Your last generator Maintenance Run

[grsthegreat]

Im not a fan of small generators that dont have a oil pump and oil filter. At least the generac standbys (except for the 7.5 kw powerpacks) have both pump and filter

 

[LouNY]

Im not a fan of small generators that dont have a oil pump and oil filter. At least the generac standbys (except for the 7.5 kw powerpacks) have both pump and filter

That's about the simplest way to tell if a small engine has an oil pump.
If it has a filter it has an oil pump, unfortunately an engine can have an oil pump but no filter.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Oil level switches aren’t uncommon, even our 1991 Aerostar had one and it didn’t even have a real oil pressure gauge, just a switch and a resistor to make the gauge read 2/3 scale if you had any oil pressure at all.

Very few large generators (100 to multi-megawatt) have oil level switches, only if spec’d by the customer. It comes down to warranty exposure and a low oil pressure shutdown will usually save an engine before catastrophic destruction happens, at least during the warranty period. Most do have a low coolant level shutdown however since a sudden coolant loss will often destroy an engine before an over temperature condition is detected.

 

[Robin Veerman]

generac standbys (except for the 7.5 kw powerpacks) have both pump and filter

Yah....but the ordinary (actually incredibly tough) Honda GX engines are known to last 1000s of hours, just splashing oil around. Way better than many Generac standby engines unfortunately.
Just saying ;>)

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Dealing with long COVID got me out of the maintenance habit. I need to de.sulfate the old battery too. Global warming does have its upside.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

On that note, what is a good quality desulphator that isn’t just snake oil? Anyone have recommendations backed by the kind of hard data this thread is famous for?

 

[kenmac]

I change the oil in my generator once a year when tractors and mowers get an oil change. This small 5500 K Generac with B&S engine has served my well over the last 25+ yrs

 

[Gale Hawkins]

On that note, what is a good quality desulphator that isn’t just snake oil? Anyone have recommendations backed by the kind of hard data this thread is famous for?

Read about the NOCO brand that can switch between regular Lead Acid, AGM or Lithium ion battery types. I have one that is 10 amps and three that are 1 amp. You can select 6 or 12 volt on the charger. My source was Amazon.

 

[3930dave]

On that note, what is a good quality desulphator that isn’t just snake oil? Anyone have recommendations backed by the kind of hard data this thread is famous for?

The first one I got my hands on, was actually branded VDC, and is still running fine. It was one of the first Patented for dusulphation, IIRC. This old one of mine, is a 1 amp model.

The Best Battery Chargers for Avoiding Battery Sulfation

Today, those are marketed as BatteryMinder more commonly. I don't have any great Recovery stories with it, but it is one I cycle amongst various vehicle batteries, and I commonly get 10+ years out of batteries. A ways back (or another thread), ultrarunner had posted about a number of batteries he had recovered in his Vintage Colllection - I'm thinking he was using Batteryminder, but that is subject to confirmation.

For desulphation, I usually buy models @ lower current delivery, as I always have higher capacity chargers kicking around (including Analog ones) to get things Up Off the Floor, and start the party.

Bought my first FI motorcycle last year. Kawasaki listed several recommended chargers, I chose the Optimate 4. Their marketing is a little confusing on that model - they are big in Europe, and have a version that plugs into CANbus on BMWs <- that's what is behind their Dual Program verbage. I haven't tested it, but they do list starting batteries to charge below 1 volt, which a lot of digital chargers won't do.

OptiMate 4 Dual Program - OptiMate

When parked, my KLX is on that ^, 24x7.

These brands have higher-current desulphation models, if you want the convenience of One Charger, To Rule Them All

Let us know, what you end up selecting.

Rgds, D.

 

[RjCorazza]

I like the BatteryMinder charger desulfators, and routinely use the 8amp version.
I haven't done any real testing done on poor batteries recently, but previously tested homemade desulfators based upon a design by Alistar Cooper (sp?) many years ago. They never recovered batteries that were shot, but poor condition batteries showed around a 20% improvement based on an electronic battery tester I have by MidTronics. Regardless, the desulfators were a lot of fun to make, and kept me out of trouble for several years.