Generac starter battery exploded!

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brian john said:
If you consider that a generator is typically an emergency power source one would consider it prudent to replace the batteries every 18-30 months. Typically we recommend new batteries every 24 months. Small price to pay for reliability.
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These are residential units, I tell the homeowner that the battery requires maintaince, just like checking the oil, but they forget, then in two years we get to sell a maintaince contract when the battery dies. Replaced the battery in the VP's unit, and have not had any more problems so far.
 
ceb58 said:
While doing monthly p.m. to the gen. set is how we found it. Washed it down with baking soda water and then rinsed it down. Had to do some repainting. The gen set is still under warranty. The factory tech. confirmed the charger was the cause. They replaced both under warranty
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Now I'm really interested. Please tell me the proper way to handle this.

The genny is only a 7kw residential unit that was purchased on 1/26/07 through HD.
 
Seems like a lot of the Generacs at the 2-3 year age mark are having some pretty serious issues. I had a call Tuesday morning to check a Generac that wasn't starting during an outage. It wasn't a bad battery, but a bad starter. Must be the price for being the most popular brand...
 
LarryFine said:
The genny is only a 7kw residential unit...
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I bought an electric start 8/12kW portable Generac last year at a blue box when we had a power outage last year. A wall wart was furnished as the trickle charger, and the instructions said to unplug it after the battery is fully charged (no indicator of any sort), giving an approximate recharge time of 5 hours or so IIRC.

The thing about trickle chargers is they cannot use the constant overvoltage method (which is a commonplace recharging method) if left connected longer than it takes to completely recharge the battery. I read about this somewhere on a battery manufacturer's site. Don't remember which site or the specifics as to why, though I could probably conjure up a fairly accurate guess ;)

Being I like "set it and forget about it" type anything, I opted for one of these to replace the wall wart.
 
LarryFine said:
A Kirkland maintenance-free vented car battery. Group 58, 760CA, 610 CCA.
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I have heard of Kirkland batteries but I'm not familiar with them.
Mostly we use Yuasa VRLA batteries for UPS systems. In total, we have probably supplied a few thousand. None, to my knowledge, has exploded.
Different application, I know.
 
I have personally changed 5 "blown apart" batteries in Guardian generators. All of the failures were due to the water boiling off and leaving room for gas to build up.
The "boil off" takes about 8 to 12 months of neglect.
I have been topping off the low ones I find with plain water and then exchanging them before the warranty runs out if I can.
Guardians are such a miserable product. I wish I had 100 of them to maintain, at least until the kids are out of college.:D
 
nakulak said:
don't know the answer to that question. (I'm sure someone else here must !)
what's the model # ?
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I don't know the answer for certain either... but I can't imagine they'd incorporate two trickle chargers when one would suffice.
 
Any generator that I can remember had a standard alternator on the engine for charging the battery and running the DC systems when the generator was up and running. The utility powered charger is only used while the generator is shut down.
 
iwire said:
Any generator that I can remember had a standard alternator on the engine for charging the battery and running the DC systems when the generator was up and running. The utility powered charger is only used while the generator is shut down.
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These small Generacs are a basic lawnmower motor tied to a generator,the first ones were belt drive.They have the same charging circuit as a riding lawnmower. With the small Generacs the brains are out in the generator, instead of the transferswitch, so there is a constant draw on the battery even when the unit is not running.:)
 
iwire said:
Any generator that I can remember had a standard alternator on the engine for charging the battery and running the DC systems when the generator was up and running. The utility powered charger is only used while the generator is shut down.
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So, as far as you know, there are two charging methods.
 
This was a common problem for Generacs for gen set manufactured several years ago. For the pas 1.5 -2 years, Generac has redesigned the charging system and actually put the charger in the transfer switch. I have seen many a battery overcharged and ballooned up / thrown up. The technical guru at the other E.C. I get my gensets explained the reason why they were over charging, but that portion of my brain is down for upgrades / repairs. I have a real good memory, it's just very short. I'll find out the reason and warranty issues and post Monday.
 
LarryFine said:
I went there yesterday, and found that the battery (automotive type - correct size and capacity - I provided) had exploded. The case top was in several pieces, and even one side had a large chunk missing. Needless to say, there was electrolyte everywhere.
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So did you figure out why the generator won't start? :grin:

But really, you think she would have noticed something like that and said something. Maybe like: "You might want to bring out a new battery when you come."

Steve
 
Alden said:
... I have a real good memory, it's just very short. ...
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I call my particular version of this problem (or blessing ;)) priority-based memory recall conditioning... and the prioritization for most memories is on a subconscious level :D
 
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