2015 Cummins Home Standby Generator IS IT DEAD ALREADY? Pt. 1/2
Вставка
- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Lets take a look at this 20 KW Cummins Power Generation home standby generator which was recently replaced under warranty.
Can this thing be dead already? It has less than 50 HRS.
And that folks, is why the part is no longer manufactured 👍
Yep
Cant make you buy a new one if the old one doesnt break down.
Planned obsolescence at its finest! Make it barely good enough so that it lasts a year after the warranty then croaks. Then make sure you don't sell the part to fix it. Short term thinking.
@@ryanhoaglin9907 It's why I only spend $400 bucks at a time on a Chinese knock-off inverter generator. I don't need 20kW to keep my food from spoiling in the fridge and to run a space heater. Hasn't failed me yet in 4 years of off and on RV and storm use.
@@scdevon Yep, sometimes the Chinese stuff is better. Certain brands tend to be more guilty of engineering obsolescence into their products. Manufacturers LG and Samsung do it with all their products.
Onan used to be a top shelf product but since Cummins bought it it's junk. a generator less than 5 years old and you can no longer get parts for it? If the customer had not purchased the extended warranty then what you're out several thousand dollars because Cummins decided to not carry a parts for a four and a half year old generator? Absolutely and completely absurd. I also see Cummins putting their name on a bunch of cheap Chinese generators and charging good money for them to the RV crowd. Sorry but I keep hearing too many bad things about Cummins Onan lately. They're off my purchase list. Also anyone wanting to buy a standby generator for their home I will relay this little story.
Completely agree. I don't necessarily call all Chinese stuff garbage, but this was a piece of cheaply made crap.
The manufacturer "took a stab" at making the connection to the stator windings in the cheapest possible way...I wonder how many of these generators have been trashed by this "fault"? Might also be why Cummins do not supply the parts...any good diagnostician would see the "improved" method of attaching the windings (well hopefully the connections would be improved) and realise this was a built-in OEM fault...and the repair costs should always be on the OEM in this case, no matter how old the machine, warranty or not. Might be a good recall matter/free replacement for all these generators as they would be unreliable...not what you want for an emergency piece of kit.
@@pneumatic00 I agree with you not everything made in China is crap. I have some Chinese made products that are good for the $. I have a feeling this particular product was made here in the good old US of A. The Cummins RV or portable line of generators are also available under the Westinghouse name . Exact same thing other than labeling and color. Those are definitely made in China. We have a local farm store that had a brand new electric start Westinghouse sitting on the display rack and the battery had already started corroding all over everything. no cracks to be seen just the acid oozing around the terminals. Also the local Lowes has Westinghouse generators available that have been returned and repaired. Interesting thing is a 3600 watt $300 + generator is being sold only for $100 and it was not beat up or rusty. Looked new.
Maybe this is why the alternator part is no longer available, because of too many failures. The new model may be different or they may not want to chance pairing it in this generator. This is basically a Briggs and Stratton Generator. I Recognize that Briggs Engine and its probably the same alternator in a Nicer case. You can see my video of the 20KW Briggs Generator Here: ua-cam.com/video/AN9X_YuBSL4/v-deo.html
The new models have Chinese made rotor and stators and if you need to replace, you have to buy a match rotor and stator set.
I don't know what's more shocking, the nature of the factory defect, or the fact that they actually honored the warranty. Looking forward to the 2nd part!
hahahaha so true!!!
You had to use the word "shocking".
At the price of these units, you would like to believe that the factory had more pride in their work.....where was the quality control inspector ?
@@rancelynch6514 fired so the C suite execs can another lake house
@@cdoublejj---probably so..I guess I'm just stuck in the past when you had pride in your work..
Have you ever had friends or family want you to "take a look at this for me" and expect you to fix stuff free?
My dad is the worst about doing that to people!!!!!
Not trying to be rude toward him, but it is so cringe to hear him call up that friend of a friend, and want them to come move heaven and earth for him, and them he'll offer to pay with a 30 pack, or a steak dinner
I've tried to explain to him that they do this for a living, not for a charity. If you need something done, pay them, or learn to do it yourself.
That is my biggest pet peeve. Lol
Love my dad though, don't take me wrong.
Happens in this line of work all the time, just got to learn to say no. Unless said person is proven to do equal in return.
