My Northern Lights 12kw: not generating

[Mayday]

The gen, a NL 0843, has about 1740 engine hours. It’s run without issues until yesterday am when I was ready to shove off and tried to switch from shore to boat power. Gen powered up as usual and I gave it a good 2-3 minutes to warm up. Switched off both sides of my 50 amp service and, per usual, flipped rotary power switch to gen. But no current. Nada. Shore power is fine. Thought maybe it was a circuit breaker on gen, but the only breaker on the gen’s electrical box is for AVR. Surely there’s a breaker somewhere. Or is there a more likely issue I’m missing?

 

[sunchaser]

Possibly a bad rotary switch if all on genset checks out. Your NL book should be of some help. A VOM meter can assist you in chasing down trouble points.

 

[Mayday]

Sunchaser, I should have mentioned in my post that I just replaced the rotary power switch 2 months ago. Re ur suggestion about turning to my Northern Lights book, I did, but it was surprisingly skinny on troubleshooting for something I’d have guessed was not uncommon. “If breaker is tripped reset it”. The a/c side of my 50 amp runs 3 chillers and 4 air handlers. I primarily run only 2 chillers and 3 a/h, keeping total amps down to 35-40.

 

[Ken E.]

The bad rotary switch theory was a good one....happened to me a couple years ago, but you've already changed it.

I don't know your model, but on the 5kw NL's, there is a toggle switch on the upper left of the unit, on the box over the generator end. Many times I have accidentally bumped this switch and turned it off. With it off, no power is supplied to the AC buss of your panel. Maybe your unit has something similar.

 

[Mayday]

Ken, on my NL 12kw the breaker in that location is for the voltage regulator. I’ve did switch it on and off multiple times to no avail. Thanks

 

[DCDC]

I had a similar problem with one leg of the AC circuit. Cause was corrosion at an AC terminal strip in the control box.

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s4/northern-lights-one-two-circuits-has-no-current-49359.html

Good luck with your troubleshooting. Please post what you find. Thanks.