need to flash generator often??

[charliehd]

  My instruction book says         run the generator up to about     half speed   then put 12   volts to it    When the amp or volt meter shows juice         then run it at the recomeded speed

[BruceM]

Jimmer- I'm sorry.  I got the poster mixed up.  My vision is not up to par.  It was "Middle of Nowhere" who posted:  "WTF is "flashing" a generator? I've never heard of that."  I assumed his WTF was re: "Flashing".

Chris- is your generator head near any strong AC fields (power co.)?  This would include motors or (even small) transformers, and other high current devices.  This could also gradually weaken the residual magnetism. 

Bruce M

[Doug]

There is a couple of ways that often work.

Simply giving a static rotor a poke with 12 or 24 volts will often work.
Spinning at rated speed with 12 or 24 will probably be enough to boots trap, but not always.
Zeke has a very stuborn head that required nearly full field current at rated speed for a while to finaly snap back to life ( and this is very odd ).

This is something I probably shouldn't post but it does work. This was my first in a list of dirty tricks to snap generators back to life. But you can easily cause a leathal accident this way.

Quote charliehd:
"I have seen Generators flashed since I was a young  kid       I'm  now      72         YOU        KIDDS"

Thats not old, you make it sound like you fart dust

[cschuerm]

Thanks to everyone for the comments.  To answer the question about external magnetic fields: I do have lots of weird stuff in my shop that makes large fields, but nothing close enough to have any affect on this head.
Fortunately, my generator trailer has a full DC system, so I've just installed a permanent "flash" switch in my control panel.  I may go ahead and install a circuit to auto-flash the ST head whenever I bring the DC charging bus online if I find myself with some spare time and a bunch of enthusiasm (like that's likely to occur!).

FYI: I've purchased and installed a Conzerv EM6459 power meter in my control panel and feel that it's a nice bit of hardware for the money.  Displays leg to neutral voltage, leg to leg voltage, current per leg, frequency, power factor, RPM, and a number of other handy items.  Darn cheap for what it does at $250.  One really cool feature is that it has an RS-485 communication port using the MODBUS protocol.  I've installed a Proface touchscreen panel with a spread-spectrum radio link between my house and my shed so that I can remotely monitor everything.
here's the URL for the Conzerv device: http://www.powermeterstore.com/p3781/em_6459_(1_0).php

cheers,
Chris

[rl71459]

So... From the post's... all that matters is you get the polarity right... It does'nt matter if its spinning or not.
I will stay with an isolated head unless someone tells me different.

Thanks to all who posted
Rob

[sanchez]

hi,

the first thing to do when you have a remain loss is to check the insulation resistance, to do so, you will need a megohmeter. the problem looks like a current filtration from the rotor winding to earth, the filtration drain the exitation current and avoid the exitation shunt buid-up, if you don't have the megger, you can use a 110 volts lamp instead.

with the lamp: take the brushes off, connect a potential 110 Volts to the slip ring one lamp socket lead to neutral and touch the rotor shaft with the other lamp socket lead, you are connectin the lamp in series with the generator insulation, if the lamp turn on (even dimmed) the insulation have a filtration and may be produced by moisture, is easy to fix it, heating the generator in an oven to 110 celsius degrees per 3 hours and check again.

[rocketboy]

2 ST heads, 4 years, never had to flash either one. Sometimes they sit for months between runs. Good luck.


Bob

[Doug]

Modbus and a Listeroid now I have heard it all.....

I have a Modicon 984-145 rack and I/O ( with selection based on need ) with MB and MB+ along with a TCP brand HMI interface.

Both come with software programing cables and some MB+ data cable for sale or prefered swap....

[cschuerm]

>Doug wrote:
> Modbus and a Listeroid now I have heard it all.....

Yeah, I know...I know.... I just couldn't help myself.  I do control/automation/telemetry systems as a living and it just bled over to my hobby.  At least there's someone else here who knows what that is though :-)
In my defense, I've managed to avoid actually putting a PLC on my rig (so far...I've come up with plenty of reasons to though).

cheers,
the greasy geek

[Doug]

In my defence I am trying to get rid of some ( PLCs and automation ).....

Lots of people here with a technical background know what you are talking about. But its a case of No one wants to think about it at home lol.