It's always good to see a new JC video. No clickbait, cussing, distracting background music, and the annoying AI voiceover-something that's becoming more/more prevalent. And I'll learn something knew just like today re: broken wire issue(s). Great content James-keep em' coming. 👍
James, another nice save. The generators with metal fuel tanks always seem to be the weak point. I used to work in a specialty electric motor shop. The winding wire is always a challenge. I used to use, like you did, a sharp exacta knife to scratch up the varnish and the follow by using a fine plumbing sandpaper to get a good surface. Next time for a repair like this you may want to try using some copper winding wire, a little thicker than what was used for the armature winding. Remove the insulation from the middle of this wire and then install the “bracing” wire between the two winding posts. Then wrap and solder the two winding connections to the bracing wire. This should give you a good connection point that is both light and strong to avoid vibration. Finish this off with some high temperature motor varnish, if you have it. Cure the varnish with a heat gun. The motors I built were for applications that required much higher speeds. Adding more mass on one side of an armature would require having to rebalance the armature. 3600 rpm, should not be a problem. A 20,000+ rpm motor would have problems with too much added weight on one side of the armature, even a small mass. Great work! I always enjoy your videos.
Steel because it is cheaper that stainless and plastic is probably not used as much because of the engine heat. Generators can run for long durations and possibly in not well cooled environments. Plastic tanks are likely to be more of a liability than steel tanks. It seems that generators with plastic tanks also have a metal shelf that separates the tank from the engine, adding to the cost of manufacturing.
@@Yanto-Kun-JPanother consideration is that plastic tanks may not be compliant with evaporative emissions regulations without resorting to a multilayer tank construction, as I believe is the case for automotive tanks (although it's hard to discern the different layers since I believe they're integrally laminated/molded.
Hi Jim, welcome back. Another "fix" for a Thursday evening (been working today), so I'm all set 😁. My favourite phrase...." let me get you set up a little bit better and get going on this".
I’ve been watching your content for several years now, and I wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I truly enjoy your videos. I appreciate everything: your meticulous approach to every problem and your incredibly detailed explanations of every action. Thanks to your videos, I feel like I’ve already learned how to diagnose and repair hundreds of types of generators and other motor equipment. You’re doing an amazing job-thank you so much for that. Best wishes, A subscriber from Ukraine.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a video from you about this exact problem I had emailed you about in the summer! It's still sitting in pieces and I think it's time I tried to put it back together.😎
You can only make it better. The exacto knife worked well for scraping the enamel off. Next time I would use a better fitting ferrule. The difficulty is most crimping tools do not fit in the small space. Some recommended using the JB weld that is meant for plastic and also putting some JB weld on the other side for balance.
@@jcondon1 I seem to remember I had fixed it earlier in the year to the point that I had the correct resistance across the slip rings; however, I don't know how much current goes through the rotor or how much my repair could handle so I probably should resolder it again now.
That was a good one. Thanks James....I thought for sure you were gonna burn one up before our eyes. As always you found & fixed the smoking problem quickly. You're the best.
Back about 30 years ago I was having trouble soldering very fine coated wires using standard fluxed solder so my grandfather walked out back, found a little dried pine resin and showed me how to use it as flux. It worked better than anything else I had tried and I still keep some on hand and use it on tough soldering jobs. You can use it dry but it's a lot easier to use as a liquid IMO. Just add some dried pine resin to just enough alcohol to dissolve it and apply where needed. It works great and costs a few cents at most to make... and it smells great!
The enamel on the wires is very easy to remove by heating them with the soldering iron while touching with acetylsalicylic acid (simple aspirin). The smell is not nice, don't inhale the fumes, but the effect is great :)
Just yesterday my friend and I repaired his generator, after watching your videos about methods for checking generator windings, we managed to find and eliminate two breaks in the stator winding, we messed around a little, but it works
Nice fix! It blows me away that folks will drop $1k on a generator, but won't spring for a $10 tarp and a couple of bungee cords to keep it out of the weather...
James, you can use a solvent like Brakleen to remove the enamel insulation from magnet wire and allow you to tin and solder copper plated aluminum wire. Also, a bit of copper or nickel anti-seize on the exhaust manifold studs and any steel bolts threaded into aluminum wull go a long way to ease maintenance,
G’day. Back in the early 70s part of my job was repairing small motors. My employing body was very fiscally tight. Sometimes it was cheaper for us to simply replace a single coil rewind the entire motor. To reconnect we would do similar to what you have done, but we would basically ‘whip’ the twisted ends with a very fine wire for mechanical strength then solder the joint. Cheap and nasty, but kept me in a job. Way too old these days to try it again 😂, whipping wire was taken from destranding old extension cord, about 0.002”. And for the record, the repair would cost more than a replacement 😂, but who were we to argue 😂 Hopefully this all made sense. Cheers and best of the season to you.
