[mufungo]

Hello,
My problem is this,I was given a new portable generator by my father-in-law.He bought a new generator from Max tool.com and it turned out to be no good (the one he gave me). I set up his generator to backfeed his service(residential application) in times for when the power goes out.Unfortunately the first time he hooked it up and used it,it knocked out some lights,fridge,circulator for boiler and some smaller low voltage stuff.
My fault for not checking the legs on the 30 amp 220 receptacle,but hey you figure it's brand new; write? Anyway he calls Maxtool and they ship him a new generator no questions asked,the new one is fine so he gave me the bad one which is new.
Well here's the problem finally,on the 30 amp twist lock I check the two hot legs and find out one is 175 volts and the other is 75 volts +/- no good for residential back-up power,but together gives 240v the 110-120volt recpts. Have 80v on the hot leg and 40+/-on the neutral(ng) but will run a drill, lite etc... I figure it could be voltage reg/stabilizer.
I research the generator and find out it's made in china (Jiangsu Jiangdong group) tried to contact them no luck,tried maxtool no luck;probily because I did not purchase it from them.Here are some numbers off the generator- No:050104543 Code:JD389161201
On motor JF390 and what I believe is the voltage regulator/stabilizer 5kw /50 hz circled W 200502.This is all I have to work with,I would love to get this running properly,like I said it's bran new. Thanks in advance and sorry for the mini novel I just thought the more info the better CHUCK..

[cyberslider]

It sounds to me the generator is miss wired unless you have shorted windings the generator should also be turning fast enough to give 60 hz for 50 Hz is European power

[mplatin]

Have you gotten anywhere with your generator problem? I recently purchased a 6750 watt generator when our power was out for 3 days. It worked everything well except for the gas furnace. The furnace initiated and then gave an error code related to the voltage. When measuring the voltage across the generator I get about 140v but also can measure 50v between the ground and neutral. I don't get it. Any ideas?

[labman]

Have you gotten anywhere with your generator problem? I recently purchased a 6750 watt generator when our power was out for 3 days. It worked everything well except for the gas furnace. The furnace initiated and then gave an error code related to the voltage. When measuring the voltage across the generator I get about 140v but also can measure 50v between the ground and neutral. I don't get it. Any ideas?

There was a similar furnace won't run on the generator question a week or 2 ago, I think in the Heating and Cooling forum. I am afraid there wasn't an answer.

How did you connect your generator to the furnace? I have a 6250 watt one and have been looking for a reasonably priced, legal way to connect it into my house wiring.

[newaukumdon]

Have you gotten anywhere with your generator problem? I recently purchased a 6750 watt generator when our power was out for 3 days. It worked everything well except for the gas furnace. The furnace initiated and then gave an error code related to the voltage. When measuring the voltage across the generator I get about 140v but also can measure 50v between the ground and neutral. I don't get it. Any ideas?

Engine speed is able to control voltage, load the generator up and check voltage. Adjust engine speed on carburetor (for info on this process post engine type) to maintain proper voltage. I believe the way you are measuring voltage between ground and nuetral is wrong, just keep the volt meter between line and nuetral on 110-V and the two lines on 240-V.

The dangers with back feeding are evident when someone does it and does it wrong, they wire the cord wrong and hook one leg of 240 to the black and one leg to white on a 110-Volt outlet. This will read 60-v on one leg and approximatley 60-V on the other. The danger is as I understand is sending voltage back through the non-breakered nuetral.

This is done very often and scares the heck out of linemen.
Regards,
Don

[tkrussell]

Sorry but the best I can offer is I can tell you the voltage outputs are extremely out of proper tolerance. I am a building and utility electrican and cannot speculate as to the problem with the generator, but it clearly needs servicing or repair by an authorized generator dealer or repair shop.

[mplatin]

Thanks for the help so far. It seems that I am not the only one with this generator issue. I talked to the generator company and they acted as if they had heard about this problem many times before. They recommended a power conditioner ($200) from another company. As to how I hooked up my furnace, there are several ways. But my power was out and the most quick at that time was to open the switch on the furnace and wire directly into the furnace, bypassing the home electrical input but leaving the ground attached.

[newaukumdon]

Because engine speeds control voltage and cycles generators are notorious for causing problems with voltge sensitive appliances. HONDA sells theirs with an electronic AVR Automatic voltage regulator. The new generator technology is inverter, they produce DC voltage and invert it to AC this gives a very good sine wave as well as good clean voltage.

