Jor,

It is almost certainly a 3 phase generator. As I said before, the advantage
of a 3 phase generator is the ability to balance the load among the three
phases. If all the load is on a single phase the generator will be
operating in an unbalanced condition.

Recommend you talk to a local electrician to get a better picture of how the
generator is designed to operate.

Good luck.

Butch

Butch
"U" wrote in message
. ..
On Friday 25 November 2005 21:00, Terry Spragg wrote:

U wrote:

I 'inherited' a 3phase 15KW generator without documentation or even a
brand
name on it.


Why do you say it is 3 phase, if you don't have documents?
Generators with 3 hot phase outputs often include delta or Y
selection switches.

3 wire output, including neutral, plus ground, could be a 2 hot
phase system, with a 4 wire connector output.

If it is 2 phase (that's 2 hot phases plus neutral), then the
switching makes sense to me. Otherwise, I would be very sceptical.

The switches control which wires on the output are connected to
output, and which wire is neutral, (itself a hot connector for 110 v
output.)

I wouldn't go so far as switching while the test toaster is plugged
in, unless I was wearing rubber boots.

Terry K


Terry,

The generator is built into a boat I recently purchased. Frankly the only
reason I am saying it's 3-phase is because the previous owner told me so
and because I know I can get (at least?) two different output voltages at
the same time. If 2-phase is normal for a generator (I have no idea) then
it could also be 2 phase I suppose.
But, is there any advantage being able to choose which wires are connected
to the output and which one is neutral? As opposed to the generator simply
being wired correctly once and for all in the factory?

Thanks,

Jor