did I damage AVR (honda generator) ?

[Ulysses]

I would gather up a bunch of blow dryers and electric heaters and add them up until I got a resistive load about equal to the rated output of the generator head being conscience of equaling distributing the load on both legs of the output and see if it can produce the rated output. If you have a Kill A Watt meter or something that to verify the loads that would be a plus.

Check the oil level. Even if it was recently serviced that does not necessarily mean the oil level is not low. If it is a slanted oil fill hole fill it to where it is almost running out. You can temporarily disconnect the low oil float switch to check for an intermittant problem. It is usually a yellow wire.

Visually check for any wires (probably black) or connectors that might be making contact with ground due to engine vibration.

Sometimes a bad On/Off switch can be intermittant. Most On/Off switches are open while running and connected to ground to turn off the engine. Disconnecting it temporarily (probably a black or brown wire) may help locate an intermittant switch.

Remove the fuel line and check to see if it is flowing easily (use a suitable container to catch the gas, of course). If not remove the fuel filter (if it has one) at the tank shut-off valve and clean it. Honda sometimes uses a filter screen inside the fuel line but probably not on the GX engine.

Check the air filter.

Check the governor to make sure it is moving freely.

Check and regap the spark plug.

Sometimes a bad ingition module will start and run just fine and then suddenly stop. Then it will start again.

If you do all this (what I call routine maintenance) and it stll has problems remove the float bowl from the carburator and check to see if the float is stuck. Sometimes there will be a little burr on the edges of the float pivot that can be gently sanded off. There should be a screw near the bottom of the float bowl for draining out the gas before taking if off. Turn off the fuel supply first, of course.

Are you doing anything such as connecting this generator to an inverter such as an OutBack or Xantrex SW?

Maybe the generator doesn't like your inverter AC. Does it work OK with other comparable loads? None of my microwave ovens work well with any of my generators. Neither do battery chargers.

Is this thing still under warranty?

[aemeijers]

I'll second that- my lawn mower is an off-brand 'Powered by Honda', but it is not a Honda lawnmower. A genuine Honda lawnmower would have cost $700, this one cost $325 or so. Engine has held up great with spotty maintenance and regular abuse. Since there isn't a whole lot else to break on a lawnmower, I figured I would take the risk and save some money.

-- aem sends...

[ransley]

Honda is a good motor, but until recently they only made a commercial unit good for 2-4000 hrs. The GX might be the new homeowner grade, good for maybe 300-800 hours.

[Jack]

the original poster referenced model northstar as sold by notherntool is selling for around 1500 bucks, thought the homeowner grade models were less

[Mark]

did what you suggest above.

noted my Kill a Watt has a max rated watts of 1850 (see reverse side) so it started blinking the wattage display when it hit 2950, generator ran just fine

instead of plugging individual items into the 2-15amp-120v and 2-20amp-120v outlets, I used a heavy duty cord with it's own trip breaker (it is also rated like the Kill A Watt at 1850w) and once power went over 3000 watts, this cord's breaker (not generator) tripped.

again, even at that, the generator was running just fine.

[N9WOS]

I would most likely say that your generator just had a glob of water in the gas tank. It got sucked into the carb and when the motor swallowed it, it choked and died. Or a bit of dirt or varnish may have broke lose and temporarily plugged a carb port. Or an ignition module may be flaky and it quits when it get hot. Or it could be a valve that is sticking a bit because of varnish buildup from disuse. Normally, when you have a direct short, it will trip the breaker. A little bit of a burnt oil/electrical smell is normal on a generator that new. It is just baking out the stuff from the enamel on the coils.

If it puts out proper voltage, just run the dang thing. And run it hard. That will get it cleaned out if it's a water or varnish problem. If it's a ignition coil problem, or oil shut off problem it will become evident with a little hard use.

If the varnish in the carb is really bad, the carb may have to be cleaned.

If it shuts off at a predictable point while warming up, then it's may be a flaky ignition coil.

Also try disconnecting the low oil kill wire. Just because the oil is full, doesn't mean that the switch isn't malfunctioning and killing the engine at random.

And remember. Hard use, as in 5000W or more. Let the engine breath.

And above and beyond all, it could of just been a some water on the spark plug. Yes, it has a plastic gas tank above it, but it is not water proof by a long shot. That type of generator is not designed to be ran in the rain in any way shape or form. In a good rain, that thing will be soaked.

So just run the dang thing and don't worry about it! :-)

[Ulysses]

2-20amp-120v outlets, I

Just so you realize that you have two seperate "legs" and each leg can produce 3300 watts but neither can produce (much) more than that. It is better to balance the loads on both legs.

Since you have a Kill A Watt I'd also check the output voltage and frequency under a moderate load. I tend to adjust my 5000 watt generator to about 120 volts at about 1/2 load which gives me about 63 Hz. I find many appliances run better at the slightly higher frequency mainly because the voltage is higher (I think). Of course there may be some appliances that won't like the frequency being that high and with no load it could run a bit too high so you kinda have to check it a couple of times to make sure you aren't going too far over. If your voltage is a bit low your AC might not like it.

[Ulysses]

Honda is a good motor, but until recently they only made a commercial unit good for 2-4000 hrs. The GX might be the new homeowner grade, good for maybe 300-800 hours.

I've seen some GX engines used commercially with a lot of hours on them. My understanding is that they were rated for about 3500 hours. There are at least three oversize pistons available for the GX and once you bore it out too much you can get a new cylinder or cylinder head and start over. There is also at least one undersized piston rod available.

OTOH the GC series by Honda is an overhead cam affair and is pretty much designed to be thrown away when it wears out. They do, however, seem to last a long time.