OK James, another fine video. Well thought out and well edited. I will share one of my peeves: The way manufacturers use push connectors to make assembly quicker is contrary to good long lasting continuity. I have many times soldered those connections since I have the time to unsolder them if I need to replace the part. I have talked with aged auto repair guys who have come up with remedies like Contact Cleaner to remove the corrosion and silicone grease to keep out the oxygen so the contact doesn't corrode again, all in an effort to improve upon the assembly line method. Because they are selling their work to the public they feel better about a cleaned and greased connection than soldering. I have seen push connectors get so bad on a vehicles that when driven over a railroad crossings, the vibration jiggled the main bulkhead connectors on the firewall loose and the engine stalled. So I have learned that assembly line techniques are not necessarily the best way to go for longevity and durability. It is a pet peeve though as I am not working on the Space Shuttle. ben/ michigan
I really appreciate your taking the time to clean the carburetor with wire wheel and spray prior to soaking. This seems to make things cleaner than just the tank.
@James, I think I would have made two suggestions on the repair method. I would have used JB Plasi-weld instead of convetional JB Weld. Second, I would have slathered it also around the two staking posts that the wires were wrapped around to give the epoxy something to hold onto since nylon is famously difficult to get glue to stick to. Those posts are there to help hold the joint stable, might as well use them. Especially since you are adding more mass to the joint.
I have the same one sitting in the back of my garage. I’m going to watch this video over and over. I also have a snow blower and it won’t start. I need to get that going before it all starts
Great video as always! My Genrac tank was rusted up, I used 4 gallons of vinegar to clean it out removing the rust. My neighbor just fixed his generator using you technique. Thanks for the upload
If the tank is really rusted or gummed up, you can put vinegar and some chains in it. Strap it to a concrete mixer and spin it for a day. The chains sliding around will gently break up the gum and expose rust to vinegar. Easy to retrieve the chains vs marbles or BBs, etc.
I dunno I've never had much luck with plain solder and even clean aluminium, years ago we were taught to do it at school but it often failed, you don't seem to get a good bond between materials. In that circumstance I would normally take a single double screwed connection from a choc block and use that , both wires through in the same direction, epoxied or not. I like your giving stickums enough time to cure properly,that helps, more than most people seem to realise.
Good fix!! It worked out well in the end. You think like I do in a lot of ways. Putting the spacer bars between the fuel tank and the frame is exactly what I thought you would do.
I appreciate your logical troubleshooting and taking us along for the ride step by step explaining your thought process along the way. Great quality videos
I am a retired Electrician. ! You did the best you could do with that connection! In the old days the wire was copper but aluminum is tough to repair! Hopefully that repair will last ? Good Luck !
An old stained glass guy told me if you cut the flux with muriatic acid (HCL), it will burn the oxide coating away long enough to solder the connection. It is a bit hazardous, but it usually works. The downside is that it's really hard on soldering iron tips, so you'll want a few tips that are expendable to do it with.
Thank you for posting this excellent video. I learned a couple of things from you this time, such as how to locate bolt holes on metal tubing. Thank you!
FYI. Evaporust, by design, leaves a thin film behind on the metal as a protective layer. But to avoid future fuel contamination, it is good practice to rinse well with plain water after draining the Evaporust from your tank. Your idea of using alcohol after to dry the tank is one I plan to adopt.
Awesome video. I always spray my electical connections on old units-its the elec tech in me🙂. Now you reassured how important those connections can be. If they supply info and then adjustments, its critical that they have a good mating!
Excellent repair, as always. Sometime, when you have a bad rotor or stator, try different solvents on the wire. Perhaps acetone or better isopropyl acetone ore even paint stripper will dissolve the varnish. I have made repairs on thin wire by wrapping with litze (the fine copper wire from stranded - flexible - wire) and then using flux and solder. Just some thoughts on this kind of repair. Thanks for the video.
The only way to know for sure is to go at it full bore and then you’ll KNOW if something is above your knowledge base or your “pay grade.” Never underestimate your abilities brother, you are definitely one of the best around and even if you doubt yourself you’d better believe we’re all cheering for you because you’ve got what it takes…PERIOD! Nice work troubleshooting and repairing that unit. If we could win them all then no one would be playing right?! Keep on keeping on, you the man!😉✌🏼
I was thinking the same. Centrifuges in the lab would not tolerate that much of an unbalanced load, I was expecting the worst when I saw that. I think what it had going for it was that it was so close to the center of axis.
I’m a tiny bit surprised there wasn’t an effort to save the tank. After draining it looked to me better than some others that have been rehabilitated. Of course, that’s just me watching the video JC is the expert. Is it that this style of tank is just easier to come by so the effort isn’t worthwhile?
