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Participant

Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1

Bleeding Power Off My Generator

09/20/2011 7:28 AM

I get a shock when I try to replace one of two white wires going into a capacitor in my generator. Apparently the one white wire came lose due to vibration. Anyway, I think if I can get the white wire back into the capacitor my generator will once again function correctly. At my age another shock may be my last!!

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Guru
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Join Date: Jun 2008
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#1

Re: Bleeding Power off my Generator

09/20/2011 7:49 AM

Capacitors store juice.

Use insulated pliers, insulated gloves, and stand on something non conductive, like a block of wood while replacing. Only use one hand, and make sure the other isn't grounded to something. Those can be some nasty shocks.

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Guru

Join Date: Dec 2010
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#2
In reply to #1

Re: Bleeding Power off my Generator

09/20/2011 12:16 PM

We used to get a kick out of discharging the caps and the flyback on one of our display consoles which held two 24 inch CRTs. The crack would make everyone nearby jump out of their shoes. One time a co-worker (small-in-stature female) forgot to short the caps before maintenance. The only thing stopping her from flying more than two feet back was the wall. She had to go to medical for the burns and the back injury.

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Guru
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#3
In reply to #2

Re: Bleeding Power off my Generator

09/20/2011 1:11 PM

Ouch!!!

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Guru
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#4

Re: Bleeding Power Off My Generator

09/20/2011 1:20 PM

Typically there is a device called a "bleed resistor" connected to ground somewhere in the circuit. If you do not have a proper ground connection, or if the resistor burned up and the circuit is open, then the cap charge has nowhere to go until YOU prodide it with a convenient path. Once you reconnect that wire, look around for a bad ground connection or a burnt little resistor somewhere. But also, the bleed resistor connection may have been DOWN STREAM from that wire, so reconnecting it may infact solve the problem too.

Just don't become the convenient path.

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Guru
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#5

Re: Bleeding Power Off My Generator

09/20/2011 1:26 PM

Insulated tools can give you false sense of security. Use a shorting stick. A piece of rowel with a piece of copper wire on one end. Add a jumper wire with alligator clips to the copper wire above, the other to the ground lug on generator. Does anyone know why they are called generators, when in fact they are alternators?

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Guru

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#6
In reply to #5

Re: Bleeding Power Off My Generator

09/20/2011 1:43 PM

Old habits die hard?

It's still "generating" electricity.

I think that when we had older systems back in the day and used generators in our autos and other machinery the change to alternators required a new word to specify the type of system in use, primarily in autos.

It is funny though, that most mechanics refer to the engine (diesel or otherwise) as the generator when talking generally...and that's not even the "generator"! I refer to it as a genset when I think about it.

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Power-User

Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: oz
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#7

Re: Bleeding Power Off My Generator

09/20/2011 5:05 PM

Get someone else to do it.

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