When your generator lets you down
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- Опубліковано 18 лис 2018
- My generator failed to make power at first but I get it working.
Links to tools on Amazon that I use everyday:
Fluke 117 Multimeter
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Leatherman Wave+
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Anker rechargeable flashlight.
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Gopro Hero Silver 4
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Magnetic camera mount
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Mac with computer with iMovie for editing videos.
amzn.to/2S4Nq2m - Авто та транспорт
Never fails. Something always needs fixing when its freezing cold!!
Yep
It seems that’s always when I have to do work on the cars.
As a retired electrical engineer, I’m watching too many UA-cam videos by farmers/ranchers/construction/metal machinists (jpaydirt, guy in wy, bcbloc02, abom79, letsdig18). You guys always refer to your equipment by the model number (1910, PC40, ZD331, CAT D8T). When I drive down the road and see an excavator, I now look for brand and model number. By the way, I was very impressed that you only had to jump one thing to get to your Generac. The satisfaction of good preventative maintenance feels great in cold weather.
Lol my wife hates that I use the numbers on the equipment she wants everything to have a name.
That big 12v grey connector is called Anderson connector. you can make a plug with a momentary switch to start it.
"That's another one I don't have to mow around." I lost a couple apple trees in the backyard and my pine trees took out the power for the whole road for about a whole day. That was a nasty little mess we all had. I am glad you made it through in good shape.
My yard used to have over 100 trees in it now we don't have any left. Lol
Hurray I just watched all your vids.. great job. Looking forward to your next venture.
Wow you've been busy!
Glad to see you were able to get the generator going & able to keep the family warm. That was one nasty looking ice storm you got there. I hope you & your family have a Happy Thanksgiving. Stay safe.
Yeah it was the worst ice storm I've ever seen.
install an external 12 VDC connection for exiting/flashing the Generator, no more pulling off the cover!
Set Frequency to 60 Hertz, Voltage to 123 VAC under Load
just run a wire to the battery on the tractor and put a cgb on the enclosure of the generator.....
About halfway through this video, I would have blown myself up. Nice to have a backup generator. Farmers are the original preppers. Ready for anything. lol
Lol no you would have done just fine.
I'm glad you got the generator running without any major problems and had power till they got the main power restored. Dennis, I wish I had a dollar for every time I wanted everything to go smoothly, but never does, it would make a real nice nest egg(lol).
Lol I know what you mean!
Well done Denis I knew you could fix the Generac generator!!!
I sure did thanks Bill!
Enjoyed your video. Thank you for sharing, and God Bless from Phoenix.
Thanks!
Thanks for keeping the content coming.
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I'm down the road from you in Carroll Co. I elected to just go with a standby Generator with auto switching. I certainly don't want to be out there trying to hook the genset up when it's cold and snowy outside. Good video.
interesting video glad to see you got the generator working thanks for sharing Dennis
It was a struggle but I over came it. Lol
I have had luck sometimes flashing generators with a corded drill Plug it into the normal 120 outlet on the generator, and then pull the trigger, and sometimes that will induce enough to produce power, other times I have had to turn the drill chuck by hand to flash the unit. Learned that trick at one of my service schools.
If it happens again I will try that
I did the same thing with mine this past year. Instead of a drill though I used an angle grinder. Anything with a coil based motor. I plugged it in, gave it a quick spin by hand, fired the generator up and it worked! I was pretty amazed to be honest.
I have used the same method on an old generator that sat for a long time. In my case, it only took one good turn of the chuck to get it going.
Does it work with those variable speed drills?
@@mattc9009 Yes, the drill I use is variable speed. Pull the trigger fully and then spin the chuck with your hand in the opposite direction of normal rotation. A Briggs dealer years ago made a thing that he would put in the drill chuck like a drill bit, but had a ball on the end that he would use to turn the drill and not risk the chuck grabbing him. I have also hear of putting a 1/4 inch dowel rod in the electric drill chuck and then put a cordless drill on the other end, and use the cordless to turn the electric, and when the generator starts putting out power and powers the electric drill it breaks the dowel rod off between the two drill chucks.
i live just down in lexington nc you make great videos love watching
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoy!
Hey Dennis, great information video on the generator. Boy that was a lot of ice. I have the same brand name back in Louisiana, it automatically turns on if lose of power. Runs on propane. Sorry u lost all your trees. I really learned allot about generators. Thanks enjoyed. 👍👍👍
Awesome! Don't worry about the trees I knew it was just a matter of time before this happened.