Whatever came out of that gas tank looks more like a stain or paint. Fuel not engaged I think the next part it's so cool how you measure and monitor what this machine is putting out as far as power and you can tell the person who is purchasing this is exactly what it does that's the cool part and I just want to thank you for all of your hard work and making this content for us seriously genuine thank you
Thank you for this video. I have a 5000 Watt generator thats over 20 years old. I change the oil every year and check the air filter. It should have a fuel filter and I will install one. Never adjusted the valves. It still works great, but I will check them. I also have 2 other B&S OHV engines on other equipment that I'll check their valve adjustments and one Honda 2000 Watt Generator with an OHV engine that needs a valve adjustment check. Thank you for your tips and I think my Fluke Digital Multimeter has the Hertz setting on the control for testing. Gotta do that test to the two Generators.
amazing attention to detail....Thanks for this video....I use generators a lot, off grid charging solar batteries in window cloudy weather....I've learned a lot from you!
Throughout the whole video I was imagining the original owner watching, thinking all potential kinds of thoughts. "Oh, I never looked at THAT as the problem!" "Shoot--I never knew the fuel gauge could leak all that water into my (formerly) nice generator--what a design flaw!" And more. By the end, the previous owner might have had a few different thoughts upon seeing it work well: 1. Well, It's OK I gave it away--I couldn't have found that broken wire in the stator, nor fixed it permanently. And I didn't have a spare carburetor for parts or complete replacement. Heck, I don't have the skills or space or tools to have done what James Condon did. Or 2. Shoot! If only I'd watched more of James' videos--I might have been able to find and correct most, or all, of these problems. I learned more about troubleshooting stator malfunction in this video. And it's always a pleasure to hear your calm voice of reason--you make my Thursdays good ones, James! Please keep up the great work.
Thanks for all these repair videos. I've bought several broken pieces of small equipment for fix and resale and have started learning some aspects of generator repair. It seems that most of them can be fixed but the cost vs profit is slim. I wonder what the pricing stucture that you use when selling a used Gen set. What will the market support in your area? Facebook Marketplace seems saturated with 5-7KW units for $3-400 At what point do you stop trying to repair a specific unit and just put it aside for spare parts for future projects? I have two in inventory now one needs a rotor and one an engine they are incompatable with each other. I can buy parts new but then i won't make any money on resale. This is just a side hustle for me.
46:00 The best way to prepare enameled wire for soldering is still to scrape it with a sharp blade. Some wires are impregnated with varnish that burns off during soldering, but these are more intended for industrial manufacturing processes, not repairs. There are fluxes for soldering copper to aluminum that are widely used by those who work in refrigeration and HVAC. A flux that is widely used for soldering copper to stainless steel is zinc chloride. It is great for soldering copper alloys with a lot of oxidation, when cleaning is not feasible.
I repaired a rotor on an identical GP5500 the same way only I used liquid electrical tape then epoxied it in place. I did not have confidence in the repair also so that unit stays in my inventory for my family to use when they need it. 😊
Thanks for the video! Enjoyed this one as always. I envisioned you using those rubber anti-vibration mounts to raise the fuel tank up. Like those used to mount the engines on some gens. They come in various sizes. Looking forward to next weeks project already.
Lovely repair to this sadly neglected machine! It is strange how the AVR malfunctioned initially and then the AVR worked normally afterwards. I would not be so hard on yourself about the rotor repair. It was difficult to repair the aluminum winding, and that is something which comes with experience. Hindsight is always 20-20 but I expect you would be able to more easily repair these the more you do. I was on an offshore site in Nigeria years ago and the Cat 3406 powered rental generator stopped producing voltage. The issue was a broken wire in the exciter winding. I made a repair similar to yours and it continued to work. The generator was finally moved from site still working after that repair. The Leroy Somer alternator used aluminum windings for the exciter and corrosion and vibration caused one of the links between the windings to break just as yours did.
Another great video thanks jim!!! And i really enjoyed the live stream with you and ken! You give such great information and education on this stuff thanks for being able to help us learn this great stuff 💯❤️✌️
James, I managed to solder aluminum in the past. Fist you need to burn the enamel with a propane(?) flame, the kind you have in the windproof cigarette lighters. Then you have to scrape the layer of Aluminum oxide under an oil film. I apply the oil and then come with the solder gun and flux cored solder. For scraping you can use an exacto knife. Do this for each wire. After you have a layer of solder on tbe wire ends it's a breeze to solder them together.
Maybe I mixed the steps in editing but basically it's burn enamel, then scrape under oil then solder under oil. It smokes a lot but it's so satisfying. Not to mention not scrapping an otherwise good rotor
James saw the smoke and said the magic smoke out loudly, and my wife says, "Where" and I said the video I was watching just bit the bust. Great save though it was done for.
