Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

[lmannyr]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this....sorry.

After a night on the hook with gas generator on, the generator battery was dead! Battery checked good at the local battery shop. Today, I put put a volt meter on the generator battery with genny off: 12.6v. With generator on: it dropped to 12.5v then back to 12.6v after a few minutes.

Do these generators have an alternator that charges the battery like a gas car?

3 fuses in front of generator ( INPUT, Batt. Chg, and regulator ) are all white and look ok and each have less than 0.2 ohms.

Need some guidance as to what to troubleshoot. Thanks

Kohler 7.3kw 60A GAS with sound cover.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

theres a few diffrent designs for the generator depending on how modern they are. most use the low voltage side to recharge the battery but others have a small alternator. with the model number you can search online to get a complete break down diagram including parts and theres lots of info on how they work and how to repair them but with out the model number its a guess.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

If the ENGINE electrical system is used to charge a battery then the parts list for that engine would list a rectifier or rectifier/regulator. If there is no listing, then the generator head is providing 12 volts to an external battery bank as well as the engine starting battery. The parts list for the generator head would then contain part numbers for those same parts. Kohler did not likely make the generator head. Onan or some other generator manufacturer likely did.

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

Still having an issue. I called Professional Mariner and they said that since I'm not using the ProSport20 Plus as it was designed, they can only recommend to upgrade to a different type. They said its only good for charging while at home on trailer. They also said, its not designed to keep up with the demands of being on the hook. All I had on was an anchor light all night long. The generator was running everything else INCLUDING the charger. Anyhow, don't quite get that part.

Ok it's a Kohler 7.3E serial number 0701318

Was on the hook again this past weekend and had the same issue.

Any additional help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Luis

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

if the anchor light discharged a battery in 12hrs then you should have the battery tested. also a bad charger has been know to drain a battery. if the charger was hooked to the generator all night and it didnt keep up with the anchor light theres a clue that something isnt right or that something is not wired as you think it is.

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

Aside from the anchor light drawing power, so is the generator. Hence my post here. The voltage of the gen/house battery was the same with gen on or off. In fact, the battery was draining at about 0.01 volts every 10-15 seconds ( approximately as measured with a digital multimeter).

Anyone know how many amps does the generator require to keep itself running. I do t think my genny is charging its own battery.

How do I diagnose why the genny is not charging its battery?

Thanks. Luis

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

judging by the model number it looks like its charging off the engine


http://www.southeasternnetworks.com/files/Kohler_5E/Kohler5E_PartsManual.pdf

if the voltage doesnt change on the battery when the engine is running then either the coil or the regulator may be at fault on the engine (not the generator side) testing needs to be done before replacing parts. i can not advise you over a forum as i have never seen this model and the diagram is generic so maybe someone else can assist.

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

I ran the genny and checked voltage with a digital volt meter. Voltage was dropping as long as te generator was on and boat charger was off. I left battery over night completely disconnected....started with 12.9 volts and 24hours later......it still has 12.9 volts.

Glenn thanks for the input. Anyone else have more insight on how to diagnose the generator not charging its own battery?

Thanks!!!

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

Found the service manual for the engine itself.

http://www2.rgs.com.au/pictures/FilesAsMenuItems/info/fd501v-590v_service-manual.pdf

Manual (page 9-36) says to warm engine up before getting measurements. I did not warm engine up cause I had to take quite a bit of it off. Would the engine not warm cause the stator coil resistance to be off?

The coil resistance should be 0.12-0.18 ohms

I got 0.5 ohms.

When stators go bad....is the resistance way out of wack or is this sufficient to say it's bad and needs replacement? Also, the engine voltage regulator had a burnt pin. The Voltage regulator also did not spec out with a multimeter. Is it common for the Stator to fry the regulator or vise versa? Should I replace one at a time or both at once?

Sorry for the many questions but there wasn't much info on the net.

thanks

Luis

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

replace the regulator as that cheap compaired to the coil. the warmer the coil the lower the resistance but not by a major amount (i think the test warm is because some coils will short out when warm/hot but its not something i would be to concerned about and im not sure it will even get warm unless the regulator is working correctly anyway) plus with a cheap meter you are never going to get a reading that fine as most cheap meters can not read 0.00 when you touch the probes together in ohm mode. as long as the coil doesnt read open or shorted then it should be fine.

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

I have a FLUKE 111 multimeter. I can read down to 0.1 ohm. It also reads "0" when the leads are touched together. Working in the Air Force for 4 years working on the C-130s electronics, I got spoiled with the FLUKEs. Got out of the service and bought one as soon as a multimeter was needed. I love my FLUKE! Your right it doesn't compare to the "el cheapo" meters from walmart.

Glenn,

Let me say first and foremost, thank you for your consistent replies. Another forum I posted to.....well never mind. Just thank you.

Today I'll put the flywheel, intake, and coolant overflow back and run it to warm it up. Since it's on a trailer, can't run the A/C to really load it up but will run the Micro. Then I'll retest the charging coil and post back the results. By the way, the burnt pin on regulator connector leads to the oil pressure switch.

Thanks!!

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

Ok. I put the sucker back together and warmed it up. While running, I disconnected the voltage regulator and got 35VAC to the Stator. Manuel says it should have 26VAC at 3000rpm. This generator runs at 3600 rpm. So I think the stator is good. With the genny off and warm, the stator ohmed at 0.4ohms

Ordering a Voltage regulator.

Thanks
Luis

 

[lmannyr]

Re: Kohler Generator Not Charging its Battery.

Purchased voltage regulator from eBay for 56 bucks shipped. It was an aftermarket so the two holes that hold it to the side of the generator with bolts did not line up so only held with one bolt. Plugged in no problem. Original part number was SH626-12 printed on original.

Started generator, battery voltage was 13.6 and trending up!!! Awesome, problem solved! Thanks to everyone here! I learned quite a bit about my generator.

I Hope this follow up helps someone in the future.