Volt meter for a belt driven generator

[Greenfrog]

Any suggestions for a digital volt meter for on a generator head and how to attach?

 

[Bob]

GOOGLE "120 Volt AC digital panel meter". (Or 240 Volt, if that's what your generator puts out.)

Or, how about the one at the link below?
Panel meter

 

[Butch(OH)]

If your using it to power a home or shop via the main panel I suggest a Killowatt meter. They plug into any outlet and will provide both volts and Hz. For a portable unit there are lots of panel meters on Ebay but avoid the cheapest of cheap as they will not hold up with vibration.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I have a generator with an analog meter.
Newer generator has a digital meter that measures volts, frequency and hours.
I bought a digital meter off ebay and put it on my old generator. Measuring frequency comes in handy to set the RPM,s.
geo.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> If your using it to power a home or shop via the main panel I suggest a Killowatt meter.

That's "Kill-A-Watt". Available at Harbor Fright, or any of the usual online sources.
Kill A Watt

 

[Russ from MN]

I have a Kill A Watt, just plug it in, a very handy little tool. But if you need to set the speed every time you run it a permanently mounted one would be better.

 

[Dusty MI]

I've been running a belt driven generator for many-many years, using a plug in volt meter, from when a plug in was a little hard find. Don't really need a frequency meter. Just set the volts and the frequency will be real close.

 

[Greenfrog]

Interesting. Not sure how this would, or could, attach to the cord leading from a belt driven generator that I just attached to the front of a Cub Cadet 128 via the front PTO pulley. Any ideas?

 

[Ralph, Ohio]

In the ad for the meter, on the 5th illustration that shows wiring the meter, just connect a 2 prong AC plug to the heavy red & blue leads on the meter & plug it in to your generator. This would let you read voltage & frequency. If you want to use the current function the wiring is a little more complex. But the Kill A Watt device would be much simpler to use.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Mark,
My Kill A Watt meter is worthless when it comes to measuring frequency. geo.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

In a nutshell, you simply need to "plug it in."

On a 240V generator, you would wire the voltmeter across the two "hot" leads going to the 240V outlet to measure 240V.

The 240V is made from two 120V legs, each of which can be measured by connecting the voltmeter between a hot and neutral on one of the 120V outlets.

Ultimately you can have one, two, or three voltmeters depending on what you want to monitor.

On a 120V generator you would simply connect a voltmeter between the hot and neutral on the 120V outlet.

Pull the wiring panel off and make your connections to the back sides of the outlets.

 

[Greenfrog]

Hey, thanks. I bought one today at Harbor Freight.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> My Kill A Watt meter is worthless when it comes to measuring frequency. geo.

Probably a lot of noise on your AC source.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Interesting, I own two of them (in spite of not knowing how to spell the name LOL) and my primary reason is for knowing frequency and both work perfectly for that. Our stand by set is home built and powered by a 23HP diesel. I keep one by the set so the throttle can be set and the other one is plugged in the kitchen and we use it as to monitor loading via frequency drops

 

[timcasbolt]

(quoted from post at 09:35:13 02/24/20) Mark,
My Kill A Watt meter is worthless when it comes to measuring frequency. geo.

Mine works very well for that.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Mark,
My Kill A Watt meter is worthless when it comes to measuring frequency on a generator that came from the factory with a good working digital frequency meter.
geo.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Mark, My Kill A Watt meter is worthless when it comes to measuring frequency on a generator that came from the factory with a good working digital frequency meter. geo.

I don't doubt that, George. All I'm saying is that they are known to work, so there must be a reason yours doesn't. And the most likely reason is noise.

 

[Dusty MI]

I don't see a need to measure frequency. It's set to be 60 cycles at a certain voltage, probably 115/230. On a belt driven generator that is going to vary as load changes. So just set the engine throttle as close as you can to the proper voltage.

 

[Greenfrog]

That is what it did. I got a digital voltmeter from Amazon and i set the throttle; this is on a Cub Cadet 128, and I rigged up a way of clamping the throttle lever, which is
on the dash, with a small vise-grip. Barnward engineering, but it works!

 

[Billy Shafer]

That can be true with most things.It use to be a frequency range of 57 to 63 was normal. But some things today.
Have a frequency range of 59 to 61.Never hurts to be sure.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> I don't see a need to measure frequency. It's set to be 60 cycles at a certain voltage, probably 115/230. On a belt driven generator that is going to vary as load changes. So just set the engine throttle as close as you can to the proper voltage.

The frequency is additional information, and more information is usually better. Both voltage and frequency will droop under load, so setting the engine speed is always a compromise. You'll probably want voltage and frequency to be on the high side under no load to get an optimal output under load.