Saturday, February 22, 2020

Onan 5KW CCK Generator Current Transformer Mod

I wanted to add a pair of Volt/Amp/Hertz displays to my 1973 Onan CCK generator so I knew how much load I could safely pull from it without damaging anything. I bought two small digital Voltage-Current-Hertz meters on Amazon and mounted them in a plastic box I also purchased from Amazon.


First order of business was to drill a couple 7/8-inch holes in the cover of the box.

Here is a shot of one meter:

And both meters installed, with the two current transformers to the side:

I had to mount each current transformer to one "hot" leg of the generator. The electrical box doesn't have much extra internal volume to add stuff to.

Here's the finished product:

Next photo shows the two meters displaying no-load readings:

And then with a heater and hair dryer running, 12.3 amps on one leg and 13.4 amps on the other leg. About a 3000 watt load. I can safely get 20.8 amps from each leg, as noted on the generator's tag.



To the left of the Onan is my 20-plus-year-old 5kw Generac that my dad bought new. It probably doesn't have more than 30 or 40 hours on it and still runs great but I just prefer the 325 pound Onan. Not sure what I'll do with the Generac...

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