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Anyone know of Generator repair forum?

I see all of this talk of 220V circuits. Where in the US is 220V a distribution norm? Our nominal residential distribution voltages are 120 and 240V RMS. My line voltage monitor shows 127VRMS at the outlet this system is plugged into.
 
Carryover from Canada, in the old days. It was referred to as 110V / 220V and that's how I learned it. Yes, 110 volts is long gone, but the information lives on in my head. Today, my voltage is 121 RMS, because it is overcast, but during sunny days local voltage pushes to 129.

On the other hand, at my shop I see 208V as "normal", due to three-phase power there, and had to re-wire my wife's kiln to make it work better. It was too cool, otherwise.

So, 220 or 240 or 208... "bigger than normal" :)
 
I remember working on plant equipment that operated from 110VAC, 25 Hz. We even had some 50VAC, 25 Hz gear. Mostly pre-war stuff. Motors and transformers used a lot of iron. Before WWII, the US had a real crazy-quilt of "standards".
 
Some batteries can drop significant voltage if there is a large load on them, so the battery might not be bad at 8.9V if there is a huge current draw.
 
Some batteries can drop significant voltage if there is a large load on them, so the battery might not be bad at 8.9V if there is a huge current draw.
It's very common on batteries that have been on trickle-charge for years--the plates get sulfated with the internal resistance rising. Although there are lots of YT "fixes" for sulfated batteries, none are worth much. Replacing the battery is really the only cure.
 
Ok. After a few hours on 10am power charge and a night of trickle charging inside (where its warmer) I tried the original Battery with another battery. I figured two mediocre batteries together should give it enough to start:

Ok IT wasnt that easy. After about 5 attempts.. And this thing hasnt run in a long time so I know the propane would need to be primed. I took out the spark plug, cleaned and gapped it and shot in some starter fluid. IT took a couple attempts again but it caught.

Its starting now. But sometimes its really not wanting to. See this for example:

The oil was a bit low at first so I topped it off. ITs clean but low like I mentioned. Once this thing was started I saw some drips at the base. I saw wetness out of the hoses to the oil cooler. I dont have any hose clamps so Im going to go buy some and replace all four with good clamps and hopefully that will stop the leak which is probably why it was a bit low.

I have a mobil-1 oil filter and air filter but I need to buy a couple quarts of mobil-1 oil. I figure I will swap the RC12YC champion sparkplug out for a new one. Going to go to Interstate batteries today and buy a new battery.

Lets see how she starts after a new battery. And then we will see after the oil change and maintenanace.
 
The battery still sounds a bit weak in the second video you posted, but it is certainly running ok! Great idea for the new filter and plug. Glad you got it running, well done!
 
It's probably pretty good practice to pull the spark plug every year and drop in a tablespoon of oil and give it crank. Clean and replace the plug and you should be good. The oil keeps things from corroding.
 
wow youtube is weird. I posted 3 videos and they all have just a few views from you guys and the last one "still hard to start" has 180+ views and growing fast but for some reason a thumbs down... Thats just great.


So something else I noticed. The old battery seems like it had some slight liquid dry marks running down the side.. And under the battery seems it was leaking! Think it oozed out electrolyte? Sure seems like it. I dont remember any rust last time I changed the battery.
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Which by the was was 2018. And Here is the dead battery. Notice it has a 5 year replacement plan? I didnt notice until I got home today with the new Interstate battery that it only has a 2 year replacement plan!! What the hell? I thought interstate was a great battery company.. now they are on part with auto store and walmart batteries? IT cost $10 more today than it did in 2018 ($160.00 Plus tax however they prorated the old battery $45.00 off the total price) I swear to god things only get worse.. never better.
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Sorry I dont have a photo of the new battery. Il ltake one tomorrow. Same part number and everything. Weird, they didnt notch my last two batteries (the other interstate battery was in my crushed pickup. I still use it to start things.. it was in the first video herE) They dont notch the date sticker. The new one isnt notched either.
 
If the battery did somehow get discharged, it could have frozen, cracked and leaked. Or it was low on electrolyte and boiled a bit over before a cell went mostly dry, due to the built in battery charger. I've had trouble with batteries going dry, as I live in the northern Nevada desert.

I purchased a 2013 Dodge Charger Police from a Montana state auction, the battery was frozen/cracked and had leaked out all the electrolyte. They'd parked it in September 2018 with a brand new Mopar battery, just didn't keep it charged up. Sold at auction in October 2022 four years later, after putting a new battery in, car runs great. Less than 90k miles.

It was listed as having an electrical issue, car would run rough and was in "battery saver mode", hard to get started, had to use a big jump pack as the small jump pack wouldn't start it (the small one worked fine on other Chargers). Had they swapped in a new battery... they'd have found the old battery was partially shorted. The leaked electrolyte was under the vinyl tire well insert, they may not have noticed it.
 
im going to grind and sand the battery bad and the lid this year. give the generatoe some love (that is if I can get it back to working)
 
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im going to grind and sand the battery bad and the lid this year. give the generatoe some love (that is if I cant get it back to working)
Rust converting primer and epoxy spray paint work great, I helped my dad restore the battery tray in a motorhome using them, after using a wire wheel to remove most of the rust.

For the Charger, the dried electrolyte wasn't acidic, didn't react to baking soda (probably mostly lead sulfide crystals), so I vacuumed up most of it and then rinsed the rest thouroughly away.
 
I've always used a rotary wire brush on the stuff. In the old days, I'd prime with zinc chromate, but if you can get down to metal, Rust-Oleum isn't a bad choice--the brush-on, not the rattle-can paint. My opinion is that rattle-can paint is for looks, but brush-on is thicker and more durable. I've never had much luck with so-called "rust converters".
 
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