I was given a Coleman Powermate 1850 generator by a friend. He said it had worked fine for him. I had trouble getting it to run but after cleaning the carb. it ran OK. I was going to test it out using my skilsaw but had a drop light closer at hand so plugged it in and turned it on. Smoked it! It lit for about 2 seconds then pau! I put my circuit tester into the duplex outlet and it was putting out nearly 200V. The only thing I see in the parts diagram is a capacitor and a diode. Is it possible that the diode is a CRD gone bad or something else? The good news: drop lights are a hell of a lot cheaper than skilsaws. The bad news: Some friend!

 

I would imagine that there would be a regulator of some sort. But, there is not one listed on the parts list. It is strange that they rely on a single capacitor and bridge diode... Perhaps you can adjust/lower the engine idle speed?

 

All the generators I've seen and used operate at idle until under a load when the RPMs jump up to carry the load. So there's the question. What regulates the voltage output? If it's a blown CRD is it now an unrestricted circuit allowing the RPMs control of the voltage?

 

i had a coleman power mate 4000 and it blow the condensator i just change and it work again , other cause might be the you need to exited the rotor whit a 12 volt battery ,check the thermal protector

 

the minimun rpm acepted to generate volts is about 3000 rpm

 

If it's putting out 60 Hz, the speed will be right at 3600 RPM.