The generator you describe is a very good contractor generator designed to run drill motors, air compressor, or any number of tools that are not as voltage critical.

$200.00 is probably considerably less than a new HONDA of that size.
Regards,
Don

[mplatin]

Thanks for the info. I know about the Honda and the invertor technology. I have a friend with the 3kw unit and he loves it. But it cost $1800. I have since spoken to others who are having a similar issue with their generator and furnace, including my UPS man today. I am hoping for good luck with the power conditioner. By the way, my generator has a 13 horse Honda engine.

[Morrowrj]

"The dangers with back feeding are evident when someone does it and does it wrong, they wire the cord wrong and hook one leg of 240 to the black and one leg to white on a 110-Volt outlet. this will read 60-v on one leg and approximatley 60-V on the other. The danger is as I understand is sending voltage back through the non-breakered nuetral.

This is done very often and scares the heck out of linemen. "

Since your neutral is grounded at your entrance this scenario would be impossible. The issue with true back-feeding is when a homeowner installs a generator to tie into their service but does NOT install a set of disconnects to isolate them from the incoming line from the utility company. In this event the generator will attempt to energize the dead line that a utility worker may be working on. Also if your generator is running when your electric company restores service it would more than likely be damaged.

[newaukumdon]

Thank you for the clarification about the nuetral. Transfer switch good, back feeding bad.
Regards and merry Xmas

[doogie318]

Hello all,

I asked pretty much the same question in another forum, but well, anyway...

I was recently working with two NEW 6KW generators, that had approximately the same V difference between Hot and Ground, and Neutral and Ground that were mentioned here. I haven't gotten a chance to attack the local seller of the generators, which I was told were very expnsive for the size, but plan to.

On another note, I have a McCulloch 5.7K ($500.00 generator) that reads as perfectly as can be asked at all of the outlets. I expected better out of the name and price of a Honda, and will let you know what I find as well.

Oh, and after being scared s*&$less, I decided to plug in a HP LJ-4 printer (blow up the cheapest first) and it it worked fine. I then went on to the 3 laptops, and they also survived, but the APC SmartUPS 800's I wanted on the laptops, and satellite modem, and Linksys routers refused to turn on with a "building wiring fault" light. NO, I wasn't plugging the printer into the UPS. And all cords were definitely heavy enough for the load. Even with no load, I got the same readings. My SmartUPS at home was more than happy to play with my yellow McCullough as well.

(Did I read someone mention the word 'Chinese'?? )

[neutralguy]

There is no neutral wire in your generator. They come this way. Don't know why. I dug into mine and added the neutral. Voltages balanced and everything works fine.

[brasil]

Thank you for all your posts. We purchased a generator from Maxtools.com and was shipped a defective generator. After many tries to get a Tech Support person to help us, I was told that the model XP4400 was defective and they would ship us a voltage regulator to fix the problem. I am still waiting for the company to resolve this problem to no avail. Now they want us to ship the generator back to them at our cost to repair it and return it back to us. They have the worst Customer Service Department! I paid for a brand new generator that works NOT a defective one that needs repairing!

[Peter_Noble]

Hi, I'm really surprised nobody has pinpointed the problem. I suspect it is simply that your generator like most portable generators is wired floating live and neutral whereas you house wiring will be referenced to earth. This means that on a portable generator there is no connection between the neutral and earth wires whereas a domestic supply has the earth and neutral wires tied together. Thus for domestic wiring you will always measure 240V between neutral and live and between earth and live but 0v between neutral and earth. If you have connected your generator to the house wiring in such a way that the tie between eart and neutral is eliminated then the supply will float and all sorts of kit that relies on the voltage between live and earth will end up confused. Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to visit my generator discussion blog by visiting www.petepower.co.uk regards Pete

[capuchino]

Hello. My problem is this I got a generator 3 years ago and I used just one time for 3 days now Im living in New Hampshire and we have 2 days with out power so I try to run my generator and it was running and run BUT the power DID NOT run out of the outlet so PLEASE HELP ME to fix this problem

[Peter_Noble]

Hi, chances are that your generator rotor has lost its residual magnetism. This can often be remedied just by giving it a quick rev. It could also have dirty slip rings if it is an AVR controlled machine. Search for Petepower generators on Google and at the bottom of the first page on my site you will find some links to a few simple fault finding videos that might help you get to the bottom of it, regards Pete

[DG]

Take it to a small engine shop , and have them FLASH it .
Luck