Generator Services Canberra | Product/service

Generator Services Canberra

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24.01.2022 GENLEC installed a 125A/phase Caterpillar ATS unit in the Essential Services Switchboard of one of our small regional hospitals. The compact unit fit neatly int...o the existing switchboard. The small unit is technically easy to install. The main challenge was to plan the installation steps with minimum power disruption to the hospital. We maintain many different units for clients but we choose Cat products for critical installations. See more

22.01.2022 Our technicians have serviced and worked on many brands of generators. But someone asked us a week ago, if there are any brands that stand out from the rest for... us. From our experience we can say that out of all the makes we attend to, Caterpillar, Olympian and FG Wilson generators give the least problems. When you do discover a problem on these three brands, the network and back-up for spares also stand out from the rest. See more

15.01.2022 See Part 1 in a post below for the lead up to this investigation and repair on a Cat 1.1MVA genset. The rain continued outside in Canberra and it was welcome wh...ile working inside a plant room to investigate the cause of this fault. Every test we did with the genset, the controller gave us a different shut down alarm after ten minutes exactly. It was clearly false alarms as the engine ran well with correct oil pressure, not over temperature and not over- or under voltage as the shut down alarms indicated. We checked all wiring and connectors. The voltage alarms were directly generated by the controller and not by the Engine Control Module (ECM). We checked the sensors, voltage sensing transformers and current transformers. All tested good. We checked the parameters in the controller and they were also good. It was then very clear that the genset controller had an intermittent fault that randomly brought up shut down alarms. There was also another warning indicated on the controller that appeared to be coming from the ECM but we had to replace the main genset controller first before we could see if it also affected the ECM warning. From past experience, we had a hunch that the ECM generated alarm is a separate alarm and will require a new fault statement and fault finding analysis after replacing the main genset controller. With authorisation granted by the site engineer to order a new controller, the nearest controller from a Cat shelve in Singapore was sourced. The gentlemen at Cat in Canberra organised it for us in a few days. Armed with the new controller, we started the replacement process. Reading all the parameters from the old controller, disconnected and removed the old controller and physically wired in the new controller. Before we reconnected the genset batteries, we called on three different GENLEC technicians to each check all the wiring. All three technicians declared the wiring correct. We connected the batteries, powered up the new controller and transferred all the parameters into the new controller. We used three different technicians again to crosscheck parameters and programming on the new controller. We always double check as only one small mistake can ruin expensive components when starting the genset up. It may seem like timely and expensive process but good risk management can save you a lot of money. All three technicians declared the parameters correct. Nick flicked the start switch and she kicked over. She was running like a dream. Everyone was watching the controller and the clock to see if those shut down alarms would come up again after ten minutes. Testing it for two days showed no shut down alarms. That was an excellent result but there was still a warning of an ECM fault. Relieved but also expected that there were no more shut down alarms. Knowing that we won the battle with the shut down alarms, we turned our attention on the annoying warning light, indicating an ECM alarm. Again we opened up all connectors, checked wiring and resistance on data cable between ECM and controller. All wiring resistance were within the specifications provided by Cat. That brought us to the step to call in the Cat agent with the Cat diagnostics and programming tool. Jay from Cat arrived and we gave him a quick rundown on the above history. He plugged in the Cat tool and connected to the Cat server via internet. Running through his software, he found that one of the ECM settings were programmed to provide a warning if the engine runs below the set temperature. Using the password generated by the cat server, he lowered that value. But why would this warning only occurred multiple times this week and never before? he asked us. Meaning, what is different now for the warning to occur? Must be because we tested and ran the genset without a load this week our technician replied. Running the genset without a load meant that the engine warmed up slower and triggered the low temperature warning after a few minutes. With that annoying warning light also solved, Jay offered that he can also load the latest software for the ECM from the Cat server. We did not like the idea because we believe that during a problem solving process, you always make only one change at a time. That way, if you find another problem later, you know which step caused it. But Jay assured us that he has done it many times and have confidence in the latest ECM software. With the genset running like clockwork, Jay installed the latest software in the ECM. It was a good result. Our technicians worked through the problems and solved the major problem. Then the ECM software checks and update Jay did for us, with the Cat diagnostics tool, again showed the professional support you get, when you invest in a Cat genset. Being a critical installation, we continued testing for another week before we returned the hired set. It was an interesting fault as we have worked on many Cat gensets. Any such false alarms are usually caused by damaged wiring or a faulty sensor. This is the first time ever we had to replace a faulty Cat ECMP controller. That is why we have respect for Caterpillar gensets. A good genset and another satisfied customer!

10.01.2022 It was a very wet August day when the call came in for a generator behaving badly. She tripped the circuit breaker and stopped with a Low Voltage Fault Alarm ...the client said. We quickly dispatched two technicians to go check. We reset the 2000 Amp circuit breaker and tried to start the genset. The controller was not reacting to the input from the start switch. Then after about 30 minutes, it started only to stop with a Low Voltage Fault Alarm 10 minutes later. To us, it all pointed to a controller problem but you have to be 100% sure. For such a critical installation, you cannot go on just a hunch. You have to test your assumptions to make sure you change the right components. Caterpillar also notified us that the nearest replacement controller was in Singapore. We knew it would be at least a week to repair and thoroughly test the repair before hand back for operation. We reported our initial findings to the Facilities Manager and suggested to bring a hire genset on site as a standby, while we repair the Caterpillar. Luke quickly summed a most probable case scenario budget and gave us the go ahead. While our forte is maintenance and repairs of generators, the hire stage is where a good reliable friend comes in. Richard Doggett keeps some good sizes of gensets for hire in his yard. He had a 1MVA genset on site, 4 hours after my initial call to him. With good teamwork between our crew and Richard’s crew, we had the hire set running and testing on the dummy load by 22H00 that evening. That was disconnecting and making safe cables from on-site set. Running 3 sets of 4 x 120mm sq cable in parallel from the hire set to the busbars. Running 1 x 120mm sq earth cable from hired set to earth bar. Supply mains power for hired set battery charger and engine water jacket heater. Install a remote start cable from ATS in plant room to hired set. It is always a great pleasure to work with Richard. Like us, he is very safety conscious and always delivers neat and tidy work. We ran the hired set on 800kW load to provide a good load for the engine, burn off some carbon and score the bit of glazing off the cylinder walls. The genset just came from a site where it was mostly running at a low load and glazed up a bit. We saw much relief on Luke’s face when he walked over to us with his hand reached out. Congratulations and thanks he said to everyone there. Luke is a very kind man. We will always go the extra mile for him. The repair of the 1.1MW Caterpillar to follow in part 2 later.

10.01.2022 Specimen ready to go to the lab. No, it is not our technician’s. It is a regular oil sample from a genset in a very critical installation. Always good to do regular analysis of your engine oil.

01.01.2022 A cold day in Canberra and Stephen Larkham is sporting his well earned GENLEC Player of the Day jacket.