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Old 14-06-2019, 15:59   #1
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The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

I was praising my Italian generator marvel this morning as it had run 50 hours without a problem. But that POS must have been listening and it said "that's NOT acceptable".

It just seemed to suddenly slow down and the voltage dropped. So I shut it down and figured that it was a fuel problem and as I hadn't changed the racor filter in a year. So I changed it, but that didn't fix it. So I removed the small secondary filter (didn't have a replacement so just removed it) to be sure that wasn't the problem. That didn't fix the problem either.

It starts and seems to come up to speed, But the voltage wouldn't get above 62 so I replaced the capacitor for the field current as it was a cheap capacitor and was a year old. That didn't fix it and the voltage stays low and the ampere jumps all over the place, with the breaker off so there isn't even a load, and finally the marvel shuts down on high ampere.

So I'm thinking this a major circuit board type of problem. Since I can't even get a distributor to give me a price on a high temperature switch I have little hope in solving this problem. I'm think driving a sharpened stick into the marvels heart so it can never come back to life again to suck my blood is properly the best action.

Bet I can pull the marvel out and sink it and put a gas tank in its' place and just run my Honda from now on. Heck the Honda is even quieter than the marvel ever was!
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Old 14-06-2019, 16:34   #2
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

Seems popular thing to do at the moment:

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Old 14-06-2019, 18:01   #3
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The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

Sounds like the generator end may have bit the dust, maybe.
Our little Honda can run everything on the boat except for the big AC, but only usually one at a time, the Diesel built in only is needed to run multiple things at once or the AC.
It’s nice to have, but if it bites the dust, I’m not sure I’d spend the $$ and time and work to replace it, I think we would just get by with a Honda and Solar.
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Old 14-06-2019, 18:29   #4
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

My Honda will and has run my 16k air con, but wouldn’t start it from dead stop. I can fix that with a soft start. I’m heading to a marina for a month and will try to fix the marvel. But beside the generator issue I think it is leaking seawater again already and I’m not going to keep turning money at it.
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Old 14-06-2019, 19:57   #5
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

If your Italian Marvel is a Mace and your boat is a Ranger, be aware that at least on my R25, it shares a fuel pickup wiry the main engine.

Again, on my R25, the screen on the bottom of the pickup tube had become slightly clogged.

I removed the screen, cleaned the tank and fixed the problem.

I assume your generator’s oil is clean and the screen cleaned?
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Old 15-06-2019, 18:25   #6
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

I suffered Genny trouble. Mase 11.1kVa. Water in the Stator windings. 1600 hrs. I dismantled and found that the Meccalte generator , coupled to a Yanmar 2cyl diesel had been enclosed in a "tray " about 100mm deep with no drain holes.Hose leaks and Stator windings goes under ! Whoever built the Mase should have it inserted !
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Old 17-06-2019, 12:44   #7
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

I'm thinking I'm try one or two easy things. If they don't work I think it's time to just abandon the POS marvel. Maybe I'll put it my daughters yard and paint it with some Seahawk bottom paint and watch it rust away and grow "stuff" on it at same time.
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Old 17-06-2019, 15:17   #8
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The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

I’m afraid that your overheat may have done it in.
I hope it’s an easy fix, loose wire or something though
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Old 17-06-2019, 15:29   #9
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

Quote:
Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
I’m afraid that your overheat may have done it in.
I hope it’s an easy fix, loose wire or something though
It never overheated really. That was just on start up and the generator didn't even get loaded. Even the heat exchanger "leak" didn't really cause a heat problem for the generator as the water went to that BEFORE the heat exchanger. The high temp switch is in the exhaust elbow and and that heats up in about 20 seconds if no water flow, but is (should be) nothing to an unloaded generator. And I'm not sure it really shutdown due to a high temperature as I found that the switch itself was bad.

I just think it's a poorly engineered, designed, and built Italian POS marvel. When I got it I looked for reviews and there weren't any and I'll be fixing that soon with a direct review on various forums.
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Old 17-07-2019, 11:59   #10
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

Installed an EasyStart on my 16k air con and now it starts in ECO mode on the Honda. ADD it's a lot quieter than the marvel ever was and it is easy to work on. Sitting here on anchor with air conditioning and not even thinking if the marvel is going to have an issue any minute. I don't think I'm even going to try to fix the marvel!! Only work I think is worth doing is pulling it out and installing a nice gasoline tank in its place for the Honda.
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Old 17-07-2019, 13:39   #11
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Re: The Italian Marvel Dies (generator)

Yep, been happy with out EasyStart on our 2003 CruisAir 12K. The Honda likes it just fine. When the CruisAir dies I may pull it out for more storage. We'll see how next summer in Grenada goes.

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