CAT DIESEL RUNNING UNDER LOAD 1959 Caterpillar Generator Testing 

That 40 minutes went fast! A good way of knowing that you are watching interesting content. It’s over way too fast. Good stuff.

Absolutely love the fact that you dont mind running these old gems at full load for a time. That's what they were designed to do and you do more than just look at them. You run em! Thank you so much for your time as I respect that these displays take a tremendous amount of time to set up. Take care!

I love the sound of a turbo diesel at almost 100% load. and she's roaring like a beast, and purring like a kitten at idle.

Neighbors are like Who’s driving a tank through the neighborhood Oh that’s just weird generator guy Lol good job mike Enjoyed the video

I'm older than the generator and droop is definitly a factor....

I thought the last time was good... Replaying just to hear that old girl sing some more! Sounds far better than any radio station nowadays

Having been in heavy elect industry my whole life, this is grand vid showing the absolute basics on how to generate energy. I love the fact you put such faith in an aged prime mover and generator. Shows how beautifully built and designed this is. A credit to CAT and the American solid way of doing things. High fives from Aussie..🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️

Probably the most that generator has been loaded up in many many years

Kudos to the engineers at Cat for designing such a robust unit . Cool vid 👍

Cats love to get a good stretch in now and again.

That old cat was just a purring under full load and loving every bit of it and saying its about time i get to work. 💪💪💪 The generator was handling the load well also. Very nice genset you have there. Thank you for all the work you put into making this video for us to watch.

Boy I wish I had your knowledge. I’m like a sponge when I watch you work. Thanks teacher.

Old saying: "The man who.knows 'how' will always have a job. The man who.knows 'why' will be his boss."

I own a generator business and do A LOT of maintence (on newer equipment only). Just by the sound of this old lady, I can tell that back in the days the specs were WAY more conservative than todays... Today when you (resistively) load 150 kW a 150 kW machine it simply can't take one single extra watt. You can feel, see and hear that the engine reached it absolute max. This one, like you said... Doesn't even care... In todays specs they would rate it at least 200 kW easily. Once again I'm not used to this high current excitation values in newer equipment... Even 400 kW ones are using only 10 amps regulators. Great content, learned a lot.

There is something I just absolutely love about seeing a 60 year old piece of equipment still put in the work she was built to deliver on day 1. She's definitely a beast. I wish I had a use for a piece of gear like that but I don't have an office building, lol.

I like the saw tooth exhaust tip. Great video!

Heh heh, *nice test setup!* That big Kitty Kat started huffing and puffing pretty good around 80% load. You could see in the exhaust, all the bats and bird nests from the last 20 years getting evicted.🤣 I could watch this all day!! I'd say this generator is still good for another 20 years once you get the right exciter for it. Speaking of residual magnetism, I've have a couple of old Coleman gen sets in the past that would lose their magnetism if they sat too long without being run. Generally you could get them lit up again by simply plugging in an older 1/2" drill (no speed control), and just spin the chuck by hand a few times to give it a little nudge. I've had a couple cases where I had to tape a big magnet to the side of the drill, so it would actually generate a little more voltage to get the generator to light back up.😉

Not what I thought I would see when I clicked on Small engine mechanic.... subscribed!

Just an AWESOME video!! Love hearing the ol' Cat purr like a kitten. You threw everything you had at her and she took it like a champ. Old iron at it's finest. Nice work, we need more video's like this please!

Imagine this guys excitement when his power goes out! Awesome video really enjoyed it.

Don't have a clue about all this but, love the sound of that engine! That alone, kept me watching the whole time!

Excellent job analyzing the field power requirements. Love that old CAT!

I like how you can hear the turbo RPM increase each time the load is increased.

Mike, you have a better grasp of power generation than a lot of younger electrical engineers. When calculating excitation requirements, remember your test was at unity Power factor. The excitation would have to go higher depending on the reactive power required. That old Cat was working up a sweat! Looked like maybe a dribbling injector occasionally, but that might clear up with some run time. Exhaust looked clear at max load after a bit.

That was just terrific, thanks so much for taking us along for the ride. As a big fan of diesel electric locomotives EMD, GE, Alco this is a window into load testing of the power plant and generator on a smaller scale. Love to hear that turbo and the exhaust note change under load. Bid thumbs up.

