Westerbeke generator question

[Daddyo]

Did you somehow unbolt the "electrical end" of the generator and ship it via UPS, or did you have to give the whole generator to some shipping company?

I removed the back end. Not easy or light!!

 

[seattleboatguy]

Twistedtree is correct. Read my original post. You remove the wires from the capacitor, hook up an ohmeter to the BARE terminals and read the resistance. It should start low and build up as it charges the capacitor. If it starts high and stays high, then it is shot.

Hi David. I guess I did not understand your original instructions, but I'm with you now. Messing with the inside of a generator is new territory for me. I'll regroup and try the test again. Thanks.

 

[twistedtree]

Hi David. I guess I did not understand your original instructions, but I'm with you now. Messing with the inside of a generator is new territory for me. I'll regroup and try the test again. Thanks.

Also, set you meter to the lowest range. It looks like that's 200 ohms on your meter. You were on the 2k scale before.

 

[seattleboatguy]

Picture don't work for me. Go to YouTube and search "testing capacitors " watch at least five different videos and you will get the point.

Good idea. Thanks.

 

[seattleboatguy]

Twistedtree is correct. Read my original post. You remove the wires from the capacitor, hook up an ohmeter to the BARE terminals and read the resistance. It should start low and build up as it charges the capacitor. If it starts high and stays high, then it is shot.
David

Hi David. I watched a couple YouTube videos, then tried it again. My meter reads "1." both before and after touching the capacitor's terminals. I changed the dial on the multimeter to various resistance values, but got the same result. I guess that means at least one of my problems is a dead capacitor.

 

[High Wire]

Looks like WB part number 041199 Capacitor 35 MFD.

 

[Ski in NC]

With meter in ohms and clips attached, short between clips and meter should go to near zero. Remove the short and it should slowly rise to infinity, or on that meter "1 ."

If you are near a decent sized town, any electrical supply house or HVAC supply house or motor repair shop will stock caps. Make sure to get same diameter so clip works. And get one with at least as high a volt rating, most are 450v, which is fine.

 

[DavidM]

I guess Ski is right and the "1" means the meter is reading infinity ohms as soon as it is connected. That is why I don't like digital meters ;-).

Amazon has capacitors. Try one of these for $10.00: https://www.amazon.com/Capacitor-Ro...=35+mfd+capacitor&refinements=p_85:2470955011

Bend the clips if necessary to get it to fit, but make sure that the length works.

David

 

[seattleboatguy]

With meter in ohms and clips attached, short between clips and meter should go to near zero. Remove the short and it should slowly rise to infinity, or on that meter "1 ."

When I do your test, applying the short does not make my meter go to zero. It dances all over the place with all sorts of numbers flashing on the display. As soon as I take away the short, the meter goes back to "1." .

 

[Ski in NC]

If numbers dance, you are not making a good connection. Or a crappy meter.

What does it do when you clip the two probes together?

 

[seattleboatguy]

If numbers dance, you are not making a good connection. Or a crappy meter.

It was a case of not making a good connection. I was shorting the capacitor with the shaft of a screw driver.

 

[motion30]

Just a little thought about the capacitors after doing a lot of air conditioning work. the $10 capacitors are cheap and are isually made in China. They have a high failure rate ,most decent AC supply houses also have American-made capacitors .it's worth the extra 10 to $15 to get an American navion and they are much more reliable