Nope, but i do have friends who've come across this. I guess it's a case by case situation. In my case, i guess i'm lucky, and on the other side. Even tho i only bill them the part costs per receipt, i get gifted all the time.
When I did pest control I hated that feeling. I never wanted to treat friends or family homes for money. Because if they had a problem they felt could call you at any given time to get you to come over and treat it for them. Where if I did it out of courtesy I could just say no. You learned who your true friends were.
The best one is when you have some "buddy" that wants to look like a hero so he's constantly "looking at stuff" for people but he actually calls you and you figure it out. Then he does it every other day
This has zero relevance to my life, but I love watching you work and revive things.
The customer must have been relieved that it didn't expire next year with no warranty.
I'm hooked on watching this guy. He's an old-school mechanic who really knows his craft. I didn't think they made them like him any more
hard to find but we're out here 👍
Staked connections on rotor windings and pins just pushed into slip rings, what a load of rubbish.
Yeah, and with the Cummins name on it...
95% applys to most smaller generators for troubleshooting
also, is the wife tired of all the crap you drag home?
because mine is
You mean treasures fella. Women do not understand good stuff. Just hairdo dresses and the great feminine feature. Hopefully one day she will understand. Good day fella too.
Tell her you're allowed one machine for every pair of shoes she owns.
Mustie1 will be found bound and gagged sometime soon.
@@leeklemetti1887 mustie is a hack.
Mine banned me from bringing any more stuff
Mike is so good that gen sets start working as soon as he looks at them. Bad gen sets live in terror of Mike.
That should his slogan "bad gen sets live in terror of Mike"
Brilliant Mate!! Better than new!!☺
Road king, you know Mike is the MAN !!!!!!!!! We are just understudies. Peace fella too.
Road King, you know this guy, he does look a little like a guy that I see in your videos from time to time.
Much better than new, they should've made a better connection. But hey engineers right...they know all.
@@Beaube86 I gotta believe it was the accountants who stuck their ink-stained fingers in this one, JW. :>)
Nice shooting “Sherlock Ohms”👍🏼
Definitely consider blobbing those entire connections with some epoxy/resin so the copper doesn't work-harden from the vibrations; it seemed like the wires were floating a bit. I'm sure you already know that, but then I'd see absolutely nothing going wrong with those connections - lovely solder joints!
i dont know why this guy doesn't have Mustie level subscribership. great content ! great walk through on diagnoses.
He’ll get there. Kinda specialized.
This channel is a little more specialized......... I like this channel too, but I think it has a narrower appeal.
It's also similar to James Condon, but with more emphasis on the bigger/commercial engines.
Just got another mustie subscriber, so his numbers are on the rise now.
This is so much better. Stopped watching Mustie because he butchers things out of ignorance or just don't care.
Michael- I don’t know what yer boss pays you???????? But it ain’t nearly enough!!!! That was brilliant!!!
Nice job Mike, oughta be good for another 50 HRS
Now that's superior real world trouble shooting and repair!!
Mike, it isn't a "hot water heater."
It heats COLD water.
(Hot water doesn't need to be heated.) :D
Seriously, another great video!
steve
@Steve Skouson Well, when compared to absolute zero, the water being supplied by the city is QUITE hot ;)
Great repair! Now find all the other warrantied generators that had the same issue and fix them!
I did that with RCA TV's because the onboard tuners died. I soldered so many I couldn't count them.
@@leeklemetti1887
Back around 1980 my wife and I bought a 27" console tv, worked for 5 weeks. When the service guy came out, he said he'd already replaced the input rectifier diodes on about 50 of them. The fix was to install larger diodes, the originals all failed within 6 months. First voltage fluctuation blew them.
Really surprising how they made that connection pretty cheesy
yes! Quick and dirty for fast assembly.
Then to have it carry a brand name known for reliable and heavily built commercial quality engines and machinery...
High speed MFG. I'm not surprised. What a shitty connection though.
When you said you were going to cut the video short this week, I was sure you were going to say it was "because I have Bingo at 4 o'clock". Great fix! This video is better than any written resume' ever could be.
You are amazing my man ! I am without words beautiful work and repair.
Thanks! Working on a generator now that does not make power. Stator wires were black so I assumed the stator was bad even though it tested well and the ropes were not burned or broken. Just had another look and found the bridge rectifier was missing a diode. Will find out tomorrow if it lives again.
