Carver Owners Forum

Got the capacitor out. It was nestled in under the control box. A little tapping on the screw and contortion and it came out. I checked the voltage with my meter and no AC or DC. Then I saw the hole in the side. I am thinking this is the culprit. I will order an OEM one today and then see if it solved the issue, which I think it will, with the hole and all.

That is quite the catch... ......looks like something punctured it....hopefully that is it...

I SO hope so/ I was suspicious when there was no voltage stored in the capacitor. THAT made me a bit confident.

Found a capacitor. I am lucky I was able to read the GE number to get the data for a new one, as my Genset Model and serial number sticker is missing. I am so happy the previous owner kept all the manuals and I was able to get a model number. KUDOS to Coburn Power in Illinois for their great help and also South Shore Generator in Wareham. I have one coming from each 2nd day air. Fingers crossed!

I think I have solved the issue. I replaced the capacitor. I also bought a spare, why who knows? However, upon installation, I started the genset and right away power kicked the contractors in. I had 110V on the gauges and when I put a multi meter on the circuit it was 109.7 to 111.5 with no load, or slight load, the battery charger. When I placed a load, it went right up to 120. A/C started instantly and you could see the load come up on the load meter and hear the genset hunker down a bit and then relax. I would say I have solved the problem. However, I was unable to get the screw back into the clamp, so i used a tie wrap for now. This weekend I will drill the hole out a bit and place a brass 6/32” screw and nut in there to hold it steady. Let’s see how this works this weekend.

How did it get punctured?

I truly do not know. I had a heat exchanger put in over the winter and that is the only thing I can think of. No other work was done by me on the genset

I'm a little late to the discussion, but 2 things to know. The no-load speed needs to be at 62hz which is about 3700rpm. With a load it will drop down to 60hz or 3600, Kohler recommends that with the automatic transfer switch used on the Carver, you should use a 25mfd capacitor instead of the 20mfd to allow quicker voltage build up. That model was the only one Kohler made with capacitor excitation and it had some issues.