Why Did this Generator Stop Making Power? You Will be Surprised
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ธ.ค. 2022
- Ray Bohacz reached out to me after his beloved Storm Responder generator stopped making power. He asked that I have a look. So I did and you will be surprised at what caused his issue.
Ray Bohacz is the host of Farm Machinery Digest on Sirius/XM channel 147.
farmmachinerydigest.com/
Generator Model: 030664A-00
Circuit Breaker: 202033GS
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030664, 030664A, 030664A-00, 030728, 030728-00, Alternator, Bad Circuit Breaker, Bad Connection, Breakout Cord, Briggs and Stratton, Cable Tie, Diagnose, Fixed, Generator, Hertz, High Resistance, How To, How-To, Insulation Test, Load Test, Low Voltage, Megger, No Output, No Power, No Voltage, Oscilloscope, Quality Control, Repair, Rotor Test, Shrink Tubing, Small Engine, Stator Test, Storm Responder, THD, Total Harmonic Distortion, Troubleshooting, Voltage Drop, Voltage Drop Under Load, Volts, Zip Tie - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I have been reading many of the comments on this video. It is my generator. It is not brand new. It is about 5.5 years old. Jim was probably the only one in the world that could fix it. Most of you have missed the point of his video. The powerhead ultimately did not stop making power. The shrink tube on the neutral was not allowing the power to be sent to the outlets. It was a spectacular find by Jim. The 3-hour ride to him allowed it to work again once I arrived. I agree that the problem was a QC issue and I have no skin in the game for B&S. But... I did not know if this unit which is an Elite 8000, would be fixable (financially) and since we live on a farm, I purchased another generator. A Generac GP8000e. In my estimation as an engineer, though the Briggs had an issue it is 10X the generator as far as build quality and ergonomics that my new Generac is. I come from a background as a calibration engineer in the auto industry. EVERY manufacturer has issues. This is NOT defending Briggs but the reality of life. Some are better than others, but they all have potential problems. And in regard to the cost of the breaker, I agree it was high but in the scheme of life I do not suggest fighting over the price of a part that will be essential to a rescue tool if the power goes out. If you listen to the unit under load, it sounds beautiful to me, an engine calibration engineer. In regard to the THD, yes Briggs lied about less than 6%, BUT my new Generac has less THD under no load which though foundational is meaningless, but much more than the Briggs with less than 3,000 watts on it. The Generac with a 2,750-watt resistive load has more THD (17%%) than the Briggs with 3,000 watts and a 1,200-watt inductive load on it at the same time. In closing, I paid $999 for the Briggs new and $1,049 for the Generac. As an engineer, the Briggs is built like a tank compared to the Generac and only time will tell which will last longer. Simply put... they are all marginal. I did not want to buy an inverter generator due to its complexity and regardless of the brand, marginal quality of the electronic parts. None of these units use electronics that are medical or aviation grade. They need to come in at a price point that the consumer will accept. Thus, I am keeping both the Briggs and the new Generac. As Jim so correctly says... if you want a reliable portable generator... buy two!
It is interesting to see your viewpoint Ray. Buying manufactured items is always a balance between quality and price. I am an old timer and I have seen the quality of manufactured items plummet over 50 years. I suppose taking inflation into account they are cheaper now. I have taken to buying cheaper products these days because I came to the conclusion that replacing items more frequently is still cheaper than paying more for them with their somewhat greater longevity. Many of the faults on the cheaper items are still cheap and easy to fix. So I do still make some effort at repair but I will not buy expensive spare parts. If I cannot replace them with something different or something cheaper then I call it. James keeps a big stash of used parts from failed machines and that keeps the cost right down. He also sometimes uses much cheaper generic parts. Its the only way that James does not make a loss on his sales. Taking into account the labour costs of taking anything to a workshop then we can all see why repairing anything has become so rare. We all decry this of course but as you say Ray, it is the world we live in.
