Hi, Well done you fixed it. In your case it is just a capacitor (24microfarad 400VAC) and you are correct, it is OK to fit a higher working voltage part so 450VAC is OK. The part is not polarity sensitive, so you could have wired it either way but it's good practice to retain polarity if in doubt. In your case it's a capacitor (2 terminals) not and AVR. An AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) contains a number of electronic components and usually has at least 6 terminals (4 for exciter winding and voltage sense and 2 for the rotor brushes).
I'll be damned. Hooked up my corded drill into the outlet with a Phillips bit in it and barely clamped the chuck of my cordless drill onto the Phillip's to spin the corded drill. Had my multimeter plugged into the out and and spinning the corded drill produced 10 volts and after about 30 sec of that my corded drill started running off the generators power.
It might be a good idea to get an extra AVR to keep with the generator for an emergency fix IF you're off grid working and it goes out again. For the $24 it would be worth it if you had to replace it again.
Your Generator engine sounds fast, it may be running more than 3600 RPM which would change the frequency to over 60 - 62 HZ. That could be what fried that capacitor it uses to regulate the voltage. You might want to check the RPMs and reset them if that is the case. It may save you from having the same problem again. Your Multi Meter should have a frequency setting on it. Check at one of the 110 plugs.
My biggest problem with repairing generators is the skill checks and the murderous person trying to kill me while I am fixing the generator. This video is a huge help.
Retired now what? Well picked up a lawn mower repair addiction.,but to much rust and too little profit.Then i got my 1st pressure washer.To heck with lawn mowers they dont squirt squirrels in trees.Im getting pretty good .Fixed 50 this year doubled my investment and love them varmints.Now generators thank you ist one fixed today.I love fixing what'dý others cant. Thank you.
Yup, a general rule is never shut a generator off under load. Always turn off the breaker, or pull out the cord to whatever you are powering before turning off the generator.....
They should design the generators to automatically stop generating power if the RPMs / Hz drops too low... but then they might not sell as many new generators... hmm
24 microfarad capacitor. Capacitors are electronics components that pass AC and block DC current flow. They store charge, smooth and filter power, and yes, even out of circuit, they can store enough charge to hurt you. If this had been a large electrolytic capacitor out of a vacuum tube television, tube radio or audio equipment, you might have found yourself picking yourself up off the ground (if you were lucky)... Good (and lucky) job! For future reference, always know what you are touching before you touch it...
Thanks, you are correct about capacitors being potentially dangerous. I normally discharge any cap I work on but since this one was melted I wasn't worried about it. My confusion was weather it was an avr or a capacitor. This is a brush-less motor and Ive read they use avr not a cap. The new part said gen cap avr @9:24. I guess it really doesn't matter what they call it, it works now and I didn't get electrocuted. WIN WIN.
I read where Ben Franklin got across a battery of leyden jars, (antique capacitors) sed it was about as bad as sticking a red hot branding iron into a keg of gun powder.
I did it .plug a grinder in outlet with generator on then started to pass it backward on a plywood panel . holding button on grinder and in 10 seconds it turn on. I praise the Lord.and thank you for the video God bless you and your family😁😁😁😁😁😁
Thanks for the troubleshooting tips. That cap was definitely overheating a bit. During Irma I ran one generator for about 4 days and then it quit producing, fortunately, I had a spare that was available and just rolled it into position and fired it up. I have not had time since to troubleshoot the Generac 5500, but now that I have some ideas, I guess I will get the tool kit and get busy on it.
That sir is a capacitor. 24 microfarad.(mfd). Capacitor is used on ac motors or generator. Excites stator coil. All A/C single components need them. D/C motors or 3 phase motors don't need them. All capacitors work the same, just need the same capacitance value +/- 5%. never use a replacement capacitor with lower voltage value. You did great job finding and fixing issue. You probably did nothing to blow capacitor, They get weak, leak, and blow up. Almost all capacitors today are junk. Old ones used a oil that can't be used on capacitors today.
Not quite. AC brushed caps impede arcing by smoothing so that the commutator and brushes don’t fry. Where as in brushless like here are used to generate the initial magnetic field. Typically when a generator is over revved it causes the breakdown in the cap. Running out of fuel under load in this case is definitely the cause of such revving and subsequent fault. *Edit. One can put a higher rated cap on and equally install two in parallel. In this instance though if one is to over rev two would best in series which splits the voltage in half on each. This can also be helpful if you have a faulty governor in which case you would keep blowing caps.
