark Magnuson
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I am beginning to this that you should not do this at all.

You say you need a balanced load so you cannot use 120V heaters. Do you realize that you can get a balanced load by connecting one heater to line 1 to netural and a second heater from line

2 to netural?

Second someone asked how do you know how much current is really flowing. Answer, clamp on amp meter.

Without this basic understanding, I think you might just kill yourself.

chuck

Reply to
Charles A. Sherwood

I understand all that... But in practice, testing generators with output lug terminals (which is what I want to buy), it is a huge hassle to re-wire those heaters for every generator with new capacity that I would like to try.

With stove elements, there is no such problem. I have one frame that mounts heaters and switches, connected to two hots and one ground. Easy and simple, with little to go wrong.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5468

Yes, a one cylinder diesel. I thought that exhaust noise accounted for the bulk of the noise, but, apparently, that was not the case.

Diesel trucks, say, are not nearly as noisy. Rental diesel gensets, the sort that I see at fairs etc, are also very quiet.

Sure. No problem. Take whatever $$ you feel are appropriate for the work and materials, and maybe you can mail the rest back to me.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5468

The heaters state how many watts they consume. I have checked them with a amp probe and they are close. Are you going to get any idea how much power any heater element uses without an amp probe?? Water heater elements, stove elements, whatever, you will still need an amp probe to be sure of the total load. Do you need to load to a specific amp/watt rating? Seems to me that a generator pretty much works or it does not! In twenty years of servicing generators I never had one that sort of works! I rarely if never load test a generator to check it's output. I just load it down to check voltage and hertz. I will check the amps, but only for curiosity sake. The load bank is just to see how it reacts under load, not looking for specific info other than volts and hertz.

Reply to
Greg O

Broiler, roaster...

you take off

Sounds like "Mother May I" type of stove - protective if it hurts.

I grew up with an electric - the old stove Mom and Dad had was a wonder in many ways. One turned the switch and it lit up the CalRod element.

Martin

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

My Dad used 1000 watt light bulbs - a room full to store - as a dummy load for a Radar system he designed. He would burn them out - excessive current on pulses and would just replace on so many power up hours. The camp procurement officer guessed wrong and placed a standing order on quantity. When the warehouse filled with bulbs dad got a call from the buyer - and had to say the trials were over - now the real antenna! Dad felt bad and told him where the next development unit was to be built and had the bulbs sent there. :-)

Martin

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Stoves are 220 to begin with. Only the light bulbs are 105, 110, 115, 117, 120,

125v...:-) Martin
Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Reply to
RoyJ

Thanks! I will go this route if I make the load bank.

i

Reply to
Ignoramus24009

If you want one pre-made for you, call all the HVAC contractors in the area, and ask if they've ripped out any resistance electric furnaces lately - cabinet, blower, and a bunch of heating elements in parallel.

Rewire the controls so you can switch each element separately, put a few screens to keep small animals from getting sucked inside (they smell when they burn) and you're done.

If you want to go the water-heater element route, I'd use a pump for forced water circulation myself, to make sure the elements can't spot overheat. The hard part is finding the right fittings to build it...

They don't make a C-F-C reducing tee and you need a little space for the water around the element - use 1-1/2" copper pipe and tees to make a loop, sweat a 1-1/2" FTG x 1" FPT flush bushing into the open end of the tee (Mueller A07817), and then screw the heating element into the bushing.

Pump water out of the swimming hole with an old pool filter pump, spin the water around through three or four heater elements in a row in a very compact space, then dump the hot water back in the pool.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

I once participated in an extended 'load test" where the output was connected to a resistive bank. The elements were in a water jacket that was connected to a large garden hose. The water outlet was run to the nearest drain.

This was used in a physically small space full of electronics that could not bear elevated temperatures. We had, in essence, a flash water heater.

Daniel

Reply to
dbs__usenet

I'm wondering if, for stability wouldn't the water cooled heater method be the best way to go? Don't heating elements change resietance as they heat up, causing a lot of tweaking to keep the load constant? Engineman1

Reply to
Engineman1

Yeah, air cooled resistance changes a little from external airflow - but if he's using the resistance heaters for test loading a generator powerplant it doesn't need to be super stable, small variations in the load by using air cooled coils shouldn't matter.

If the governor or voltage regulator system on the generator plant is so knife-edge sensitive that it's affected by minor load fluctuations in the 1% or 2% range, it isn't much good to anyone anyways. A generator plant has to handle getting the full load dumped on or off while running graciously, without large voltage or frequency swings.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

replying to Ignoramus29240, Jimmy khakis wrote: Your i

Reply to
Jimmy khakis

replying to Ignoramus29240, Jimmy khakis wrote: Your i

Reply to
Jimmy khakis

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