@@r8118830 I agree with you 100%. But especially today, there is so many low-quality parts from China and other places. In the auto industry about 20 years ago it was calculated at a 6:1 ratio. It is probably much higher now. One dollar spent at the production level ended up adding $6.00 to the sticker price of a car. Also, what many do not recognize is when you get into electrical parts at the circuit board level there is a huge difference in quality. Biomedical equipment, avionics, MIL spec and even automobiles use much higher quality. That often shows itself as thermal and vibration tolerance, duty-cycle life, and drift. For example, a $1.00 10-ohm resistor versus for argument's sake a $10.00 one will drift considerably at higher and even lower temperatures. Life is complicated today and especially with electronics. I personally, but may be wrong, believe that even the best inverter generator is not made with parts that are much better than a cheaper one. Also, as with an inverter, you are taking AC, switching it to DC to scrub it, and converting back to AC. Any part that fails in that conversion circuitry means the unit is worthless. I would glad pay double or triple for something such as a generator if the manufacturer would openly prove the value of their electronics, which none do. Electronics for most part is a whore's business. We (the industry) know how to make it bullet proof, but as you say, it is a cost balance ratio. Also, there is not the economy of scale with many items such as a portable generator. To my way of thinking, again I may be wrong, none of these companies use parts that are much if any better. At least with a portable I can wheel it away and plug a different one into my transfer switch. I looked at what many consider the gold standard, Honda, before buying the Briggs. It was 3X the price and no one could show me any additional quality that was tangible (non-inverter). They, even the Honda corporation, kept repeating the empty words, "you are buying Honda quality". I would say, OK, please give me hard data and not a line from the marketing department and I would hear silence. When I was a younger man in the auto industry, I learned that all companies copy one another. The Toyota inline six-cylinder in the Land Cruiser was an AMC 232 six-cylinder that was made to metric dimensions so nothing from the AMC fit. A 1/2 inch hole became 13 mm. So... you take your most educated guess, put your money down, and hope for the best. For every brand that someone swears by, there at the same number of people that had bad luck and would never purchase it again. So is life! Have a blessed day.
@@Ray-su4oz well said, sir!
We moved into a new house and the unfinished basement lights were dim. I checked the voltage and found 60 vAC. Opened the breaker panel and found the neutral wire landed on the insulation and it showed evidence of arcing. Removed wire, cut off the end and re-terminated. Ta-Dah! So it's not just portable generators. Another great video Jim!
@@randallraker4036 Thank you.
We have used the th-cam.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_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!
The very end of the vid with the shrink tubing issue was worth watching the whole thing. Finding that kind of stuff is pure gold.
I felt the same way about the zip tie gun! Already have one of those gems on order!
As a professional electrician for over 20 years, I can say that neutral connection was most certainly the culprit. I've seen this more than once. Good troubleshooting only comes from experience, and you seem to be doing very well!
Thanks
He's definitely very observant. Not many people would ever notice that.
The guy is brilliant. Hats off!! prob is it cost cutting Chinese Junk
Outstanding detective work James. You’re a real pro and I learn something every time I watch one of your videos. Thank you!
What threw me off was the statement that each leg dropped to 55 volts under load. I (incorrectly) took that to mean that the voltage on the loaded leg as well as the unloaded leg were both dropping simultaneously. In such a situation the unloaded leg would shoot up to 185 volts. I did not realize he might have only tested the loaded leg.
These plates that fell out of the circuit breaker are arc arrestors/quenchers. They're there to absorb the energy from the arc when the breaker is opened under load and to prevent it from staying on.
Makes perfect sense, cool to know.
