On Jan 30, 10:08*am, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:
wrote in message

...
On Jan 29, 6:53 pm, "Ralph Mowery" wrote:

I have two generators rated at 5 KW each. I know how to phase and put the
two in parallel while they are both running.

Really?
How are you going to get them in phase and stay in phase?

Mark

It is easy to get them in phase and running together. *I have done that many
times at work with 3 phase motor generator sets with 50 horsepower or so
setups. *We have varitable speed equipment that can not be stopped and to
work on the motor generator sets we parallel a spare set long enough to take
the running set off line. *Simplest way is to hook up a voltmeter between
them and when the meter goes to zero *you throw the switch to put them in
parallel. *In simple terms the generators become electric motors and one
will try to drive the other *to the same speed after the electricl
connection is made.

My question is really has anyone done this and will it work with the simple
home generators.

I understand how you intend to MEASURE the phase with a voltmeter, ok
but....

1) how do you propose to vary the speed of a home generator to get it
in phase with another?

2) once in phase and you throw the switch to connect them and they
lock together, how do you control the throttle settings of both so
that they share the load instead of one driving the other...

each home generator has a crude speed control governor on the throttle
and if they are not set to ___exactly___ the same speed, the "faster
one" will take all the load and the "slower one" will be driven as a
motor like you described.... as another poster said, the whole system
will probably "hunt" like crazy...

it is an interesting problem but unless you re-design the throttle
governors I don't see how you can get this to work..

sounds like a fun thing to try though...

Mark