Love the content. FYI the audio only appears to be for left channel.
Yeah only sound in left for me too
Cool somebody else has noticed then lol. I'm in the unfortunate situation of only having the right channel work on my computer, hence 5 minutes in the video goes silent for me :(
Same problem. Really annoying as I use headphones to listen with, and end up haveing to switch the video off as I cant enjoy it only coming through one side of my headphones. There is definitely a fault with his camera after he takes the machine indoors. Whilst he was outside the sound was fine, from both channels.
Starts playing through only the left audio channel from 5:24 onwards.
I starting to hate these "new" cheap pressed (crimped) connections between winding wires and collector plates or slip rings contacts (studs) at generators and small AC brushed motors. Nothing can substitute a good soldering. :)
Real crimped connections are reliable. But real crimped connections don't use the pressure of plastic with compression set issues and materials that won't cold-weld together. I think your "pressed" is a good name for them.
@@paulmoir4452, I'am agree with you, concerning cable lugs and hollow tubes for wire joints (I can't recall English / American term for these tubes), that were specially designed for crimping by hand tools and hydraulic press. We haven't any issues with these types of connections in our practice.
I'm late to the party, and new to your channel. I'm extremely impressed with your calm and thorough understanding of automotive, electrical, and generator theory, and your application of both it, and your mechanical skills in everything from the basic tear down, to the well thought out repair, and soldering technique!! Tech's of your caliber are impossible to find, and I really appreciate all the time you took to set this up, and walk us through not just the repair, but more importantly, your process! Master Tech Level: ENGAGED
FWIW; I'm a 58yr old tech who's been spinning wrenches both as a hobby and professionally, since my teens, and who was lucky enough to learn this method of doing the job, both in European automotive, and now for a local power equipment dealer, including being their generator (Honda and others) tech. I enjoyed watching this, very much!!
I love field repairs, especially if the field repair is better than the original design! You just came up with a fix you can apply to a customer's unit (who didn't think to but the extended warranty). Might be a little expensive, but it would beat replacing the whole gen set!
So is Cummins Power owned by Generac? Looks like if not, they must have hired the engineering staff.
Apparently a Briggs engine. All the hard work to have the Cummins brand mean something, to then stick the name on something like this...
Cummins is Cummins. Actually is a better unit than generac.
I thought I saw Briggs and Stratton built the engine in this? The quality of that rotor certainly isn’t anything to be proud of.
Jeff in TD
Briggs engine, Cummins built or contracted generator head.
I had a friend that owned a fairly large small engine repair business.
He repaired mostly commercial mowers, but did numerous whole house generators.
His words to me when I went looking for a home generator, stay away from Junkerac.
That was 15 years ago when the horde of cheap generators started coming in from China.
I found a surplus 10k diesel genset and converted it it an electronic governor.
Nice. In RV’s Onan (associated with Cummins) I believe has a very good reputation. I was just surprised by this one- inexpensive engine, and regardless of who built or contracted the generator head- from this video it appears longevity/reliability were not top priorities.
Not sure what the temperature rating of the insulation is, but while lead/tin is OK for lower ratings at higher ratings the norm is brazing. Those crude staked joints look to be a very poor solution, and a simple solution - shame the accountants on the "build" side got in the way and cut one too many corners leading to the warrantee costs going through the roof. And that sort of "cost cutting" is seen all too often :-(
That generator just looks like trouble,, l bought a military surplus diesel generation,,,it's a beast ,, 20,000 generator for 300 bucks,,150 amp beast,,,
What an utter POS of a generator. I imagine thousands of these things were sold, and now with less than 200hrs most of them unserviceable. All they have to do is sit there for 99.5% of the time and work .5% of the time but they can't even do that reliably.
What's the point of them?
I'm a qualified mechanic. I have 3x generators and I hate them all. I live off generator power and if you depend on them you really do grow to hate them. There is practically nothing good about them because they always fail. I've had all 3 of my generators not working at the same time - it is truly unbelievable but it happened. Nothing surprises me when it comes to generators. I borrowed an inverter generator that time they all failed and the next day the battery in it failed, so I had to replace the loan generator's battery. You can't believe this stuff but one concludes grid power is luxury.
