Energizing (flashing) your generator with a car battery 

Thank you. Your video was helpful since the drill option didn’t work for me but the battery did. I was just about to give up hope till I saw your video. Again thanks for posting.

I appreciate the tip and having a second option “the battery” is really helpful. Thanks for sharing it!

Completely awesome! The battery 1 second, worked! Re magnetised the generator and now it works beautifully. Thank you so much for posting.

Thank you so much for this video. I have a customer who has a Fischer Panda Genset. I went thru all the TS documentation for remagnetzing the Genset. Nothing worked. They stated to have Genset off were unclear of what to connect where and specified 9v battery. I checked all the capacitors and all were to spec with capacitance and continuity testing. Capacitors after disconnecting +/- from each when I discharged each one nothing. So I felt like more and more a remagnetzing issue. Their manuals suck. This video made me look like a rock star ⭐ but I gave full credit to this channel for the idea to go to an outlet and closed circuits to Genset and using hot neutral to 12vdc small Telco battery it sparked pretty good, only held the connection for 1-2 sec. Fired up Genset and it started at 70VAC went slowly up to about 135VAC and came down.. restarted and dead on 120VAC thank you so much for your video!!! 👊⭐😎

Wow, the battery method (not the drill method) worked instantly after following his directions exactly! Thank you sir!

this video might have just saved another generator sitting in my garage from being scrapped thank you

Good Lord- Watching this man put a stick in a mixer where it could easily start flailing without notice should power return was nerve wracking!

Good job and thanks for the explanation that was not shown in the video when you put 12 volts to it. Excellent and well done.

Wife: How did my wooden spoon end up in the neighbor's yard?

I had to flash a generator last night for the first time. Saw a video on the drill method. I used a dewalt 1/2 inch. It took a while. and I was panicking a little so I just kept trying. It did work after a while. Watching this video for a back up method.

The drill option does work, I've tried it and had no problem. You can check other videos and watch other people reactivate their generator using the drill method! Using the mixer and wooden spoon was a very dangerous thing to do, had the generator started working!

Man, it's a good thing the drill method didn't work for you! If that drill had kicked on suddenly, you could have gotten injured by the egg beater or the spoon spinning at high speed. Good job on jumping the generator with a battery. Thanks for posting this.

Drill motor trick has worked for me every single time I’ve used it. Sticking something in the chuck like that is very dangerous. When that sucker kicks on, that drill will tangle you up quick. One difference, I’ve only ever used a 1/2” drill motor. Maybe your drill being smaller made a difference. Also, you get the polarity wrong with that battery, you’ll likely cause some permanent damage.

Thanks for the video. Was able to get my generator power running again.

Wow I battled for a week until I saw this used a 12v battery and wow it worked.thanks for your video

It worked for my 5500watt the drill method 100% its great

It's called remanence. Residual magnetism in the ferrous core of the rotor. ( Certain metal materials can hold residual magnetism)This can leak out over time if not attended to or its stored too for long periods. Also leaving a load on the generator and shutting it off while an appliance is plugged in and still operative can do that as well. Nice thing about a non PVR generator is that it uses a capacitor to store some of the eneregy from the last use. It can extend it, but not for long especially if it's in harsh environments. Be careful though on some generators that have an electronic PVR, excitation using an angle grinder by spinning it on the ground can flash the circuitry in the PVR. On these you need to disable the PVR and apply a trickle voltage into the main. An ordinary drill wil not work on these.

This has just worked for me. Thanks very much... 😃😃

It worked!! Thanks for the help

Totally worked on a rigid generator I found by the curb for free! Still works, too.

I flashed it with a 12v battery jumper inside the generator cover. Worked great easier than lugging a battery around.

This worked for us thank you so much it helped us out alot and the wife and kiddos are happy thank you

I have successfully used the drill method to re flash. Use a cordless drill to spin the corded drill backwards. You can use a drill bit to connect the two drill heads. Good job on using the battery to re flash. Great trick to know.

thanks worked like a charm!

You will definitely know if it works... when the spatula come flying off the face hahaha

It works for me by using drill thanks man

2:48 TIME. YOU need to insure, that the Negative battery side, goes to the long spade female hole, in the AC 120 volt socket. Postive, to the narrow slit. Polarity, is then correct.

Drill trick worked for me

Unless the drill has permanent magnets (most don't), then you are relying on the drill to have some residual magnetism in it. If it doesn't the the trick will not work. Battery flashing is tricky, always wear some protection. One second is actually too long. A quick tap will usually work. Remember- as soon as the generator starts generating, you suddenly are holding a live wire with 120 volts on the bare copper ends! It will see the battery as a short circuit, thus the description "Flashing!" Never tap a second time without first checking to make sure the generator hasn't started generating.