Hey James, Great video! In tight spaces, I sometimes use needle nose vise grips to do crimps. Also, perhaps you could have used the Dremel to clean the wires. Keep up the good work!
Interesting video, Jim. Now the question is, what are you going to do with this machine? I suspect you are on the hunt for a good generator head so you can swap it out and feel good about selling this. It's annoying that they use that stupid aluminum wire. If it were copper, this would be a solid repair.
Copper would be so much easier to deal with. It’s still a good parts machine. Just wanted to experiment. I think the mechanical connection is a good repair, just need to use better materials next time.
I wonder why it was producing too much voltage out on the first test ? Good informative video again James. Always look forward to Thursdays and a new video. 👍👍
I find it a nice repair to the armature . My aluminum wire repair are usually like that. Dont really like working with aluminum wire for windings cause if you bent it too much it will break.
That one certainly was a real adventure. That was the first time I've ever seen magic smoke appear and then see a fault clear. Corrosion on the sense leads would indeed explain it. I've bought some aluminum solder for some antenna projects with aluminium elements, no idea whether to trust it much or not at this point. I would have applied a bit of NoAlOx to aluminum wires in a crimp connector. Dust to dust when it comes to aluminum wiring.
Excellent as always, I'm thinking the smoke was unused flux and possibly a bit of JB weld, high resistance would make the voltage higher and in this case it took care of itself with the high temperature, whatever happened I understand you're not confident in the machine, engine seems good enough but the power head is suspect
This is the part where I would stand up, and start clapping. We almost had a fire. And I've never seen one act the way this one did. It was very odd. And your right, i would not sell this to anyone.
Get a small, suitable batch of splice connectors and a suitable crimping plier for the wire repairs. Makes life easy (Well... easier.) I buy them from RS Components, they have multiple variations, one is stock. no 373-178 as an example. With regards to the "hack" repair... It's not a "hack" if it 1. works, 2. stays working and 3. keeps an otherwise perfectly functional piece of machinery out of the land fills. As far as I am concerned, this is now a fullworthy repair. Definitely worth a shot, and I wouldn't have a problem buying this machine if I needed one if the price was right.
I don't know if anyone has acknowledged or even noticed but I'd like to thank you for not putting ads in your videos
@@gman3109 you can also pay for premium and don't have ads.
Sometimes I do, but never on new releases.
I don't notice because I have UA-cam premium.
I’ve never noticed.
It must be browser related, 'cause I never see any ads in any videos, and I'm not paying for Premium
By far best generator breakdown Ive seen . Great camera work , great step by step !
It's always good to see a new JC video. No clickbait, cussing, distracting background music, and the annoying AI voiceover-something that's becoming more/more prevalent. And I'll learn something knew just like today re: broken wire issue(s). Great content James-keep em' coming. 👍
Yes!
Textbook steps to isolate the engine and rotor problems. You're a very good technician. Enjoying these videos and learning a lot.
James, another nice save. The generators with metal fuel tanks always seem to be the weak point. I used to work in a specialty electric motor shop. The winding wire is always a challenge. I used to use, like you did, a sharp exacta knife to scratch up the varnish and the follow by using a fine plumbing sandpaper to get a good surface.
Next time for a repair like this you may want to try using some copper winding wire, a little thicker than what was used for the armature winding. Remove the insulation from the middle of this wire and then install the “bracing” wire between the two winding posts. Then wrap and solder the two winding connections to the bracing wire. This should give you a good connection point that is both light and strong to avoid vibration. Finish this off with some high temperature motor varnish, if you have it. Cure the varnish with a heat gun. The motors I built were for applications that required much higher speeds. Adding more mass on one side of an armature would require having to rebalance the armature. 3600 rpm, should not be a problem. A 20,000+ rpm motor would have problems with too much added weight on one side of the armature, even a small mass.
Great work! I always enjoy your videos.
Thanks for the tips
why steel fuel tank? not stainless nor plastic? it's a week point, I think so too
Steel because it is cheaper that stainless and plastic is probably not used as much because of the engine heat. Generators can run for long durations and possibly in not well cooled environments. Plastic tanks are likely to be more of a liability than steel tanks. It seems that generators with plastic tanks also have a metal shelf that separates the tank from the engine, adding to the cost of manufacturing.
Excellent comment thank you. Your point about unbalance had occurred to me.
@@Yanto-Kun-JPanother consideration is that plastic tanks may not be compliant with evaporative emissions regulations without resorting to a multilayer tank construction, as I believe is the case for automotive tanks (although it's hard to discern the different layers since I believe they're integrally laminated/molded.
