generator wire melted ??

markus19 · 27 Jul 2015

Hi guys last week at auction i bough a
suntom sde6500t diesel generator there a Chinese Genny but not to bad.

There was no battery on it at the time so bough it on sold as seen and someone stole the keys from it after i had purchased it meaning i had to buy a new ignition switch.

After the new ignition switch came i switched it with the one fitted and attached a 12v car battery and fired up the generator it fire up and ran ok , i switched it off then went to fire it up again and it ran for a second or two then died and there was now nothing when you turned the switch...

when i took the control panel back off i seen that the wires on the new ignition switch were all melted likely why there was nothing when i now turned the key

can i ask though what would of caused the Wiring to all melt after only just fitting

was a carry battery to big of battery ?

also what is the black lever for inside by the engine that has a few copper strands wrapped round

any help would be very helpful

cheers

ban-all-sheds · 27 Jul 2015

markus19 said:
can i ask though what would of caused the Wiring to all melt after only just fitting

Passing too much current through them.

Possible causes which spring to mind:

The wires are too small.
You wired it up incorrectly.
The generator has a fault which caused too much current to flow.
The wires were already damaged but you didn't notice.

was a carry battery to big of battery ?

12V is 12V.

Are you sure you know enough about basic electrics to be playing with this generator?

also what is the black lever for inside by the engine that has a few copper strands wrapped round

markus19 · 28 Jul 2015

Hi

Well the wires couldn't be to small as i bough a full new switch unit the exact same as what was on , it wasn't possible to wire up wrong as it was plug and play and the new switch unit had no melted wires before i fitted it

also the old switch unit that was on before i changed it had no melted wires and was only changed due to the key being stolen so i also couldn't see that the generator would of had a fault that made it take to much current neither..

the little unit that changes the volts from 230 - 110 seemed like it could be fiddled making me think someone has maybe had the wires off i have put a picture of this below is there any standard wiring for this part

cheers

bernardgreen · 28 Jul 2015

Note the lack of a fuse in series with the battery. ( my red line ) There is no protection against a fault that puts a short across the 12 volts from the battery. The wire from the battery to the switch would take the full fault current until something melted.

If you intend to continue to use this equipment then fit an in line fuse between battery and switch

suntom sde6500t diesel generator there a Chinese Genny but not to bad

Un-fused battery is extremely bad.......

markus19 · 28 Jul 2015

Hi there so is this common practise for these generators to have no in line fuse from the live battery wire

What sort of fuse would i be looking to fit inline

cheers

JohnW2 · 28 Jul 2015

markus19 said:
Hi there so is this common practise for these generators to have no in line fuse from the live battery wire. What sort of fuse would i be looking to fit inline

If you do decide to fit a fuse, I presume you need to make sure to fit it downstream (further from the battery) of the branch for the starter motor (just as in cars) - since it's unlikley that a fuse with a low enough rating to serve a useful purpose would survive the starter motor current.

Kind Regards, John

ban-all-sheds · 28 Jul 2015

markus19 said:
Hi there so is this common practise for these generators to have no in line fuse from the live battery wire

I'd not be surprised....

markus19 said:
a Chinese Genny

Lectrician · 28 Jul 2015

Fitting a fuse won't sort your problem though, just prevent you killing a second switch.

markus19 · 28 Jul 2015

Thanks for your responses

I was thinking maybe a 12v battery wouldn't be fitted as standard in these generators and that's why i though fitting a 12v car battery with a high cold cranking amp would maybe of caused this to happen.

I also though it was some issue with the battery due to the switch that was fitted when i bough it not being fried which you would of though it would of been if the generator had a fault

one thing i noticed when it first fired it up was that the hour meter was not displayed i duno whether this could be related ive also herd of needing to use a earth rod in the ground with some of these

conny · 28 Jul 2015

I used to work for a welding company. Boss went on a business trip to China and placed an order, through a trade stall, for ten petrol driven generators.

They were duly delivered a few weeks later and he sold all ten to a local construction company. Over a course of about three weeks they were all returned with the generators burnt out. The boss was never able to track down the supplier.

Moral: Beware of Chinese imports and test what you are buying in an auction first, if possible.
How much did the set cost you?

ban-all-sheds · 28 Jul 2015

markus19 said:
I was thinking maybe a 12v battery wouldn't be fitted as standard in these generators

Well if you were thinking that, WOE connect one to it? If you were thinking it was designed to use a different voltage to 12, what did you think might happen if you gave it 12?

What battery should it use for starting then?

ive also herd of needing to use a earth rod in the ground with some of these

It really doesn't sound as if you know enough about using a portable generator to be doing it.

I strongly advise getting an electrician, as getting it wrong could kill you.

What do you plan to do with it? The output exceeds 16A - do you need to take note of the Note in 551.1 of the Wiring Regulations?

markus19 · 29 Jul 2015

Hi there

Well a dont know what kind of battery it should use as it didn't come with one..
i just took it a 12v would start it...

rather then telling me that i dont know what im doing would it not be more helpful to advise me what i need to do and what the parts i mention are for

cheers

endecotp · 29 Jul 2015

I suspect that people here don't know anything about that specific generator and so can't easily help you. Many of us could possibly try to fix it if stood in front of it and able to tinker, but fixing it "over the Internet" is much harder. The sort of advice that is easy to dispense, however, iss "be careful or you might electrocute yourself" and "don't buy cheap Chinese junk at auctions". So that is what you're likely to hear. Sorry.

markus19 · 29 Jul 2015

Lol yeah i would agree if i was talking of stripping down all the electrics but when im just talking about the battery or earth rod a dont think you need to be a spark or know what every inside part is for to be able to use the generator

bernardgreen · 29 Jul 2015

The "quality" of draughtsmanship in that circuit diagram does not create confidence in the engineering standards of the manufacturer.

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generator wire melted ??

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