Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

The day that Irene came thru, I didn't lose grid power as such, but did
have a series of outages that lasted 2-3 seconds apiece. Unfortunately,
these were enough to kick on the generator, only to stop a few seconds
later when the grid returned. And so it was on, off; on, off; on, off .....

So now the generator's broken. Battery won't even try to crank. All I get
is a grinding sound. Battery charger still shows a green light, so I
assume that a connection(s) has come loose or some sort of fuse blew.

Any ideas? Also, can this type of thing be fixed by an electrician? I do
have a service contract with the co. that installed the Kohler, and they
really know their business, but they are severely swamped with repair
tickets, which is understandable. Finally, can the automatic transfer
switch be adjusted to keep the generator from kicking on until grid power
has shut down for 10 seconds or so?

Thanks,Jack

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

On Sep 7, 4:53*pm, Way Back Jack wrote:
The day that Irene came thru, I didn't lose grid power as such, but did
have a series of outages that lasted 2-3 seconds apiece. *Unfortunately,
these were enough to kick on the generator, only to stop a few seconds
later when the grid returned. And so it was on, off; on, off; on, off ......

So now the generator's broken. *Battery won't even try to crank. *All I get
is a grinding sound. *Battery charger still shows a green light, so I
assume that a connection(s) has come loose or some sort of fuse blew.

Any ideas?

A grinding sound would seem to indicate that most likely either the
starter is bad or that it's not getting full power to be able
to correctly spin out and engage. If that's what it is, it's
fairly easy to diagnose and fix, depending on how accessible
the starter, soenoid, etc are.



Also, can this type of thing be fixed by an electrician? *I do
have a service contract with the co. that installed the Kohler, and they
really know their business, but they are severely swamped with repair
tickets, which is understandable. *Finally, can the automatic transfer
switch be adjusted to keep the generator from kicking on until grid power
has shut down for 10 seconds or so? *

Thanks,Jack

From the problem it sounds like an engine problem, not
a generator problem, so an electrician would not be my choice
unless he's one that does generators. If it's only a backup
generator and
since you have a service contract, I'd just wait if I were
you.

As to transfer switch adjustability, I guess what you may or may
not be able to adjust would seem to depend on exactly which
one you have. The on/off cycling several times should not have
caused the problem you are having. To burn out the starter it
would have to crank the starter for a long time.

If it makes you feel any better, a neighbor had a $7K Generac that
was about 6 years old fail after 5 hours of hurricane duty. His guy
did come out and the generator itself is cooked, beyond repair.
He's got a whole new one on order. I wonder if these things are
really worth it. With the high cost you also get increased complexity
and more things to fail. And if it does fail, it costs a bundle to
fix.
For $500 or so you can get a breaker panel kit
and a receptacle installed and then use one of the manual start
generators that can be had for $400. I'll bet your yearly service
contract costs more than that. There are applications where
you need it to start automatically, eg where there are critical
loads and no one available to get there in time to start it up.
But for the typical homeowner, I think the expense isn't worth
it.

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

"Way Back Jack" wrote in message . ..
The day that Irene came thru, I didn't lose grid power as such, but did
have a series of outages that lasted 2-3 seconds apiece. Unfortunately,
these were enough to kick on the generator, only to stop a few seconds
later when the grid returned. And so it was on, off; on, off; on, off .....

So now the generator's broken. Battery won't even try to crank. All I get
is a grinding sound. Battery charger still shows a green light, so I
assume that a connection(s) has come loose or some sort of fuse blew.

Any ideas? Also, can this type of thing be fixed by an electrician? I do
have a service contract with the co. that installed the Kohler, and they
really know their business, but they are severely swamped with repair
tickets, which is understandable. Finally, can the automatic transfer
switch be adjusted to keep the generator from kicking on until grid power
has shut down for 10 seconds or so?

Thanks,Jack

To prevent the generator from trying to start in the event of a power outage, there is a switch behind the front panel that you'll
need to flip to the off position.

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

With cars, they have to run for a full minute or more, to
recharge the battery. so, it's likely your generator is
fine, but your starting battery is discharged.

My guess is you can get it going with a jumper pack, or car
and jumper cables. Battery that low, probably permanantly
damaged.

As to setting the sensetivity and timing, not sure about
that.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Way Back Jack" wrote in message
. ..
The day that Irene came thru, I didn't lose grid power as
such, but did
have a series of outages that lasted 2-3 seconds apiece.
Unfortunately,
these were enough to kick on the generator, only to stop a
few seconds
later when the grid returned. And so it was on, off; on,
off; on, off .....

So now the generator's broken. Battery won't even try to
crank. All I get
is a grinding sound. Battery charger still shows a green
light, so I
assume that a connection(s) has come loose or some sort of
fuse blew.

Any ideas? Also, can this type of thing be fixed by an
electrician? I do
have a service contract with the co. that installed the
Kohler, and they
really know their business, but they are severely swamped
with repair
tickets, which is understandable. Finally, can the
automatic transfer
switch be adjusted to keep the generator from kicking on
until grid power
has shut down for 10 seconds or so?