Thise old D-series Cats LOVE load. Run them in backup service at 40% or less, not so much. D-349 at 240 KVA gets soupy and sooted up pretty quick. Give it 1100 for an hour, clean as a whistle. That's a great sounding D-337.

that big old cat was loving that load up.. and the music it makes 😍

Damn..that old son never missed a beat even after all these years! Great durability.

I’ve owned semi trucks with caterpillar engines with over 3,000,000 miles worth of use. Watching this video makes me like them all the more! Great video thank you for sharing!

Going back through all of your old videos. Had to chuckle when you tipped in 400A, "Oh yeah!" Yep, you make all people happy.

The Full loading of this Cat reminds me of hot Summers nights in 1966 Cu Chi , Vietnam at the 25th Med Battalion.I was running a brand new 353 Detroit against a 30KW, loaded many nights to 36-37 KW blowing black smoke and me watching the temp gauge praying the needle would stay off the cut-off overheat switch and we did not lose all our hospital power....because if it did it I had to go and crank up several smaller generators to cover the loss of the 30KW....(I kept a couple 10KW on the idle run just to switch quickly if the 353 DID overheat. That 30KW had an electric governor that was so fast that when a refrigerator switched on The governor sensed the voltage drop BEFORE the load hit the generator and caused the 353 Detroit to burp UP in speed just a bit...you could see it on the Cycle meter bouncing up every time a substantial load hit. Memories of an old Combat Medic....

As an Electrical and Electronics Engineer I loved the load test and all the reading note down and as a petrol head I love the whistling turbo and the Cat purrs like a kitten what a bulletproof Machine. They sure don't make em like that no more.

The engine on that set is a beast! I never heard it react at all when any amount of load was added!

Doesn't matter that I have no clue what an 'exciter' is or does. Just love seeing old diesel come back to life.

Beautiful sound! Gotta love watching her work!

Another great video, enjoyed watching you put her through her paces.

Very informative and interesting. And I absolutely enjoy the sound of that engine under load! Thanks for posting.

Enjoyed that Mike, great stuff, and i appreciate the work that you put in.

This video made my day. I appreciate the time and work you put into this video as well as the clear narration. Well done!

Great video. Amazing to see that old beast still putting out!

Great Stuff Mike!! I really enjoyed it ! Interesting and educational...I found myself rooting for the Ole Cat to make the numbers.

Superb couple of videos on this engine/generator! Thoroughly enjoyed them and learnt a few things. Thanks!

Nice to see the quality of the build. Thanks for the complete run through.

That's a seriously impressive unit, running as sweetly as that after so many years..... and it sounds amazing too !!!

This is one of the most interesting things I have watched. I was mesmerized the entire time. Way to go.

What kind of brilliant hard work went behind this video.

Great video! I’m a car guy but I always love learning new tech- you are a good teacher

Your clearly worded explanations are much appreciated!

Great demonstration, logically designed for easy understanding. Well done!

Very informative. I always learn from you. Thank you, Mike!

I’m amazed how quickly diesel engines got to their modern form. 1959 and the injection system and turbocharger were already similar to modern, gas engines did exist with amazing tech back then, but they weren’t nearly as refined.

A very interesting demonstration of field and load generation! Thank you! I haven't seen a demo like this, since my industrial controls and generation days in college. Thank you again, sir!

Great video. Lovely to see the Cat get loaded up; and to hear it - loved the turbo whistle each time you put another load bank on! I've never really been able to wrap my head around the electrical side of generators and how they work but it was interesting to see you go through the wiring scheme and now (I think!) I understand what an exciter is for and how it works...

That was an awesome job bringing the old girl up to test load, good job.

Enjoyed every minute of the video. Good presentation. Thanks.

Watching you is better than any tech manual I ever used 😊👍👍🇺🇸

Great video, wonderful sound. Glad to see the old girl come to life. You got a good hobby.

My son needs a generator for his home and server, i have been looking to learn more so i can help him decide, boy did i come to the right place. Riveting videos, thank you for being of the mind to share your skills with us.

Wow !!!!! Can't believe just how well that Old Cat runs .... Thanks for a Brilliant Informative vidclip ..... Cheers from NZ

This exercise brings back great memories of the Electricians doing Load bank tests on the large Electric Drive haulers. I was getting a little anxious during this test as to how much fuel was left in the barrel.

Excellent load test. Very nice running machine. Great test set up you have there.

Dude you're my hero! Love the videos. Keep making them.

Great fun watching you bring it back to life and testing it out :-) Happy 4th.

