They are referring to exciting the field windings in the generator. This is done with DC. It sounds like there is an issue with the circuit that provides the voltage-excitation.
Do you see a schematic anywhere? If this unit has an AVR (automatic voltage regulator) I would look carefully at that. Could be as simple as a broken/chewed/corroded wire.
Might be worthwhile to go over all the electrical connections and make sure all are clean.
Hereâs an article that goes deeper into the subject. Beware it is specific to the Chinese ST generator heads, but the principles are the same.
I helped put together a generator that used a 1/3 hp motor. It wouldnât do anything until we stuck a magnet on the side of the motor/ generator. Then it started making current. You could then take the magnet off and it would keep making current. Someone told me we had âexcited the windingsâ. Hope this helps.
Rindert
Ran across a Miller welder/generator that had a bad bridge rectifier that wouldnât allow it to make power you might want to check the schematic to see if the unit has one. Also propane is richer than natural gas donât remember the ratio though
Jacob, for the principle of operation, search under a synchronous generator, say:
the difference between propane and methane in the mixing ratio
the difference between propane and natural gas, âŚ
if the engine is running on a rod, the nozzle must be reduced by 2.5x
Do you have any Idea what that might look like?
Thanks for sharing your nice cyclone work. The cyclone is a rather amazing technology for dust removal. Search âcycloneâ on this site and you will find a hundred references.
Some may be challenged by fabricating a cone shape. Cyclones work just as well with straight sides. See post #28 under âCharcoal gasifier prototypeâŚâ for a discussion and pictures of an air ramp approach that also simplifies construction.
The ones Iâve seen have been boxes with everything potted in epoxy and a few wires or connectors sticking out.
You probably wonât be able to tell much from a visual inspection⌠you would need to test it electrically. Thatâs where a schematic would come in handy as you could determine how this genny excites the field windings.
Might be worthwhile to just go through the wiring and make sure there arenât any bad connections. Iâve spent more time that I care to admit chasing electrical gremlins that ended up being a corroded connection.
Wouldnât hurt to try slapping a magnet on it either as Rindert suggests. I believe some generators rely on a small amount of residual magnetism to get the whole process started, and that can go away after sitting for long enough.
How many times have I been there? Just got the turn signals working on my 1991 Ranger. It seemed to work on foggy days, go figure. People told me I had a bad chassis ground somewhere. Actually crawled up under and loosened and put antiseize on all the grounds I could find. Finally took the switch itself off the steering column. Checked out fine, so I put it back in. THEN turn signals started working. I suppose one of the connectors became oxidized over 29 years and just wouldnât conduct anymore. PITA! 
Rindert
That thingy, I think. This is why a wiring diagram would help. If you cut the wire bundle ties, it will be easier to trace where the wires go. I have to ask, did it work before, and not now? or as obtainium, would explain why it was available. Is there a brand name? looks like an industrial / commercial unit to me.
The thing has an mode on it called exercise mode I believe it is a test when it it is setup to auto start. Anyway I took the to wires off one side of the switch that turns that mode on and connected them together bypassing the switch. After that if ran for over fifteen minutes without dying before it would only run for about 2 minutes. Also now the Amperage gauge voltage gauge and htz gauge all are moving which they were not doing before.
If turning an induction motor into a generator, a small neodymium magnet can be epoxy embedded in a rotor section, or another trick is to zap the motor with a 12 volt battery, which will leave a bit of residual magnetism sufficient to excite the windings.
In my experience they donât work quite as well they tend to hold more trash to get picked up later. If you use a pipe with a piece of flat plate on the bottom they donât work as well as the fire extinguisher style. The bowl shaped end of the fire extinguisher allows the trash to more easily flow into the trash tank. The flat ones tend to hold more of the trash to get picked up by the gas leaving the cyclone.
I would have to agree that the cone shape of cyclone is important.
If you have a certain velocity of flow, as the air sinks down into the cone,it must spin faster and faster as the diameter goes smaller. Or at least it maintains speed with the friction reduced velocity. Of course the faster the spin and the smaller the diameter, the more centrifugal force you will get.
Hi Guys,
I used to build cone-shaped cyclones, but I changed after taking a deep dive into several technical papers that I found. I wish I could put my hands on the research and data for you. I wasnât fully convinced until I built a clear plexiglass cyclone and could observe the two âcyclonesâ inside. One looks like a tornado and the other sweeps around the outside wall. A cone shape is not needed to create a cyclone inside.
A few tricks that make this work as a filter. The internal gas exit tube is a larger diameter than the inlet tube. That slows down the exit speed. The outlet pipe is reduced to match the inlet size after it comes out the top of the cyclone. The air ramp spirals around this larger internal tube to get things spinning downward. The dust spins around the outside just like it does in a regular cyclone which also has straight walls in the top section. There is another trick at the bottom. The trash hole needs to be about the size of the inlet so that the inner tornado sends its point down through this hole into the trash container. The outer cyclone sweeps the dust off that lands on the shelf around the trash hole. Length of cyclone above the trash hole about 3 times the diameter.
It may sound complicated, but this kind of cyclone can be conveniently sized using standard round pipe. I like spiral duct pipe which comes in various dimeters.
And the trash can should be big enough to stop the spinning. That when the cone comes in, the trash can can be smaller.
And what Tone says, a rectangle inlet.
Why a rectangular cyclone entry? Turning a circular tube into a rectangular tube, at the same time reducing the cross-section, increasing the gas velocity and creating a narrow layer of rapidly rotating air near the wall, âŚ
Christian and I were thinking of making a double-walled water-cooled cyclone that would act as a refrigerator at the same time âŚ
Yes, that is what I mean. Like in your post. Or even better, the rectangle more to the outside and let it spin in helps too. But that is a lot of extra work. Cyclones are not used here anymore in the dustfiltration (there has to sit a filter behind it for the smallest particles). Dutch John send me a few links a few years ago when I needed a cyclone. I will look for them, it was an excel sheet, very handy.
I used an idea I got from a cyclone made by Gary Gilmore to simplify the construction of a cone shaped cyclone. The outside is a straight pipe. The cone and dust catch can are made out of sheet metal and are attached to a plumberâs test plug. The whole assembly slides in through the bottom open end of the large pipe with the test plug providing the gas tight seal. So far it seem to work fine, at least with a charcoal gasifier.
have you ever spilled waste vegetable oil on anything and then tried cleaning it up? i use it to oil my haying equipment. that stuff sticks to everything and itâs free. iâm sure it would work to prevent chunkers from rusting as long as you slick some on there every once in a while. maybe use a squirt bottle so you can spray it on from a distance to help with the conservation of endangered fingers.