Lister ST3A Diesel Generator

I picked up a new toy. Most folks probably wouldn't consider it a toy, but to me it's something to play with. Ok, maybe "tinker with" is more accurate than "play with". The new acquisition is a 15KVA/12KW 3-phase diesel generator. The engine is a Lister 3-cylinder air-cooled direct-injected diesel of about 21 horsepower at 1800 RPM.

The engine serial number puts the date of manufacture at 1981. Model number of the engine is ST3A, which breaks down to: type ST with 3 cylinders that turns "anticlockwise". The generator head is a Lima/MAC/Marathon which makes 120/240/416 volts.

Being air-cooled, the engine is quite loud. I was able to move the generator in the garage so it is out of the weather and should be somewhat quieter for the neighbors.

An interesting item on the engine is a gizmo to shut off fuel in case oil pressure is lost. It had the word Sentinel stamped into it, so I was able to find online that it was made by Parker/Racor, and found instructions on how it operates. It's the long vertical cylinder in the center of the photo below.

Below is a photo of the other side of the engine. I may have to move the oil pressure and ammeter gauges to the side of the generator that has the generator controls.

This next photo shows a shaft poking out the end of the engine which is called the camshaft extension in the service manual (which is conveniently online). One of its uses is to hand-start the engine with a crank handle. I may have to make one so I could maybe start this thing without a battery. That would be nifty. Yeah, it has an electric starter. That's just too easy though.