Generator charging issue

[Hummer Guy]

Im kind of uncertain on this, but my generator is barely charging with my 200AMP generator. The RPM gauge either goes completely off or just jump between 0-600RPM no matter what speed the engine is at. The battery gauge is also in the yellow and close to red, and I'm only getting 25v with both the truck off and running. I looked at the wires coming from the generator to the regulator and notice it looks to be in bad shape, I move the wire and then it suddenly gave out a little spark. My question is, can this wire actually cause this issue? I don't want to start splicing into this if its not the issue. (The wire is hard wire into the generator so its not no plug and play, it's more like splice and pray)

Both the regulator and generator is barely a year old.

I'm assuming this issue was caused when I wash the engine bay the other day and used a crappy gel degreaser instead of the foam one I generally use.

 

[Mogman]

YES, very doubtful de-greaser caused this issue though.

 

[Coug]

manufacturer's troubleshooting guide for the 200 amp

https://www.ceniehoff.com/Documents/Ctrl_Hyperlink/TG17_uid252021123202.pdf

 

[Mogman]

I have never tried taking one of those connectors apart, I assume it is going to be a PITA

 

[Hummer Guy]

Im just going to splice off the bad part instead of taking the whole thing apart

 

[Mogman]

Are you talking about the black wire that looks like it has been pulled out or the red wire that looks like it shorted to the shell?
In any case go through the troubleshooting guide Coug posted, if the red wire did short to the shell something might have fried.

 

[Hummer Guy]

Are you talking about the black wire that looks like it has been pulled out or the red wire that looks like it shorted to the shell?
In any case go through the troubleshooting guide Coug posted, if the red wire did short to the shell something might have fried.

Im going to do the whole plug, I have another bad generator that has good plug that Im going to just splice on and yea Im going to look through it

 

[Hummer Guy]

Well, it looks like this not going to go well, I changed out the plug and Im still getting the same results, the thing is, I am getting power to the regulator but still not getting any charge from the generator, Im going to check over all the wires and then I'll start with troubleshooting. I just find it crazy for this generator to go back over just a year.

Another question is can it be my glow plug box causing this issue?

 

[Mogman]

Well, it looks like this not going to go well, I changed out the plug and Im still getting the same results, the thing is, I am getting power to the regulator but still not getting any charge from the generator, Im going to check over all the wires and then I'll start with troubleshooting. I just find it crazy for this generator to go back over just a year.

Another question is can it be my glow plug box causing this issue?

As long as you have 24V at the ign/exciter terminal and the alt is turning there should be charging voltage.
If that red wire shorted out it could have burned up the reg, alt or both.
The only thing the PCB box does is control the exciter voltage on the 200A

 

[Hummer Guy]

As long as you have 24V at the ign/exciter terminal and the alt is turning there should be charging voltage.
If that red wire shorted out it could have burned up the reg, alt or both.
The only thing the PCB box does is control the exciter voltage on the 200A

Wow that just sucks, it looks like this thing is going be broken for quite a while, its insane how expensive these generators have gotten over just a year

 

[Mogman]

Wow that just sucks, it looks like this thing is going be broken for quite a while, its insane how expensive these generators have gotten over just a year

Well it could just be the regulator, go through the troubleshooting steps.
Not a bad idea for all of us to look at the harnesses on our alternators.
Can you ID what pin that red wire goes to in the plug?

 

[Hummer Guy]

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Well it could just be the regulator, go through the troubleshooting steps.
Not a bad idea for all of us to look at the harnesses on our alternators.
Can you ID what pin that red wire goes to in the plug?

I'm not sure but I will take a look at it again when I go back to the storage

 

[Hummer Guy]

My volts is at 24.9 - 25.1 on the IGN terminal, I notice it also kept between 24.9-25.1 on my inverter when I drove it home also

 

[GuntherRommel]

What shape are your batteries in?

 

[Hummer Guy]

What shape are your batteries in?

The batteries themselves are just a year old, but I'll take them out and test them

 

[Hummer Guy]

Batteries seems fine, I tested the volts at the regulator and Im getting 23.9 at idle and 24.5- 25.1 with the idle pulled out at the IGN post

 

[Mogman]

Batteries seems fine, I tested the volts at the regulator and Im getting 23.9 at idle and 24.5- 25.1 with the idle pulled out at the IGN post

Sounds like it is trying, go through the troubleshooting steps and if you do not find anything there I would try replacing the reg.

 

[Hummer Guy]

So now Im starting to think this issue was caused by the gel degreaser, for some reason the generator started charging like normal when I was coming back home today. Its way too much of a coincidence that this started to happen the day after I used the gel degreaser. For now, I'll always use the foam degreaser, I never had an issue using it. The fun fact is that I have a new voltage regulator coming in today as well

 

[Mogman]

So now Im starting to think this issue was caused by the gel degreaser, for some reason the generator started charging like normal when I was coming back home today. Its way too much of a coincidence that this started to happen the day after I used the gel degreaser. For now, I'll always use the foam degreaser, I never had an issue using it. The fun fact is that I have a new voltage regulator coming in today as well

I have no idea what mechanism the de-greaser would have use to disable the alt.
That alt does not have brushes and is for the most part sealed, but congrats!!!

 

[Hummer Guy]

I'm back on this again, I notice my generator is charging perfectly at slow speeds and acceleration, but soon when I give it a good bit of gas or get on the highway and do 60 or more, the generator starts acting weird and don't want to charge properly. I cleaned all the contacts and ground and still the same thing