Generator or A/C problem?

[avazquez]

Yesterday I ran my old Entec/Kubota 6kw generator and when I tried to run my air conditioner, fan would run but compressor makes some starting noise but stays huming and dies. Everything else seems to run fine (water heater, batt charger, bread toaster) and the generator voltage dial reads 120v. But when I checked the ground to hot voltage on one of the receptacles it read 55volts and the hot to neutral 113volts.

The generator is very old and has a running capacitor to maintain voltage I guess? About six months ago I replaced the E/G capacitor because the dial was reading about 90volts and after replacing it, it came up to the correct voltage (120). Worked fine until yesterday.

Could it be the generator windings, a bad capacitor in the air conditioner, any ideas???

[avazquez]

any ideas?

[svHyLyte]

Last year we had a similar problem with out 4.2Kw genny. It proved to be a bad capacitor. In our case the controller box has 3 capacitors. Two that evidently stabilize the voltage and a 3rd to maintain the voltage when a heavy load is applied. For whatwever reason, the fellow that installed our system installed the controller box in a sideways rather than vertical position which led to the failure of the capacitors. It seems they are filled with oil and have tiny vent hole on the tops to allow air to escape when they get heated up. Mounted sideways, the oil was able to leak out. Only a small amount but enough to cause the capacitors to fail. The boys at Panda picked up on the problem right away--"Is your controller mounted vertically?". Fortunately remounting the controller and replacing the capacitors was not unduly costly but it was a pain in the neck, eh?

Good luck and happy New Year.

s/v HyLyte

[GordMay]

I don't know.

Is there any voltage Neutral to Ground?

What is the voltage when trying to start Air-Con?

Did you replace the control panel, back in 2007?
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Entec Corporation
PO Box 94242, Seattle, WA 98124
Tel: 206-624-2169

[avazquez]

Gord,

In 07 we did not replace the control panel. We were able to figure it out. I just came back to the marina and everything run well with shore power even the a/c. So evidently it seems like there is something wrong with the generator. Yes there were 55 volts between neutral to ground.

[CharlieJ]

There should be a N-G bond at the genset. So that is at least one problem.