HOW-TO 'Flash' A Generator | Make It Produce Power Again | MUST WATCH

HOW-TO "Flash" A Generator
Has your generator stopped producing power?

In this video I show you how easy it is to "FLASH" a generator. Flashing or polorizing a generator will sometimes make it produce power again.

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[kugmyster]

I flashed mine in my front yard, however my neighbor called the

[crosswalkguy]

Dude! We checked everything. Diodes, windings, capicitors, etc., and it is all fine. My buddy told me about flashing it with a 12 volt car battery. He said he tried it and it didn't work. I had never heard of that, and thought he was crazy. I found your video and talked him into trying it. When it worked, we laughed our asses off. THANK YOU!

[aleblanc]

Well, that's the first time I've seen that done, In fact, I had no idea it COULD be done! Thanks Don!

[Bassguitarist]

Don, You may want to check the rotor, that is where you will likely have the problem. Portable generators, brush type or brushless capacitor excited type that does not have a field boost circuit, store the residual magnetism in the rotor, not the stator. Often times there are little permanent magnets glued onto the poles of the rotor ( which is essentially a spinning electromagnet) as a means of re-exciting the residual magnetism. Centrifugal force will dislodge these magnets and if left for a few days will go flat. I would concentrate there. I repair Generac portables and standby's and often encounter this problem.

[bamideleoseni]

My gen has been a big headache lately. I just flashed it by following your steps and it came up. Thanks so much.

[BenjaminMcNelley]

I DID WHAT HE DEMONSTRATED! IT WORKED!!! HUGE NOTE! I DID NOT NEED THE GENERATOR RUNNING WHEN I RAN THE DRILL BACKWARDS AND IT STILL WORKED. MUCH SAFER. GREAT VIDEO!!!

[tannerc]

This video is awesome. I bought a big Kubota generator for $20 because the guy thought it was screwed because it wasn’t producing power and I tried this and works perfectly now!

[carlwellman]

I did this with my Generac iq2000 that had been sitting empty of fuel for 5 years, ran but no power. Actually twisted the 1/2” drill a few times before starting the generator and plugged in the drill, started the generator and barely twisted the drill counter clockwise with the trigger pulled and immediately the generator started generating power and continues to work fine. Great information!

[jimgehringer]

Thanks a lot for this method suggestion. Seemed safer than some of the other online ways using car batteries or jump starters. It took me about a half-dozen spins of my 1/2" drill, but suddenly my 20yr old Arctic Cat 4000 came back to life! Great tip.

[walkingweapon]

Thank you! I've had a generator sitting around for a few years. I've replaced the carburetor and the capacitor. This got it to produce voltage again. Very clever.

[garybroadwater]

Thanks to your video, I did not put my generator out at the end of the driveway for someone to come pick up for scrap! Could not believe it was really this simple to fix, but it was. THANK YOU!!

[timsagear]

Donyboy73... Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I'd just about given up... after doing the battery flash and replacing the AVR on my 6200W Elite Briggs & Stratton brushed generator, neither of which worked... and then I found your video.. It so simple I couldn't believe it would work.. two spins of my dewalt hand drill and the drill started running.. You are the best!! Where the heck is your donation button?? Thanks!

[Just_a_Mechanic]

My Co-worker and I were working on a Generac light tower with 0v on L1 and L3. Watched this and thought, There is no way it's that easy. It was that freaking easy.

[craigtimmons]

When I was in school in the mid late 70's our teacher showed us how to preform this operation to a generator that is used on old farm tractors and he called it re-polarizing the fields, basically the same thing you do for a positive ground system with the regulator to polarize it. He explained that if it sat for a period of time the magnets could cross their fields and essentially have the same draw causing the generator to not produce any charge.

[dmatthews]

I have read that shutting off the generator while connection still exists to a load will cause this. Try turning the circuit breakers off before shutting the motor off to see if that may be the cause.

[miraclarke]

Donyboy 73 you're awesome. I replaced the friction ring in my Craftsman snowblower yesterday while your how-to video played on my workbench. I could have figured it out for myself, but having your video helped greatly. I've learned so much from your channel...I've even been doing repairs on some of my co-worker's lawnmowers...they've been giving me pre-loaded coffee cards as a thank you. Cheers Bro!!

[ryanjones]

Took three turns of the drill chuck, thanks for the tip. Helped me help a buddy get his hurricane generator up and running for the season.

[Omegadoomship]

After replacing the AVR and going around with an ohm meter, I was out of options. I saw this method and originally thought it was a bunch of nonsense. But then I tried it, and to my astonishment it actually worked. Now the generator makes power. So it goes to show you that sometimes even the most unusual fixes could actually work. Very surprised. It greatly depends on the circumstances with the generator, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

[jacquescote]

Great Donyboy! After checking all connections, brush and AVR on a brand new honda 6500 that has been stored for many years I was starting to become very concerned and fearing the worst, just before hanging myself I thought, let’s check Donyboy Chanel and did this easy procedure, guess what! It worked!!! Thanks Donnyboy!!! for president’’

[uhmgawa]

Loss of rotor residual magnetism can be caused by allowing the generator to power down with a load connected. In any event there is safer approach for the drill remedy. Just tie a rope around the chuck for a few turns. Lock the trigger and put the drill on the ground with a foot to keep it in place while giving the rope a tug. Same result while keeping fingers off rotating machinery.