Possible Generator issue. Capacitor/Alternator Smoking?

[CrkdLtr]

I fired up my generator the other day to make sure everything was still working and ran it for just a couple minutes. I did not have anything plugged up to it and I did not have it grounded to earth. While it was running I was starting to see some smoke coming from within the unit. As I looked around I saw that this part was starting to smoke.

.

I turned the unit off and set it aside. I put my hand on the part and it was not very hot at all. I can only imagine either a) some accumulation of oil/dirt/dust was burning off since the unit has not been run since last year or b) the part has started to or is failing.

I have not done any further troubleshooting. This is one of those cheap (wasn't cheap at the time) chinese clone units that we bought after Katrina hit. A DEK 5650.

The part is labeled as a Capacitor - 16 uF Alternator. If it is a capacitor and it's failing, I should be able to replace it with another capaictor of similar tolerances with no problems right?

Thanks for any input.




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Found my answer. Turns out it is a capacitor and it is a known style for going bad and I'll need to replace it with a AC Motor Capacitor 440v 16 microfardd to 20 microfarad range.

 

[Bullet]

Yeap a 16 uf (micro farard) cap will work. I have a chinese generator and the capacitor went out. I used a slightly larger on from an ac unit. you could probably find one on the net somewhere or from an old applicance. It looks something like this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/CBB60-AC-45...143?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4603b69d1f while it won't fit under the cover I stuck it on the outside.

 

[Charles1959]

All I know about electrical stuff is that they run on smoke.
Just like yours... When the smokes goes out of em, they don't work no more!!!

 

[bwalke1]

i've always heard your supposed to run a portable generator under load after it's been running for a short time, also to make sure it's running properly you should have a volt meter that checks the Hertz which should be 60hz. i had a portable once that i got from northern tool and right out the box it was running low voltage under load. you have no idea there is a problem unless you check your voltage and HZ output with a meter until several months later when your refrigerator and tv's start going out. if you cant afford a good meter at least put an hour/RPM meter on, this will give you the units rpm which should be 3600rpm(1800 for diesel). if you put to much load on the generator the RPM's will drop. this will mean a drop in voltage and HZ and it's time to unplug the coffee pot!...lol good luck getting a part, good thing you found the problem now!