How does all this happen you might ask? Well it happens because the people selling this stuff don't depend on the generators they sell. When you tell them of your problems they always say the same thing, "We've sold literally thousands of these and you're the first person to complain." This means the retailers don't want to know and so the cycle of grossly substandard products continues.
If they had to power their business off the generators they sold then they'd know how unreliable they are and the quality issues resolved.
That said I now have one Diesel generator that cost $6500 that is running OK touch wood. In 2 years I have spent nearly $2000 on it though. 3x batteries ($150ea), 1x radiator ($600), 1x alternator ($475), 3x lift pumps ($120ea). It only runs 7 hours a day or 50hrs a week.
I feel that $2000 has actually sorted it out because I don't get 'that' feeling we mechanics get when they feel something isn't right.
BTW all the battery and electrical problems with the charging system and lift pumps was due to incorrect OEM alternator pulley size. It was over volting everything except the genset controller which shows it reading 14.4v but if you put a voltmeter on the battery it reads 15.1v. The new alternator still over volts like this. There was nothing wrong with the old alternator as it turns out. At least I have a spare. The solution was put a bigger pulley on it.
Epoxy the connections please to prevent corrosion ( no jb weld) Clear epoxy only
The only electrical isolation epoxy is putting epoxy for electronics
My friends, I must tell you that starting some years ago, that when I bought something new like this, and for what ever reason I have to go into it as this guy has. That I was constantly amazed of how cheaply everything was made that was made since 2007. . .From motorcycle fuel pump mistakes in manufacturing to generator problems like these. . .All this stuff from China is junk, total crap. They did it for max profit thats it.
@John Everlasting You would know, if your name is Everlasting
@John Everlasting Go find an old fan, just look at the difference.
@John Everlasting What gets me is, the first one of these videos was about one of the machines where because of Emissions laws the crank case vent has a short hose that dumped the crank case venting into the carburetor to such up and burn any oil vapors. Its a retarded idea. It kept freezing over. Whats really stupid is the idea of natural or propane gas. That thing will empty even a large household tank in a very short time, and if its a storm how to you get it refilled that fast. Just dumb.
@John Everlasting No No my good man. There was a great video this guy had talking about the propane/natural gas issue. . . The thing ran out much faster than he was told. And during a storm your not going to get a tanker truck out to get a refill.
@John Everlasting No dude, forget those things. Where are these generators powered by magnets only??? I know it has been done, I saw them in believable ways.
I'm sure Mike knows this, but you should put glue on the wires where he spliced them. 3600 RPM is a lot of inertia tugging on those wires
Add a wrapping of fiberglass or Kevlar thread to hold the wires against centrifugal force, then apply lacquer or epoxy over the fiberglass/Kevlar thread.
WELL I had No IDEA that a ‘MODERN GENERATOR used brushes, so many specify that theirs is ‘BRUSHLESS’ , but a good name is crap? Looks all imported Cheers 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I wonder now with #14 solid wire repair if centrifugal force of the unit at 3600 rpm will pull on the magnet wire. Thus starting up force will flex it every time? Just a thought.
"Part no longer available" on a unit that's only 5 years old...this is completely unacceptable! Using push-on spade connectors that are mission-critical to operation, installed in an environment of high heat and vibration, is also unacceptable! This isn't like any Cummins genset I've ever seen in an industrial application. It's got to be a generic (probably Chinese) unit that Cummins branded as their own. Shame on Cummins for doing this!
My 88 military surplus diesel generation has no electronics and I'm glad,,it was built for the military so it's built to last,,had only 80 hours of use..
Well as I see it, that answer was more luck than skill as they just are never that easy. I don't fault you on that as I think its nice that the blind squirrel can find a acorn at least once in a while/LOL. I have never been afraid to go inside, I just didn't know apples from oranges once there. I worked on some gen sets an most times a brush failure or a "other" is at fault as this list can get fairly long. Labor is what kills this gen set as their not cheap nor easy to find someone in field that can fix and if they do, time is money plus its a crazy high price for something simple. Best to just give away a little of their supply as there are thousands that never sold and they are just parts
...cheaply made connections, too......that should be thrown out.......bullshit engineers......
Did anyone else notice that theirs only left side audio? Only into the video to 13:37 hopefully it mended later on lol
Yes, after he goes indoors from 5:24 onwards. Would only would be noticed mostly by people using headphones to listen to the video, as I have to. Ended up turning the video off as its too annoying only coming through the left channel..
