Lifespan of an ST?

[Randybee1]

OK guys, I have yet to hook up my ST head (s) to my Listeroid and Redstone . I hear of people putting on tremendous amount of hours on their engines but does anyone have data on their ST head? How many hours do you have on it?, any failures? if so, what kind? I'm thinking of buying a 3rd ST head but since I haven't hooked up my other two I thought it would be wise to ask about longevity first!
Randy B

[veggie]

Perhaps one way to look at it is the cost of rebuild.
If in fact they did have a bit shorter of a lifespan, and cost a fraction of other gen heads to rebuilt, then the longevity issue may be unimportant. (Provided you are in a position to service the unit from time to time)

I think George at Utterpower put this point across quite well when he wrote....
Quote: " Fact is, this simple and basic ST generator head works for DIYers and Electrical Engineers alike. Are there better Generator heads? You bet! open your wallet wide, lay out 10 times as much, and you'll likely have a better Gen head, but you better lay out even more for some of the expensive and proprietary spares you'll want on the shelf if you want to assure it's going to work when you need it most. People who dismiss KISS, usually have a storeroom of something else to sell."

There are so many mfr's of ST heads in Asia (with varying degrees of quality) that it's very hard to generalize on lifespan.
If the bearings are inspected and the unit is properly installed/aligned, I think we can expect very good life from these heads.
When looking at it from a "Unit cost vs. Hours of life" perspective, I have not found a better bargain.

Cheers,
Veggie

[Randybee1]

Thanks Veggie!, I'm still a little aprehensive though. I was kind of hoping for more feedback. I know there are people that have reported tens of thousands of hours on their Lister clones but reliability data on the ST heads seems to be lacking! Nonetheless, I think I'll bite the bullet and buy another one.  Randy B

[WGB]

I have a 12kw, I re-insulated the windings and installed good bearings.
I way over sized it to horsepower, really bought to use with a PTO drive, should last a long time.
On the other hand, thanks to Veggie, and his little portable, I bought a better quality head.
So now I have both worlds, not a bad way to go.

[JohnF]

Randy;

I run long hours on my engines and I think I have had two ST head problems.  Both involved bearings on the drive side, it was just a matter of re and re, pretty simple really. There was an issue for a short time when I imported heads with a solid state rectifier inside the bell housing, the manufacturer did not shorten the leads and this resulted in a couple of torn out wires - again, not a big fix.  Occasionally I have also heard of poor quality insulation on the copper, but as others have mentioned quality does vary considerably between manufacturers.

Personally I expect an ST head to last over 15,000 hours before needing attention (except for brush clean up/replacement) and that should only consist of replacing a bearing.  If you are still concerned, have a look at George Breckenridge's PMG offerings - no brushes to change.