Tasemu

I topped up the coolant and it appears to not be stalling anymore.. I'm confused as the coolant level was no lower than it used to be, so why overheat/stall now? It doesn't make sense in my head. I manually turned off the genset after approx 45 mins and did notice a small drip coming from the jabsco impeller housing... but not from where the brass cap is, so maybe its running down from somewhere else, the water is cold too. It seems that the issue may be resolved? It doesn't feel right to me, i'd rather have something not work, rather than have it work but not know why. lol. Edit: just checked again a minute later and the drip has stopped. I think it may have been condensation collecting... But that's a guestimate.

Nope no drips I can see, just put some water in the header tank to full. Running it now until it dies again, then will check for any water in the drip tray.

The noise occurs for a few minutes after the engine shuts itself down. I had thought it might be the coolant getting too hot and escaping.

Reference image for the jabsco pump

Sorry I explained a bit crap, yeah it does have a separate jabsco pump run by a gear drive (i assume). Brass cover. When this issue first happened, my first thing i did was service it. New oil, new filters and a new jabsco impeller. The boat is happily sucking up and spitting plenty of water out the side of the boat so i'm fairly happy with that. However i'm worried the circulation pump on the other side of the heat exchanger may have failed, causing the engine stall and the hissing sound? I'm not familiar enough to be certain though. Note: this issue did happen before I did the service, so i'm reasonably confident I didn't cause it with the service.

The engine is raw water cooled, it pulls through a skin fitting then a strainer and then into an impeller driven by the engine internally. This then goes through a heat exchanger to the coolant circuit. The coolant circuit pump and the alternator are both driven off the main crank shaft via a belt. Reference picture:

Hi all, i've got a beta genset on my narrowboat and I've run into an issue lately. I'm hoping I can explain it here and get some advice on what to do. So this morning I was running my genset to charge the batteries, after about an hour or so the genset died without warning. Originally I assumed this might be an issue with some crud or air in the fuel line. After 15-20 minutes I started the genset up again and it purred along with no visible issues but then died again after only a few minutes. At this point I decided to check for overheating. I disassembled the acoustic box surrounding the genset and inspected, the engine was definitely hot to the touch but didn't seem scalding. I also noticed a faint hissing sound coming from the front of the generator near where the belt is. This got me thinking it could be something to do with the coolant system. So I figured i'd come here for advice. I've attached a video below with the hissing sound for reference. Thanks for any and all help!

That is ideal, cheers! I'm going to take it apart this weekend to see

I did use small medium and large loads to test with the multiplus, usually it was able to stabilise it enough to enter charging mode, but never for long. It would always click back to inverting after a few seconds/minutes.

I'll give this a shot too, whats a DVM by the way? I will do this once I get the kit to measure RPM and Hz thanks!

I came to this conclusion also. As when i raised the frequency it also pushed the voltage slightly higher and was giving me high ac input disconnection errors. So i need to tackle this rpm issue first, then look at the voltage, which i'm very confident will be much too high and also jumping around. Could be an adjustment needed to the AVR, or a full replacement. Yeah they said they don't make them anymore so can't offer support for parts/replacements

I went searching for a spare AVR, but i guess they dont make them anymore?

Hmm.. depends. I definitely learned a lot about my generator, and debugging victron equipment. I do plan on working on the generator to attempt to get it back to proper spec. However i'm going to take it slow and calculated. Buy this tacho meter, buy a multimeter that can read frequency. Make more room for working on the alternator end of the genny etc. Then if i'm really confident that its working properly (and i dont need to do a full avr replacement or something). I may look into the multiplus again.

Maybe it is, but that doesn't really matter if i'm unable to get it working with my generator. I'm nervous about taking it to pieces to see if this AVR is even adjustable. Then i'm not sure if i'll cause more damage than i fix by fiddling with it. So for the very short term im going to return it and look at non-victron options so I can cook food and charge. My smaller sterling charger works no worries. 😓

I definitely will, i got the old test certificate on installation with the hz i should aim for Cheers, i'll take a look at it soon! For now i've ripped out the new multiplus and gonna return it. deal with the victron problem another day. Generator first.

The end cap of the alternator appears to push up and into the insulation on the side of the acoustic box. I'll try to have a proper look to see if i am able to access the screws to remove the cap. Looks really tight though.

I thought the same. For now i've disconnected the new multiplus and gone back to my old setup. As far as I know they don't make my genset anymore so I have no idea how i'd be able to get a new AVR, and definitely no idea how to install it.

The genset appears to be supplying around 260v at 45hz. So the multiplus seems to sometimes enter charge mode, but often then disconnects almost immediately. Also the voltage does seem to jump around a little bit, sometimes down to 240v. Am i required to open up the alternator to access it? That may prove tricky with space limitations.

This generator is separate to my main engine (beta 43). i just want to get my generator working with appliances like my multiplus which wont accept a voltage as high as its outputting. I was planning on measuring the frequency and then tuning down the engine speed to hopefully have 50hz at ~230v or so. If the frequency is already at 50hz then I can't lower the engine RPM can i?

Its strange, I have an SL105 but upon inspection I cannot see an AVR located on the top as pictured here, instead i just see wires coming out of a hole in the top. and into the breaker, then out to the sockets.

Its a small dc 12v alternator that charges the starter battery for the genset.

The generator is attached to its own little engine, It is one unit.

EDIT: Just checked an old test certificate, it is an SL105. Does this mean I wont be able to adjust the voltage?

I'm fairly certain it is a BL105 then as I cannot see any AVR on the unit. I have found the speed adjustment screw though. I'm hoping very much that I can adjust it and get a lower voltage out. Will report back with results. Hoping this picture may help? Unsure what this AVR looks like.

BL105 or SL105, though i'm not super sure which?