Any ideas why my Honda generator won't produce power?

4570Man · Mar 20, 2016

I bought a Honda harmony EN2500 generator at an auction for $60. The motor runs, but the generator doesn't produce power. It has an on/off switch which I checked, but it seems to be good. I haven't found any fuses. Worst case scenario a running Honda motor is worth $60. Thanks in advance.

DJ54 · Mar 20, 2016

You may want to try doing an online search for the manufacturers model number of your generator, and see if you can find an online manual like I did for mine. It should even have a trouble shooting section as to why it won't charge.

With some suggestions from some of the guys here, and me reading that manual, I found my answer. Mine had to do with exciting the generator to get it to produce current. It can be as simple as letting the generator run with nothing hooked up for 2-3 minutes, or, exciting it with a 6V dry cell battery. But again, this is my particular situation. Using Google to search my model number. there were more then several thousand hits discussing the same problem I had. I had time yesterday morning with the bad weather here to actually read down through the manual, and found the answer to my problem.

Here is the link with the discussion of mine here just in the last few days.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/354502-coleman-powermate-generator-capacitor.html

4570Man · Mar 20, 2016

The manual was extremely helpful and said "take the generator to an authorized Honda service center".

DJ54 · Mar 20, 2016

4570Man said:
The manual was extremely helpful and said "take the generator to an authorized Honda service center".

Hmmmm... How about just a general search for that model. You may pick up some threads on others trouble shooting theirs.

David_Kb7uns · Mar 20, 2016

The three ways that I know for flashing fields are.

Small battery to field brushes.
Drill motor plugged in pull trigger and spinning chuck.
Suicide cord with a light bulb in between plugs.
If flashing does not get it going right away then there are other problems that need fixing.

David

Tractor Seabee · Mar 20, 2016

here is a link for info on "flashing the field", it may be of assistance.http://www.endtimesreport.com/Site_Index.htm

It has worked for me. Most manuals for small gen sets are not geared to us savvy mechanics but Joe home owner.

Ron

4570Man · Mar 20, 2016

I'm going to try flashing it tomorrow. The neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate me firing it up tonight. It has supposedly been sitting about 2 years so hopefully this is the problem. I'm surprised it started without carburetor issues.

buickanddeere · Mar 20, 2016

Pull the end cover off and take a sniff. Does it smell like hot electronics or worse yet smell like burnt electrical? Sometimes trouble shooting is a simple as looking for blackened or melted components.
I would guess a new Champion 3000/4000Watt with warranty would run $300 bucks or so. Back before Y2K generators cost $1000 per Kw, now they are only $100 per KW.So don't get too attached to an old, defunct generator.

4570Man · Mar 20, 2016

buickanddeere said:
Pull the end cover off and take a sniff. Does it smell like hot electronics or worse yet smell like burnt electrical? Sometimes trouble shooting is a simple as looking for blackened or melted components. I would guess a new Champion 3000/4000Watt with warranty would run $300 bucks or so. Back before Y2K generators cost $1000 per Kw, now they are only $100 per KW.So don't get too attached to an old, defunct generator.

The inside smells and looks fine. I don't need a generator. I just bought it because it was a good deal. If I can fix it for cheap, great. Otherwise I'll take it apart and use the motor for something.