Hello from Bristol, damn Dennis y’all got hammered. We got just a trace of ice. Nothing on roads or trees. I hope it’s not a sign for the rest of the winter for y’all or us either. Fortunately ya were able to handle it well. Good videos as usual. See ya on the next ones. Warren
Yeah we got hit hard but everything is good nobody was hurt or killed that's the main thing.
In 1999 we went 8 days without power. But we had natural gas vent free heat and a gas water heater and a 2500 watt generator. You make the best with what you got. A gas grill and mama's old oil lamps made life bearable. I feel for you. You looked awful cold out there.
It wasn't too cold about 31 degrees Fahrenheit but it was raining.
1.5 gal/hr is not bad ... especially when you compare that to a NG/LP standby and start doing a cost analysis.
Your setup is the way to go!
I think it's great for my situation. I already have the tractors to run it because of my hay operation. The unit was used and only cost 3k. So what if I have to set it up. If the power is out for a couple hours who cares I wouldn't even bother with it but when it's out for days it's nice to know your prepared.
Good stuff enjoyed that,nice set up very efficient!!
Thanks!
Good to hear from you again sorry for your ice looks bad I hate ice be careful out there in it my friend
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Nice to see Massey still starts up fine like a 240 or a super 90. Very reliable engines.
Yeah it starts great.
Beautiful massy tractor was looking at one before I bought a kubota. Glad it was a easy fix, man that was a lot of ice.
Yeah it's a nice tractor for sure. That was more ice than I had ever seen.
We have a generator similar. We have to flash ours every time. Its because of the age and rust but it still works like a charm and powers everything.
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Nice to have a generator. I have excited alternators but never a gen set thanks for the lesson. You needed gloves, tough weather you are having
Gloves? What's that?
Thats good that it has a way to excite the feild windings to force it to start producing power.
Yep glad that it did.
Dennis, I don't blame you for using what you already have! I do the same thing. I can't justify spending that kind of money for something that you use every blue moon. There are too many other things that money can go towards. I think you and I are a lot alike, we know how to keep things going when we need too! Keep on rolling man!
Exactly why have 20k invested in something that you might use once every 5 years when you can use stuff you already have that can be used elsewhere year round. Who cares if I have to get it out of a shed I can do that to save 20k
I remember having a ice storm years ago but not for a long time. I hope everyone is doing good around your community. stay safe out there and take care my friend.
Everyone made it safely to my knowledge.
DLH Farms thank god. cause it looked really bad. as always stay safe out there and take care fella.
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Man when its lunch time you get the power back on! Lol! Nice set up
When you hungry you have too eat.
Lol man's gotta eat! I got my priorities straight.
Dang right
Glad you got power back. Also glad it was just a "Field Flash". Had the same problems with our National Guard Generators. just enough to be agrivating.
Not sure why they loose their field but it happens occasionally.
It is amazing how localized ice storms are. We aren't that far away in Raleigh and we have had pretty good weather. We had a bad ice storm a few years ago and it was paralyzing. We didn't have power for days.
Yep you can drive 10 miles from here and they got nothing.
I feel bad for you, ice is the worst I'd rather have snow. Hope everything straightens out for you soon.
It's was completely gone 2 days later.
Enjoy the video I like the generator set up I have a 5500 watt generator it's only outside of the house you just plug it up and switch panels at the fuse box my brother-in-law installed it for us
Yep thats definitely better than what a lot of people have.
I chuckled when you said something that you need to work ne simple lol, its cute that you thought it was going to be, now if you didn't need it, it would work but because you need it it want, funny how life is, got to love it lol
Yep the stupid thing worked just fine a couple months before this when we test it.
Heat pumps work very good down to 40F, after that they produce little heat. There best used in Florida, Las vagus ext. I love you tractor and generator, you have a great set up!!
Well that's all we have other than gas logs. If I had built this house I would have done a gas furnace.
Newer heat pumps can go down to 0*
Mines old 2000 ish but works well
We have a propane generac for the farm. Work good so far we needed it a couple of times.
Nice to have. Makes you very popular when the power is out for days.
Nice to have a gen like to find one for my tractor.got a portable one tks gary nice vid
Thanks for watching!
Your tractor is plenty big enough. Can run it on the 1k shaft with a pto adapter. Tractor will run 2xs as long on a low idle. Generacs are great units
nice setup sir, and thank you for bringing us along for the ride!
