Easygen 3500xt 2

[Jimmy.KM]

Hi all, first post here. Currently testing an easygen 3500xt unit controlling a CAT 3516b engine. Have it setup to trip the gcb and have the engine cooldown and stop when an electrical fault is detected. So the problem is it works correctly when in Auto mode but doesn't work in Manual mode. In manual mode it trips the gcb but the engine just stops without going into cooldown first. Fault is setup as a Class D which should go into cooldown before stopping the engine. So any ideas why this is happening?

 

[TugboatEng]

How is the Cat engine configured? Is it shutdown on signal or shutdown on change of state?

 

[catserveng]

Is it setup for cooldown mode to be controlled by the EasyGen or the CAT controls? Based on your info so far, since it works in AUTO, once the EZG gives the breaker trip command it doesn't remove the RUN output to the CAT generator until the cooldown time elapses. In Manual you are likely removing the RUN command as soon as the breaker opens. So I'd assume you're controlling cooldown with the EZG

Depending on how the EZG was programmed in Manual mode it can ignore the cooldown.

Is the only action the EZG taking on an electrical fault is to remove the RUN command, or are you also sending a STOP command to the CAT control panel?

Also what CAT control panel are you using? How is it interfaced, hardwire or over CANBUS? 3516B can have any version control panel from EMCP II to EMCP 4.X.

There are a lot of different ways an EasyGen can be integrated with a genset, so more details about you particular unit could get you a better answer. You may also want to post your setup file.

Hope that helps, MikeL.

 

[Jimmy.KM]

Start stop and cooldown is all done from easygen. Cat emcp only waits for the remote start signal, as long as it's closed to dig ref it runs. So now the programming error seems to be at easygen. Normal engine cooldown procedure is correct where we press the Stop button at easygen and the engine goes into cooldown and stops in a predetermined time.
The problem we're faced with now is that when running in Manual mode at easygen and we simulate an electrical fault which we programmed as class D alarm in easygen. The expected result would be to trip the gcb and the engine goes into cooldown but in this case the engine just shutsdown without cooldown.
When we tested in Auto mode at easygen the correct logic happens where it trips the gcb and the engine coolsdown.
The question is why it works in Auto and not in Manual mode at easygen?

 

[catserveng]

Well, for most for the EZG's I come across, there are logic differences between AUTO and MANUAL modes. You would have to go into Logics Manager and see how the cooldown function actually is programmed and if it's response is the same in both modes.

Who initially programmed your EZG? Some of the packager specific part numbers have special features you may not be able to modify with the standard .tool file.

Likely the easiest fix would be to enable the cooldown on the EMCP, many packages are setup that way. Or you could contact Woodward our their local distributor, I usually find them to be quite helpful.

EasyGens are very nice control systems, but have a lot of things to program and to think thru to get a properly functioning system, they can be pretty easy if your just paralleling a couple of units in island mode, but the more things you want it to do, the more settings you will have to put your hands on, and in a lot of cases Logics Manager doesn't get used as well as it should be. About 90% of my service calls on EZG equipped systems are essentially incorrect or incomplete program settings.

MikeL.

 

[TugboatEng]

Is manual going to be a normal mode of operation? How often do you expect this event to happen? The Cat 3500 series will tolerate full power shutdowns a few times during their life, even the high horsepower units. I've tripped them at 1200 degrees F EGT without issue.

 

[Jimmy.KM]

The unit would be in Auto mode majority of the time so I'm not too worried about it's functionality. This just a quirk I'm seeing in the easygen's setup that I'm trying hard to understand and hopefully try to work out.
This easygen unit was setup by our genset panel supplier and wasn't too helpful in explaining why, just stated it's just how easygen works.

 

[TugboatEng]

As an end user myself your experience is my life. catserveng is a fantastic resource on this forum and fills in the knowledge gaps between the service techs and the engineers.

 

[Jimmy.KM]

Ya agreed totally, his input on other various technical forums are priceless.

 

[catserveng]

So I have in hand a EZG that is going back to Woodward for repair (bad digital output), I hooked it up on the bench and took a look at the cooldown function. On this unit Cooldown logic is not in Logics Manager, but in trying a couple things it worked as you described, a cooldown is present in AUTO mode, and in MANUAL on a trip it opens the RUN output immediately. This particular EZG was on a CAT G3516 with an EMCP II, so functionally should be similar to your unit.

I no longer have a Toolkit developer license, just don't that many projects anymore where I need to customize a control interface, but it appears if you want to make the cooldown work in MANUAL you will need a custom .tool file that will allow access to the cooldown logic. As an option you could go into Logics Manager and write your own logic to develop a parallel cooldown function in MANUAL, but not sure that would really be worth the effort, and don't know how familiar you are with developing logic in the EZG.

I have to get this packed up to ship out tomorrow, so i don't have any more time to play with it. As you pointed out above, you "normal" mode of operation is in AUTO. In most of the sites I work with MANUAL is usually just used for testing and running after service work to make sure all is ok before going online.

And thanks to you and TugboatEng for the nice comments, is appreciated.

Hope that helps, MikeL.