These videos are always superior. Well worth watching.
Hi Jim, welcome back. Another "fix" for a Thursday evening (been working today), so I'm all set 😁. My favourite phrase...." let me get you set up a little bit better and get going on this".
Ok thanks. I’m in Ny and I trust your work. We can’t find good repair people like you.
I’ve been watching your content for several years now, and I wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I truly enjoy your videos. I appreciate everything: your meticulous approach to every problem and your incredibly detailed explanations of every action. Thanks to your videos, I feel like I’ve already learned how to diagnose and repair hundreds of types of generators and other motor equipment. You’re doing an amazing job-thank you so much for that.
Best wishes,
A subscriber from Ukraine.
Could you have used hot glue? Just asking. Thanks for the videos:)
I echo other comments about your thoroughness and skill, and I appreciate you not dragging out every task for minutes of extra views.
I was telling my wife today how much I've learned from you and your videos. Thank you James.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a video from you about this exact problem I had emailed you about in the summer! It's still sitting in pieces and I think it's time I tried to put it back together.😎
You can only make it better. The exacto knife worked well for scraping the enamel off. Next time I would use a better fitting ferrule. The difficulty is most crimping tools do not fit in the small space. Some recommended using the JB weld that is meant for plastic and also putting some JB weld on the other side for balance.
@@jcondon1 I seem to remember I had fixed it earlier in the year to the point that I had the correct resistance across the slip rings; however, I don't know how much current goes through the rotor or how much my repair could handle so I probably should resolder it again now.
That was a good one. Thanks James....I thought for sure you were gonna burn one up before our eyes. As always you found & fixed the smoking problem quickly. You're the best.
Back about 30 years ago I was having trouble soldering very fine coated wires using standard fluxed solder so my grandfather walked out back, found a little dried pine resin and showed me how to use it as flux. It worked better than anything else I had tried and I still keep some on hand and use it on tough soldering jobs. You can use it dry but it's a lot easier to use as a liquid IMO. Just add some dried pine resin to just enough alcohol to dissolve it and apply where needed. It works great and costs a few cents at most to make... and it smells great!
Thanks great idea
Saw this yesterday… Truely impressed you found and repaired that broken wire. Superb work.
The enamel on the wires is very easy to remove by heating them with the soldering iron while touching with acetylsalicylic acid (simple aspirin). The smell is not nice, don't inhale the fumes, but the effect is great :)
Just yesterday my friend and I repaired his generator, after watching your videos about methods for checking generator windings, we managed to find and eliminate two breaks in the stator winding, we messed around a little, but it works
Wow....this one was an adventure. Excellent work none the less. Thanks for another first rate video.
Nice fix! It blows me away that folks will drop $1k on a generator, but won't spring for a $10 tarp and a couple of bungee cords to keep it out of the weather...
James, you can use a solvent like Brakleen to remove the enamel insulation from magnet wire and allow you to tin and solder copper plated aluminum wire. Also, a bit of copper or nickel anti-seize on the exhaust manifold studs and any steel bolts threaded into aluminum wull go a long way to ease maintenance,
Funny you let the BAD smoke out but kept the GOOD smoke in. Never seen that before!😮👍
lol just burning off the spider eggs
excellent camera work for the close up photography... awesome narration skills... most impressive....
Thanks
G’day.
Back in the early 70s part of my job was repairing small motors. My employing body was very fiscally tight. Sometimes it was cheaper for us to simply replace a single coil rewind the entire motor. To reconnect we would do similar to what you have done, but we would basically ‘whip’ the twisted ends with a very fine wire for mechanical strength then solder the joint. Cheap and nasty, but kept me in a job. Way too old these days to try it again 😂, whipping wire was taken from destranding old extension cord, about 0.002”.
And for the record, the repair would cost more than a replacement 😂, but who were we to argue 😂
Hopefully this all made sense.
Cheers and best of the season to you.
What a repairman! NICE job!!! 🙂
OK James, another fine video. Well thought out and well edited. I will share one of my peeves: The way manufacturers use push connectors to make assembly quicker is contrary to good long lasting continuity. I have many times soldered those connections since I have the time to unsolder them if I need to replace the part. I have talked with aged auto repair guys who have come up with remedies like Contact Cleaner to remove the corrosion and silicone grease to keep out the oxygen so the contact doesn't corrode again, all in an effort to improve upon the assembly line method. Because they are selling their work to the public they feel better about a cleaned and greased connection than soldering. I have seen push connectors get so bad on a vehicles that when driven over a railroad crossings, the vibration jiggled the main bulkhead connectors on the firewall loose and the engine stalled. So I have learned that assembly line techniques are not necessarily the best way to go for longevity and durability. It is a pet peeve though as I am not working on the Space Shuttle. ben/ michigan
I really appreciate your taking the time to clean the carburetor with wire wheel and spray prior to soaking. This seems to make things cleaner than just the tank.