Thanks,Jack

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

Way Back Jack wrote in
:

The day that Irene came thru, I didn't lose grid power as such, but
did have a series of outages that lasted 2-3 seconds apiece.
Unfortunately, these were enough to kick on the generator, only to
stop a few seconds later when the grid returned. And so it was on,
off; on, off; on, off .....

So now the generator's broken. Battery won't even try to crank. All
I get is a grinding sound. Battery charger still shows a green light,
so I assume that a connection(s) has come loose or some sort of fuse
blew.



Try charging the battery. Just like with a car battery, that extended on-
off-on-off cycle can drain the battery very quickly.

Have you used a multimeter to check the battery's voltage across the
battery terminals?


--
Tegger

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

Probably a smaller starting battery than most car batteries,
but the function is the same. High amp, short time use. To
get the motor started, and then the alternator recharges the
battery.

Likely the same result -- never got a chance to recharge.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Tegger" wrote in message
...

Try charging the battery. Just like with a car battery, that
extended on-
off-on-off cycle can drain the battery very quickly.

Have you used a multimeter to check the battery's voltage
across the
battery terminals?


--
Tegger

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

On Sep 7, 6:08*pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
With cars, they have to run for a full minute or more, to
recharge the battery. so, it's likely your generator is
fine, but your starting battery is discharged.

It might be a bad battery, but it's not an issue of it not
running enough to recharge it. These automatic systems
have a charger to keep the battery at full charge using line
AC power when the generator is not being used.
Presumably by now, days later
it's had plenty of time to recharge. He also indicated that
the battery charging indicator showed green, which
usually means the charger believes the battery is
fully charged.

Whatever it is, I agree it sounds like something between
the battery, starter solenoid, and starter.




My guess is you can get it going with a jumper pack, or car
and jumper cables. Battery that low, probably permanantly
damaged.

As to setting the sensetivity and timing, not sure about
that.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

wrote
It might be a bad battery, but it's not an issue of it not
running enough to recharge it. These automatic systems
have a charger to keep the battery at full charge using line
AC power when the generator is not being used.
Presumably by now, days later
it's had plenty of time to recharge. He also indicated that
the battery charging indicator showed green, which
usually means the charger believes the battery is
fully charged.

Whatever it is, I agree it sounds like something between
the battery, starter solenoid, and starter.

Yep, I'd star by cleaning the battery terminals and the cable end on the
starter. A little rain a little corrosion, etc.

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

On Sep 7, 10:47*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
wrote

It might be a bad battery, but it's not an issue of it not
running enough to recharge it. *These automatic systems
have a charger to keep the battery at full charge using line
AC power when the generator is not being used.
Presumably by now, days later
it's had plenty of time to recharge. *He also indicated that
the battery charging indicator showed green, which
usually means the charger believes the battery is
fully charged.

Whatever it is, I agree it sounds like something between
the battery, starter solenoid, and starter.

Yep, I'd star by cleaning the battery terminals and the cable end on the
starter. *A little rain a little corrosion, etc.

This is why I'm happy with my 4kw portable generator. Auto start
switch over gensets are just overkill for a single residential
situation.

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

On Sep 8, 8:03*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Sep 7, 10:47*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:





wrote

It might be a bad battery, but it's not an issue of it not
running enough to recharge it. *These automatic systems
have a charger to keep the battery at full charge using line
AC power when the generator is not being used.
Presumably by now, days later
it's had plenty of time to recharge. *He also indicated that
the battery charging indicator showed green, which
usually means the charger believes the battery is
fully charged.

Whatever it is, I agree it sounds like something between
the battery, starter solenoid, and starter.

Yep, I'd star by cleaning the battery terminals and the cable end on the
starter. *A little rain a little corrosion, etc.

This is why I'm happy with my 4kw portable generator. *Auto start
switch over gensets are just overkill for a single residential
situation.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

That's what I think too. Especially given the cost.
They make sense if you need it to be able to start
up and run when nobody will be available in a
reasonable amount of time to start it. But otherwise
I think a $400 generator, plus an Interlockit panel
kit and a conversion kit to make the generator run
on natural gas makes a very compelling case.
I could put that together for $1000.

Effect Of Short Power Outages On Home Generator (Kohler RES12)
 

Way Back Jack posted for all of us...


The day that Irene came thru, I didn't lose grid power as such, but did
have a series of outages that lasted 2-3 seconds apiece. Unfortunately,
these were enough to kick on the generator, only to stop a few seconds
later when the grid returned. And so it was on, off; on, off; on, off .....

So now the generator's broken. Battery won't even try to crank. All I get
is a grinding sound. Battery charger still shows a green light, so I
assume that a connection(s) has come loose or some sort of fuse blew.

Any ideas? Also, can this type of thing be fixed by an electrician? I do
have a service contract with the co. that installed the Kohler, and they
really know their business, but they are severely swamped with repair
tickets, which is understandable. Finally, can the automatic transfer
switch be adjusted to keep the generator from kicking on until grid power
has shut down for 10 seconds or so?

Thanks,Jack

I think the transfer switch should be adjusted to approximately this spec. and
is what caused your problem so their installation and testing should cover any
costs, especially with their "service contract".

--
Tekkie