Though i'd share this
Guy has an older (1990s) generac diesel generator and ATS on his house. There was a power outage and it didnt start. The generator would operate fine when manually started. An electrical contractor who I understand is generac certified and installs these spent time troubleshooting and told the owner the ATS was bad and would need a new control board.
I was then brought in for a 2nd opinion. I have never touched one of these before but I figured what the heck. I began to troubleshoot, starting with the ATS. With generator running manually the ats would transfer fine. Isolate the 2 wire start circuit, put a meter on it and ATS closes the start circuit like it should. ATS is ok, problem is the generator.
Begin troubleshooting the generator and everything seems ok except the 2 wire start circuit doesn't start the generator. I trace that out and see it passes through the off/auto/manual toggle switch. The circuit is broken at the switch. To confirm, I find the pin on the generator PCB that is the 2 wire start signal, ground it and the generator starts right up.
Bad toggle switch. Of course it is a 3 pole 3 position on-on-on switch with an odd contact arrangement. Thankfully the schematic displays the switch function. Generac replacement is like $90 and has a leadtime. Cant find an off the shelf substitute. Look through the honeywell TL series mil-spec toggle switch datasheet and find a 4 pole switch that gives me the 3 contact arrangements I need. $40 and 2 days from digi-key and I have a sealed mil-spec replacement for the crappy switch generac used. P/N is 4TL1-10 in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation.
I don't like generac.
Guy has an older (1990s) generac diesel generator and ATS on his house. There was a power outage and it didnt start. The generator would operate fine when manually started. An electrical contractor who I understand is generac certified and installs these spent time troubleshooting and told the owner the ATS was bad and would need a new control board.
I was then brought in for a 2nd opinion. I have never touched one of these before but I figured what the heck. I began to troubleshoot, starting with the ATS. With generator running manually the ats would transfer fine. Isolate the 2 wire start circuit, put a meter on it and ATS closes the start circuit like it should. ATS is ok, problem is the generator.
Begin troubleshooting the generator and everything seems ok except the 2 wire start circuit doesn't start the generator. I trace that out and see it passes through the off/auto/manual toggle switch. The circuit is broken at the switch. To confirm, I find the pin on the generator PCB that is the 2 wire start signal, ground it and the generator starts right up.
Bad toggle switch. Of course it is a 3 pole 3 position on-on-on switch with an odd contact arrangement. Thankfully the schematic displays the switch function. Generac replacement is like $90 and has a leadtime. Cant find an off the shelf substitute. Look through the honeywell TL series mil-spec toggle switch datasheet and find a 4 pole switch that gives me the 3 contact arrangements I need. $40 and 2 days from digi-key and I have a sealed mil-spec replacement for the crappy switch generac used. P/N is 4TL1-10 in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation.
I don't like generac.