Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Industrial Toys]

My Bad though. I thought I best put the trickle charger on the Yanmar after starting in this cold. When I spun it around I saw a somewhat better battery installed in Sept 16, got from my friends in the Battery business. I guess, I didn't want another Walmart battery. I also noticed the charger went to green in a very short time. It says to me, that a good battery that isn't being slowly drained will stay charged a good long time even in extreme cold.

 

[3930dave]

My Bad though. I thought I best put the trickle charger on the Yanmar after starting in this cold. When I spun it around I saw a somewhat better battery installed in Sept 16, got from my friends in the Battery business. I guess, I didn't want another Walmart battery. I also noticed the charger went to green in a very short time. It says to me, that a good battery that isn't being slowly drained will stay charged a good long time even in extreme cold.

AGM seems better than flooded lead-acid in that respect, but there probably will be some variation within FLA types too..

I find that most batteries will increase internal resistance as they age. Put another way, a brand-new battery will accept a charge quickly - most will take noticeably longer to charge (from the same discharge point) 5 years later.

"Saving money" buying cheaper batteries often doesn't play out well, at least on equipment that's around long-term, has been my experience.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

never seen it, i have motors from the 70's that were run like this with 0 issue.

YMMV. I've come to the conclusion that regional fuel formulation is a factor in how well Dry works.

Used to store mine dry. Got "irritated" one year when I had to take the carb apart on my smallest gen due to a stuck float. Had just enough white/brown deposits in it to stick the float. Yep, I know, some guys just drop the generator from 3' onto concrete to fix that, but not my style.....

At the time, I'd had recent success with storing my then new street bike over-winter Wet (Stabil + Seafoamed), so with a new float and seat in the small gen, I went to Wet on it and everything else I store.

So far (coming up on 10 years) so good.

But yes, this thread and others has example of guys who go Dry with good results. Whatever works locally, stick with it :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

Even though it's only 28 degrees out and wasn't much colder last night, with five inches of snow, well it felt colder...
So what to do? Well test the little magnetic heater on the Generac of course.
The whole engine cylinder had some warmth, did not feel down near oil sump, but when I hit the button
for manual start, it started immediately and ran cleanly immediately, like it was already warmed up. :thumbsup:

I'm going to keep it on for this weekend, when it's supposed to get crazy cold here, then likely take it off.
In this non scientific test, I say it worked. Otherwise the gen would have been hiccupping and popping for several seconds.

 

[jmc]

I don't have a lawn tractor, but many people I know seem to go through those U1 Lawn Tractor batteries fairly often. They are pretty tiny, sit through our long Winters up here usually w/o being charged, so it wouldn't take much for them to freeze and warp or break plates.....

Rgds, D.

I had better luck on my last two from Interstate Batteries than all the ones I bought from Walmart. Walmarts lasted about 2 years on my Toro mower. The Interstates lasted 3 or 4. Do not know if they are in Canada but its a chain in the States and they discount if you set up a business account. No minimum purchase requirements so far.

 

[DEWFPO]

My Honda EU6500is let me down this morning.

I woke up pre-dawn to the sound of a UPS beeping. Sure enough, the power is out. Check the temperature... ZERO degrees. Nice! I waited 15-mins or so and then used my phone to report the outage on the power company website.

Next step - fire up the generator which is a Honda EU6500is serving as a whole-house generator via a manual transfer switch.

It is in an unheated area and I always keep a battery tender attached. I flip the key and it starts to crank normally.... and cranks....... and cranks. WTF? Over the next 10-15 mins I intermittently crank/wait the engine until the tiny internal battery is near depleted. This beast has a pull starter but it pulls sooo hard that even during the summer pulling the rope just drags the 250 lb generator across the porch. I'm starting to get quite disappointed as this generator has always started right up although I never tried it when it was quite this cold. I keep a battery tender on it, I run it every other month, I use Sta-Bil treated non-Ethanol gas, I change the oil and install a new spark plug every November...you know... always ready to go (or so I thought).

As the internal battery was about depleted, my last resort was to get my Clore JNC660 jump box out of the car and try hooking it to the internal generator battery. The internal battery is equivalent to a small motorcycle battery and luckily I was able to just barely get the large alligator clamps to make contact on the tiny terminals.

So again... crank... crank... crank... intermittently over the next 30-mins with warm-up breaks in the house. I was just starting to gather up my stuff, throw in the towel and get ready for the house to start getting cold when I tried cranking one more time and VIOLA.... the b*stard sprang to life. I was never so glad to hear the purr of an engine in my life.

I must say though that I am quite disappointed in Mr. Honda as it failed to perform when the chips were really down. On the flip-side, Mr. JNC660 jump box proved to be a life saver and performed admirably.

Thinking about what I can possibly do differently... even though I run it every other month perhaps I should run it every other week as long as this sub-freezing weather continues which is supposed to be for at least another week. They were already calling for daytime highs of 10F and night time lows of 3F for the next few days but we already have that beat.

Did you have summer gas in it?

