When “Good Enough” Isn’t Enough
Generators are designed to deliver power when the grid fails, but even the most reliable equipment can experience electrical failures. Control boards, wiring, and connections are all critical points of vulnerability. Too often, facilities rely on short-term resets or quick cleanups to get units running again. While these fixes might restore power in the moment, they don’t address the underlying problem, and the result is recurring shutdowns, rising repair costs, and increased risk of failure during an outage.
Why Electrical Components Fail
Electrical failures usually come down to a handful of causes:
- Heat and dust that slowly degrade control boards and field connections.
- Age and runtime hours that push boards, regulators, and wiring beyond their useful life.
- Wear from load cycles where the generator is repeatedly starting, stopping, and carrying variable demand.
These problems rarely resolve themselves. Without a proper inspection, what looks like a simple reset is often masking a deeper issue that will resurface, usually at the worst possible time.
The Hidden Risk of Quick Fixes
In some cases, facilities attempt temporary workarounds to restore operation. A common example is disconnecting and reconnecting a control board, which effectively “reboots” the system. While this might get a generator running again for a few days, it does nothing to solve the actual failure inside the board.
We recently encountered a unit with over 10,000 runtime hours where staff had been repeatedly unplugging the control board to clear faults. The generator would run for two or three days, then fail again. In the end, the root cause was a control board that had aged beyond serviceable limits. Only replacement and reprogramming provided a permanent solution.
The lesson here is clear: quick fixes may buy time, but they don’t provide reliability. Relying on them increases downtime risk and can shorten the overall lifespan of the unit.
Why Professional Diagnostics Matter
Trained technicians bring both the knowledge and the tools to identify problems at their source. Instead of patching over symptoms, they inspect wiring, test electrical components under load, and verify that systems meet operational standards.
In the case above, only a professional load test and inspection confirmed that the board had failed. With a proper diagnosis, the customer avoided another cycle of resets and downtime, and the replacement returned the generator to reliable service.
Reliability Requires Real Solutions
Electrical failures are one of the most disruptive issues for industrial generators, but they don’t have to become recurring problems. The key is to move beyond short-term fixes and commit to real solutions through proactive inspections, timely component replacements, and expert service.
At Generator Source, our goal is to make sure your generator performs when it matters most, not just for a few hours after a reset, but for years of dependable service.
To schedule generator service or an inspection, call us at 877-866-6895 or visit our Generator Service page.