Made in china? I wonder how many generators were replaced for that poor manufacturer.
Not enough I'm sure...
Nope the rotor and stator on this model were wound in Fridley MN. No longer the case, Chinese made and assembled in Fridley MN.
Through years of experience with American designed and manufactured equipment, that its very helpful to apply a hammer to it for ten to twenty times, after which you throw it away and buy a Honda. Briggs and Stratton engines have suffered greatly under my 10 pound hammer.
Nice troubleshooting Mike. Looking forward to part 2!
Audio is only coming through left channel. Super annoying. Great video though! (Yes I’ve checked audio in any other video and problem is not on my end)
Your good, keep making Vids. Love it, smarter than the engineers
I can't believe they didn't put a screen around the stator vents,,,that's foolish
Slightly confused- did cummins not take the old generator (this one) ?
That engine on the generator looks brand new. Most of those air cooled generators are pretty dirty inside because most owners never bother to clean them out on a decent basis.
Honestly if i had the money i would go diesel.....1800 RPM
Excellent troubleshooting! Watch Wes Work is another youtuber that is an excellent troubleshooter. Learn a lot from him also.
Yes definitely
Firstly I want to say I appricate the time it take to make these vids, id love to see more detail of your testing and the work you do, I know most you think nobody wants to see so you just come back after wards, but as a person who wants to learn all I can about generators every detail means alot to me, once agains thank you for the time and effort it takes to do these vids, God bless
Did you have to remove the varnish from the wire before soldering? Or does the torch burn it off? Is so, how did you remove it? Also, what flux did you use?
Yes, I do remove the enamel coating from the winding wire. Since the wire was a fairly heavy gauge I used a utility knife blade to gently scrape the enamel off. Followed that with some scotchbrite and brake cleaner on a rag to degrease before soldering. The flux is standard paste flux for electrical work.
@@SmallEngineMechanic thanks for the info.
That will be better than new, shameful setup from the factory ....................
that's why they replaced it under warranty, because they knew their design was bad
cummins with a vanguard and champion battery lol. its unreal that parts are unavailable already,,, especially the rotor ! atleast that was an easy fix. good job.. unreal how cheap that shit is made !
What is it with manufacturers they quite making parts as soon as they make the last unit.
Matt it's all China garbage
Love you're videos find them really interesting
Mike's the kind of guy who, when he moves out of your neighbourhood, makes you go "Oh shit, now who am I gonna find to fix this crap?!" Nice one again, Mike.
That is such a poor mechanical connection by design but should last for ever now, maybe it's why they discontinued that rotor/ generator.
So a machine that was built in 2015 is now obsolete and you can't get parts for??? Wow. Enjoy your channel, keep up the good work...........Mike
That's right Mike!!!!! Who do they think they are ,,,,, General Motors???
@@cyrilhudak4568 People would be surprised how many parts for some really late model cars are no longer available brand new. It's a wives tale that a car company "has to supply parts for ten years". Some parts like interior trim pieces and highly specialized parts like sunroof mechanisms dry up sooner than 5 years sometimes from carmakers.
And my 1932 1800 rpm Onan. Is still on the job. Retired Onan tech.
Nice!! Talk about weak link...:-)
rite all that money in that genset n they rely on a shitty contact like that lol
I looked up meticulous in the dictionary and yes, your picture was the only description there with the words no other explanation needed and I for one love that. You do amazing work, with amazing videography (well you are meticulous). and that made me want to subscribe and like your channel. Thanks for all the time and resources that I know goes into each video sir!
I bet that wasn't a cheap genset either, manufacturer should hang their heads in shame selling such rubbish.
Oh #1 Chyna fo youuuuu....
Garbage. If I was the homeowner I'd be pissed. Rare instance where the warranty worked in their favor. But you gotta wonder what else in that unit was half assed from the factory.
The newer Cummins/Onan small standby generators are not like the earlier units. This video confirms it. I’d stay very far away from them now. The old units are well built, these are “throw away” just like the small Generac units.
@@chatrkat Yep, just like Lionel...living off the name hoping nobody notices the quality left 20 years ago...
@@kleetus92 Friends and I were talking about this just recently. A lot of companies living off the good names of years gone by, and most consumers don't realize the name means nothing today because the stuff is all out of china.
