My generator took adump this weekend at Beaver Run. The motor still runs great, but it doesn't put out a juice. So I called the manufacture's tech line, and the tech on the phone said I might just have to "re-excite" the capasitor. How the hell do I do this?! I've been married nearly 5 years and I'm not even able to re-excite my wife. What do I do to this capasitor? Do I wine and dine it, talk dirty to it, or is there a special place I need to touch it? Any help would be great.
the used coleman maxa3000 generator I just picked up has the procedure for "re-exciting" the generator in the users manual. I don't have it in front of me, but it involves a lantern-style batter 6 or 12v, can't remember and sticking wires from that into the plug outlets to refresh the polarity or something like that. I'll dig it out when I get home, or just head to a home depot and ask to see a coleman manual if you're in a hurry. heck, might be online somewhere too.
Did he give you any more info? I guess you could give the cap a shot from a battery and see if it charges up a little and starts working again. I have a Yamaha 3000W inverter for sale if needed. I can bring to Summit sometime. Like new, never used, just 4 heat cycles to keep it fresh. Fully enclosed, on wheels, Electric start, extra 500w boost feature, clean power, can run laptops, cell phones, etc...very quiet. Thanks, Ed
Man, we had two generators that took dumps on Saturday night! The tiny one we had was the only one to last!
or just call the tech line again and after he says "you might need to re-excite the capacitor, etc"... it is then your turn to say "how do I do that"... just a tip.:up:
flashing is necessary when the generator field coils lose residual magnetism. This would NOT normally occur to a generator that is being used regularly. To flash the field coils: 1) locate brushes and identify (+) brush and (-) brush. 2) using a dc power source (lantern batt. is recommended, I have used a battery charger) connect the negative lead to the (-) brush 3) monentarity (Bump) the positive lead the the (+) brush. the generator should immediately begin producing 120v AC power. HTH,
What mikek said: But put a diode in line with the positive lead of your battery. Anode towards the battery, cathode towards the + brush lead. This will prevent the battery from blowing up in your hand due to over voltage. It happened to a guy I was working with. If your generator has a battery on it you can use that. Otherwise a little 9 volt is all you need. Some generators come with this circuit built in with a push button.