Good comment. I'm not critisizing but i dont believe all single phase motors require a capacitor. A shaded pole motor like a bathroom exhaust fan for instance.
4:06 I'm confused, I would expect to see something like 120v or 240v from those connectors if it were good. But I don't know how they work, which is why I'm here.
Cheap generators use capacitors as regulators. Better generators use proper AVRs. The capacitors tend to fail after a while. Higher voltage ratings means better insulation properties. Stay with same or higher rating. The ‘u F’ is the Micro-farad rating of the capacitor. Best to stick with the same rating or as close as possible. Good vid. I give you a 👍.
I am assuming when people refer to an electric energy that is dissipated the reference is to the capacitor which possible it looses the residual charge over long periods of time not being activated . That is why techs recommend running the generators monthly or bi-monthly to not only test the gas engine but the electric generator via the capacitor. At least this is my thought of explaining the issue. I m not a generator tech so I could be wrong.
Not sure of you can help! I'm in CA, due to fire season Edison been shutting down power... Long story short, I got this a nice Costco generator (Firmam H07552 7500 WATT DUAL FUEL ELEC.) It powers the whole house (not the AC unit or washer/dryer) Btw, we got no gas, so all electronic! I have solar installed that is connected to the grid and requires 20A When powering up the generator thinking it will power up the solar system and results in powering the whole house with AC, the solar system gives Abd error that frequency is not steady. My question, how can I assure that the generator output frequency is steady ? I was thinking like an AC unit where it needs a capacitor, what would you recommend? Btw, I have the main grid breaker off in case power comes back and connecting the generator thru a 240V 50A RV outlet I have (back powering the panel) Thanks
Sorry, I'd have to be there for something like that (too many variables). I know generators typically put out a modified sign wave __--__--__--__ something like that. Square wave, I believe it's called. Your system may require a pure sign wave signal to operate normally. If you have a system with batteries you might be able to use the d/c side of the genny to charge them. Good luck out there man. Maybe someone else can chime in with some suggestions.
I have found over the years if a generator has set for a while, flashing the field will excite the circuits into producing full voltage. The best way I've found is to start the jenny, plug in an electric tool with the switch turned on...then plug a test cord into one of the outlets and just BRIEFLY touch the two leads of the test cord to a 12 VOLT BATTERY...just stroke the terminal and instant 120 volts. You may have to adjust the speed governor up or down to tune the output voltage as it is determined by the rpm. This trick will usually work if not being used over a period of time is the problem...gennys like to stay busy. Good luck.
I am a 57 year old woman living alone, I just want to say thank you for this video. I have never done this type of thing before, but everything you said worked and I fixed my generator! Thank you!!!
After you "flash" it check voltage, mine was at 160 volts and since the avr didn't have that little adjustment screw, I heard it may be the capacitor.. What a rabbit hole
Not all portable generators use the capacitor system to regulate voltage. I have a 1995 HONDA EB 3000-3500 that has AVR. It has brushes. I have a little bigger 5500-6000 WINCO(Dyna) unit that has the brushLESS design. Normally it's the BRUSHLESS ones that have voltage control capacitors in them. The part that has the magnets built into them is the rotor. Not all brands have magnets in them.
Great video you have given me a lot of tips of what to look for thanks .Question my generator is still producing power to charge batteries just no 110 was yours doing the same could you let me know it would be appreciated Thanks very much Dale
Yeah Bubba, I know this video is old and you’ve already figured all this out but if I’m assuming correctly, you figured out, you had a brushless generator
the problem is simple DO NOT USE DIREC RESISTENSE COIL no hair dryer no electic heter or water heter or sorers enithig like that or you will damege again
I work on lots of generators...the big thing is.people try to run stuff that the generator cant handle...it will burn caps, avrs...or melt the windings...
Hi there! Hands on channel, actually u r part right. U need a bit of magnetic field or residual field just like in old car GENERTATORS, not ALTERNATORS. if ur gen has slip rings it has d.c. voltage applied to them. can't see what u r talking about but it sounds like the battle of the BULGE. yeah avr's or caps when overheated get messy. hope the new 1 works, most likely it will. keep up w the engine maint. too! clean air filter when u change oil as a dirty one will make engine run a bit rich. as the ratio of air to gas changes.
