bs1550 genrator problems

[Jaronimo]

Does anyone have any experience fixing generators or diagnosing the case of a problem?

I have a BS1550 porter cable 5500 watt generator with a briggs and stratton 10 hp engine. It works somewhat well with small loads, but after a few hours the voltage starts to drift up. If I put a big load on it, like my well pump kicking on, then the genrator slows way down and the voltage drops. I can manually pull on the rod to the carb and it speeds up and increases the voltage. I am able to keep the voltage in the right range by looking at the multimeter i connected to it and can get water pumped to fill a bathtub. Would like to see it do this automatically.

I pulled the generator and popped open the crankshaft housing and found the governor gear was broken. I replaced that. but it looks like there is another problem. Voltage regulator bad? Not sure.

Anyone have any ideas for me?

 

[theoldwizard1]

Does anyone have any experience fixing generators or diagnosing the case of a problem?

I have a BS1550 porter cable 5500 watt generator with a briggs and stratton 10 hp engine. It works somewhat well with small loads, but after a few hours the voltage starts to drift up.

Up? From where to where ?

In general, most non-inverter generators do voltage regulation via the mechanical governor. Not incredibly accurate, but good enough.

Non-inverter generators seem to hold voltage better when they have a load of at least 10% of their capacity.

If I put a big load on it, like my well pump kicking on, then the generator slows way down and the voltage drops.

What does it drop down to ?

If it is still doing this after fixing the governor, there is something still wrong with the governor. Missing spring, rod in incorrect hole, etc.

You might be interested in one of these.

 

[kunkernator]

Please tell me you are not doing all this today and you need the generator for the hurricane.

Has your generator been doing this for a while? Or have you just recently started it up for the first time in a long time?

 

[snowman1981]

double check the parts around the govenor. i had a spring that some how broke or came unhooked and caused a problem on my coleman.

 

[Jaronimo]

The voltage drops from 225 to about 80 volts when the pump kicks on and stays there unless i manually control it.

Yes, I am working on it today. Hopefully I am not going to need it. It has been sitting for a while.

I have a bigger unit ordered, it just happens to be on its way, but might now show up for 4-5 days.

 

[Jaronimo]

I checked all the parts around the governor, and even messed with the adjustments to no avail. Oh well, guess we will only have a few lights if we lose power.

 

[Burtonrider10022]

What size is your pump? Even a moderately sized sump pump can spoke to over 5.5kW on start up.

Are you running anything else at the same time as the well pump?