I was in the advanced electronics field as a sonar technician in the Navy and joined the Army as a power generation technician 52D and reclassified into prime power generation MOS-52E. Retired and worked as a field service technician for Detroit Diesel in land based and marine generators as well as marine propulsion. There were times that during the flight to some generator at some wild place, I would be stressing. You don’t want to get there and look clueless around the site engineers. You do get to the point, after working on thousands of generators, that you pretty much have it “on lock”. There are always ‘little’ things that can just destroy your sanity. Great videos! I have thought about doing some jobs on all the tiny (3K-10k) generators that come through my area on RV’s. People have said that I could make a killing but, man it is nice not stressing the little shit 😀
James, I've said it before; your troubleshooting skills are superb. You move steady, are patient, don't assume things and trust what your meters tell you. A reading of 0.3 ohms is good, but above that is suspect. I foolishly would say "that is in range, looks good.". And after it ran for 10 minutes you didn't "assume" it was OK, you continued to keep troubleshooting. Just superb work. Ray was smart to bring this to you, I agree with him, "It was a spectacular find by Jim". A shop would run it 2 minutes and say everything is good. Whatever company you work for is lucky to have you, and I hope they realize it! And a Megger meter! I remember using those in my military training back in the 70's. LOL, brought back memories...
Thank you for providing the waveform. I hope you will continue to use the scope so we can get a feel for what to expect from the different generators.
@@david.j.bunney Yes.
As an electrical engineer that circuit breaker is a part that is designed to fail.! The vibrations of the motor are causing the contacts in the breaker to arc and at some point will eather weld the contacts that they don't work or burn open the contacts. High vibration circuits breakers need to be aircraft type circuit breaker that are designed to take high vibration.
Well, the Gen Master has proven again that Quality control is definitely a problem with these generators. More proof that James is a Master at diagnosing Power head problems thanks again for the heads up, James!
Another great video James! Good on you for checking your previous videos and following up with those owners to see if the same problem was at fault. I truly believe that your diagnostic method is the reason why you are so successful. Not to mention that you're also a really nice guy in real life! Cheers and looking forward to the next video!
Thanks!
He is a lovely guy really
A color thermal imaging camera would be an expensive but nice addition to your diagnostic tool kit. Any exposed sketchy resistance locations will show right up giving off bright heat spots while under full load testing.
Look up the infiray P2 pro, only around 220 bucks (attaches to your phone), has twice the resolution and frame rate as the $400 name brand FLIR phone attachment. Mine has been a godsend
Coffee and generator repair. Lifes good :)
Amen 🙏 😊
Shortly after a live on Steve's Small Engine Saloon, where Steve mentioned you as the BEST regarding generators... this video poped up on the right as a suggestion.
This is the first video that I have watched from you Sir, and I must say Thank you! This is golden!
I own a small generator and I am definitely saving this video!!! Many cheers and best wishes for you and your family looking forward.
Thanks! First I heard that he mentioned me. Will have to watch that right now.
@@jcondon1 48 minutes mark (start question at 46m56s)
Awww yisss it's 11pm and it's the holidays with some generator repair!
Those pices that fell out of the breaker are Arc Shoots. They snub out the Arc when the contracts open under load.
Awesome detective work! Not only should the shrink tubing be cut back and the zip tie be added (what we’re they thinking with there?!) but they should use toothed lock washers on electrical connections for better surface contact. Someone should bring this video to the attention of Briggs, they really should issue a recall IMO.
Your attention to detail is amazing.
Your troubles shooting skills are 2nd to none. Thank you for all of your hard work.
38 hours sounds like a the life expectancy of a modern Briggs & Stratton product.
You're one of the best troubleshooters that I have watched.
Hi James. Another fantastic piece of troubleshooting. At the end of all of your videos you say “ I hope this helps someone”. Since I’ve been watching your videos, I have repaired three carburetors and diagnosed 1 burned up Generac GP7000e… Make no mistake, your videos help a lot of people!
This was an excellent video. You are doing a great service to folks that have generator issues. Have a Happy New Year. I look forward to more videos from you.
How briggs and stratton is in business is beyond me... used to be a company you could trust without a doubt
U.K. - Briggs and Stratton only made the engine not what went wrong. I don't like their engines but fair's fair. (Splash lubrication, no oil filter, no proper bearings, plastic gears - asking for trouble)
im getting a 8,500 or 11,000 watts kubota diesel generator
@@jp-um2fr briggs and stratton are putting their name on the whole thing not just the engine. Yes I know briggs doesn't specifically make the generator parts. Most likely that's done in China. However us consumers used to be able to trust ANY briggs product and just within the last 10 years they have gone downhill alot in terms of overall quality of ALL their products. Just cause they don't make it doesn't mean they don't control the level of quality.
