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Posted By: Admin George C's HotSticks - 01/04/04 10:22 PM
[Linked Image]
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I told someone I would send in a picture of my sticks. The stick on the left is a 6' shotgun stick used for switching (and tying your shoelaces if you can) the stick on the right is a fusing stick meant for pulling and installing fuses from the ground, that one extends to 50 feet - now all ya need is the talent to stand on the ground with a stick extended to 50' that wobbles like a wet noodle, hit a hole the size of a quarter and you're in business :-D . it takes a bit of practice. I let an electrician who had never done any outside work try it one day, one of my most amusing days at work.

The little fella in the center is an antique. It is a wooden switching stick. We used to use it in the vaults at Lorton to pull the cutouts down in the manholes when we kept our transformers underground.

Thanks,

George
Posted By: Bill Addiss Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 02:58 AM
Nice Shed George!

What is that upper door for? Just for show?

[Linked Image]
Bill
Posted By: ThinkGood Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 03:05 AM
Cannon port.
Posted By: George Corron Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 04:39 AM
Mostly, they put that upper door there to torque me off. It is a nuisance to paint, etc.

BUT.... when I moved here, 20 years ago, there was a prison, farms, and large lots of land. Now, there's yuppies, row houses, etc. The state was buying a bunch of houses near me to knock down for the road. I had an old shed that after years in business, and personal use, was giving up the ghost (an old metal building) and it needed replacing.

That 14' X 28' shed cost me $200.00...... Think I'll live with the upper door [Linked Image]

Now the Coleman genset broken apart on the benches... a friend at work, days before Isabel, when we were all preparing, said "I ain't worried about losing power, I've got a good genset", "What kind," says I "Coleman," he says.

I laughed and asked him if he had replaced the capacitor yet, he said "Capacitor????"

2 hours into the hurricane, the genset lost output, he blamed me [Linked Image] He brought it to me last week and ordered the parts.

I just gotta learn to crop those pics.
Posted By: Bjarney Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 05:40 AM
A 50-foot telescoping stick? I’m impressed. Out West, all the earthquakes make 35-foot sticks very challenging to plant.
Posted By: iwire Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 06:16 AM
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"What kind," says I "Coleman," he says.

I laughed and asked him if he had replaced the capacitor yet, he said "Capacitor????"


I say "Capacitor????, That looks like the genset I own, can you fill me in on the spare parts I should tie wrap to the unit. [Linked Image]

I have got at least 100 hrs on it now, it did need govener ajustments when I got it.

It was running about 57 hz.

Seriously fill me in, Thanks Bob
Posted By: George Corron Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 12:26 PM
Coleman's have been used by a lot of people in some pretty tough areas. They do, however, have some...... uh, shortcomings. I owned 2 of the suckers when I was in business BTW.

If I were going to use this as backup, where I had to depend on it, I would have several spare parts for the genset. The capacitor in the exciter circuit seems to be pretty danged tender in these things. It is the blue electrolytic cap you can see through the rear genset cover. You can find most recent models at their website at:
www.colemanpowermate.com

and they have an 800 number to get parts which is: 1-800-445-1805

In the case of this genset (and it's very common throughout the coleman line) it is an Ag-Tronic, part #034819

Again, if I were going to depend on these (this one was over 10 years old, and had only been worked on once) I would have 1 or 2 extra caps, a set of diodes, and brushes in a bag somewhere just in case.

Be very careful about trying to run sensitive electronic gear off of them, they have a very high THD (Total Harmonic Distortion).

Hope this helps.
Posted By: rmiell Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 05:23 PM
George, no disrespect, but what are your qualifications to use hotsticks? Are they tested annually? Are you trained in their use?

Some thoughts on this use. If you use a 50' hotstick to pull a primary fuse for a pole-mounted transformer, and the door breaks, what do you do then? Call the power company? How do they feel about you doing this?

I have a inspector friend who has a running battle with a local electrician who uses his hotstick to power up un-inspected services, bypassing the inspection process. Both the power company and the inspector frown heavily when this happens.

Just some thoughts.

Rick
Posted By: iwire Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 05:33 PM
George thanks for the tips, I do use mine as a backup at home to run the oil burner and more importantly the sump pump which during heavy rains is on more than off.

A generator failure could result in some costly basement flooding.

Bob
Posted By: George Corron Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 06:00 PM
rmiell,
I am a Class A lineman, the sticks are checked every 3 months, if I break a door, then I get the hooks out and go make repairs. As for the power company, not their poles, they really don't care, nor would they like to come watch me.

So you don't have to do this for the genset, I am only certified on Cummins and Cats, coleman would have to forgive me for working on theirs. [Linked Image]
Posted By: rmiell Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/06/04 06:34 PM
Like I said, George, I meant no disrespect. It's good to know that you have the lineman's view. All along, I thought you were like me, just a sparky.

Keep up the great posts on this forum. I will try to direct more lineman type questions your way!

Rick
Posted By: Scott35 Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/07/04 07:04 AM
Per the Cornpacitor, I was thinking of the Cap that clamps Ignition Points (Surge Reduction Cap) - but does any Gasoline Engine produced in the last 10 Years use a Brute Force Ignition system, as opposed to Electronic Controlled items?

So obviously this is not the Ker-paciderr failure I invisioned, so on to the next!

The Cap on the Exciter - is this being failed open or closed?
Would changing to a more heavy abuse type Electrolytic Cap be possible?