If you did, that may have been your problem..... until you generated enough heat with all that cranking.

Next time you have this problem, don't kill the battery, just spray some ether into the air cleaner. It should start and keep running without wearing out your starter, batteries and you.

DEWFPO

 

[DEWFPO]

I don't have a lawn tractor, but many people I know seem to go through those U1 Lawn Tractor batteries fairly often. They are pretty tiny, sit through our long Winters up here usually w/o being charged, so it wouldn't take much for them to freeze and warp or break plates.....

Rgds, D.

That's interesting. I've got one that I bought from Wal-Mart in 2003 for a lawn tractor that's still going strong. I keep mine on a battery maintainer/desulphator. DEWFPO

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Interstates last longest for me too...

I'm about to buy a new Interstate group 31 for my tractor.

SR

 

[3930dave]

Even though it's only 28 degrees out and wasn't much colder last night, with five inches of snow, well it felt colder...
So what to do? Well test the little magnetic heater on the Generac of course.
The whole engine cylinder had some warmth, did not feel down near oil sump, but when I hit the button
for manual start, it started immediately and ran cleanly immediately, like it was already warmed up. :thumbsup:

I'm going to keep it on for this weekend, when it's supposed to get crazy cold here, then likely take it off.
In this non scientific test, I say it worked. Otherwise the gen would have been hiccupping and popping for several seconds.

Down your way, that 300w heater should keep your gen very happy.... hard to go wrong with that level of heat in an enclosure.

Rgds, D

 

[3930dave]

That's interesting. I've got one that I bought from Wal-Mart in 2003 for a lawn tractor that's still going strong. I keep mine on a battery maintainer/desulphator. DEWFPO

^ a good quality maintainer will help a lot. I think a lot of people just park a lawn tractor here till Spring w/o doing anything.... guess they like buying batteries

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I had better luck on my last two from Interstate Batteries than all the ones I bought from Walmart. Walmarts lasted about 2 years on my Toro mower. The Interstates lasted 3 or 4. Do not know if they are in Canada but its a chain in the States and they discount if you set up a business account. No minimum purchase requirements so far.

Never dealt with Interstate, but I see their trucks on the road here often. Can't say I've heard anything bad about them....

The only thing I have close to U1 size is the original battery that came with my Briggs 7kw. It lives on the OE supplied charger, and has been doing well so far. Briggs did a really good job designing the pull start on that engine - pulls really easy; actually easier than the pull-start on my 2kw Briggs.

Last battery sets I've bought for road vehicles were from Costo, Kirkland. Doing well, including the 2 I have in my 7.3.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

For many years we were a jobber for Interstate... great service and fresh batteries.

Back in High School I was the guy to go for car batteries...

In 2000, Interstate reorganized the territory... the guy with the local warehouse and truck had his territory cut in half... he said they paid him 6 months of projected income but that was that.

He put his heart and soul into the business... and it hit him hard... also said his overhead hardly went down but his territory was half...

Within a year he closed... so the guy that got half his territory now had all of it... a lot of the old time customers were not happy and switched to the AC Delco jobber... as we did.

I've seen it happen many times... the people in corp forget the people aspect of business.... our jobber could be called anytime and didn't mind... you could leave him a message on a Sunday and Monday he would deliver that special battery...

My last Interstate batteries were for the Hospital Generators... one had a bad cell and learned I had no warranty because I had bought "Wholesale"

 

[3930dave]

ur - As I've taken to saying "I work for an Accounting firm, that just happens to have a few ________ lying around".

Many corporations don't operate with any more vision than that.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Did the "MBA" hurt of help American Industry is the real question?

My thought is there isn't anything that cannot be made cheaper... but at what point does the product no longer become viable?

Honda has proven customers are willing to pay for a superior product and this came after 50 years of earning a reputation that is known the world over and serving specifically the consumer market...

The daughter of a friend married a Harvard MBA... he was suppose to be quite the catch and we had a few holiday conversations... he was President or CEO of several companies anyone here would recognize.

Shareholders would hire him and give him a free hand to reorganize the company... his employment contracts had all the perks plus a buyout provision... if at anytime the board didn't like his methods they had the option to "Buy" his contract...

He was ruthless, in my opinion and proud of closing factories and was always on the lookout for the next "Cash Cow"

I understand business but moving production to China to save a few pennies per item on a company that is profitable just didn't make sense when your customers are not Chinese.

Last I heard he was living the high life in Geneva Switzerland... by the way... his marriage didn't last but had all the perks at the time... like driver, Au-pair that traveled Internationally with the family, club memberships, etc...

For me it was rare glimpse into another world... one where everything is reduced to a number on a balance sheet...

At the divorce he told his wife to accept the offer because he could bury her with legal bills if she wanted to fight... half a million in legal fees she capitulated... some lessons come hard.

 

[daugen]

Ultrarunner, I was number two guy at a highly successful public records company in NJ and they hired one of your MBA types to come in
and allegedly add some talent. He didn't know half of what I knew, but he did know how to sell off a company for the most money. Which happened ten years later
and the top three left with tons of money in their pockets.

