[RE-wrenches] Kohler Generator Issues

[Jeff Yago]

Although we have specified and included Kohler RES models in all our off-grid and battery based solar projects for over 15 years, we have seen a real decline in the suitability of the Kohler line in the past few years for use in solar/battery/generator applications.  First they killed off the 1800 RPM units under 15 kW.  We had many older systems that would not work when we replaced an aging 1800 RPM unit with their same kW size new 3600 RPM units, which made inverters go nuts with under-voltage and over-current errors.

Then several years ago they got rid of the battery charging alternator or whatever that re-charged the battery when the generator was running as a way to reduce costs, so now the only way to keep the battery charged was to plug in a full time float charger. This 24/7 electrical load is not a good idea for smaller off-grid systems and requires another set of wires out to the generator to supply this outlet.  Finally, Kohler added a diagnostic electronics panel that adds another 24/7 electrical load.  We "kill" this off during installation on any off-grid application as we cannot justify this 24/7 standby load.  There is a software switch to do this, but its not easy to find in the instructions.

Funny thing was the other day I received a call from the main Kohler factory about some marketing issues and I finally let loose with the above rant.  I really complained that so far they have done everything they could NOT to serve this very large and growing off-grid market, and I pointed out that most of their recent design "improvements" made their generators LESS suitable for this market, not better.  This guy was absolutely dumb-struck, and it appears to me that they have made no effort to understand this market.  Their more recent efforts to void warranties is just another reason to look for a different generator supplier.

Has anyone on this list had any contact from Kohler central office about finding out what features this industry needs?   The guy I talked with may be just blowing smoke, but he promised to have a followup call in next few weeks to learn more about what they can do.  According to him, he thinks they can add a software "switch" in the programming for little or no cost like "on/grid - off/grid" that we could access during setup that would adjust generator parameters and standby losses when used in an inverter-battery application.   In case he really does followup, are there any other rants I could include from you guys that have been a problem for you when using Kohler generators.  I will assume we are limiting this to their non-water cooled units under 15 kW.

While ranting on generators, the main reason we liked to use Kohler was the easy 2-wire start/stop connections you can connect to the aux relay in most inverters, while many other generator brands were not easy to remote start from an inverter or required multi-step starting relays.  Has this changed, and are there now other brands of generators in the 8 to 15 kW range that work well for backup of solar/battery charging applications and the manufacturer does not have warranty issues when used in off-grid applications?

Thanks,

Jeff Yago

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