И Вам Джеймс здравствуйте из Сибири! Любовь к искусству объединяет людей, также как и любовь к технике 😊
Awesome, Perfect way to start my day. Thank you James.
You got lucky with that one well done keep up the great work.
I learn so much on this channel, the videos do help people!
@James, I think I would have made two suggestions on the repair method. I would have used JB Plasi-weld instead of convetional JB Weld. Second, I would have slathered it also around the two staking posts that the wires were wrapped around to give the epoxy something to hold onto since nylon is famously difficult to get glue to stick to. Those posts are there to help hold the joint stable, might as well use them. Especially since you are adding more mass to the joint.
it's like Deja-Vu!!! I'm hoping to do the same repair this weekend and maybe head up next weekend for breakfast and testing!!
I am hoping for some good suggestions in the comments on how to do it better.
@@jcondon1 That expensive flux and solder for aluminum was not something I was planning on doing
It would be great if you guys split the cost of the aluminum solder & flux for experimental repair work
I have the same one sitting in the back of my garage. I’m going to watch this video over and over. I also have a snow blower and it won’t start. I need to get that going before it all starts
Mr. C, glad to see you ve got a nice belt sander. Your building up a pretty nice assortment of shop machines. Great video and workmanship
good day mr James as you may know i look for new videos each and everyday from you because i love watching and learning from them
He posts regularly on Thursdays.
Great video as always! My Genrac tank was rusted up, I used 4 gallons of vinegar to clean it out removing the rust. My neighbor just fixed his generator using you technique. Thanks for the upload
If the tank is really rusted or gummed up, you can put vinegar and some chains in it. Strap it to a concrete mixer and spin it for a day. The chains sliding around will gently break up the gum and expose rust to vinegar. Easy to retrieve the chains vs marbles or BBs, etc.
I dunno I've never had much luck with plain solder and even clean aluminium, years ago we were taught to do it at school but it often failed, you don't seem to get a good bond between materials. In that circumstance I would normally take a single double screwed connection from a choc block and use that , both wires through in the same direction, epoxied or not.
I like your giving stickums enough time to cure properly,that helps, more than most people seem to realise.
Always learning from you Jim. Keep up the great videos.
Good fix!! It worked out well in the end. You think like I do in a lot of ways. Putting the spacer bars between the fuel tank and the frame is exactly what I thought you would do.
I appreciate your logical troubleshooting and taking us along for the ride step by step explaining your thought process along the way. Great quality videos
My favorite thing about Thursday’s a new video from James
I am a retired Electrician. ! You did the best you could do with that connection! In the old days the wire was copper but aluminum is tough to repair! Hopefully that repair will last ? Good Luck !
An old stained glass guy told me if you cut the flux with muriatic acid (HCL), it will burn the oxide coating away long enough to solder the connection.
It is a bit hazardous, but it usually works. The downside is that it's really hard on soldering iron tips, so you'll want a few tips that are expendable to do it with.
Thank you for posting this excellent video. I learned a couple of things from you this time, such as how to locate bolt holes on metal tubing. Thank you!
FYI. Evaporust, by design, leaves a thin film behind on the metal as a protective layer. But to avoid future fuel contamination, it is good practice to rinse well with plain water after draining the Evaporust from your tank. Your idea of using alcohol after to dry the tank is one I plan to adopt.
Thanks!
Awesome video. I always spray my electical connections on old units-its the elec tech in me🙂. Now you reassured how important those connections can be. If they supply info and then adjustments, its critical that they have a good mating!
Great resuscitation! Strange where the magic smoke came from.
Brilliant as always James thanks for sharing 🦘
Excellent repair, as always. Sometime, when you have a bad rotor or stator, try different solvents on the wire. Perhaps acetone or better isopropyl acetone ore even paint stripper will dissolve the varnish. I have made repairs on thin wire by wrapping with litze (the fine copper wire from stranded - flexible - wire) and then using flux and solder. Just some thoughts on this kind of repair. Thanks for the video.
Thanks James for another great troubleshooting video. Hopefully we will see that engine power a different generator 👍🏾🐶😸
The only way to know for sure is to go at it full bore and then you’ll KNOW if something is above your knowledge base or your “pay grade.” Never underestimate your abilities brother, you are definitely one of the best around and even if you doubt yourself you’d better believe we’re all cheering for you because you’ve got what it takes…PERIOD! Nice work troubleshooting and repairing that unit. If we could win them all then no one would be playing right?! Keep on keeping on, you the man!😉✌🏼
You might consider turning the rotor 180 and placing a glob of jb weld on the other side for balance.
