Kipor Generator Problem

atgreene · May 30, 2011

We're currently on the road on a 10 day camping trip. Before leaving I ran and tested my Kipor IG 3000 Sinemaster just to be sure we'd have no issues.

Sure enough, got to our first spot to park for the night, fired up the gen, plugged in and no power. Gen runs fine, indicator light shows it is producing power, but none at any outlets. Tests out with no power at the outlet via meter, 12v outlet it's producing 15v, which is normal.

Anyone have any similar issues? No circuit breaker tripped etc.... May buy some small metric sockets and open it up for open heart surjury. Just curious if anyone else has had any issues with theirs.

This gen is 3 years old, traded it from a buddy for some excavating. He was meticulous with it. Last year it wouldn't run on our first time out with it. Found water in the fuel when I got home. Then I couldn't find a battery to fit it, so we had to improvise there. Now this. When it works, it's great:thumbsup:, now, not so much.

Might be time to spend the $$$ on a Honda.

Thanks.

whistlepig · May 30, 2011

Generators, at least for emergency power, are a sit in the corner of the garage for a couple of years thing until you really need them. Yes, fresh gas must be on hand. For a generator to fail when really needed is just not acceptable. I think that's why we bought them in the first place. I have a Honda that sat in the garage for two years before our first power failure in the middle of winter last winter. It fired up on first pull and we had generator heat and water for four days. All our neighbors have Honda generators. And they are expensive.

groundcover · May 30, 2011

Sounds like you need to 'flash' it.

PER Notebook - Generator Field Flashing

RE-ENERGIZING DEAD GENERATORS

Good luck !

Rustyiron · May 30, 2011

Hey AT
Don't flash it in public! or at least check the local ordanence on such matters.

atgreene · May 31, 2011

Rustyiron said:
Hey AT
Don't flash it in public! or at least check the local ordanence on such matters.

Hey! I'm in the deep South, I can flash away all I want.:thumbsup::laughing: Besides, Sarah is in town.

I've been running this thing every month in anticipation of this trip. It ran a battery charger/booster for 3-4 hours 3 weeks before we left just so I knew it could take the load.

I will read-up on flashing it. I've seen old gens on farm tractors flashed, what could possibly go wrong?

Linda Albert · Jul 27, 2011

Check battery..

jonyyuma · Jul 27, 2011

Flashing???OH Boy,, Oh not That kind? Follow up to Streaking? Kidding. Hope you find it.

Mickey_Fx · Jul 27, 2011

Don't think flashing is possible but if you try something like that you're more likely going to do some serious damage to the genset. This is an inverter genset and not one of your grandpa's contraptions. It produces high voltage low current A.C. power which is then rectified to D.C. then converted and regulated to line power. My money is on the actual generator using a permanent magnet for the field.

atgreene · Jul 27, 2011

It started and ran fine, battery is obviously good if it starts and runs fine.

Don't believe it can be flashed either.

It appears to be a loose connection or some microprocessor that is not connecting. Randomly, and very rarely, it will run but not produce power. Indicator light says it is generating fine. My money is on a loose plug, just haven't found it yet.

Skyco · Jul 28, 2011

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for a few minutes? Hook it back up and try it again. Maybe needs a "reboot" of sorts since it has a microprocessor.
Also try manually resetting the breaker, it may not look tripped but I've seen vibration mechanically trip them internally.