CapnCampn wrote:
New starter rope installed!
Ok, I measured voltage on each leg of the 240V plug, one is 125.5, one is 120.5 or 119.5 - I can't remember. Using a true RMS meter if it matters.
I also tried spraying carb cleaner (Berryman's B12) into the air cleaner while it was running normally & when stumbling - I couldn't detect any real change in the motor when I did it.
So then I tried starting fluid, and it would keep it running if I gently misted it periodically while it was trying to die, but it never really perked up all the way.
I also pulled the carburetor bowl drain & turned on the fuel shutoff, it flows about 3oz per minute, so I think it's got a good fuel flow into the carb.
Based on what I'm reading above, it sounds like it is what it is, and I'm running out of tests.
CC
Yeah, that 5V difference between the to 120V windings is something to be concerned about. You could try Champion tech support and give them this information of the two voltages being off by 5V to see if they think this is the problem.
My 8KW 240/120V gen I use for my whole house is dead on with both 120V windings having the same voltage of about 120V unloaded.
I would expect not more that a few tenths of a volt between the two windings at the most..
5V is a 4% difference, not sure if I figured correctly but that would be about 140W-150W being wasted and that would not include the extra amperage the AVR will be putting back into the field windings on the rotor..
Keep in mind, this is pretty much the same idea as if you would take a PM (Permanent Magnet) DC motor and connect the leads together and shorting it.. That motor now becomes a "brake" and makes it difficult to impossible to turn easily.
I would suggest while in the 240/120V mode put one heater on one of the 15A outlets, wait for engine to stabilize, then add the second heater to the OTHER 15A outlet.
IF the gen does not bog down and handles both heaters in the 240/120V mode(one on each 120V winding) then you can safely say that there is most likely a shorted winding causing your issue.
Secondary thing, I did notice after searching around for Champion info, seems that Champion did have a weak governor spring setup that can cause some issues..
Typically though the light/weak governor spring will cause engine hunting when under NO LOAD and smooth out under heavier loads..
However, IF the governor is not working or working correctly, it may not open the throttle fast enough or any under heavy loads. This can cause the engine to bog down and not recover.
You can test that idea when adding one heater, the engine should bog slightly (lose a little speed) then quickly recover back to regular speed.
If engine slows even under one heater load and never recovers the governor may not be working correctly. You can also manually open the throttle a bit to see if you can rev the engine a bit while under load.
Since adding the second heater is causing it to just bog and shut down, you don't have anything to lose by manually opening the throttle a bit to see if you can recover the lost RPMS under load..
If you can recover with bot loads by manually opening the throttle, you have nothing to lose by tightening the governor spring..