That would really suck to lose a Genny's output in the middle of a serious situation!
Guess the Back-up power source needs a Back-up power source!
[Linked Image]

I have only dealt with a few Gennys using Gasoline Prime Movers, and these were in the power range of only 5 KW - and used only for personal "Temp Power" (in the woods, on a project during service shut down, to run a power tool where there is no AC power available, and such).

Dealt with more Gennys that had Diesel Prime Movers, and were rated power >10 KW.
Was also involved on a Go-Generation install which used Gas-Turbines for Prime Movers (Fuel = Natural Gas).

In High School Advanced Automotives / Diesel Mechanics, we had a few donated Army Surplus Gennys, which were used as "Working Models".
On these, we (in groups) would take the Prime Mover out of the Assemblage, dismantle the entire Diesel Motor, Gage everything, Identify everything to the Instructor, then re-assemble the Motor and re-install it as a complete unit once again.

Once this was accomplished, the final grading point was to Smoke Test it (in this case - more like "Flying Parts Test"!).
Successfully getting the Motor started, rev'ed to 1800 RPMs, held steady for no less than 1 Minute, then shut down - all without a loss of parts, or call to the Fire Department - was target goal and success in passing that task.

Was very nice working on those big Diesels!
Had two flavors of Prime Movers - 6-71 and 8V92 (of course, from the designations shown - Detroit Diesels!...GM Diesels).
Looking back, I wish that one of us took the time to find out the Gennys' Output Stats! Never thought about that when I was 17-18, probably tarnished from the idea of getting inside a big Diesel!

Thought those were large - until seeing some really big Diesels!
The Gennys at the Playboy Mansion are not very small! One is rated at something like 300 KW, and the other one is 750 KW!
Last I heard, there's another one on its way! This is rumored to be in the Megawatt range.
(whaddaheck Hef' needs so much power for is anyones guess! Maybe they are moving into the Co-Generation direction too!...highly doubtful, as they have plenty of $$$ already!).

For me, the Prime Movers I have seen which truly classify as "Big Diesels" would be the Prime Movers in Diesel-Electric Locomotives.
Large 24 Cylinder, 14,000 CID, Blown and Turbocharged Two-Stroker Prime Movers, driving a Godzilla-Sized 3Ø Alternator is something nice to me!
(The Alternators are 8 Pole Animals).

For Locomotives incorporating "Hotel Power" / HEP (AC power for the Passenger Cars), the Prime Mover will be Governed for 900 RPMs.
I'll tell 'ya, driving a Two-Stroker with 16 - 20 Cylinders at 900 RPMs sounds like it's running at 90,000 RPMs!!!
[Linked Image]

Haven't had the chance to touch any larger Diesels than these, but if the opprotunity arises - I'm there!

Thanks for the stories.

Scott35
Posted By: George Corron Re: George C's HotSticks - 01/07/04 12:14 PM
Scott,
Easy diagnosis. On the exciter circuit, you can see the diodes and the cap at the rear of the little genny, take 4 bolts out, your done. I've only seen one diode fail, but these caps are fairly common.

This genset was about 12 years old, so he got good service out of it. The cap was shorted.

We had one at the prison that was a KTA50 cummins. It was developed as a train engine, I can't remember the HP rating of this moose, but it was pretty high. Danged nice engine. We had 1.2KW gensets powered by 3516 Cats that were pretty nice also.

All our stuff was 4,160. These were the biggest gens I ever had to work on, maintain.

I really enjoy working on an engine you walk up to with your tools [Linked Image] , creeper???? Heck, I need a ladder.

And everyone wonders why I drive a diesel (Cummins - Thank you) and wear the Tee shirt that says "I AM my own warranty station"
Posted By: Trumpy Re: George C's HotSticks - 09/21/04 04:01 PM
George,
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now all ya need is the talent to stand on the ground with a stick extended to 50' that wobbles like a wet noodle, hit a hole the size of a quarter and you're in business :-D . it takes a bit of practice. I let an electrician who had never done any outside work try it one day, one of my most amusing days at work.
Ahh, I hear you there,mate!. [Linked Image]
I've never had problems with pulling live cut-outs, what I have had problems with in the past is, removing the old links form the holder and putting new links back in.
Add into the equation, the fact that it is usually dark and windy when you want the hot-stick to behave itself!. [Linked Image]
Posted By: frenchelectrican Re: George C's HotSticks - 09/23/04 03:41 AM
as speaking about coleman generators the capatior is most common failuare i do get fair share of failuare with open capatiotor usesally caused by hevey surge espcally with starting med to large electric motors with small genney [ 8 KW or less] but larger one useally didoe failure that do including big 2 MW aka 2000 KW generator [ btw it was brand new one with failed didoe] [Linked Image] and i do work on all size of generator from small 1 kw diesel and gas unit to monster multi megawatts unit [ useally diesel or dual fuel engines] some engine you actally need a extison ladder just to get up to the valve cover some engines are so huge that they are bigger than average sized pick up truck like scott say about huge EMD's GE's ohh yeah with few oddballs i can add to this listing like Fairbanks Morse opposion piston engine [ smooth but hard to time it lol]

i will explain more other time

thanks ,, marc


Scott35 some HEP locos are governed at 720 rpm also like older FM units and some Alco units too

[This message has been edited by frenchelectrican (edited 09-22-2004).]
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