I too have a piece of equipment (generator) with a Honda engine. Honda engines are good and all but they have their problems too. In any case the generator head ought to outlast several engines.

[Mark]

so connect two separate items to two separate 20amp outlets and try running

3000w on both?

does the fact that I managed to run off one extension cord 2950w dispel my concern that the voltage regulator may have damage or does it mean nothing since I produced it from just one outlet connection?

the max output is rated at 8000w and running is rated at 6600w

not sure how this is done, please do post some details, if possible specific to the honda gx390

if you read the original details, you will find the ac is an inverter system, converting AC to DC to AC so it does not care what's being input as it conditions the line internally to suit it's own needs - thus, it also has almost no jump in locked rotor amps but starts off with just 1.5amps and very slowly ramps it up from there over several minutes. it also uses max watts of about 700 but I have never seen it go above 350w

[Vaughn Simon]

I already explained to you, a Honda GX390 is a common industrial engine, not a generator.

In other words: your off-brand generator just happens to have a pretty nice Honda GX390 engine.

Vaughn

[ransley]

nditions the

in locked

You now measure 120v that is no load? if so its at 3600 rpm. at the

3000w produced check voltage, even with avr its still likely 115v, your AC may be fine at 115 but it does have an input range, I set my unit above 120 to allow for load drawdown. How good yours controls voltage only you cant test it from no load to full load. Whether 3000w you use is off one leg or split from 220 call Northern. I would run it and test it, having a low oil level sensor shut you down is common.

[Cydrome Leader]

GX IS the commercial grade. There is a more junior series of engines, but they're called something other than GX.

[Tom]

mark did not write anything about 120v but it was in reply to something ulysses "see the >>" wrote

the northstar (as sold by notherntool) pro series have no voltage regulator and have no low oil shutdown.

the voltage and Hz is controlled by capacitors and engine speed. idle voltage is around 125 and decreases at full load/full engine speed to just about 108-112v

[Ulysses]

Well, if you can get that much power from each leg individually then you are probably in good shape.

I'm not sure how it's done either. Since you have some kind of electronic voltage regulator it's different from having an alternator (generator head) that is designed to run at 60 Hz at 3600 rpm and can output higher voltage by increasing the engine speed. Increasing the engine speed also increases the frequency. Perhaps yours cannot be adjusted. I am so used to using the speed control type that I overlooked your voltage regulator. In any case you can still check the output voltage and frequency and see if it looks OK. Generally, from what I've read, most appliances will accept frequency variations within about 2% so that would be about 58.8 Hz to 61.2 Hz. However, I have found 63 Hz to be OK with most things. That is my personal experience so your gadgets may differ. If you find that your voltage is lower than, say, about 117 VAC and your frequency less than 58.8 Hz then I would have the voltage regualtor checked.

conditions the

Most likely the inverter will be either on or off. If the DC input is too low it probably will not come on at all. But inverters can be tricky. I have a Honda eu2000 inverter generator with a worn-out engine. It will start up and come on and output AC but it does not have full power because the engine cannot deliver the full power. If your output voltage from your generator is low then the air conditioner's inverter might not be able to draw enough power to run properly. This all seems very unlikely because of the size of your generator if you are only running the Air Conditioner. If you have all of your appliances running from one leg of your generator then you could simply be overloading it. You seem to have determined that the generator has adequate output. How is it wired to your house or whatever? Do you have each seperate leg of the generator connected to a seperate leg on the house wiring? Are you balancing your loads by having the refrigerator on one leg and the air conditioner on another?

[ransley]

At that price of his unit I dought his unit has anything special in voltage regulation that will do any better than keeping it at less than 5-6v swing, my 7500 Generac with avr is that way. He still needs to manualy make a set point based on load used. 3600 rpm is still

60hz, and varies with rpm. Im sure an adjustment to rpm is easy to do.

[aemeijers]

Y'all got me curious enough to dig out the manuals for my 'power by Honda' MTD push mower. The engine is a GCV190.

GoogleGoogleGoogle

It does appear to be their 'residential' grade, not the commercial one. But it is shown as being the same one used as in their own expen$ive Honda-branded mowers. At 3 hours per mowing cycle, and 20? mowings per year, it already has at least 180 hours on it. It damn well better last more than 300 hours without a major rebuild. No signs of smoking or hard starting so far, knock on sheet metal.

-- aem sends...

[Cydrome Leader]

This is the "best" description of the two series of engines I can find

One's tougher, one's quieter? who knows.

[Ulysses]

That's not even broken in yet ;-) I've had a Honda GC engine last for about 12,000 hours with regular oil changes and a few valve adjustments etc. Another one lasted about 7200 hours. These were both on eu2000 generators with Eco Throttle so they were seldom running at full RPM.

3 hours per mowing cycle? That's a LOT of grass. I think most people probably run their mowers only 15-20 minutes per week and maybe 25 weeks a year. At that rate the cheapest B&S rated for only 300 hours could last well over 30 years.

For the record, Honda told me that the engine for the eu2000 is a GX100. The GX engines are usually overhead valve types with pushrods. The GC engines are overhead cam types with a timing belt and cam. The eu2000 engine has "GCxxxxxxx" stamped on the side and has a drive belt and cam so I don't see how they can say it's a GX.

[Ulysses]

That's a good description but it still leaves me wondering how an engine gets to be called GX instead of GC. They are also saying that there is a 3 HP GX100 that is included in the GX series and that it has an overhead cam and uniblock construction which fits into the GC definition but not the GX..

[ransley]

ut

I read about it, its a different design with internal belt, knowing Honda its good for a long long time.