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How To: Marine Electrical Seminar - AC & DC Generator Troubleshooting - Episode 26

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[Music]  you  [Music]  okay troubleshooting quickly a generator  and this is a good one and I'm not I'm  not gonna spend - not everyone has a  generator but what's really interesting  is a generator has a breaker on the  output side of the generator right here  that breaker is not always an easy to  reach place and if you have a generator  you might not realize that you have it  there so your generators running I'm not  talking about the generator not running  if it's not running you're not gonna be  running your ECU loads that's a  mechanical problem right clearly so  there's two sides to it - a AC generator  problem there's like it doesn't start  which could be an electrical problem or  doesn't run properly  that's a mechanical problem if it  doesn't start at all it's probably  electrical and then it's just a starter  problem that's pretty easy but if it's  running and you don't have output then  the problem is potentially right here on  the breaker your source selector switch  believe it enough will die then I see  them fail all the time especially older  boats  30 years old boat we see them fail all  the time so this device over here fails  and you generally when they're out there  I say throw the switch Hartley literally  move it like aggressively so you're  trying to move the contacts over move  the contacts really hard and I've done  that in a couple Vikings you know older  boats really gorgeous boats but you know  they're older and that source selector  switch is kind of like the contacts are  kind of giving away so you throw it hard  throw it hard again and then it  eventually goes and they say next time  you're in town let's go through the pain  when these things are expensive on the  big boats you can be grand two grand  so that's source selector switch and  then the other issue could be then  especially if you have a good AC panel  and you want a good AC panel you want to  see what the volts coming in are you  want to see that the volts stay steady  as you load up the generator right  because that's part of the regulator  inside of this device is that as you  load up more things it's actually  meeting demand right and you'll be able  to see that by looking at the voltage on  this device so on your AC panel this  tells you what the output of their  generator is right because it's looking  at voltage from this device so that's  basically  you troubleshoot your little well not  your little your generate doesn't matter  the size it could be five k-dub or it  could be a twenty-eight k-dubb kW  doesn't matter but the big issue what do  we see with generators is generally  around here on the AC output or the  source selector switch that magic wand  from Home Depot that's ten dollars would  be a great tool besides this you don't  even need to because I mean AC you got  to start like freak out if you're not  freaking out it's because ignorance is  bliss and it's not bliss like you're  running decided generator it's maybe  outputting to twenty like you are not  disabling and playing with this live  right so what you could do at least is  if you have a magic wand  you could go your generator and you go  go five four feet from the generator and  see if you have output on the AC wire if  you do write you didn't even have to  dissemble anything everything is still  completely shielded everything is you're  not disconnecting anything you're going  holy yeah I got output here and then you  go here and you go on the output of this  and you go I don't have anything here oh  the problem is my source selector switch  right because with AC you got to tread  lightly right it's very dangerous  DC generators look how easy it is right  there's nothing in between there's a lot  of moving parts on a generator before it  gets to a battery right a lot of  different parts but on a DC generator  it's pretty straightforward gentleman in  the back right here yeah so you notice  that you had a switch on your output  side right it's probably for servicing  to be honest I was thinking about it  earlier he has a switch here right and  that switch is probably for servicing if  you're ever working on the generator you  want to disconnect the generator from  power  you can either disconnect the fuse or  probably for serviceability they put a  switch in there but that's what should  never ever ever ever be disconnected  when the generator is running so it can  be off when you start won't break  anything because it's just simply not  going to do anything but you can't  disconnect the generator from the  battery when it's working it's funny in  Australia when I talked to our  technicians that are Aussie I'm using  the word switch they never used the word  switch which I kind of like they're  telling me what the purpose is like I'm  like I want you to install a switch  between the battery and the panel oh  they're like oh you mean a service  disconnect they don't even use the word  switch and they're actually naming what  they're doing with the device all the  time right which is great because then  you're not Eve everything oh I don't  need a switch like people say well I  don't need a switch on my inverter  because I have one on the panel like oh  no you need a service disconnect okay  sure  right and so they're actually naming all  the devices with the appropriate name  and I kind of like that  so that's any questions on generators on  in terms of troubleshooting I'm not  talking about the mechanical side I am  definitely no mechanic all right    

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How To: Marine Electrical Seminar

How To: Marine Electrical Seminar - Battery Isolators - Episode 11

How To: Marine Electrical Seminar

How To: Marine Electrical Seminar – Introduction - Episode 1

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How To: Marine Electrical Seminar – External Regulator - Episode 6

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