It's happening everywhere. Manufacturers that once prided themselves on selling quality goods are sending out cheap china rubbish with their name on in order to stay in business. It's not a good look.
Don't know if you plan on running this thing but I would reinforce the solder job with some epoxy back to the rotating shaft. It will increase the longevity of the repair. You would be surprised at the forces from rotating and vibration from the generator assembly.
5:25 there's that left audio only again! By far my only complaint though! Still a great video
I think is on your side problem, sometimes bad internet connection cut the video buffering first and only audio is left rolling. I have that happened sometimes when in work at sea were mobile data got cut off by distance.
@@Vanha21 It's not just on his side. Ive got gigabit fiber, and have no problems with audio on any other YT video, but this is the second video ive watched from SEM that has left-only audio.
Okay so I’m not the only one this happens to. Only happens on mikes and Jonathan W.’s channel. I noticed it a week or so ago and thought it was just a problem with my phone. Audio is fine on the rest of the channels I watch besides Jonathan’s and mikes
Same issue here as well. It was good at the beginning when he was outside and then it went only left channel when inside the shop. I heard a few blips of right channel a few times, sounding like either the mic or camera has a bad plug/jack connection.
I had to ask even before I finished the video...you mean to say w/o the extended warranty I would have been up the creek without a paddle? Say it ain’t so Cummings? Ok back to the movie. 😊
Edit: And I was gonna buy a whole house generator from Cummings. 😥. LOL
I read many stories like this on UA-cam. I will be buying an Aurora diesel unit. More expensive but not made in China.
I've repaired slipping wires before. Not this miky mouse design I silver solder use frat string and epoxy and varnish to fix it. That's a junk design on that
CUMMINS, a traditionally Great company, selling their name so someone else can sell their Garbage. Case in point, Cummins is a diesel engine company, unless now they manufacture gasoline V twin lawnmower engines. It's now apparent to me that Cummins has entered the home generator market. Its mind boggling how a company that has made history of building Great diesel engines, with manufacturing in different countries for a century, needs to enter this competitive market, filled mostly with cheesy junk.
It would probably be placed out for bids to a specification. Likely you will find multiple engine manufacturers across their line range where they don't make that small an engine.
@@gordonborsboom7460 This unit was a Briggs engine, the current production version uses a Chinese engine, Loncin I believe
@@gordonborsboom7460 Yes, and many great manufacturers are doing the same, to great detriment. If you dont make the primary component, you should not be selling it under your Brand. That's misleading !
@@nspro931 Great, Hey it says Cummins, so it has to be Good, right.🤔
The laminates are all torn up too. I would bet some twits at the factory were tucking in lose-ends and other bits.
What a piece of shit design.
Great video! 👍🏻👍🏻 Any concerns about centrifugal forces on your repair?
He later potted it.
Great content, as usual Bro! Thank you!
Rich.
I believe he will. Just need constant video upload.
What a poor design. I would think that would be a common failure point. Nice job on the repair. Much better than factory.
put some epoxy there, to prevent vibration .
Might want to reinforce your 14 ga to rotor winding connection with some loom tape or string. The centrifugal force at 3600 rpm might cause a failure in the long run.
I use a piece of plastic about 1/64 thick to wrap the rotor when pulling rotors and stators. Most of the units I work with dont have studs, they have bolts so you will get contact. I also tend to remove the rotor. No big deal. Just take a rotor bolt, cut off the head and about 1" off the bolt, saw in a screwdriver slot, and run a jacking bolt in the end of the rotor up against the modified rotor bolt. They usually pop right off.
Nice to see that you and yours are still having fine days. Winter will soon be on us.
I have an old Craftsman AC "buzz box" welder that developed an open in the primary winding. I was able to unwind the coil until I found the brake. My brother-in-law is an electric motor rewind technician, he got me enough of the proper size wire (13 ga) to replace the damaged winding. I took the transformer to a local motor shop and they dipped and baked it for me. I used it for years after that.
Gee, I wonder why they don't make that rotor anymore?...
Great repair. Will you put some epoxy over the join to stop it flapping around?
How did you end up with the failed generator set?
That was my question, how did you come upon this set?
Excellent repair and video production. Manufacturer pays a few cents less for an armature on an expensive product but loses a lot more replacing the whole gen set under warranty. Thanks.
