Portable Generator

[normde2001]

You might try this. They say it works.

 

[OhioGuy]

I stopped at Home Depot tonight and talked to a Manager. She's going to see what options I might have and call me tomorrow. The flashing with a drill will be my next step if HD can't help in any other way. If they are willing to do an exchange the same money buys a 7.5Kw unit now. I tried the AC excitation with no success. Another learning experience. the Service Center suggested when there's no power, the stator is usually toast /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Of coarse they make a living repairing these units.

We'll see. Thanks for the tips!

Curt

 

[mrcaptainbob]

As we were perusing the generator section one day at Home Depot, getting our info together, we were standing in front of the Generac display. A fellow walks on over and asks if I'm marketing for a generator. I says yep, and he goes on to tell what a popor product Generac is. "They don't hold up." And quie a few other points he felt important. Really cautioned us to stay away from that brand. He did an about-face and went back to his patient wife and left. I turned to mine and said we will look some more. A couple weeks later HD had the Coleman 5500 on sale. That was about six years ago. (almost as long as this post, I know! !) Well, It's saved us time and again. I use it now out at the barn where I don't have 'city' power yet. Fires up everytime. Even after sitting for a year.

 

[Dave___in___CT]

Hi...


Honda and Yamaha brands seem to enjoy good reputations...


Dave...

 

[BubbaJr]

We bought a new re-badged Coleman 10KW propane generator with a B&S engine after we built our new house. We had nothing but trouble with it. We had the service guys here at least 1 or 2 times a month for almost a year. They even had their "expert" up from Georgia to try to figure out what the problem was. They never did find out why it wouldn't start every other week on it's exercise cycle. Finally I got fed up and talked the owner of the place where I bought the unit into giving me a good deal on a Honda powered unit. I haven't had a seconds worth of trouble with it since. I HIGHLY recommend a unit with the Honda engine. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[SPIKER]

hey guys:

I went and took a look at the DRILL induced voltage for powering the field to "re-charge the field magnetics" granted that should HELP and WORK BUT you need the right kind of DRILL. vairrable speed drills are DC inside through a AC rectifyer, and others are single speed by use of brushes on the comutators. THE comutated version I think would work as the AC/DC type will not as they have a bridge rectifyer built in between the drill motor and the AC line. the bridge should in-effect STOP any voltage from going back into the AC outlet...

but I MAY be toatlly BACKWARD on this!?!? but I BELIVE I am right as the bridge rectifiers are actually diodes which block current in one dirrection and let it pass the other, in the drills case it lets one peak side of the AC into the drill, stopping the other side from coming back out...

BUT it SHOULD work if done with the right drill....


Mark M

 

[WilliamBos]

Hi All,

I made my mind up a while ago to buy a Wallenstein PTO generator. And after hearing some of the horro stories. I will for sure. My Uncle bought a Coleman GAS generator from Costco, and the gas motor was garbage. He got his money back and bought a Generac from Costco. It has been good to him, but it could eb the needle in the haystack, or a "Wednesday" generator!!

Take care
Will

 

[OhioGuy]

Well, I'm 0 for four. Home Depot called and said they couldn't help, Generac appeared bored with my scenario, they'll pay for that the rest of my life. I'll be talkin trash on them. I tried both flash methods with no success so tomorrow I'll just load it up (240 LBS) /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif and take it to a repair center. I'd be fine with that if I had any confidence it was going to work more reliably. I'm skeptical, but I'm running out of options. You could build the crappiest generator on the planet (Generac) and still make good money, this one only needed to run a couple of hours, I'll sure run the heck out of it for the next year, the 2nd year warranty is parts only though. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I'll post again when I know what failed.

Hey, thanks for the posts though and cycle those generators now and then.

Curt

 

[Mrwurm]

I Bought a Generac 'Wheel House' model about two years ago at Home Depot (5500 continuous, 8500 surge). I used mine almost continuously for about 4 days when I first got it. It worked flawlessly. I have used it on a few occasions since then and it continues to perform. I even use it to power my 220v stick welder out at the barn.

Although, it would not have solved your problem, I run all my gas motors at least once every two months year round. That's right, in January I can be seen running my mower, weedwhacker, edger, etc on a snowy day. This is the best way I have found to keep gas engines in top condition.

Like many products these days, it seems that there are only two or three actual manufacturers out there. I've seen many brands of generators out there that are exactly the same as Generac models except they have a different paint scheme and decals.

 

[KiotiJohn]

I believe that all generator MFG recommend exercising the generator at least every couple of weeks. You never know when you may lose the magnetism if it sets up.
It's also not enough just to run the engine, as this does little for the generating head's exercise. It's good to put at least 1/2 load on the generator, and better to run it for about 1/2 hour at full load.
I know that a lot of people have been very lucky not exercising their generators witihout problems, but they sure can go bad if you don't. John