Thread: Ex-Mil Generator Help

The military had hundreds of them,they only changed them because thier petrol.A very simple and robust unit.Keep the dust off it and it will go forever and VW parts are a dime a dozen. Pat

Forgot to add,ring Ben Dury VW at Teralba,he looked after my Polo and would have forgotton more about VW's than most people know. Pat

In service during the seventies and later.
Nominally 10kva @ 240 volts.Single phase.
Rare ones were 15kva 3 phase and even rarer were the welders.
1100cc VW motor and will run forever, its amusing to see the exhaust pipes glow dull red in the night.
Stubborn ones to start were started by a 1/2 inch electric drill attachment into the crank handle position.

in theory it'd be able to drive a 35 amp load at 240v with some headroom

Originally Posted by Hoodoo Brown

Stubborn ones to start were started by a 1/2 inch electric drill attachment into the crank handle position.

umm........... where does one plug the 240V drill into out in the bush to start on i used to hide the crank attachment for the drill because there was nothing worse than a lazy tradie/apprentice using the electric drill to service/repair the generator and not proving that it could be easily started with the crank handle

ignition timing is 0.002 inch '2 thou'

i can give you a rough run down on setting up the ignition timing and the procedure for crank starting...the later will test me out

turn on fuel, turn on ignition, apply 1/2 choke crank till it fires (3-5 revolutions on a good unit)

when it starts running play with the choke till its steady. then give it a minute or 2 push the choke in an load er up.

Thanks for all of the replies.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

turn on fuel, turn on ignition, apply 1/2 choke crank till it fires (3-5 revolutions on a good unit)

when it starts running play with the choke till its steady. then give it a minute or 2 push the choke in an load er up.

i don't recall an ignition switch......could have been

do the ignition timing first, its a must if you want to avoid a broken thumb

remove magneto cap
rotate engine to check points gap...buggered if i can remember the gap
find top dead centre NO. 1
remove rocker cover to confirm
set ignition timing to 2 thou
get a piece of paper and clean points, you will be amazed the oily film that will be left on the paper
magneto cap on
rocker cover back on

my starting method
turn fuel on
set throttle to idle
full choke
3 slow complete cranks
set throttle to run
choke back to half
start cranking, keep thumb over the top of the crank handle

check the condition of the governor belt, when these lets go the poor genie screams it head of, run fast to shut her down