Brilliant troubleshooting video, to your usual very high standards. Really enjoyed this! :)
What I was wondering about is why would Cummins no longer have the part available, after only 5 years? Most manufacturers will stock parts for 10 years, after the device is discontinued? Seems like a very aggressive case of 'enforced obsolescence' to me!
I wonder if they used up the stock of spare rotors faster than anticipated....
The way they made that piece, I'd imagine they knew full well what they'd need to "fix" it when it broke.
I wonder if what ever scraped the stator jammed against the slip ring block to cause the studs to bend like that and then break contact with the field winding
That's right. Probably saw some rough handling during some point in assembly.
.....modern ....yes....more complicated than necessary....get rid of those engineers.....KISS keep it simple, stupid. ....go back to dads' or grandpas' days......you only need electric start, and other simple electrical/electronics for home voltages, and amperes.... TMT === TOO MUCH TECHNOLOGY...
Thank you Mike. I am considering 20 kw to 24 kw generator for our home back up power. Seeing this video of the poor design of the rotor windings to slip ring connections makes it more difficult decision to invest over $10k in a system. Are all manufacturers this cheaply made? Or do you know of one that is properly made with a quality connection of the windings to slip rings?
Billy
I’d suggest going with a 4 pole generator
Larger yes
More robust yes
Last longer…maybe 2 to 5 times
Great troubleshooting. It amazes me how these big companies cut corners to speed up manufacturing and cut cost.
I used to work for Cummins/Onan (service tech) - the amount of overpriced and unavailable parts was incredible.
Great problem isolation. If they used that poor of an attachment method, what OTHER corners were cut? And, is this TYPICAL of rotor manufacturing these days?
Very interesting and informative as always. Perhaps you can check your audio setup. I am using earphones and there is only a signal on the left channel, and the audio is a bit distorted. Thanks very much for making the video.
I had also guessed the slipring connection just shortly before you pulled the bearing support.
You are the generator wizard..can't wait to see it in operation..Cheers 🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I got a Cummins Gen set with a 3 cyc diesel and a bad stator (open winding). Took stator out, burned it in fire pit, then carefully mapped and unwound it, found break in winding as I was undoing it, ordered magnet wire, and rewound, new varnish and paint... It was a big job, but it now produces... I call around for rewinding job price,$ 2500-3500... I had $400 in material and weeks of time... Very satisfying to see it put out electric though... Nice diagnosis!
Awesome repair of a component with "No User Serviceable Parts" :-)
I am trying to figure out at what price point do you get a reliable, serviceable engine, generator/ commutator and controls?
Really enjoy how you troubleshoot and explain what you're doing. Your camera work is just fine and I don't care if the audio is mono or stereo. Keep up the wonderful videos.
Ok this audio something has to give last couple vids I watched has done this. I am still so intrigued by generators
Not crazy! Just you found it, that's crazy not the problem! The new saying for youtubers, "THATS CRAZY" REALLY!
I had an extremely small SONY FM radio that failed. I found FOUR cold solder joints on the board, which came from SONY's new assembly plant in Thailand at that time. Something so simple....
Nice find Mike, super cool. 👍
Why are consumer units such crap? 3600 RPM, 2-pole like a Coleman junker....made to wear out fast.
Generator tech here - those units are dreadful. That's a Briggs Vanguard engine. Briggs & Steatton's own 20 kW air cooled units are SO much better than these. I wouldn't recommend any "Cummins" air cooled home standby generator. They don't actually make most of the parts in that thing anyway. Their big liquid cooled units are great. These suck. I hate working on them and I go out of my way not to sell them.
Also their parts network is an absolute joke, which is unacceptable given most people who have a backup generator have it for a reason - medical equipment, network equipment, etc. I have a customer with a ventilator in their home that has one of these and I've had a portable Generac 8 kW hooked up temporarily for the last several months because I'm waiting on a circuit board.
A couple of tips…I’ve learned…wires mangled or crunched….dog or coyote….wires or insulation cut at 45 degree….pack rats and sometimes mice….that chewed up look may be something out of round….bearing issue?
I’ve learned this from 15 yrs of farm/habitat experience….my dogs and critters have been busy(never sleep) causing tremendous damage and making cars/trucks and equipment useless….