"Fore'Play" or Re'exciting your power plant

**Sourdough** · 07-17-2012, 12:05 PM

So prepper do you know how to Re-Excite your Survival Generator............????

**hunter63** · 07-17-2012, 12:49 PM

Dinner and flowers are nice, .......but liquor is quicker.

That aside, sorry couldn' resist.....care to expand a bit?

**wildWoman** · 07-17-2012, 12:53 PM

SD, you're supposed to be pulling the generator's cord, and not...never mind

**crashdive123** · 07-17-2012, 12:54 PM

Sounds like there might be too much ethanol in the tank.

**Rick** · 07-17-2012, 02:19 PM

Yes and it's a pain in the arse. That's one of the reasons you need to test your generator at least monthly. You have to wire three 60 watt light bulbs in series, maintain the polarity and plug the the AC line into the house current and into the generator while it's running. You need to have a male plug on each end of the wire, too. Just run the thing monthly and you won't have to worry about it.

We had a commercial generator in all of our offices. The size of the gen depended on the size of the office but they HAD to be run monthly. The bigger they were the quicker they would de-magnetize.

Just letting them sit is not good.

**crashdive123** · 07-17-2012, 02:54 PM

I do think however that ole Sourdough is referring to something else. What keeps us motivated to do what we do? How do we keep the internal fires burning to continue on the path to preparedness that we follow.

For me, it's simple. I don't obsess over it, and I don't let it consume me, but I refuse to be a victim. I do what I can to see my family and I through to that end. It has become a lifestyle for me, and one that allows me to do things that I enjoy. I believe it is all about having a realistic list of possible threats that have been ranked or prioritized. Once the things highest on the list have been covered, then the lower priority things can be tackled. I think the key is being honest about what I believe the threats are and staying informed. Ten years ago, something like this would not have been on my radar http://www.news4jax.com/news/Flash-m...z/-/index.html Situational awareness has to be something that we all pay attention to regardless of where we are - in the forest - or in town.

**Sourdough** · 07-17-2012, 03:05 PM

Generators have a condensor and it can loose its stored charge, and you may need to Re-excite it with a 9-volt battery. There is a pop-off panel at the end of the unit with a probes for re-exciting. It is to possable to re-excite it so that the armature turns the wrong way. Read your owners manual or look it up on-line for your manufacture.

**crashdive123** · 07-17-2012, 03:11 PM

I guess I totally misread this one. My apologies.

**Sourdough** · 07-17-2012, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

I guess I totally misread this one. My apologies.

What happens is the motor will start and run just fine, but when you plug it in it provides NO juice. (Sady a lesson I learned at -23* below).

**Rick** · 07-17-2012, 06:04 PM

You have to do it with the same voltage and frequency that the gen puts out. I've never seen a 9V battery do it and mine can't be re-excited that way. Not saying it won't on any, I've just never run into it. The 240V will often require that both 120V receptacles be re-excited since there are two windings for the 120V. You can re-excite one and still have 0 voltage on the other.

Check the owner's manual is good advice. If you must use the same voltage and frequency that means commercial power. If you wait until your power is out and you find out your gen doesn't put out any voltage you're hosed.

How long had then gen been sitting?

**randyt** · 07-17-2012, 06:30 PM

another way is to start the genny then plug a drill motor into the 120 volt duplex. Then pull the trigger with one hand and then spin the chuck with the other. It will introduce voltage into the gennys winding and it will start charging. I have to do it with my kubota often. Of course be careful because when it starts producing power the drill motor starts spinning.

**randyt** · 07-17-2012, 06:36 PM

here's a link to a thread about it.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ight=generator

**Rick** · 07-17-2012, 07:24 PM

This is a great thread. Something that a lot of folks never think about. The 9V and the drill method are two methods I've never heard of. Sounds simple and quick. A lot quicker than the crap we did to keep them running. We had three or four in the warehouse that were only used occasionally so they were almost always crapped out. I think a line hammer was used a time or two but to no avail.

**randyt** · 07-17-2012, 07:31 PM

the nice thing about the drill method is that there are no panels to take off or such to access the innards. Just plug it in and spin the chuck. I'm really wondering if there is more of a permanent fix for my kubota.