I left, after a first and only bad review by this moron, who several years later apologized to me, after I quit on him, just plain refused to work for him, and said
he wished he had done things differently. He got a huge amount of negative flack about my leaving, I had about 160 people in a variety of divisions, basically everything other than IT.
Was told I was a good boss, got the most out of folks, told that by the owner repeatedly. And yet he hired this guy and there wasn't room for the two of us.
Our approach to life and management style were just too different. And our company was already outstandingly successful. Had all the market share...
Bet he got a big payday. All about the money and the payday, not about caring about anyone.

ok, back to generators. This is the magnetic heater I used as a stopgap solution.
Amazon.com: Kat's 116 3-Watt Magnum Handi-Heat Magnetic Heater: Automotive
I also use it on the oil pan of my little Massey, the Iseki one, which has a cold, cold heart. Even with 45 seconds of glowplugs running. Good Florida tractor...

those Generac cold kits are awfully expensive for what you get. An oil filter heater and a battery heater. I don't need the battery heater in this climate, plus I put a smart charger on it twice a year to make sure it's been anti sulphated or whatever they do. Buzz it with ray beams... But heating the synthetic oil? I do like that idea, just think they could sell this kit for half of what they are charging. The components of that oil filter heater are dirt cheap, nothing exotic here. If I plugged this temporary heater into a thermostatically controlled outlet, same functionality.
This cold wave, particularly this weekend, is pretty unusual here. Northerners usually keep this nasty stuff up there...in fact I moved here to get away from it.
Key West is sounding pretty good right now.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Costo kirkland batteries are interstate, at least they are here.

 

[Wakey]

This reminds me of the plot line of the film Pretty Woman, Richard Gere's character.

Daugen, thanks for the link. I'll see how my genny starts tomorrow morning in the cold, to see if that unit might be needed.

Perhaps I missed it but is there a simpler solution to heat things up if my generator (Generac 22KW) decides not to start when needed on a cold day?

 

[daugen]

This reminds me of the plot line of the film Pretty Woman, Richard Gere's character.

Daugen, thanks for the link. I'll see how my genny starts tomorrow morning in the cold, to see if that unit might be needed.

Perhaps I missed it but is there a simpler solution to heat things up if my generator (Generac 22KW) decides not to start when needed on a cold day?

interesting, my thought was to grab starting fluid but yours is likely propane.
Or go the Siberian way, build a wood fire under it.
That ought to heat things up in a hurry.

 

[3930dave]

Did the "MBA" hurt of help American Industry is the real question?

My thought is there isn't anything that cannot be made cheaper... but at what point does the product no longer become viable?

Honda has proven customers are willing to pay for a superior product and this came after 50 years of earning a reputation that is known the world over and serving specifically the consumer market...

The daughter of a friend married a Harvard MBA... he was suppose to be quite the catch and we had a few holiday conversations... he was President or CEO of several companies anyone here would recognize.

Shareholders would hire him and give him a free hand to reorganize the company... his employment contracts had all the perks plus a buyout provision... if at anytime the board didn't like his methods they had the option to "Buy" his contract...

He was ruthless, in my opinion and proud of closing factories and was always on the lookout for the next "Cash Cow"

I understand business but moving production to China to save a few pennies per item on a company that is profitable just didn't make sense when your customers are not Chinese.

Last I heard he was living the high life in Geneva Switzerland... by the way... his marriage didn't last but had all the perks at the time... like driver, Au-pair that traveled Internationally with the family, club memberships, etc...

For me it was rare glimpse into another world... one where everything is reduced to a number on a balance sheet...

At the divorce he told his wife to accept the offer because he could bury her with legal bills if she wanted to fight... half a million in legal fees she capitulated... some lessons come hard.

Wise to never forget who is typically running the show today. Narcissistic Sociopath is the minimum ante for that game.

IMO, this environment is some of the reason direct-funded action (crowdfunding) has become popular..... many people are not happy with the status quo.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

those Generac cold kits are awfully expensive for what you get. An oil filter heater and a battery heater. I don't need the battery heater in this climate, plus I put a smart charger on it twice a year to make sure it's been anti sulphated or whatever they do. Buzz it with ray beams... But heating the synthetic oil? I do like that idea, just think they could sell this kit for half of what they are charging. The components of that oil filter heater are dirt cheap, nothing exotic here. If I plugged this temporary heater into a thermostatically controlled outlet, same functionality.
This cold wave, particularly this weekend, is pretty unusual here. Northerners usually keep this nasty stuff up there...in fact I moved here to get away from it.
Key West is sounding pretty good right now.

Bespoke items are often pricey. I'm familiar with generic Temro Philips silicone-pad heaters; they come in various sizes, and might be a lower cost option with a bit of fiddling.

OTOH, sometimes (OK, fairly often, on my budget :laughing I have to remind myself to quit breaking down component cost of a Should I Buy It ? item, and re-focus on the immediate functionality it delivers....



Rgds, D.