95gATL
Georgia
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Hi Folks,
I have a portable honda generator rated at 5000 watts. (EG5000) It worked flawlessly back in 2002. I let it sit unused in my garage until this years ---basically 6 yrs of not being started. Recently put some gas in it and she fired right up. The engine works fine, however, I am not getting any electric out of the unit. Someone said that it has to do with sitting for a long period of time and "something" losing its charge..? I don't know exactly what that means, nor if it is true.
Any suggestions on how I can get this beast producing power at the outlet would be greatly appreciately.
Thanks!!!
Brian
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wayne_tw
South Dakota/Georgia
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Joined: 07/21/2007
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I am guessing you have a bad ground somewhere, a blown fuse, or a tripped circuit breaker. There is nothing in a generator to "loose its charge."
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MNtundraRet
Bloomington, MN
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One of the reasons for exersizing a generator every month or two is to run it long enough to warm up and dry out the wire coils that produce the current. I suspect yours has rusted, or corroded the coils, causing a short. Since it looks like you live in Georgia, this may be the case.
Mark
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Fredzo
SoCal
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The field needs to be flashed to re-create the residual magnetism used for initial excitation. Find a repair manual, and it'll tell you how.
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tvman44
Southwest Louisiana
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Fredzo wrote:The field needs to be flashed to re-create the residual magnetism used for initial excitation. Find a repair manual, and it'll tell you how.
I agree
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95gATL
Georgia
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flashing, yes, I believe that's what I heard. Here's a procedure which I found online. Will this work for my application or is there an easier way?
"Field Flashing of Portable Generators
This tip comes from the Briggs & Stratton Customer Education Department. As an alternative to flashing a rotor winding with a battery applied to the brushes, an electric drill may be used. Follow these steps to flash the generator:
Plug the electric drill into the generator receptacle. (Cordless drills do not work)
If the drill is reversible, move the direction switch to the forward position.
Start the generator
While depressing the trigger on the drill, spin the drill chuck in reverse direction. This will excite the field and the generator will now produce electricity. If spinning the chuck one direction does not work, try spinning the chuck in the other direction as you may have the reverse switch positioned backwards.
Use caution not to get your hand or other materials caught in the chuck. As soon as the field is excited, the generator will produce power and the drill will turn on.
The reason this works is because the electric motor in the drill will act as a small generator when spun backwards. The magnets in the drill's motor induce a voltage into the motor windings, which is fed back through the trigger, cord and into the generators receptacle. From there it goes into the power winding of the stator. The voltage going through the power winding creates a magnetic field, which is intensified due to the iron core of the stator laminations. The rotor intersects this magnetic field as it is spun past the power winding, thus inducing a voltage in the rotor winding. Once current flow is present in the rotor winding the rotor has been flashed."
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Dancing Bear
upstate New York
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You need to occasionally run the genny under load to maintain it's capability to produce electricity.
Run a few minutes w/o load, plug in a light, fan etc, run 10-15 min with load, unplug device and run a few more minutes w/o load before shutting off.
Here's the link to that subject: http://www.endtimesreport.com/survival_shop.html
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95gATL
Georgia
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Thanks for all the assistance....I actually used the drill method in my post and she works!!!
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pritch272
Martinez, GA
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That is just so cool.
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Matthew_B
The boonies near Dallas, Oregon
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Wow, I never heard of the drill trick before, and that's so cool!
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