Love that sound of the engine and turbocharger at near full load. Not much smoke, so the engine seems to be in excellent condition for it's age. Thanks a lot for making this video. Greetings from Thor in Norway.

Very nice, love the detail as I have mentioned before. more of this please.

I really enjoyed your video and watched all of it from one end to the other....I`m an industrial electrician and I`ve many times done this type of test on big gen-sets....Retired now but loved every year of my work....CHEERS

Excellent video, remember that power factor will make a much bigger difference on field current, much more so then resistive load. The resistive load tests the engine HP, an inductive load tests the excitation system. The same analogy comes into play with paralleling generators, share KW by adjusting engine governors, share KVAR by adjusting excitation.

Thank you for taking the time to make such an informative interesting and downright professionally edited RU-vid video, thank you for sharing your knowledge superb job. I appreciate your time and effort I learned something new today from you

Awesome test, so nice deep rumble from Diesel at full load and when adding load! Diesel likes that, clearing old soot and crap from exhaust and heads!!

That old CAT GENSET was loven life. Great test setup.

I dont really know whats going on, but it looks rather interesting 😊

Thank you for putting this all together for us I don't understand all of the technology but appreciate what it takes to create a quality video Central California watching

Load testing CATs and Cummins is one of my favorite things! Sounds great, cant beat old iron diesels.

I really enjoy seeing the older generators holding up well.Wish I knew you when I lived in Jersey, it would have been great learning from you.

Great job Mike, I could have used you in my one business, you are a very experienced mechanic for your age, more so than some of my much older seasoned mechanics. !!!

Thanks for putting work into the video! Awesome explanation.

Great video, and also great test eqquipament. I realy like this beatiful artesanal equipament like that field exciter with "frankstein" non-insulated switch. Keep posting great videos. Thank you

Wow!!!!! Great video !!!!!! You have more $ in test equipment than I can imagine. You are very through and safe with all you do.!!!!! You are very good at explaining things so that we can understand it.!!!!! Thanks again and have fun🙂

Hey "buddy" !!! Thanks for the vids, always informative!

Awesome! Cool to see a young guy with expertise and love for this stuff. That Cat sounds sweet. Great job with the video.

I enjoy watching you work. You do good work, bud.

I really enjoyed watching your video and it did go by fast, thanks for sharing

Great video. Impressive that it started right up. It looks like you got some nice new load banks.

Wow Mike that is some setup looks like your having a lot of fun

The most interesting vid ive seen on youtube in a long time, basically 40 minutes of an old cat purring like a kitten. Nice job testing an old unit in a safe environment

This was a fantastic video. I learned a lot. I was getting nervous as you increased the load up to 150, you could really tell that the engine was under heavy load. But, it came through "flying Colors". Quite amazing for such a old device. Thanks.

love this video!! im from argentina and you ar the first doing this kind of videos, mechanical and electrial. love it!!

I love watching this guy troubleshoot an engine and generator. I don't know what it is about a generator that fascinating to me, but I own 6 and everyone works. Occasionally I'll fire one up just to see it strain. Burning the soot out of it like SEM says. I really like your videos, have learned much from them. Thank you.

Thanks for sharing mike. Engine seems to be running strong and the Generator seems to be making good power. Love the old cats. They hard to beat. Here kitty kitty. LOL

Looks like a fun project. Nice set up.

It must be nice to have a backup generator for the whole neighborhood or a city love it great job

very interesting mike, engine sounds great!

Used to work at a place that had several large gensets,for egress lighting and to keep sewage pumps running.Biggest problem we had was that the load was only around 10/15% of genset capacity.Everyone was always complaining that the gensets smoked too much.I was engine mech,electiican were task with loading.worked there 20 years never was able to convince anyone that genset would would be more efficient at about 50% if we were running 24/7 which we did during power outages.Also had one one small genset (50KW) that was wired up so screwy that the three different legs of the load were as much as 25/30% different.

Sounds good and solid Mike . Something to be said about the old school stuff . KEEP EM RUNNING .

Superb video, thanks for posting. Great work there.

Your'e a MASTER Mike , great project !

so nice to hear that old cat purring and doing work :) You have the power :D

HOA must love you haha.. btw that engine sounds AMAZING. Could hear this all day. Great machine.

Graphic illustration of what an AVR does! I'll show this to my engineers thanks!

Absolutley fantastic video. Many thanks.