Carver Owners Forum

I am looking for a 6.5KW to 7 Kw Marine Gas Generator for my Cqrver 3608.
Would prefer a refurbished unit but a good used one will be considered.
Send me a note to jimsmessages@outlook.com

I am also looking for the same. I had a 7 Kw Kohler unit in my 3607 but has never worked. I have had 2 different professional marine people look at it and they can't get it to generate. The engine starts and runs just as it should, however it wont generate electricity and then the unit will shut down due to internal controls. I would love to find someone that could fix what I have or find a good used unit as a replacement. Please offer what you can...

RobGunn wrote:Source of the post I am also looking for the same. I had a 7 Kw Kohler unit in my 3607 but has never worked. I have had 2 different professional marine people look at it and they can't get it to generate. The engine starts and runs just as it should, however it wont generate electricity and then the unit will shut down due to internal controls. I would love to find someone that could fix what I have or find a good used unit as a replacement. Please offer what you can...

Hard to believe they couldn't determine what was actually wrong and why it couldn't generate.

The generator end is actually very simple and it comes down to a bad connection, a bad cap, a bad rotor or a bad stator. If the generator has lost residual magnetism (it needs little magnetism to actually start to generate any power), then it can easily be "flashed" to get that going again. A generator can lose residual magnetism if it's been sitting too long between uses (which can be months or years). The voltage and frequency regulation become a bit more complicated, but if it's not even generating any power those aren't even in play yet (you can bypass the voltage regulation to verify that circuit isn't causing the lack of power, but the generator has to generate some power before the voltage regulation becomes an issue).

RobGunn wrote:Source of the post I would love to find someone that could fix what I have or find a good used unit as a replacement. Please offer what you can...

I think you and a lot of people are in the same boat....if these things were so easy to repair it wouldn't be so hard to find repair people at a reasonable cost. Good luck with your search and if you find some please follow up where the source of good used gennies is.

If the genset engine runs but is not generating electricity then it could have lost magnetism and needs to be “flashed” as noted above or it could be the windings. I had a 3kw Onan on a smaller boat a few years ago that would not generate power. I found a manual on the genset after doing some testing found that the windings had shorted and I had to have the stator rewound. I removed it and took it to a local electrical shop where they rewound it. Put it all back together and it worked fine after that

RobGunn wrote:Source of the post.....I have had 2 different professional marine people look at it and they can't get it to generate.....

If they didn't get generator specific training, chances are they won't be able to make a difference in a reasonable amount of time. They might be able to solve a simple issue and can probably solve a complicated one eventually with some research but you don't want to be the one paying for their time while they train on your machine. The key is to find someone who's experienced with your brand or at least generators in general. It would be nice to specialize in all systems but that's an unreasonable expectation. Even the most experienced techs won't know it all, there's just too much and it's ever changing.

Keep in mind that for that vintage, parts may not be available anymore. If it's the model I'm thinking of, this is indeed the case and you have to look at alternative sources in hopes they may still have old stock lying around.

What model Kohler are we talking about? In my experience, the early 3608 had Kohler 7.5R. A 1992 was a toss up between that and the next model up. Depending on the vintage, the 3607 had Onan in earlier production and Kohler 7.5R later. What models are involved here?

Kohler model: 6.5cz23, spec:125204, watts:8500, Phase:1, Volts:120, RPM:3600, KVA:6.5, Amps:54.1, Hertz:60.
Both guys that have looked at it have replaced everything that was needed and then some. Replaced the Control board that I dont think was bad and diode board that aperantly did test bad, also tested stator and found it was OK. Both came to the conclusion that the unit needed to be "Flashed" to make it work. However, neither guy could get it to "flash" and make it work. I sure would love to find a guy that could truly know what he was doing and make it work. So far I have ~$1000 in parts and labor just to end up in the same old "cant make it work" mode. Can anyone out there recomend "that guy" ?