Flashing a Generator Field

[TBow]

I own a 5000 watt Honda generator that was new in 1998, so it's about 13 years old. It has very very little hours (if not 1 hour) of run time on it. It hasn't run in about 12 years. Not periodically excercising a genset and refreshing the fuel is a big mistake.

Anyways, I pulled it out a couple weeks ago to help my son out who lives rurally where they had an outage in his area for a couple days. Long story short, the engine wouldn't run due to gumming up of the fuel system and once I pulled it apart and cleaned the carb, replaced the fuel and had the engine running, I had no AC output on the generator. Man this thing was over $2500 new and had less than 1hour on it so I didn't expect any component failures.

I figured it had lost its magnetic field and I would have to flash the field to get an output, but wanted to verify that I did no other damage to the voltage regulator or any other electrical components by connecting a DC source to the brushes. So I went online to locate schematics and any pitfalls I might encounter. I found one site that indicated a very simple process to flash the field of a demagnetised unit.

It involved the use of an AC electric drill (not a cordless):

1. Ensure all breakers (or fuses) are swtched ON.

2. Plug in the electric drill to the generator outlet.

3. Start the generator engine.

4. Switch the drill direction to FORWARD and hold or lock the trigger ON.

5. Turn the the drill chuck in a reverse direction (I used a second drill [cordless] to interconnect the two chucks and spun the initial AC drill)

6. The turning of the AC drill will generate about 2.0 vdc and will flash the field.

It worked beautifully!

I had been prepared to pull the generator apart, get an external 12 volt battery c/w the required leads, isolate any electronic components and do the traditional "field flshing", but this was a real simple process that saved me some headaches and time. I believe I read that Briggs&Stratton even publish this process in their manuals or training materials.

I had worked with genetarors and alternate energy systems my entire working career, but had never heard of this before. Who says you can't teach and old dog new tricks? Just thought I'd pass it along!

TBow

[Shaun_300]

That's some really good information Tbow, thanks for sharing!

[wtnhunt]

Thanks for passing that along, will have to remember that. Had always heard that to keep things in order with generators to try to start them once a month or so.

[LETMGROW]

Some good info there I hope I never have to use. Let me add something though. Anytime you start a generator to let it run you should plug something into the AC outlet. I usually use a 60w trouble lamp for this. This keeps the generator working and can prevent some fielding loss problems.

Don't forget the Sta-Bil or equivalant fuel additive.

Lynn

[Tominator]

Our generator does a self check every week.

[wtnhunt]

Our generator does a self check every week.

Yours is propane too correct? No need for fuel stabilizers or additives.

[Tominator]

Yours is propane too correct? No need for fuel stabilizers or additives.

Yep, runs right off the propane tank.

[Adjam5]

Great info...Thanks for sharing that.