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Old 23-11-2018, 04:42   #1
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Generator Throttle

Some may recall I've been troubleshooting my generator voltage for a while. I the other day I started a project to remount the unit so that I can get to to the throttle of the unit.

The attached photo is my adjustable speed adjustment that is held in place via a wingnut. Below it is the throttle arm. As you can see there's a hole in both arms.

The question is:

Is there suppose to be a spring between them?
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Old 23-11-2018, 05:28   #2
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Generator Throttle

A missing governor control arm spring results in “Hunting” or unstable RPM.
The purpose of the spring like on a lawnmower for instance is to take out all the slack if you will by continuous pressure applied to one side of the linkage and make the governor stable.
So, if your RPM is varying with a stable load, then yes likely your missing a spring, if it’s a Stable RPM, then likely not.

Just for reference my motor is set for 61 Hz at no load and cold motor, under a serious load, say 27 or more amps, the RPM will decay when the motor is hot to as much as 57 Hz, but usually operates around 58 or so. I think I should turn mine up some.
For some reason it runs slightly slower when fully up to temp?

I post that as I think our gens are similar
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Old 23-11-2018, 05:52   #3
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Re: Generator Throttle

I don't think it's a governor spring. I think it's just from the speed adjustment to the throttle arm. The lever with the wingnut is suppose to be a speed adjustment, but doesn't seem to do anything
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Old 23-11-2018, 06:23   #4
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Generator Throttle

That confuses me, every continuous RPM Diesel I have ever played with has a governor separate from the fuel control, an arm connects the two, usually adjusting the arm so it’s shorter turns up the RPM, on some if you run out of adjustment, you can pull the arm off, it’s mounted on splines and move it one spline to give you more adjustment.
Where is your hp fuel pump, doesn’t it have an arm that connects to it, that is wide open before you start the gen, but moves of course to turn fuel down when it’s started?
You can usually of course just grab this arm and override the governor and speed up or slow down the engine.
I’m thinking maybe want you have pictured isn’t the governor?
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Old 23-11-2018, 06:41   #5
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Re: Generator Throttle

I never said it was the governor
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Old 23-11-2018, 07:06   #6
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Re: Generator Throttle

It has to have a governor to maintain constant RPM under varying loads.
Sophisticated ones have electronic governors, however I suspect yours, like mine isn’t.

What kind of engine is it, have you tried looking up a manual for that particular engine?
I’ll help you look if you want to post engine manufacturer and part number.
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Old 23-11-2018, 09:53   #7
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Re: Generator Throttle

It's a Lombardini LMG4000 with a15LD350 engine. I doubt that's of any help as I've searched my question and have the engine workshop manual.
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Old 23-11-2018, 10:53   #8
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Re: Generator Throttle

Quote:
Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
It has to have a governor to maintain constant RPM under varying loads.
Sophisticated ones have electronic governors, however I suspect yours, like mine isn’t.

What kind of engine is it, have you tried looking up a manual for that particular engine?
I’ll help you look if you want to post engine manufacturer and part number.
The governor on these little things is a flyball arrangement on the HP fuel pump driveshaft. Set the throttle position and the "governor" will maintain the spring tension by varying the fuel. Not very accurate, but good enough.
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Old 23-11-2018, 10:54   #9
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Re: Generator Throttle

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Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
I don't think it's a governor spring. I think it's just from the speed adjustment to the throttle arm. The lever with the wingnut is suppose to be a speed adjustment, but doesn't seem to do anything
my guess is that when lombardi attached that engine to a generator they disconnected the internal linkage from the speed adjust so they could fit a constant speed spring to the fuel rack.
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Old 23-11-2018, 11:39   #10
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Re: Generator Throttle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailmonkey View Post
The governor on these little things is a flyball arrangement on the HP fuel pump driveshaft. Set the throttle position and the "governor" will maintain the spring tension by varying the fuel. Not very accurate, but good enough.


I think though, that is how pretty much all Diesels throttle fuel?
Within limits of course, cause as we all know let the alternator kick in and the motor will slow.
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Old 24-11-2018, 06:19   #11
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Re: Generator Throttle

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Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
I think though, that is how pretty much all Diesels throttle fuel?
Within limits of course, cause as we all know let the alternator kick in and the motor will slow.


Yep, that it. High end and very large mechanically governed generators will have an external governor moving the throttle arm. Woodward makes governors for generators. I’ve seen smaller westerbeke gas generators with a belt driven governor, etc. but the little Lombardi air cooled engine is too simple for all of that.
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Old 24-11-2018, 07:50   #12
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Re: Generator Throttle

Well nothing in the shop manual has anything about a spring between the 2 levers in the photos. So I don't even know why there is a hole in each that would suggest a spring, but will lift the generator out of the bottom of the sound enclosure and see if there's a spring laying in the bottom. I now have the the procedure to set the damn thing and will print the pages so I can have them when I crawl back down into the generator compartment.
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Old 24-11-2018, 09:37   #13
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Re: Generator Throttle

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Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
Well nothing in the shop manual has anything about a spring between the 2 levers in the photos. So I don't even know why there is a hole in each that would suggest a spring, but will lift the generator out of the bottom of the sound enclosure and see if there's a spring laying in the bottom. I now have the the procedure to set the damn thing and will print the pages so I can have them when I crawl back down into the generator compartment.


I don’t believe you’ll find a spring. I’m thinking the lever is disconnected and the internal governer spring has been changed. I’d bet the hole is for use in a piece of equipment like a rototiller where you’d have a cable linkage to the throttle to change the engine speed.
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Old 24-11-2018, 13:11   #14
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Generator Throttle

I don’t know if this helps, but on mine, the rod that is adjusted to control RPM is also the rod that the stop solenoid pulls to turn off the motor.
Here is a picture.
With it running, grab the rod that the stop solenoid pulls on and move it and see if motor RPM follows.Click image for larger version

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Old 24-11-2018, 13:20   #15
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Re: Generator Throttle

Quote:
Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
I don’t know if this helps, but on mine, the rod that is adjusted to control RPM is also the rod that the stop solenoid pulls to turn off the motor.
Attachment 181201
Mine just turns of the electric fuel pump.
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