@@michaelmactavish4445 diesel generators are just better overall if you don't need clean electricity. If you need clean power nothing beats these new inverter generators
@@Exploder206 yeah the kubotas has the 2 way hook ups on theres wich has run it to the house or can use cords plus nice kubota generator parts are from there tractors too wich makes it easy and holds 7.8 gallons of feul and can run 24 hours with out refeuling up wich its the best set up then any other generators
Another fantastic video that shows you being methodical and knowledgeable resulting in a great diagnosis. Step by Step leaving nothing out. This obviously works best when you have all those hours of experience. Going back to check previous was outstanding. I can't tell you how impressed I am with how you approach your troubleshooting.
after you had that ohm value going up and down on the 240 volt outlet the first thing I thought was loose electrical conection on the 2 pole outlet ,you right on it ,good job!
Brilliant work James. Take all the readings and then surmise what could give those results. And look out for even the smallest possible issue.
I have watched many of your videos to learn from you and your troubleshooting is amazing. I hope someday I can figure out my Powermate 5000 6250 intermitent no power issue but I am a rookie at troubleshooting electrical issues. I took it in to get repaired and it worked perfectly. I brought it home and it worked perfectly. I went to use it recently and once again it had no power. It only has a few hours of use and it has been stored inside its entire life. In so many ways it is brand new. Keep doing your videos!
Thank you for this very informative video. I successfully diagnosed my failed generator at the 22 min mark when I removed the brushes and found one destroyed. Very low hours but just out of warranty. HF is still going to get an earful
I was always taught that the first tool of troubleshooting is visual inspection. I guess that hasn't changed much. Nice catch. Something like that can make you chase your tail forever.
I agree and ask as many question as possible from owners
Brilliant. B&S should be seeing this and getting a service recall as well as sorting out their QC.
Or have they rebranded to Bad & Chinese?
Despite the Briggs name on it, it looks like a Honda clone.
More likely Bull & S#it.
Mr. Condon, I have learned so much from your video's thanks for making them.
Great follow-up with those emails. Thanks!
james your honesty is appreciated by those of us who know just enough to be dangerous i thank you and will now not pass up broken gen sets
Great find, invaluable info! I own an older Generac 5500 Wheelhouse and a newer Ryobi 5500 generator. I'll be going through the carbs on each and will inspect the gen head leads for the shrink tubing issue. Also ordered a P3 Kill-O-Watt meter for tuning my machines. Thanks, James.
Excellent video and good warning for others with the same machine. It is so easy for a small bad design or manufacturing issue to create big problems.
Dave.
It is a point that should be considered regardless of the brand or type of equipment.
Fantastic follow-up on the shrink tubing on the other generators!
A very consise analysis James.
The world's #1 Generator Guy .
After watching all your videos I think I should get some kind of completion certificate, acknowledging that I know very little about fixing generators!!
James, I'm a new subscriber. I wanted to let you know how very much enjoy every minute of your videos. After watching just one video, I knew I had to subscribe. The knowledge you share is invaluable and I think we all can learn from your methodical and rational troubleshooting. I have a basic knowledge of the principals of electricity but am seriously lacking in troubleshooting ability. I particularly enjoy your explanations of your troubleshooting strategy. That's a great help to me. Thanks so much.
Thanks Gary!
Great catch on the heat shrink over the neutral terminal. I agree with you about the circuit breaker wiring allowing excessive current. I checked the printed wiring diagram for our Predator generator and it is is configured the way you redid this one.
The 2-pole breaker is grossly over priced, as others have posted that is a few dollar part.
This was an interesting one, seems like there are quality control issues at the factory where these generators are made, great work fixing this one James!
Very interesting. I hope that the message gets to the manufacturer so that the issue can be fixed. I keep thinking about buying a generator but power does not go out very often here. We just had a blizzard and others nearby did lose power. Looks like I've delayed the purchase long enough and will check a few things before I put it into service. Thanks for all of the great videos!