I was thinking the same. Centrifuges in the lab would not tolerate that much of an unbalanced load, I was expecting the worst when I saw that. I think what it had going for it was that it was so close to the center of axis.
Balance is very important and good ideal
New subscriber recently. Awesome to watch your work/troubleshooting and such attention to detail !!! Take care and stay safe !!! 😁🇺🇸😁🇺🇸
I’m a tiny bit surprised there wasn’t an effort to save the tank. After draining it looked to me better than some others that have been rehabilitated. Of course, that’s just me watching the video JC is the expert. Is it that this style of tank is just easier to come by so the effort isn’t worthwhile?
I'm betting that connection will never go bad. Nice save.
Whatever came out of that gas tank looks more like a stain or paint. Fuel not engaged I think the next part it's so cool how you measure and monitor what this machine is putting out as far as power and you can tell the person who is purchasing this is exactly what it does that's the cool part and I just want to thank you for all of your hard work and making this content for us seriously genuine thank you
Thank you for this video.
I have a 5000 Watt generator thats over 20 years old. I change the oil every year and check the air filter. It should have a fuel filter and I will install one. Never adjusted the valves. It still works great, but I will check them.
I also have 2 other B&S OHV engines on other equipment that I'll check their valve adjustments and one Honda 2000 Watt Generator with an OHV engine that needs a valve adjustment check.
Thank you for your tips and I think my Fluke Digital Multimeter has the Hertz setting on the control for testing. Gotta do that test to the two Generators.
Enjoyed this restoration and how clever you were putting it right 5*+
one of the best channels on youtube
Very nice James, as always. Offering it now for sale on an open -ended warranty would seem fair.
The rotor wire repair was awesome!
amazing attention to detail....Thanks for this video....I use generators a lot, off grid charging solar batteries in window cloudy weather....I've learned a lot from you!
Throughout the whole video I was imagining the original owner watching, thinking all potential kinds of thoughts. "Oh, I never looked at THAT as the problem!" "Shoot--I never knew the fuel gauge could leak all that water into my (formerly) nice generator--what a design flaw!" And more.
By the end, the previous owner might have had a few different thoughts upon seeing it work well: 1. Well, It's OK I gave it away--I couldn't have found that broken wire in the stator, nor fixed it permanently. And I didn't have a spare carburetor for parts or complete replacement. Heck, I don't have the skills or space or tools to have done what James Condon did. Or 2. Shoot! If only I'd watched more of James' videos--I might have been able to find and correct most, or all, of these problems.
I learned more about troubleshooting stator malfunction in this video. And it's always a pleasure to hear your calm voice of reason--you make my Thursdays good ones, James! Please keep up the great work.
Something tells me the previous owner was not a DIYer.
First time I saw a wire repair. This was really a great vid….thanks for the excellent details.
I usually do not bother, but hoping to find an easy way to do it that anyone can do.
Say what you want, this machine will make 2500-3000 volts for 25 years. Your an excellent tech James, my hat is off to you.
Thanks for all these repair videos. I've bought several broken pieces of small equipment for fix and resale and have started learning some aspects of generator repair. It seems that most of them can be fixed but the cost vs profit is slim. I wonder what the pricing stucture that you use when selling a used Gen set. What will the market support in your area? Facebook Marketplace seems saturated with 5-7KW units for $3-400 At what point do you stop trying to repair a specific unit and just put it aside for spare parts for future projects? I have two in inventory now one needs a rotor and one an engine they are incompatable with each other. I can buy parts new but then i won't make any money on resale. This is just a side hustle for me.
James I think this is a fairly new machine, thank you for the content thank you for all your hard work
Very nice work 👍
Thank you very much James for your videos. Very educational. I love them. Keep up the good work every machine is different. Great job.
Great job James has always. Love your videos.
Excellent detective work
46:00 The best way to prepare enameled wire for soldering is still to scrape it with a sharp blade. Some wires are impregnated with varnish that burns off during soldering, but these are more intended for industrial manufacturing processes, not repairs. There are fluxes for soldering copper to aluminum that are widely used by those who work in refrigeration and HVAC. A flux that is widely used for soldering copper to stainless steel is zinc chloride. It is great for soldering copper alloys with a lot of oxidation, when cleaning is not feasible.
I repaired a rotor on an identical GP5500 the same way only I used liquid electrical tape then epoxied it in place. I did not have confidence in the repair also so that unit stays in my inventory for my family to use when they need it. 😊
Thanks for the video! Enjoyed this one as always. I envisioned you using those rubber anti-vibration mounts to raise the fuel tank up. Like those used to mount the engines on some gens. They come in various sizes. Looking forward to next weeks project already.