Which wire out of the extension cord gets connected to the positive n neg jumper cable? Or does it matter??

Thanks man that saved my bacon!

great video

I tries it and the drill trick worked

Do you have to take the battery out of the car or can you use it while it is still in the car connected as is?

It is difficult to spin a drill sufficiently fast to generate the required current. This method works best with a battery powered drill connected to the chuck of the mains powered drill.

I thought for a minute I was going to see your get a screwdriver stuck in your head. I was laughing so hard I almost pissesd myself.HEY YALL WATCH THIS. Glad you made it through and we didn't discover the Unicorn is not extinct.

Which wire out of the extension cord gets connected to the positive and neg jumper cable? Or does it matter?? Thanks for the video!!

Fuck yeah, I just flashed my generator with a cheater cord from a 12v car battery, Note! my generator was not running when I flashed it. Generator works great now. wooooo weeee, I was just about to waste $150 on a new AVR with no returns on electrical parts, thanks again

Drill worked for mine.

So you ran 110vac to your battery for a second when it started?

Thanks for the video. Tried the drill method on my XT8000E and nothing, lights would flash for a second, but no go. Did the battery trick while the generator was on, it initially popped the fuse, but after reset, had full power. =)

I've had to flash 3 generators. They were 7000W to 9000W. Not once did the drill method work for me. I used a Milwaukee drill and a Black and Decker drill. The car battery method did work, though. You have to let it run for a while afterwards, maybe 5 minutes. Otherwise, it will lose magnetism again.

So from the battery... did you connect positive post to black wire on the cord?

Good cool like that but what side on what did u connect the bat I thought the marked wirer in ac is positive and the marked wirer on DC is negative

Could be a runner up to the Darwin Awards with that wooden spoon trick.

I've been studying the manual on a Winco I am rebuilding - this is a little different beast as the power is provided by the rotor and the field by the stator but as an engineer I would guess you got lucky with the polarity. Correct me if I'm wrong - but if you were to reverse-polarity the magnetism it would cancel out the magnetic field perhaps magnetize it the wrong way - and (like a defibrillator) you would need to put twice the power in the correct polarity? I want to make sure I got this right - it was running great but my crankshaft was destroyed so the head is off. If the field wires get grounded - will I lose my residual magnetism?

I have the same exact generator. Been about 11yrs and still runs like new. Had to change the carburetor earlier this year. Runs my whole house.

I used a strong 12 Volt 6 amp hour UPS battery and got nothing,, does it have to be a car battery? Does it need more?

When you connect the battery to the generator while the the generator is running, do you have the breaker in the tripped or set position?

The drill method with a wooden spoon is really quite dangerous, I’ve used the drill method on my generator and span chuck by hand, and it works really well, Ive also connected the 12volt output to car battery and this worked one,

Good grief! Are you trying to win Darwin Award with that drill?

Tried to publish this below but it doesn't seem to take. Brand new generac generator but wasn't started for over a year after buying. Started up but no output. I tried flashing your way as well with a drill. No output. Fortunately I had an extended warranty so it was picked up for service. The service company tried flashing. No output. They called Generac who told them if flashing did not work, look for a bad connection. They ended up taking every connection they could find apart and retightening and they were able to get output. They have no idea where the bad connection was but it now works great.

The drill method does work.

I 'm not sure what's going on here. The "AC plugs" on the panel are connected, basically, to the Stator winding. The "winding" that needs flashed are the Rotor windings. (the piece that spins). What must happen is that when you touch your battery, "for one second" the Stator windings will "see" a brief voltage (12vdc) applied to the stator winding - the stator will then, due to its proximity to the Rotor winding, will induce a voltage (thus current) into the rotor winding. Only problem I see with that is maybe the magnetic poles of the rotor could get reversed. Is that a problem? Not sure.

Your lucky that drill trick didn't work you was bout to lose a hand and get a wood spoon sticking out your face lol

Well done

Drill tricks will work only if it is not a variable speeds one, since the internal SCR will block the exciting current.

Tried this and it it worked. Engine sounded as if it was under load, voltmeter perked up and held steady, so I hooked it up to the house and everything was fine, for about 5 minutes. Trying this again didn't have the same results - the engine groans and the generator breaker flips after about 2 seconds. Is the generator fried?

What about polarity of the battery to the +V and Neutral?

Does it matter which holes in the AC receptacle you plug the wires into? You have got a short slot, a longer slot and an almost round hole called the ground. Looks like the jumper cord you used was only 2 wires. I think any white wire is negative. Not an electrician myself.