No problem!
@@DLHFarms what is the brand and model of the transfer switch i am trying to find one for a 200 amp service to run a 20kw diesel military unit with.
It's a Briggs and Stratton Symphony. But it's a 400 amp box they do make it in a 200 amp.
@@DLHFarms what did your electrician do to it to allow you to use the pto generator without any control wiring
It doesn't need control wiring. If the power goes off and you hook the generator to the switch box and start making power the switch box recognizes the power from the Gen. After about 30 seconds the switch box will automatically switch over to the generator using the power that the generator is supplying.
I use a 1000 rpm pto with a 540 adapter. The tractor still has enough power but runs just above idle. Saves on noise and diesel.
Ive thought about getting one of those adapters
the frequency is determined by the input rpm. so if your tractor is running to slow or fast itll effect your output frequency and i wanna say the tolerance for electronics in the house is 5% before it maybe effects something.
Always happens to me go to get something out and the machine blocking has a dead battery. I need to get one of those little jump boxes. Nice generator great video
I've got a jump box but it's never where I need it.
Why dont you run a insulated external stud to the out side of the panel so you dont have to pull the cover off every time that happens?
Thanks Dennis like the video
Awesome!
After having to remove the cover more than once to flash the field I would be making a cord that ties to that point on the generator and 12v on the tractor with a button in the circuit ( probably mounted right in the generator panel somewhere) just plug in and push the button and you are good if you need to flash the field.. Keep a spare board on hand too if you have had issues in the past.
Yes I need to do something like that. I got the generator used and it needed a board when I got it.
How long did the ice stick around❓I know you put the video out on the 19th I was just wondering how long you had ice❓I know the weather is calling for more cold temps coming your way this week‼️ I hope you and all your family has a great Thanksgiving and thanks for sharing your videos.
It was gone in a couple days
Nothing better in life than KNOWING you can generate your own electricity at any moment. Even if the power company shuts you down for non-payment you can have power as long as you have fuel. It gives a really great warm-fuzzy feeling! 5 or 6 years ago I invested in a Honeywell LP fired Generator system with a 300 gallon tank. Probably got a little change out of $5k but it is nice hear that puppy fire up and test run 10 minutes every Tuesday at none. Warm-Fuzzy!!! sdh in CT
Those are nice but my house would take such a big one it's basically cost prohibited. I have 2 200 amp boxes so I have to have at least 40kw
@@DLHFarms Is your house all electric heat included or something? I am an electrician, just cause you have a 400a service doesn't mean you need a 40kw generator. My pops runs his 5k sq house with a well pump and electric appliances off a 7500w generator, don't need everything running at once. Not like you are running AC in a storm haha.
My house has two heat pumps for heat my 5500 watt gen won't even run one of them.
Meadows of Dan ... wholly crap you're my neighbor. My power went out because of the ICE storm too. So funny I have a military 50 Kw diesel generator that I keep maintained. Thought I was all set but when I fired up the genset and threw the breaker for the water pump both died. Not sure what is up with the genset but the pump had to be replaced.
Hey neighbor! Sometimes that's the way it goes.
I'm still dealing with down trees. Anyway thanks for the video I loved it and the one where you are on the road ... I've driven down some of those same roads.
Thanks glad you enjoyed it.
.... It's not hard frozen, it's pain in the ass frozen. LOL
Nice to have I’ve got a Honda eu7000 to power up my place my wife thinks I’m nuts when we loose power I hook up the generator and spend more time outside looking at the lights neighbors don’t have one so yeaaa kinda cool see ya Napa mike
Lol your funny
I keep a plastic bag over the plug on mine to keep dry and clean, works great
Good idea
Or keep it inside out of the weather lol
My kubota 108 is like that starting in colder weather as well
I'm sure it's a computer controled thing
I’ve always looked at generators as a temporary means to live somewhat normally.
What’s more important than voltage is frequency. Get the generator running, then place the load you intend running stabilized, plug a multimeter that has frequency function, then adjust the tractor PTO rpm to get 60.0 Hz on the multimeter.
All of your electronics (anything containing a micro processor) in the house are dependent on frequency. Your power company if you were to sell power back to them look at frequency.
You need to tell the wife, you can’t run the whole house during a grid power failure. Run what you need, then give the generator and your wallet a break.
Yeah that's why I was taking about Hz near the end of the video.
