Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Portable generator help?

I have a Yamaha powered Coleman generator. Runs like a champ. Reasonably low hours. Had a hiccup with the changeover switch and it got back-fed for a second or so while not running. Made a loud humming sound and scared the heck out of me, as I was standing right next to it.

I tested it and it's still putting out roughly 119 volts on each leg of the 240 volt socket, but under a load, voltage is dropping off badly to the point where even a moderate load will still the engine.

I did some reading and found that the AVR (automatic voltage regulator) may be the culprit, so I bought a new one and installed it. I have yet to test it with a moderate load, so not sure at this time whether that's going to be the fix, but knowing 2020 luck, I'm guessing not.

There are no generator repair shops around here that I can find, so I'm hoping someone here might have some background on portable generator repair.

Thanks.

I had a similar issue with an older honda. The repair shop told me it would be cheaper to buy a new one. Good luck

If you can inspect the windings I would. Look for signs of charred wiring, burnt varnish

If you've got burned windings you should be able to smell it, burnt electrical parts have a smell all their own.

Yep, experienced electricians call that magic smoke. Once the magic smoke leaks out, it’s fugged.

We use that term in HVAC too. I'm afeard I let the smoke out of it.😔

I thought that was a term for British vehicle electrics!

You mean Lucas. Hasbeen

. “Had a hiccup with the changeover switch and it got back-fed for a second or so while not running“

Are you talking about the transfer switch, for street power to standby power?

We generate our own power where I work. I have witnessed several generator fails. We used to joke with our electrician that he made a possum den in another one. They make a loud humming noise and the smoke pours out of them. I saw one onetime that was getting rained on heavily and it started shooting lightning bolts out of it before it started smoking and shut itself down.

Yes, for some reason it allowed backfeeding for about a second. A new one is in the works.

After reading about someone's generator troubles, let me ask...how many of you have a backup generator that you've never really tested? I used to work in R&D for a seed company. We bought a Generac backup gen to run the greenhouse cooling fans and to power the propane heaters. We ran it every month or so to make sure it was ready when needed. Then, after a couple years of that, we needed it. We started it up, plugged it in, and nothing. No power was coming out. It turned out that the power head had never put out more than a couple amps. All we'd every tested it for was a light bulb. It was now out of warranty. We took it to several repair shops and they all found the same thing - Generac had used some kind of Chinese power head and no parts were available. Even Generac couldn't get parts. A new head cost almost as much as a new generator. We had to scrap the thing. The replacement was NOT a Generac.

I run our house for an hour or so every six months on the portable to test it.

I run mine once a month.

Lucas....the Prince of Darkness. And the reason the Brits drink warm beer....Lucas refrigerators.