Dave wrote on Yesterday at 16:07:32:


When everything was back together and I connected the battery and turned things on - the fuel pump would run for 3 seconds and stop....then the low fuel warning light would come on.  The fuel gauge read empty - however there was plenty of fuel in the tank.  I checked the new sender and it was working properly - if I turned on the "Battle Short" switch the fuel pump would run.  A check of the wires at the gauge showed it was properly grounded, was getting a proper signal from the sender in the fuel tank, and the gauge had power - therefore the gauge was bad......however this should not trigger a low fuel warning as the signals to the bad gauge were proper and the gauge does not send a signal to shut the engine down.

I found a thread were a guy had the same problem - when he turned on the "run" switch the pump would run 3 seconds and then stop and the low fuel warning would come on.  The thread stated it was the float switch with 2 senders that causes this.....the lower float tells the system it is out of fuel.  The sender in my tank was in good condition and the floats moved easily - and this problem did not exist prior to me cleaning the tank.

I thought about removing the float sender and looking at it - but first I decided to wiggle the generator around and slosh the fuel a bit to see if the float would move....and it worked!  The bottom float must have been hung up at the bottom and didn't move when I added fuel to the tank.  The fuel pump now runs continuously when the stitch it turned on and the warning light does not come on.  (The fuel gauge is still reading "empty" and a new replacement gauge is in the mail).

Dave, that’s kinda what I was thinking.  It’s definitely battle ready!  It’s cool that it runs on diesel and you have a single common fuel source for all your toys!

I have a little gas powered 3500w (4500w surge rated) generator.  It’s been a true blessing when we’ve had hurricanes and long power outages.  The longest we’ve had to use it continuously was Feb, 2021 when “snowmaggedon” hit Houston and knocked out power for 5 days.  We stayed around 15° for a week - extremely unusual around here.

I am able to run a small 6000btu A/C window unit in the main living area, deep freezer, fridge, TV, LED bulb lamp, and have power leftover to charge phones or use something else small.  I have to turn off the TV or AC to use the coffee maker (gotta have coffee!).  Anything that “makes heat” sucks some power (you know that).  I’ve run the toaster oven and microwave in a pinch and you can hear that engine chugging right up to the 4500 surge rated power.  We don’t use those anymore - I’d rather not blow the generator and lose AC because somebody wanted toast or something.

Cool project!  I like that BEAST!  Hopefully you rarely, if ever, have to use it!