Dang that is some serious ice. Take care
Yeah it was really bad that night.
Where you running in E-PTO? Good idea on the generator on the little trailer, mine is setup for 3 point but I think I will make a trailer for it so I can get a longer PTO shaft and use it on different tractors easier.
This tractor don't have e-pto
Always something to do on the ole home place!!!
Ain't that the truth
In 1997 and 1998 here in Quebec we had 2 major ice storms;the 97 storm i was working for a friend farmer;we had no power for 5 days!We borrowed a generator from a neighbor and hooked it to my friend tractor and we switch farms every day for milking cows! In the 97 summer my friend bought a generator on an auction but really never used it ;Iin the 98 storm my friends generator was used on another farm for...24 days straight!!!when the power went back the generator went haywire and the farmer got it reconditioned and sent it back to my friend.
Those are some good people lending there generators when the power is out.
It’s depowered till the exhaust reaches a certain temperature so the def fluid can work
Thats kinda what I figured
sounds "DEF"inately useless,
My deeres do it too nature of the beast you can all so hear the noise of the engine change maybe egr valve opening
@@timnascimbeni Yep the Massey is twice as loud when it's cold as it warms up it gets quieter and quieter.
@@throttlebottle5906 No its not, pushing it too hard when its cold damages components anyway.
I do a lot of IT infrastructure consulting work, and as you can imagine power is real important for us. The rule we run by is +/- 10% of nominal, so on a 120v circuit we don't worry about it being 12 volts above or below 120. We sure don't like it if it *stays* at the far ends of that range, but I'd be perfectly happy running at +6v. Especially if your heavy loads like the fridge or heating systems weren't up yet.
Thanks! Good info I always wondered how much was too much. I normally try to keep it as close to 120 as I can and keep the Hz right. When my heat pumps we're running the voltage was right at 120
@@DLHFarms Sounds like you've got it dead nuts on target then. Most equipment will be perfectly happy within that 10% range, but a whole lot of equipment will be really unhappy if the frequency is off, so that's the number to try and be precise with.
👍 thanks for sharing your knowledge
I noticed that my MF 4707 is the same way on cold startup. Maybe you are right on the ECM setting. I have a diesel generator I bought from GovPlanet, it is a military surplus generator. It runs the house, but more importantly the pump for the cows water.
Lol. Sorry honey the generator can't run the heater and the water for the cows at the same time guess your going to have to freeze
I'll suggest drop cords from ceiling and trickle chargers for most all the equipment, saves the dead battery headaches ;)
That tractor isn't worth a charger or a new battery really we hardly ever use it for anything but a little spraying.
Now that is a nice generator. Sure had a lot of ice.
Thanks yes lots of ice
Happy Thanksgiving Hope you have thawed out by now.
Oh yeah it was gone in a couple days. Thanks and happy Thanksgiving
You need one of those lithium ion jumper packs you can carry around. Those things are handy to have. Mine has a built in light and usb charger.
I have a jump box but it wasn't where I could get to it.
Those 5kw coleman generators are bad for doing that and changing brushes will do that too. I just start them and jump the two terminals under the small green cover plate on the end of the stator housing.
hold the plug next to the manifold exhaust of the tractor to thaw it out and dry it out
I remember going almost a week without power as a kid. We had an old wood cook stove that was mainly for decoration but it was piped in to cook off of in an emergency . How do you like that little new holland tractor and loader?
That's an excellent tractor it used to be mine when I was in high school. I traded it to my dad when I needed a bigger tractor for hay.
What a thick layer of ice.... nice set-up for the genaretor and the switch box
Does the MF 4710 have a eco pto (540E or 750 rpm) so the engine rpm's are lower or do u need the horsepower to run the generator?
No my Massey doesn't have 540e although it is an option, but you give up having the ability to do 1000pto
@@DLHFarms 1000 and very low rpm's don't do the trick....
Does the def flued use a lot or less with this high rpm's in my truck its the more country road's the less "ad bleu" it's using more highway more.. with same km(miles)
You can't change it to 1000 without changing the shaft in the tractor it won't let you. It uses more DEF the more load your put on it.
