# Need help with 1600w generator



## Tundrawolf (Apr 24, 2011)

Hello, I recently bought a 1600w generator in bad shape. It's an At tronic/ Coleman Powermate OHV 1600. I got it to run, but I have no output. Unfortunately, the outlet panel was missing. All I have is connector with 4 heavy gauge wires. On top is a black wire, in the middle are two Orange wires side by side, then at the bottom is a white wire. 

Can anyone give me some advice as to where these wires go? 

Please see the enclosed pictures.


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## Tundrawolf (Apr 24, 2011)

Ok so I tried field flashing with a,12v power supply set at 14.5v. When I put the 12v to the brushes at any polarity, it will power on my angle grinder. The white and black wires give me around 100v. The two orange wires have 10vdc between them. But when I take the dc voltage off of the brushes, the grinder immediately shuts off. I tried piggybacking a similar capacitor but different mfd rating and it did not work. Even putting dc into the cap didn't fire the grinder up. Only dc to the brushes allowed the grinder to work. What could be wrong here?


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## rhenning (Jul 23, 2011)

AC motors (grinders will run on DC but you still need to have the 100+ volts for that to happen. You seem to only have 100+ volts in one of your wiring combinations. Roger


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## Tundrawolf (Apr 24, 2011)

Yes, that is not the problem. The problem is that the 100v (changed by governor adjustment) goes away when the 14.5vdc is removed from the brushes.


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## rhenning (Jul 23, 2011)

Is there an internal regulator in the generator head that requires the 14.5 volts DC to operate? Roger


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## Tundrawolf (Apr 24, 2011)

I am not sure.... The diodes test ok in it. 

In the head are two diodes, a capacitor, a small black box going from one side of the diodes to the - brush, both leads white, and what looks like a regulator with an adjustment potentiometer. 

Why wouldn't it be able to sustain dc voltage while running?


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## rhenning (Jul 23, 2011)

No idea to your last question unless there is a regulator (?) that needs the DC to excite it to start to charge and once it is charging it shuts itself off. Roger


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## Tundrawolf (Apr 24, 2011)

So you're saying it could be the regulator?


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## rhenning (Jul 23, 2011)

I do not know. I would try contacting Coleman and see what they say. Roger


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## Tundrawolf (Apr 24, 2011)

Thanks for trying. I am working on getting a new capacitor. I have tried finding out the difference between an ac capacitor and a dc capacitor and the answer is: nobody knows, according to Google. Coleman says its obsolete and they cannot help me.


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## Tundrawolf (Apr 24, 2011)

OK so I found an AC capacitor with a larger farad rating. It has black and white wires so I hooked the black to - and the white to +. Now, when the generator first starts up, the grinder will run for a second. 

I tested the diodes, they test OK. There is a small black box that isn't acting like a diode, maybe a capacitor? It has 6.4 ohms or thereabouts. I tried disconnecting it and no change.

The last possible component is the regulator itself. It is a 4 wire unit. One wire goes to one of the brushes, another wire goes to the large capacitor, another wire goes to the ground, and the last wire goes to the harness which connects to a 4 pin connector that goes into the generator head. 

Help....


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