Good find! Your videos have turned into my entertainment while I’m at the hotel working out of town (I do scheduled pms on backup generators-mostly 3 phase 600v but the portables also)
Excellent video Jim: I will keep an eye out for this on the next gen set I get in. Many thanks.
Most excellent troubleshooting & explanations, as usual!!
Great work. Amazing what the multimeter can do. Very helpful
You discovered several points in faulty manufacture. I hope that the makers have seen this and acted accordingly, if not then they need their knuckles wrapped. People pay good money for these products, plus it puts the name of Briggs and Stratton in the mire. I have come to respect them a lot. Again thanks for yet another informative and pleasant to watch video, jam packed with great ideas and innovation. Cracking stuff :)
I watched 2 vids back to back and I was totally into this process! I don't have this kind of generator but it's nice to know how troubleshoot issues that may come up.
Back in the 1980,s worked on city ambulance,s . Found this heat shrink problem on installed add on,s all the time. Good find .
Just discovered your channel, really enjoy your videos. Grew up on a golf course, and tinkered with a lot of "questionable " equipment...
Just recently came across your channel and subscribed. Enjoy your video quality and troubleshooting techniques! I live in a rural area where we experience frequent outages. We have two Honda inverter generators, one I just converted to propane. They take care of our meager needs, but I'm always trying to stay more educated. I was particularly interested in the THD and sine wave from this type generator. I never knew they were that "dirty".
Thanks, Rich
I admire and enjoy James methodical and almost text book approach to these repairs. As a commercial and industrial refrigeration service engineer I’m more than a little jealous of the un-pressured, clean and dry environment he portrays in your videos. For me I’ve had 33 years of fault finding and repairing at -20+, pouring rain on a roof or one hand on a ladder and often poor light conditions standing on pallets of frozen produce. If a customers freezer with £1,000,000 of stock has gone down and time is against you then you often have to cut corners to get the repair done and can seldom follow a calm text book approach but have to work with what you can, what the customer will accept and not always what would be preferred.
In the uk just about everything has been through Chinese manufacturing today which usually means manufacturing to a low price and speed rather than quality. It’s rare to get even commercial equipment lasting more than a year or two without failure, and old household names have signed with the devil for cheap production. I still have customers with 30-40 year old equipment made in the uk that still works, you have to ask yourself what’s better for the environment.
56:47 wow, those zip tie pliers are cool!👍
Most excellent, good find James
Great video. Informative and helping out the community. Keep it up
Having worked for many years in factory maintenance, I observed numerous issues with various components on our generator manufacturing lines, and was tasked with developing and constructing much of the on-line and life test equipment. One of the early product failures was with the cheaper push to reset breakers. Engineering found that they were thermal breakers, and were false tripping when things warmed up. We switched to magnetic trip, and the problem went away. Easy identification: Magnetic trip have a whiteish case, and the thermal ones are black. Another problem found was the poor quality of the no-name wiring devices. This caused us to go to all Hubbell outlets. By the way, not all GFI outlets play well together, causing false tripping. Switching to Hubbell solved this problem also, although I am not certain why! Finally, when we bought outlets in large quantities price ceased to be a primary consideration. (A $14 part became a $3 part, when bought by the skid.) Unfortunately, Chinese parts killed the moderate priced market. Manufacturing and distribution costs often exceeded the selling price. You get what you pay for...sometimes.
I alter that saying a bit: "You don't get what you don't pay for." For what this breaker cost it should have been delivered on a silver platter pre-installed yet it was junk...
I'd love to hear more on your thoughts about Chinese parts killed the moderate market. Take a $15 carburetor on a Briggs lawnmower. I bought the $45 version since I'd heard stories, but have learned to ream out any small orifice with little wires and tiny drill bits. I bought a ultrasonic clearner, etc. IF Chinese parts have killed the moderate priced market, what is to be done? Fix old stuff? DDay, Maine
That is some good diagnosing and catching the little things. Sometimes, not often, just sometimes, I thought your diagnosing was a bit tedious, but in cases like this it saves a lot of frustration and time.
