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Is your generator dead - Read this tip I learned today...
A few years back I grabbed an old honda 5000w generator that was out of my fathers 1992 Hallmark trailer when he sold the trailer. Since Atco and Raceway always offered recepticals I dont think he ever used it once as the tank was bone dry, the oil is clean and the plug appeared new. Upon getting coffe this morning I couldnt help but notice the lies of traffic at the gas stations and the parking lot was full at sears. I'm pretty good about keeping supplies in my house so I failed to get as excited as the rest of society but I figured I would try and start the generator just in case. Maybe it would come in handy. I put gas in it and it fired up on the 5th or 6th pull but when I went to plug my drop light into the receptical there was no power. I played with the breaker and cant find any reset buttons, for about a hour I was testing various wires for current and got nothing so I googled it. Heres a very interesting tip I learned this morning.
If generators sit too long the Stator loses magnitisim. To restore magnitisim or to "polorize" a generator run the generator and plug in a drill to the receptical and while holding the drill switch on spin the chuck back and forth as fast as you can. After about the 5th turn mine started producing electricity. I couldnt believe it worked. I have never in my life heard of that beforte. I was amazed. I figured the generator was toast and was almost ready to toss it. It seems the drill acts as motor when spun and shocked the stator enough to get things operating again. I also learned that you should run a generator at least once a year with a load on it for 15-20min to reenergize the stator.
I just figured I would share this info as it may help someone else out some day when you are freezing in a blizzard you will remember that post in that back of your brain and say "hey.. I know how to fix this"
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