17KW Generac stand by Generator wont turn on: alarm: "under voltage"

[massimofinance]

We just came home from a 2 week vacation and forgot to pay the power bill last month, so the power company shut us off about a week ago. When they shut us off, the generator kicked on, and must have been running for a straight 4,5 days. Got home last night, and no power (you need to have a utility company tech come to the house to turn you back on). I checked on the generator, and the red light is on (just had it fully serviced last month) and the message is "under voltage". I flipped it off, then on again, it starts fine, then after 5 seconds, shuts off. The oil level looks OK. We have a lot of propane, so its not that. Any advice other than to call the tech? the service company said it could be a bad controller and that's $700. Have to say; bought the house two years ago with this generator and have already spent around $1300 in service calls on it. It is the 17KW guardian series generator. See picture. thanks...

 

[Scott Danforth]

First change oil

those generators need the oil changed every 30 or 50 hours (dont remember and I am not looking it up) 4-5 straight days between 100 and 125 hours and the oil has enough contaminants in it it trips the oil sensor and it wont run

 

[massimofinance]

Will do, thanks...

 

[massimofinance]

Changed oil and hooked up a battery pack to the battery, in case the battery was bad (its a year old). Still having the same issue.

 

[MTboatguy]

First change oil

those generators need the oil changed every 30 or 50 hours (dont remember and I am not looking it up) 4-5 straight days between 100 and 125 hours and the oil has enough contaminants in it it trips the oil sensor and it wont run

To many dirties in the oil can destroy the oil sensor in the generac units, I had it happen on one of mine and had to replace the sensor to get it back up and running.

 

[massimofinance]

thanks guys. the service tech came out today. He thought maybe it was the control panel, so he swapped in a new one from the truck. It runs past the 5 second mark, but doesn't produce any AMPs. He said it could either be bushings or a rotor. Both in the $1200 range. He also said I might want to upgrade to a 22KW unit that can handle my central AC- that will cost $7,200. I told them to come back tomorrow to continue to diagnose the issue. Thoughts?

 

[massimofinance]

Ok. Now they proved a quote for a new rotor and brushing. $1900. Fair? Makes Sense?

 

[82rude]

When my Polaris threw a code for undervoltage it was the voltage regulator that was pooched.Can you test yours?Does it have one?Im not very familiar with large gennys.