Those plates are arc chutes to quench and contain the arc flash when opening under load.
James Condon, generator detective extraordinaire, I love it. Great find!!! and another excellent video lesson. Thank You
Great find and great video Jim
I had a problem before on a safety gate where the issue was intermittent and i found shrink tube like that covering the wire connector. It insulated the connection and caused problems.
Good video. As a professional electrical contractor, retired I can say that a loose neutral can definitely cause the problems you described. Just a note about your setup with extension cords. Cords that are left coiled up, will creat an inductive kick. That kick acts as a voltage choke, the greater the load, the more voltage drop. In the older GFIC breakers the voltage drop creates a inbalace between the current flow and causes the GFIC breaker to trip. Also note that the use of digital meters can create various phantom issues as the digital meters are much more sensitive and do , give erroneous readings being old school I personal like an old Simpson 260. With its, analogue display because gives a slight load to what you are testing. However to each their own. Your use of the megger was great for testing break downs in insulation. I personally found that compressed air for blowing out dust and foreign matter in the windings . A vacuum worked much better when inspecting the windings on the stator. That damage could only be found with a megger. Good job. Your videos are not only educational, but entertaining when I cant sleep.
25 year electrician. I'd also speculate that the neutral not getting a good connection could've caused a conductor overheat and melted the terminals on that cheap Chinese breaker causing them to loosen up. Also, Usually when we test outlets and see 55v, it almost always turns out to be an open neutral somewhere. It seems to me that the seats of those main terminals are not very good. I've had similar situations and my solution is to find 3 "perfectly sized" washers for each terminal. One under, one between, & one on top of each ring terminal in order to create that flat sandwiching effect on the rings provided you have enough threads but you usually do in most cases. Anyways, good vid! You are very good at what you do.
Great video, Jim. Thanks for sharing.
Some of the best trouble shooting I've ever saw. Great work.
Thanks
I have the same generator with the same issues. You saved me a lot of hassle! Thanks
Way back when I was an apprentice My journeyman told me to “make it shiny”. Meaning make sure that you could see just a tiny bit of copper at each connection. Now that is just a general rule of thumb, there are devices that will not show any copper at the connection. So you have to know how each connection is supposed to be made.
I was in the trade for 43 years and saw many examples of loose connections on neutral connections. The common term for bad neutrals is “ a floating neutral”.Neutrals can be very hard to trouble shoot! As the fault gets closer to the source of the power the more severe the effects are. One symptom I learned to look for was odd, generally low,voltage readings when using ground as the reference. Over time I made a habit of making voltage readings with neutral as my reference point. This was a great help in spotting bad neutrals. The bulb that blew at the beginning of the tests was actually a possible symptom of a bad neutral. I have seen cases of half the light bulbs in a home, my brother’s house in fact,blown by a floating neutral.
Great video and diagnosis 👍.
I've worked on many different types of generators and most often it comes down to bad connections or faulty parts. Staters and windings normally don't go bad, though I've found bad workmanship on coatings.
BTW, those little "things" that fell out of the breaker are "arcing shims" to reduce wear to contact surfaces 😁👍
With 2 new breakers you had a 50% failure rate. I'd bet that new 'good' one won't live long.
Thanks for the videos.
Nice one James. I think you've got to the bottom of that. Thanks for sharing and have a Happy New Year. 🕺💃🥂🍗🥜🧀🥨
Wow. Your work is really impressive!
Doc., this was a great diagnostic video. A lot of things to check to find the problem.
Thanks Larry
Very impressed with your presentation and thoroughness, subscribed.
Very informative at the end As well lots of issues with these newer storm Responders
Excellent video!
There are two ways switches and circuit breakers get damaged like that.
Hit from the front or in your case
Over tighten when installing.
I suggest trying to support the legs when tighten screw with long nose pliers.
Hi James. I hope you ad your family are happy and healthy in the coming year. Anyway, thanks for sharing!
Thanks, you too.
Good point Ray, I agree with you 100%.
Jim, Another great video as always. Always learn something new each one. May be small, may be large but I like learning.
