Weekly exercise problem

[Feb1937]

Hi Folks,

I just recently bought a Guardian 7kw natural gas generator. Everything seems to work fine except for the weekly startup.

Here's what happens: When the time comes for the generator to start up on it's weekly cycle, it cranks over two or three times and then stops. The overspeed light is then on. I can't see how it could be overspeeding or generating too much voltage if it hadn't even started.

When I set the exercise timer, it goes through the cycle with no problem when I release the " Set" button. The generator will start up and run for about 12 minutes and then shut down, like it's suppose to. But it does the same thing the following week at the set time.

Everything else works fine. When I kill the utility power to the house, the generator kicks in about 10 seconds later and supplies power with no problem and it will shut down like it's suppose to when I flip the utility power back on.

Could this be a bad PC board?

P.S. The generator is set exactly to the specs in the manual, regarding speed and voltage output.

Many thanks for any help.......

[Kelly Myers]

Hi,
There is only one option, and that is the PCB. You didn't give me a model number, so I can't fully walk you through it, but what we want to do is check the ground.

Unplug the connector from the PCB. Use a good ohm meter and measure the resistance on the 0 wire. You can do this by pushing one lead on the pin out connector (I can't tell you which one because I do not have the model number, but it will have a zero on it) and the negative battery terminal. We want to see .8 or less ohms. If the resistance is greater, we want to find out why the board has a faulty ground. This is usually too much paint under the main ground lug (next to the breaker in the generator).

If the ground is ok, then we have to contact a local repair facility for warranty work, or if it is out of warranty, I have those boards in stock.

Hope this helps.

[Feb1937]

HI and thanks for the input.

The model # on my generator is 0052400. Now this model number could be different here in Canada than in the States, but as I mentioned, it is a 7kw generator, powered by a 410 cc single cylinder engine.

I have already checked out the ground lug on the generator, but I have not yet unplugged anything to measure resistance. Since it is still under warranty, I prefer to have the shop that installed it correct the problem. I keep thinking though that if it is indeed a faulty ground, wouldn't it affect all the other operations as well? It runs perfectly in all respects except for starting on the weekly exercise cycle. What has me wondering is why it tries to start up ( only two or three cranks) and then shuts down. When I reset the exercise timer, it goes through the whole cycle with no problem.

Tomorrow it is due to start up at 12.30 pm EST and I will be right there to watch and see it if still continues to have the same problem, after myself and the shop technician tweaked all the settings to make sure that wasn't causing any problems.

Thanks again for your input. I will show this to the shop tech if it still does it.

Feb1937

[Kelly Myers]

There is no "tweaking" to be done to anything except for the fuel regulator, and the governor.

When the boards lack a clean ground they decide to do what they want, when they want, and make it pretty tough to figure out the problem. After many, many years of working on these, I have learned to check the grounds every time I start a PCB Diagnostics. Just check it before you have a company come out. Or print this out and hand it to them, as this is an easy step that is usually overlooked.

If the ground is good, then simply swap out the board.

Here is a scan of the 5240 PCB pinouts in case you can't find the zero wire. Sorry for the crooked scan. :D

http://zillerelectric.com/images/7kwpinout.jpg

[Feb1937]

It's only been about a month since I owned this generator and after last week, which was it's third attempt at starting up on the exercise cycle, I got the manual out and went through the generator and set everything up according to specs.

The engine speed and voltage output were low ( for the 7kw ) and to be on the safe side, I also adjusted the gas regulator (kept it on the rich side for these cold weather starts.)

After adjusting the engine governor and voltage regulator to get the desired specs, the generator started up today on it's fourth attempt with no problem. The temperature last night was below zeroF. and while I watched it today to see if it would start, the air temp was 4 degrees. A good test for it!
After cranking over about 4-5 times, it fired up and ran great!

Hopefully this will correct the problem, but if it ever returns, the ground circuit, as you mentioned, will be the first thing I check out.

Thanks so much for your time and patience and this is one Great Website!!!

Feb1937

[ldiorio]

hi all,
new to this site--but this message caught my attention--i have a 4456 unit and coming back from vacation i noticed the red overspeed light on my unit--since my daughther lives next door she said there were no power outages--the only thing the unit did was to excercise--i moved the rocker swithch to off then to on and the unit started with no problem--shut the unit off and set to auto--went down and flipped the power off --the unit started and transferred with no problem -flipped the breaker on and the unit shut down ok --the unit has excercised every week for the last 2 months with no problem--the month is was away was Feb and it was cold -i live in RI--i think i will check the ground

thanksHi Folks,

I just recently bought a Guardian 7kw natural gas generator. Everything seems to work fine except for the weekly startup.

Here's what happens: When the time comes for the generator to start up on it's weekly cycle, it cranks over two or three times and then stops. The overspeed light is then on. I can't see how it could be overspeeding or generating too much voltage if it hadn't even started.

When I set the exercise timer, it goes through the cycle with no problem when I release the " Set" button. The generator will start up and run for about 12 minutes and then shut down, like it's suppose to. But it does the same thing the following week at the set time.

Everything else works fine. When I kill the utility power to the house, the generator kicks in about 10 seconds later and supplies power with no problem and it will shut down like it's suppose to when I flip the utility power back on.

Could this be a bad PC board?

P.S. The generator is set exactly to the specs in the manual, regarding speed and voltage output.

Many thanks for any help.......