I always let a deisel warm up till the temp gauge starts to move....much better for the life of the engine
I keep it under 1200 rpm till it starts getting warm and don't apply any heavy loads
The faster you warm up an engine, the less it wears. The trick is to fire it up and as soon as the turbo has sufficient oil, work it hard whilst avoiding high revs
@@TonyLing um no, never work a diesel hard until it's up to operating temp
@@andrewbuzzell3542 Just flat out wrong my friend
@@TonyLing nope. Been around diesel tractors all my life. Worst thing you can do to them is start them up cold then rev the snot out of them and work the crap out of them right after starting them. Gotta let them warm up first. In fact, newer deere tractors will not move and you won't have any hydraulic pressure until the fluids reach a certain temp. Have to let them sit for 10,15,20 minutes depending on the temperature and the tractor
Just a lesson: first set the multimeter to the correct function and range and ONLY THEN put the leads to the measuring points. While you are turning the selector, the leads MUST NO BE CONNECTED to anything. Otherwise you might damage the multimeter. For worse, you might damage the measured circuit.
He has less of a chance of that since the biggest concern, current, would require him to physically move the positive lead in order to create the situation that would "pop" some stuff in the multimeter.
A way to get rid of the ice in the plug would be using the exhaust of one of the vehicles you had there. I stick the hose ends in the exhaust pipe a short time and it is liquid. Maybe Santa will leave a pair of gloves under the tree. Thanks for the videos.
Gloves those are for Sissy's! Lol
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Some diesel engines won't have any power when cold. It's nice your tractor starts so well. I'm assuming it has glow plugs. Sure wish mine did but we don't see much cold weather here. Still mine is a pain to start sometimes when it's 40 degrees out
Yes it has glow plugs. All these newer tractors seem to start good
Was just watching videos on old green Chevy. That sucker sound mean.
Dang right it does. Lol
you really want to check frequency more than voltage when using a generator, you want it right at 60Hz (USA of course), while the voltage varies with rpm, so does the frequency.
much outside of 60Hz and things could start getting damaged from over/under speeding, old mechanical powered clocks will run fast or slow, among other things.
Why did you edit out your screaming over a mouse?
Lol so I didn't look like a baby on camera
@@DLHFarms well you just did lol
Some people dont hide behind the camera. Obviously hes not one to hide the fact that he was jumped. Nothing wrong with that.
If you overspeed the generator with breaker off ,most time it will restore excitation .there should be flashing terminals on side of case.generac no longer supports pto gens.regulator and brushes same as older liquid cooled units in that kw range.stock those parts on my truck
Get you a n/g or propane home stand by generator. That way when the lights go out , BAM , it comes on in 5-10 sec(depending on what you have it set at). No more moving equipment to get the power back on.
Can I borrow $20,000 to get a 40kw gen? Im making use of what I have because it's what I can afford. This is the first time we have lost power in 5 years.
A 25k will power a house using every bit of a 200 amp service for 10k but I get what your saying. I was just thinking about when the power goes out at 2am and its 10 below out . If thats the first time in 5 yrs i would probably have the same thing. Good luck with the ice storm
I have 2 200 amp boxes in my house.
Ahhhh . Yep , you my friend would need a big generator for your house! I think you know what your doing !
Lol 👍
Get a battery pack for sure,might want to add a lead wire so cover doesnt have to be removed.Here in Maine we seem to lose power more last couple of years more than ever.
We hardly ever loose power, but yeah I was already thinking how I was going to move to lead wire to the outside.
My wife would kill me if I had drove over the lawn lol 😂
My wife knows better then to say anything to me
If it happens again pass a permanent magnet (a pretty strong one) across the outside case of the generator and move it around some, that will cause enough excitation current in the windings to make it work.
Thanks for the advice
You can pretty much disregard the voltage...if you get the Hz set to 60, the voltage WILL be right. The Hz, or frequency is the most important part, especially when running motors.
Right I agree
Hope this storm y'all are getting now isn't too bad after what y'all just went through.
Just got mostly rain this time thankfully
Good video and nice trouble shooting right there. Have you thought about using a mailbox to store the transfer plug?
Thanks I have a cover for it but of course I forgot to put it on it.
When you "flash up" the generator with the battery leads from the truck which terminals exactly do you hook up to?
There is a flash terminal in the generator. You just touch it
I didn’t know about the TC 40. Is that one your Dads? How many horsepower tractor does it take to run the generator? Glad your power is back on.
It's my dad's now it used to be mine, we did some trading when I needed a bigger tractor for doing hay. It takes about 80 to 90 PTO hp to run it at full load
Do you have glow plugs on that tractor engine for starting.