Capacitor- 22-24 pico farads on average. ( Capacitance measurement) Typical to burn out. Buy two. It'll happen again sure as hell. It is NOT the AVR. Ideal output should be, 60 hertz at 120 VAC. Adjust the speed to get it to that WHILE it is under load . NOT while it is free spinning. Do NOT shut these down while under a load. Do it in increments of 25 percent. Half load for 20 minutes roughly, no load for easily 15-20. THEN shut it down. Has nothing to do with residual magnetic feild. Has everything to do with shutting it off under load which causes the capacitor to not be able to discharge. electricla trouble shooting now will save you the down time off grid later.
Not sure but my gut tells me it was from running 2 1500watt heaters and letting it run out under load. But the gen is about 10 years old, so who knows.
😥 I'm from the hurricane target island of Puerto Rico and I own a Generac 3200w generator that runs but it doesn't produce energy. I took it to a generator mechanic and he said it is the coil and that the repair for it could be up to $200. Can anyone give an advice? For $200,I think I should better of buying a new generator😕
Yeah that sounds expensive, I would see if it has a capacitor (like the one I changed in the video) and start there. On ebay they sell for around 10-20 dollars. If the coil was bad the generator wouldn't start/run. So I think it's something electrical. Good Luck!
@@TheHandsOnChannel thanks! The generator do start. I think that the mechanic is trying to scam me...we are expecting heavy rain tonight and some winds. And we still have problems with the power energy infrastructure so we could be without power for a few days,if not months😓. Anyways,thanks so much for the advice,God bless you and yours!
@@morganix007 Do you have a harbor freight near you? If so you could get a small tailgator genny 1k watts I believe. I have one and have been impressed with it's reliability. Best part is, they are around 100 dollars. Powerful enough to run some lights or an energy efficient refrigerator. I use mine for a backup power supply. Good luck.
@@TheHandsOnChannel man, what the mechanic was telling me the problem is is the Cooper thing inside the generator. I don't know the name of that part...
It’s a cap and given its AC it’s not polarised so doesn’t matter which wire goes where hence both wires being the same colour. Most are cans so you are very lucky to find a melted plastic casing. In future, check fuses then cap before anything else. *Edit If it keeps blowing you might want to either up rate the cap or put another cap in series. This will split the voltage over the two so minimising internal arcing which gives rise to the failure as the dialectic material breaks down.
Uprating will means to go higher on the micros like a 30 mf? How could you connect a cap in series? I work in the air conditioning a/c field. Many equipments use capacitors. We use them connected having a cable from lets say a condenser unit contactor leg to a common connection (C) written in Caps of three connections. Then we connect a cable from the compressor to the connection H for hermetic, and the cable for the fan to the F marked connector, that way the capacitor gets charge from the contactor, kicks it up to the compressor and fan and both start. But this in series connecting a capacitor I don't know. For those with more questions about a/c you can reach me at 7864396047. If I know the answer to your question I'll give it to you. Mr. SynKronos if you can illustrate us more, please do so. Thank you!
Hey James condon Mr generator will be on live tonight at 930pm est on Ken's small engine repair channel Q and A come join please Sir if u can. Everyone is welcomed to join
The part was definitely a capacitor that is used to flash the generator each time it is started. Microfarads and voltage are listed on the unit so any capacitor with the same values will work! I am guessing that you would not want to run a bleed off resistor between the two terminals however!
I am currently working on the exact same generator right now. My problem is it needs to be excited every single time with the drill to put out. There is no AVR, it has 2 diode sets internally mounted on the rotating windings, which help excite the main windings. I suspect one of the diodes are bad, which I think I can fix but have to remove the armature. They use this same setup on some locomotives only on a bigger scale. DO NOT--repeat- DO NOT rev up any generator to try to get output. The windings will let loose with tremendous force. As a side note, The unit will run fine even if both fuses are blown. They are for the 12 volt battery charge DC output circuit, and for the circuit that will power the fuel shutoff/solenoid valve when engine/generator switch is set to off. It powers the solenoid as long as it can from the generator until it stops turning/putting out. The ignition will shut off unless defective. But I believe the fuel shutoff solenoid is a safety function so all fuses must be good. When switched to off, this actually grounds out the ignition coil.
If u check on those 5k and 5.5k gen sets, if they have fuel shut off solenoid, they are more likely to have some independent coil for running the solenoid and charging the battery. I normally use that 14v DC to self excite the gen set. U jst undo the lugs from the brushes and take note of the polarity then connect the charging output to the brushes in respect of polarity. Run it fo about 5 sec and stop it then reconnect that avr to brushes done.
