Northern Light 6.5Kw generator not generating power

[Ericson38]

Join this forum and check out their documentation-

http://boatdiesel.com/Generators/Nor...ern-Lights.cfm

[Group9]

Flashing the field is the first thing to try. That happened to my Northern Lights one time. It cost me $250 to have someone come out and do it, and he said he felt bad because I could have done it myself for nothing.

The directions on how to do it are in my manual and after having watched someone do it, I would try that before I spent any money.

He explained that generators just lose their magnetism some times. He said he had seen diesel generators on oil rigs run for years. Then one day they turned it off and it lost the field and then it didn't' do it again for several more years after he came out and flashed it for them.

[jkangas]

Oops. Already replied.

[Dsanduril]

With the caveat that this may be from a different generator, and you should call NL for specific procedures, this is from an NL manual I have:

FIELD FLASHING
Restoring Residual Magnetism
(not applicable on PMG equipped generators)
To restore residual magnetism to the generator, connect a
12 volt battery to the exciter field while the generator using
the following procedure:

1. Shutdown the generator set. Remove the exciter field
leads F+ and F- from the regulator

CAUTION:
Failure to remove the exciter field leads from the
automatic voltage regulator during flashing
procedures may destroy the regulator.

2. Connect the F+ and F- leads to the battery’s
corresponding positive and negative terminals. This
should be done using an appropriate length of lead wire
to separate the battery from the point of connection
(batteries may explode when exposed to an electric arc).
After 3 to 5 seconds, remove the F- lead. An inductive
arc should result. If no arc is drawn, repeat the
procedure.

3. Reconnect the F+ and F- leads to the regulator. Restart
the generator and verify that terminal voltage is
developed. If terminal voltage does not develop, repeat
the field flashing procedure and / or consult the trouble
shooting section.

If flashing doesn't work I would suspect a capacitor in the AVR circuit, I have seen many of those fail on boat generators, should cost about $20-30 to get a replacement.