Yes it does
Does the Massey have 540E or 1000 rpm pto options so you can run the engine at lower revs?
It has 1000 rpm option but you can't use it with the 540 shaft installed.
I know John deere has 540e on some of their tractors with a 540 shaft. It spins them at 1000rpm but limits the rpms low enough to bring the PTO back to 540
It's optional on the Massey but this one don't have it
Try one of these if you can change to 1000rpm 21 spline shaft.
www.amazon.com/Koch-Industries-4045223-Release-Adapter/dp/B00827B3QS#
Now that would probably work.
More stable power for computers electronics. Run start capacitors on heat pumps and refer.
Well, at least you do have standby power in cases like this.
How long did that ice stay in your area Dennis ?
Just a little over a day
@@DLHFarms Nasty stuff! I feet badly seeing this damage and I do know what you're going through,..here where I live we usually can get these ice storms towards the spring time of year,...right between cold and miserable snow and cold and miserable rain is the worst.
You've reminded me to check my generator again.
Make sure you check your generator! Lol
Hi, if generator does not generate power with field voltage missing, there could be a relay that has bad contacts that supply field voltage to start generating voltage, just a thought, had that with my generac 15kw generator, was intermittent, replaced, now 100% every time when starting.
Ok good to know thanks!
It would be very easy to install a frequency meter below the volt meter. Just set the RPM of the PTO so that the meter indicates 62Hz(Hertz) unloaded. If fully loaded and the Hz meter is still indicating high just drop the PTO RPM so the frequency meter indicates 60 Hz under max load of house.
Not sure why It doesn't have one as standard equipment.
40kw is way over kill. We had a 15kw pto driven. Handled everything in the house electric water heater, stove, a/c, well pump etc.
That's fine but I have two of most all those things.
What horsepower tractor do you need to run the generator? Seems like over kill to run such a large horsepower engine.
At full load 100 hp plus
Volts vary slightly up and down. All depends on distance and load etc.
Yep
That's a lot of ice!!
Yes it is
I take it you don't have gas or propane stove, gas stovetop is great when power is out, just use a lighter and bbq grill is nice also.
the lack of fresh water sucks though (well)
We have a grill and gas logs for heat.
eBay Volvo 940 paarts
Def fluid freezes solid. Untill enough melts in the tank the motor will be derated or restricted thats why at cold start it dont have much power
Yep, my New Holland derates some but nothing like the Massey. The NH has def also.
I like the idea of a pto generator. Often when a person has a bad one, it's used once and sits a year or 2 and being neglected won't work.
Yep
Need a bigger Shed old mate. lol but I did notice you using low voltage Anderson plugs for your mains supply there, in Australia that's a Big No no, that type of connection. Oh and the reason your generator didn't feel like powering up first off is when they sit for a while there's a thing called Residual Magnetism left over from the last operation, so as time goes on that gets weaker until there's not enough left to Re-energize it hence the reason you have to force the issue, but there is another trick sparkies try before doing that which is to Over speed the generator for about 5 seconds by no more than 10% to get more energizing voltage to re-energize the field, if that still fails then the last Resort like what you did will work, assuming the AVR (automatic voltage regulator board) is ok.
Always need a bigger shed. That's the kind of plug that comes on those generators. Thanks for the tip
@@DLHFarms Hmmm ok, that is interesting. We use those same Anderson plugs here for jump starting tractors with flat batteries generally. The small ones like the 50Amp plugs we use for general use for say camp fridges & Inverters DC input. Their great plugs but their used differently here. Anything Mains voltage they put IP 66 rated plugs with an O-ring and a threaded ring lock like 3 phase welders have. Getting back to your energizing problem, I've used 2 other generators with the same issue. One of them took like 5 minutes of rated speed running before finally building up enough voltage to energize it's Rotor to generate standard 240 Volt mains voltage, the other one I ran for about 5 minutes as well but failed to energize until I Over speeded it to about 15% over speed, it then fired up. Oh yea and there was one like yours that refused to energise, it doesn't have to be running to plug on a source to bring up the residual magnetism but I did it that way, just a few seconds of power to the rotor then fire up the motor and your good, but putting power into the generator rotor while running may temporarily over voltage it's output. A multi-meter with memory capture will tell you for sure though After being run, they all energized straight away on a restart, It's the Residual Magnetism in the Rotor that gets it started without an outside source nearly all of the time, nearly. Sorry I dragged this out but it's all information hay. All the best mate.