Powerhouse brush springs

Ken MA

Ken MA

Junior Member
Looking to replace the brush springs in a 5 brush powerhouse generator. Does anyone have a source?
 
What is wrong with your's? I haven't had any that were weak, but have seen some that were too rusty to use. I wonder if Bert's would have some? 800-321-1931
 
Piowerhouse was working fine for 12 years until a few weeks ago . Now when the engine runs at 600rpm or so it puts out 6.8 v at 5 amps, all ok, but run the engine at 1000rpm and the voltage drops to 0. Dykes Encyclopedia 1936 suggests springs may be weak. Any other ideas would be appreciated.
 
put in a new set of brushes, run some fine emery paper along the commutator, and file the points on the cutout
John
 
Brushes were replaced about 1000 miles ago. I run a nu rex regulator but take voltage readings from the generator stud no the cutout.
 
Move your 5 the brush, that should increase the charging rate, tuning some emery cloth over the commentator should help to.
John
 
Here is a picture of a 5 brush holder and one of the springs removed to show it in the relaxed position. Notice the spring will uncoil about 3/8" when it's removed. This one needs to have the rust removed, then I'll reblue the springs and plate the steel parts.

Sometimes the ground brush spring post will not have a good connection to the steel frame. The fix for this is to scrape the base of the post and the steel next to it and use a good sized soldering gun to solder them together.
 

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If you find you have to replace any springs, I have some extra original springs and some other parts. Send me a PM and I will give you my e-mail address so we can communicate directly.

Ron
 
Take a look at the undercut between the commutator segments. If it's undercut at least .005" then it should be fine, but if the insulating material is even with the commutator bars, then it may be keeping the brushes from having good contact. Also check for sticking brushes. I've seen that problem a couple times in the past few months.

Also check each of the twisted wire connections between the 6 field coils. I use a battery charger to run 6 volts through the coils and they should use about 1 1/2 amps for the 5 brush field and about 2 amps for the 3 brush powerhouse. I recently had a problem with one where the twisted wire made connection when I tested it but sometimes didn't have output. The wire was broken at the base of the twist, and while it made connection most of the time, sometimes it didn't. There was enough wire to scrape it clean and solder it, so the fix was easy.
 
And if you sand/level your commutator with emery cloth, keep in mind that emery is conductive: you'll want to undercut the commutator slightly (to clean out that dust) or at least get your toothbrush out and floss that area between bars.

Joe K
 
Ron in Quincy said:
If you find you have to replace any springs, I have some extra original springs and some other parts. Send me a PM and I will give you my e-mail address so we can communicate directly.

Ron
Click to expand...

Ron:

Do you still have the five brushes for the Powerhouse?

moasew
 
I see powerhouse brushes show up at times on ebay, but the price is up to about $20.

I bought some plain brushes that I hope to cut to powerhouse size, but I'd still need the wire and terminals for them. Save your old brushes for the wires and terminals.
 
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