Thanks, and keep them coming.
Great job at trouble shooting the issue. Thanks for the video.
Great fix James 😊
Excellent video, well worth watching. Many thanks for all the information.
Really enjoy watching you channel. Great information and personality. Tks
Thank you James for another great video. I only recently purchased a new generator for backup at my house. I also ordered a breakout cord and voltage and frequency monitor to check out everything. I am more confident after watching your videos that I can diagnose and maintain one only as a Novice. I have Gas for heat but having electricity for my wife and I makes since. I only purchased 4750/3800 but that should run lights along with refrigerator and freezer. I bought a duel fuel with propane so I will not run gasoline unless I have to as to not worrying about fuel contamination. We live in a small town and seldom have power failure. Thanks again.
#Danny Treadway - Does Propane fueal (or Natural Gas if tri is an option) cause higher valve/head temperatures or valve lubrication/wear problems, when compared to using gasoline? Usually the max rated engine/output power is also lower compared to gasoline.
I would have checked the 240 VAC receptacle’s ckt brkr resistance and termination of the ckt for looseness or oxidized connections. Have/did you check those items ?
Great video I've been looking for this for months. My generator runs fine for about a half hour then starts to cut off power a couple of minutes at a time but comes back and picks up where it left off. I checked L1 and L2 and they're almost the same. I checked brushes and resistance on all the wires a o k there too. I changed the regulator and no change the only thing left was the breaker and I couldn't find how to test it. Now I know. Thank you. I run my whole house on it for half the peak hours and it saves me about a third of my bill . I run the ac refer freezer and four ceiling fans while my wife makes dinner .it's a 12K and cost me $700. Bucks. It should pay for itself and the new surcuit by next summer if I can get it fixed. Thanks again Jim
As usual James attention to detail and tenacity finds the problem, I love these videos because I take guesses along the way and to be honest out of all your videos I think I’ve only been right once 😂 so I’ll take that as the broken clock saying!
I am glad i watch your videos, i learn so much. keep up the good work.
wow, James you are amazing, great detective work, great videos, thankyou
Great information. I have a newer model storm responder but have not had time to check to see if the zip tie is present. I hope to check it this weekend. I will also check the shrink tube on the main wires. Great observation and great video as always.
My Elite 8000 did have the zip tie installed from the factory and my experience is only with this unit. It is wise to check yours and the other issue mine had in the powerhead.
Excellent video and information. Thank you!
Great video love very much All the details since some videos leave out alot of details.keep up the good work.
Excellent thinking to go back to the orig AVR. Very logical, Capt.
Very nice work and excellent public service announcement.
I'm noticing that contacts that are exposed to hours of vibration tend to get dirty and open up, fail or increase their resistance over the contacts. I have had that problem in places on my generator.. One place was the power saving switch that totally quit and needed replacing for just vibration failure.
LOVE THE VIDS. 37.2 is a new switch. It had to be contaminated.
Hello James
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with others
Happy Christmas and hope you have wonderful holidays
GOD bless you
Same to you!
Your brain is completly wired, eat, sleep and dream circuit boards.lol
Fantastic help.
Your videos are awesome. I liked the information at the end, thanks.
My Kohler standby generator recently stopped working properly. The generator started and ran but the transfer switch would not switch. The generator brain box thought everything was fine. Upon investigation, I discovered one phase was low volts. Upon further investigation I discovered the breaker was bad (it is a 40 A square D breaker). The brain box in the generator was seeing the good voltage coming out of the stator. But the transfer switch was seeing the voltage after the bad breaker. The new breaker was 40 bucks. Now everything is working properly. But it was hard to change the breaker. Anyway, thanks for making all these videos.
I own a Briggs and Stratton that is almost 20 yrs old.
It was bought following a hurricane and has been used when needed.
Always makes power.
Run once a year for about an hour, with a load and oil changed when needed.
Great machine.
Had to repair the plastic gas tank a couple years ago, with a plastic welding kit from harbor freight.
If you surmise I am plugging a Briggs generator, you are right.