Generator putting out 18 Hz?

[JandKSunshine]

Hello again! Man, I've been running down one problem after the next on this old generator we have. I finally got it running after a no-start and then a broken fuel line. Still need to fix the muffler. But now this:

I got the generator running and hooked up, with power going to the RV. It wouldn't run our AC, though, so I hooked up our surge protector that reads the voltage and frequency and all that.

It says 102 V, 18 Hz.

What could that possibly be? Maybe one side of the AC is dead? I checked the connections at the box, they look good. Could it be the brushes? I'm starting to wonder if I should just start budgeting for a new generator. lol

Again, your help is really appreciated. Thanks!

[MrWizard]

this goes back to the govenor and how fast is it running

is really running only 900 or so RPM ?

or is there an open winding ? in the stator

or just a bad voltage regulator, messing with the sinewave giving a bad reading on the surge guard

plug in a fan or a clock and see what is really going on

a typical box fan is going to run way slow if its really 18hz

[darsben1]

RLS7201 wrote:

darsben1 wrote:
JANDKSUNSHINE Recheck I think you will find the Genny to be a BGE not gbe.

And with that in mind, An Onan Emerald Plus BGE is an 1800 RPM generator. 2 cylinder boxer engine, oil pump and oil filter. So disregard all that info about 3600 RPM generators.
If you don't properly identify the item that failed, all you get is guesses.

Richard

Give the guy the benefit of he is new to RV World. Transposing 2 letters
He could be dyslexic we don't know

[RLS7201]

darsben1 wrote:
JANDKSUNSHINE Recheck I think you will find the Genny to be a BGE not gbe.

And with that in mind, An Onan Emerald Plus BGE is an 1800 RPM generator. 2 cylinder boxer engine, oil pump and oil filter. So disregard all that info about 3600 RPM generators.
If you don't properly identify the item that failed, all you get is guesses.

Richard

[darsben1]

JANDKSUNSHINE Recheck I think you will find the Genny to be a BGE not gbe.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

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[MEXICOWANDERER]

In generator lingo ???-turn (two pole) 3,600 RPM

18-turn (four poles) 1,800 RPM

12-turn (six poles) 1,200 RPM

Below a 55 Hz (cornering frequency) many regs wll go intermittent meaning their signal to the field isn't continuous.

Even a cheap multimeter will have Hz. And I sure would trust it more than a "meter" on some line monitor device.

When an suspicious value is offered I immediately suspect the measuring device until its measurement can be corroborated with another device.

34 years ago when I assembled a Kubota to a Kato generator, I had a miserable time finding a 12 turn power head that was a 12-turn. And to think anything under 12.5 Kw was available in a 12-turn would have been a pipe dream.

[SaltiDawg]

OP deleted as post causing confusion. lol

[MrWizard]

Yes but time it with another clock
Do not use a digital on the generator, need a motorized clock
Ten minutes then shut off generator and check the clock plugged into generator

[SaltiDawg]

OP deleted as post causing confusion. lol

[MrWizard]

The brushes on the rotor slip rings control current and voltage to the rotor which controls output voltage
Nothing to do with Hz, that is strictly rotation speed which is controlled by the governor
Only one winding in the rotor
The stator winding are the poles
One runs at 3600 rpm
Two runs st 1800 rpm
Three runs at 1200 rpm

I have never seen a gas RV Onan three pole 1200, rpm model,
I'm not going to claim they were never made, just i have never seen one

To get 18 Hz you need a dead winding in a two pole running at about half speed, just above half speed

[Gjac]

Do you have a mechanical governor like on a lawn mower or a electronic governor board? On my Kohlar it has a governor board with a pot that can be adjusted to get the right hertz reading.

[wa8yxm]

It may be your meter.. Can you determine the rotational speed of the engine.

It should be 3600/N RPM (iE 1200, 1800, or 3600 RPM) if so I'd suspect the meter

[Hank_MI]

MrWizard wrote:
i think your surge protector is out of whack

18 hz just slightly above 1/5 of speed,
is your generator really running at only 800 rpm ? normal speed is 3600rpm big big difference, way beyond { i think its running slow } more like "it barely runs and voltage is 50v"

now IF one pole in the windings was dead (2) pole generator
full speed would show 30hz and halve speed 1800 rpm would show 15hz

yes vltage islow and speed probably needs adjustment

just plug in a box fan or something and see how fast it turns or doesn't
that will give you a working idea of whats going on

Is it a 2 pole or 3? I thought they were 3 pole but don't know for sure. If 3 pole with corroded brushes, contacts I could see 18 HZ.

[JandKSunshine]

Cool, thanks, everyone! That definitely helps, I'll start looking at those tomorrow. I thought I posted the model, but I guess not. darsben1 got me, though, Thanks! It's a Onan Emerald Plus 4000 (GBE-k).