That would have been easier, but worried about the weight of a full tank. Full support down the rail is safer.
@ you’re right. And potential side to side movement causing rubbing on the frame/ tank.
Lovely repair to this sadly neglected machine! It is strange how the AVR malfunctioned initially and then the AVR worked normally afterwards.
I would not be so hard on yourself about the rotor repair. It was difficult to repair the aluminum winding, and that is something which comes with experience. Hindsight is always 20-20 but I expect you would be able to more easily repair these the more you do.
I was on an offshore site in Nigeria years ago and the Cat 3406 powered rental generator stopped producing voltage. The issue was a broken wire in the exciter winding. I made a repair similar to yours and it continued to work. The generator was finally moved from site still working after that repair. The Leroy Somer alternator used aluminum windings for the exciter and corrosion and vibration caused one of the links between the windings to break just as yours did.
Definitely a difficult repair, but worth a try. You can only make it better.
Wow!!! Another great detailed video. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the video James excellent work
Thanks for sharing this, very interesting, specially that it doesn't quite work.
Another great video thanks jim!!! And i really enjoyed the live stream with you and ken! You give such great information and education on this stuff thanks for being able to help us learn this great stuff 💯❤️✌️
Thanks
James, I managed to solder aluminum in the past. Fist you need to burn the enamel with a propane(?) flame, the kind you have in the windproof cigarette lighters.
Then you have to scrape the layer of Aluminum oxide under an oil film. I apply the oil and then come with the solder gun and flux cored solder. For scraping you can use an exacto knife. Do this for each wire. After you have a layer of solder on tbe wire ends it's a breeze to solder them together.
Maybe I mixed the steps in editing but basically it's burn enamel, then scrape under oil then solder under oil. It smokes a lot but it's so satisfying. Not to mention not scrapping an otherwise good rotor
The smoke fixed the issues 😂. Just kidding best regards. Keep up the good work!!! Thanks for teaching us all 👍!!!
Thanks James.
Like others have stated to put a glob of JB Weld on the other side for what little out of Balance it might effect..
James saw the smoke and said the magic smoke out loudly, and my wife says, "Where" and I said the video I was watching just bit the bust.
Great save though it was done for.
I have always used CLR to clean my metal tanks. Works great and removes all rust and varnish
Thanks for your video. I have used acetone on a Q tip to remove varnish from Wire
Great fix
Hey James,
Great video!
In tight spaces, I sometimes use needle nose vise grips to do crimps. Also, perhaps you could have used the Dremel to clean the wires.
Keep up the good work!
I am a subscriber and enjoy your videos very much watching from Thailand
Interesting video, Jim. Now the question is, what are you going to do with this machine? I suspect you are on the hunt for a good generator head so you can swap it out and feel good about selling this. It's annoying that they use that stupid aluminum wire. If it were copper, this would be a solid repair.
Copper would be so much easier to deal with. It’s still a good parts machine. Just wanted to experiment. I think the mechanical connection is a good repair, just need to use better materials next time.
Very interesting fix and odd testing at rhe end. Glad the stator didn't get fried.
Nice job sir Nice Generator Nice show sir 😃👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍😍
I wonder why it was producing too much voltage out on the first test ? Good informative video again James. Always look forward to Thursdays and a new video. 👍👍
Great work 👍
I find it a nice repair to the armature . My aluminum wire repair are usually like that. Dont really like working with aluminum wire for windings cause if you bent it too much it will break.
That one certainly was a real adventure. That was the first time I've ever seen magic smoke appear and then see a fault clear. Corrosion on the sense leads would indeed explain it.
I've bought some aluminum solder for some antenna projects with aluminium elements, no idea whether to trust it much or not at this point. I would have applied a bit of NoAlOx to aluminum wires in a crimp connector. Dust to dust when it comes to aluminum wiring.
Excellent as always, I'm thinking the smoke was unused flux and possibly a bit of JB weld, high resistance would make the voltage higher and in this case it took care of itself with the high temperature, whatever happened I understand you're not confident in the machine, engine seems good enough but the power head is suspect
This is the part where I would stand up, and start clapping. We almost had a fire. And I've never seen one act the way this one did. It was very odd. And your right, i would not sell this to anyone.
James! Excellent explanations.
Get a small, suitable batch of splice connectors and a suitable crimping plier for the wire repairs. Makes life easy (Well... easier.) I buy them from RS Components, they have multiple variations, one is stock. no 373-178 as an example. With regards to the "hack" repair... It's not a "hack" if it 1. works, 2. stays working and 3. keeps an otherwise perfectly functional piece of machinery out of the land fills. As far as I am concerned, this is now a fullworthy repair. Definitely worth a shot, and I wouldn't have a problem buying this machine if I needed one if the price was right.