Flashed mine with a lawnmower battery. Worked great but after running for a while I had to flash it again. So, what could that be? Any thoughts?

I'm about to try the battery method, is there any possibility that this could damage my battery? Thanks.

It Will work with the drill, BUT you have to (turn the drill backward) it won't work turning it forward just turn the chuck by hand and let go when it starts working, DO NOT USE A BEATER OR A SCREWDRIVER in it, your asking for a trip to the hospital ER when it starts

Is the generator brushed or brushless

drill method doesnt work for me either. and its a fairly small champion 1400w one as well lol. will try the car battery one out since i gotta replace one of the batterys in my cars anyways !

Do you have to do this every time?

Can i use . Grinder instead of electric drill? I use a tester in the plug before i reverse spin the grinder it produces just aabout 0.5 volts

When using the “ spin the drill motor” method, just put a bolt in the drill motor and your cordless drill motor on the side and spin away. Simple and it usually works. Drill to drill. Don’t turn on the electric drill or all heck will break lose. Use your imagination.

It works

I have a Coleman Powermate 6250 generator and it starts but has little power output. I replaced the Carb, Brushes and cleaned the gas tank. My grinder after a while will start and run for 20 seconds then stop. It keeps doing that. Prior to doing all this the generator sat for 4 years. I'm told the generator needs to be Excited again. Could you please actually show me how you did yours with the battery? You cut out in parts that were important and just showed it running.

I tried it with a motorbike battery..... blew the caps off the top of the battery. Sounded like a bomb went off. Car battery next for a laugh🤣

Does it matter on the connection polarity from your 12V power source?

All I have is cordless drills so I used an oscillating fan. The wind moved the blades for me.

I watched one video and it was stated that it should be a 1/2” drill.. I tried a 6 amp drill and it did not work but a larger drill motor would be 8 amp.. Not sure if it will work on my generator ad it is 7500 watt.. I will try this..

You have to push on the trigger while you twist backwards. Don't use the wooden spoon, because as soon as you create power that drill is going to take off. Spin it backward with your hand and be ready to pull your hand off when it takes off. One secret is when you do your 6 month run on your generator, plug something in. The generation of power keeps your magnets excited, and you won't lose power in the future.

The drill must be one that uses permanent magnets to create a magnetic field. Not all drill motors use permanent magnets. Without AC power to the drill, it cannot create its own magnetic field to generate the electricity needed to flash your generator.

This fixed my 110 outlets but not my 30 amp any guesses?

I cant used either method, mine does make power, but like 60 to 70 volts. It is a capacitor type and the capacitor tested good.. I'm stuck

Was the generator running when you put battery juice to It?

In order to field flash using a drill, you have to turn it counterclockwise you return it clockwise

Everything I've read is to put 12v to brushes and check for voltage at stator buss block, that scares me but I'm in a bind with mine, gonna do more research

The drill method worked for me, but I have to do it again every time I start the engine. Is there a solution for this?

Ok so red to positive wire and black to negative obviously but which prong is positive. I imagine the large one right

Just be careful handling those battery cables! As soon as the generator starts working, you’re dealing with 120 V

Actually, most of the time, the drill method works great. Except, you need a drill that doesn't have a solid-state speed controller.

like primming a well hand pump

You can't use a cheap $20 low amp drill to field flash, the drill needs to be rated with at least 8 amps for it to work

On RU-vid man they act like flashing a generator is some kind of big storm man nothing I've been able to do that since I've been ninth grade

Spin the chuck anti clockwise to generate electricity.....

Bobby Russell finishing up but I've been doing small business it's almost 14 years old absolutely okay we'll check this out my boss recently brought me two generators both of them needed to be flashed right on if you are small engine man at all and you don't know how to flash your generator you need to back up buddy you not a small as you text.

Why does this happen is it from turning it off incorrectly

We have used the ru-vid.comUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!

Never heard of this generator problem before. Out if the MANY generator videos I've watched it was never mentioned.

Ok. So you took an extension cord cut off and stripped one end exposing the two bare wires, then plugged the male end into one of the generators 20 amp outlet and the stripped side you connected to one side of the battery cable red and black. You started the engine and then touched the other end of the cables to the positive and negative brefley to the battery post. Correct? Sorry for my lack of knowledge. Thanks.

The drill method works if you spin the drill by hand IN REVERSE!!!

Why didn’t you show battery connections you made, particularly the connection with cables to the generator

Just because the drill method didn’t work for you does NOT mean it doesn’t work because it most certainly does.

you have to put the generator off while energizing

that spoon in the drill was extremely dangerous

does polarity matter???