Hi Alex, before anyone goes flashing anything, I want you to do a couple of resistance tests for me.
The first is the resistance between the two AC output connectors in the top box. Mine reads about 3 ohms.
The second is the resistance between the two slip rings, please insulate the four carbon brushes with pieces of paper as per the photo and then stick your ohm meter probes onto the two rings. Mine shows a resistance of between 0.6 and 0.7 ohms.
The third thing I want you to do is to disconnect one wire from the larger rheostat in the front of the generator. See photo. One of the two wires is connected to neutral and the other is connected to the main windings, we need to know which is which.Please put one of your probes onto a clean bolt or screw on the body of the generator, now touch the other probe onto each of the two wires in turn. One of them should give a reading of 0 ohms, this is the neutral wire. Please mark it with a piece of insulation tape so we know that is the neutral.
Next I want to know the resistance between those two same wires. Mine reads 8.2 ohms.
Please report back with your findings.
Bob