I found a small Coleman Powermate 1500 in the garbage this past week, which needed quite a bit of work just to get running. When I finally did, I too found that there was no power to the outlets. I remember seeing this similar black box that had a broken tab, and wondered what it was. Now that I know, I'll try going back and see if that is the culprit. Would be nice to have a smaller generator without spending the money on a new one!
If it uses a large cap it is usually a brushless generator no avr. These can produce very dirty power so no sensitive electronics. To test these generators just set multi meter on ohms and probe through hot and neutral outlets with breaker on and gen off. Usually .4-.8 ohms that tells you the stator is good then go to cap and test on meter. Very rare to have a rotor die but it can happen.
I've got the ,8500 that i boight at a yardsale. I out a new carb on it and it fired right up, but it's not producing voltsge unless it's at full throttle.
YOU CAN RESTORE THE RESIDUAL FIELDS TO THE ROTOR WITH A FLASHLIGHT BATTERY. THE GENERATOR WILL RECYCLE THAT TINY CURRENT, ADDING ON TO IT EVERY CIRCUIT AND RESTORE THE FEILDS WITHOUT ANY PROBLEM.
You can get these _a.c. metallized film capacitors_ out of *old ceiling fans-* just *parallel the values* to get the value you need. That way you don't have to wait for the cap to arrive on a slow boat from China- and you can have your generator up and running in minutes.
I used a power drill and and battery drill, it worked but when I shut it off , it had low voltage and had to do it again, do I have to do it every time I want to use it?
I have an old 40 year old Generator that if it isn't used regularly, the commentator that creates the self generating Exciter voltage gets corroded and has to be clean with an ink eraser
a buddy gave me a brand new Champion generator put gas in it fired rite up plugged a drill in it worked fine about a month later lost power to my home it fired up but no power so here i am lol
Thanks so much,I saw your video and I tried everything you said,and I saw the problem on yours and out nowhere I just order the same element that was swollen on yours regardless mine was not swollen at all,once I received the part I went ahead to install it,and ir worked just fine,thank you very much
Can u pull your on off switch and see if the black and blue wires are on the top two and the two greens are on the bottom two connectors For some reason my switch quit working and I have to cut gas off to kill it
It ran great for a couple of years but the avr went out again. IDK if that means something else is causing it or if it's how I'm using it? I will do some further diagnostics in the future and I'll probably shoot an update video about it.
Great job!! Glad you were able to fix it on your own. I find it very satisfying to repair my own equipment and especially NOT having to purchase another of whatever it may be if at all possible....lol.
Great video except for the music. Might want to tune the gen a little bit under full load. Get it between 115 and 120 volt. Should be running at about 3600 RPM. One more thing. Must calculate your total load. Do not run over 75% for long time periods.
I set my little 3.6KW to 120 volts at 50% load. 83% load it showed 118 volts. No load was 123. If you have to run 75% load for extended periods you need a bigger generator.
Thanks for posting. I'll be checking which AVR I have on my Gennie and have it on standby. Cheap and easy fix when you have no power to order a replacement.
Ok I took another crack at that small generator. What I did this time was give it a zap of 120VAC power and sure enough it came to life. I had a vacuum hooked up to it. I made this rig that consists of a light, a cord and two wires and if you touch the two wires together the light would light up. I touched the two wires to the capacitor when the generator was running and that sparked it to life. Killed the bulb though. The power is a little low about 90-100 volts any ideas why?
Maybe give it another zap. I've heard that your only supposed to do this for no more than one second. I may try again but I blew up a CFL bulb when I did this. I didn't want to pop the breaker.
Capacitors aren't specific to any equipment. If the equipment needs a 24uf 400vac electrolytic capacitor, then any 24uf, 400vac electrolytic capacitor will work. A higher voltage will also work as long as it isn't too much higher. It's the physical size and mounting of the capacitor is the limiting factor. We call it Form (physical characteristics), Fit (can it be installed where needed) and Function (will if funciton as intended). Note: I editied this to further specify "electrolytic". A capacitor that's made for DC circuits can be substituted in this instance.
An electrolytic capacitor is used primarily on alternators and electric motors that are brushless and they store line energy in the absence of brushes since the rotor or amateurs have no physical connections to the field windings and either excite or give a heavy amperage charge to the rotor or amateurs .
