Westinghouse 9500DF won't power up

Joined
Jun 8, 2016
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Location
Texas, USA
Hi Guys,

Bought a Westinghouse 9500DF generator last August, have used it a couple of times for purposes of breaking it in, worked flawlessly.

Yesterday, in anticipation of running it today, I plugged in the built-in battery charger and let it trickle overnight. Today, when I turned the unit on, I got no lights or other indication that it was alive. Naturally, the push-start and remote start did not function. I figured the battery might have bit the dust, so I pull-started it and let it run for about 30 minutes, running a portable A/C, and a few other higher-draw small appliances to help break it in. It will also charge its own battery while it runs, which I thought might resolve the earlier 'dead' issue. I shut it down, turned the main power switch back on, and it's still dead.

My volt meter reads 13.6 volts from that battery.

Any ideas what may be going wrong? I literally put the cover back on after the last use, and haven't touched it since then. There is no sign of foul play by pests, everything is in place and no dirt, grass, or anything anywhere. I'm stumped to the point that I feel like I'm missing something obvious.
 
The low oil cut-off would affect the ignition, so it would not run no matter how you tried to start it, if it was an oil level issue.

I'd check for loose connections behind the front panel. The electronics on this machine scares me, but I've never had an issue with mine. Sounds like you're doing everything right-- I just flip the main power switch and hold the START button for a couple seconds and then it engages the starter and choke on its own.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I may see if the battery is the problem, but this thing should be under warranty, so for anything more complicated than that, I'm going to see if I can get it replaced before I start unscrewing any panels, which would surely void the warranty. Ugh....nothing can be easy. 🤪
 
Battery should be charged routinely. Not just sporadically. The charger it came with is as cheap as they come. I’d put it on a timer so that it charges once per week for about 6 hours. Or I’d buy a better brand trickle charger and use that.
 
Just to confirm, if the battery is reading 13.6V, even if it would fail a load test miserably, it should be able to illuminate one small light when I turn the ignition on, right? Just seems like something else is wrong.
 
Any battery should not be reading 13.6 volts sitting there. Your volt meter is goofy.
I'd have thought that too until my new generator was delivered. Comes with an agm and straight out of the box the Gen came in, the battery read 13.0v. Who knows how long it had been sitting in storage and shipping facilities prior to me receiving it? So maybe he's seeing a surface charge? I bet mine would read that high too.
 
From Westinghouse service-

"9500df non start / electrical issues"
Good Morning so i have placed an order for your repair part you should see it in 7-10 business days.

Either someone is taking a wild guess, or this is a common issue and they already know what part has failed. Didn't give any instructions on what has failed or for when the part arrives, so I guess I'll just wait for it to get here.
 
Just got another email. This has been shipped. I guess someone at Westinghouse has a crystal ball.

Screenshot_20220204-091340-242.jpg
 
Update: The power switch arrived, and I e-mailed Westinghouse asking for next steps.

This is what warranty work has come to:

Update for Case SC....... - "9500df non start / electrical issues"

Good Morning so you were sent a new run stop switch. Go ahead and install it so the generator is in working order.

Reply to this email to respond or feel free to call our Service Team at (855) 944-3571
Please reference Case SC.......

www.westinghouseportablepower.com
 
Hi Guys,

Bought a Westinghouse 9500DF generator last August, have used it a couple of times for purposes of breaking it in, worked flawlessly.

Yesterday, in anticipation of running it today, I plugged in the built-in battery charger and let it trickle overnight. Today, when I turned the unit on, I got no lights or other indication that it was alive. Naturally, the push-start and remote start did not function. I figured the battery might have bit the dust, so I pull-started it and let it run for about 30 minutes, running a portable A/C, and a few other higher-draw small appliances to help break it in. It will also charge its own battery while it runs, which I thought might resolve the earlier 'dead' issue. I shut it down, turned the main power switch back on, and it's still dead.

My volt meter reads 13.6 volts from that battery.

Any ideas what may be going wrong? I literally put the cover back on after the last use, and haven't touched it since then. There is no sign of foul play by pests, everything is in place and no dirt, grass, or anything anywhere. I'm stumped to the point that I feel like I'm missing something obvious.
Hello WylieCoyote,

I’m having the exact same issue with my new WGEN9500DF. I was wondering if you could share with me how you replaced the run stop sending
Hi Guys,

Bought a Westinghouse 9500DF generator last August, have used it a couple of times for purposes of breaking it in, worked flawlessly.

Yesterday, in anticipation of running it today, I plugged in the built-in battery charger and let it trickle overnight. Today, when I turned the unit on, I got no lights or other indication that it was alive. Naturally, the push-start and remote start did not function. I figured the battery might have bit the dust, so I pull-started it and let it run for about 30 minutes, running a portable A/C, and a few other higher-draw small appliances to help break it in. It will also charge its own battery while it runs, which I thought might resolve the earlier 'dead' issue. I shut it down, turned the main power switch back on, and it's still dead.

My volt meter reads 13.6 volts from that battery.

Any ideas what may be going wrong? I literally put the cover back on after the last use, and haven't touched it since then. There is no sign of foul play by pests, everything is in place and no dirt, grass, or anything anywhere. I'm stumped to the point that I feel like I'm missing something obvious.
Hi Guys,

Bought a Westinghouse 9500DF generator last August, have used it a couple of times for purposes of breaking it in, worked flawlessly.

Yesterday, in anticipation of running it today, I plugged in the built-in battery charger and let it trickle overnight. Today, when I turned the unit on, I got no lights or other indication that it was alive. Naturally, the push-start and remote start did not function. I figured the battery might have bit the dust, so I pull-started it and let it run for about 30 minutes, running a portable A/C, and a few other higher-draw small appliances to help break it in. It will also charge its own battery while it runs, which I thought might resolve the earlier 'dead' issue. I shut it down, turned the main power switch back on, and it's still dead.

My volt meter reads 13.6 volts from that battery.

Any ideas what may be going wrong? I literally put the cover back on after the last use, and haven't touched it since then. There is no sign of foul play by pests, everything is in place and no dirt, grass, or anything anywhere. I'm stumped to the point that I feel like I'm missing something obvious.
Continued... Do you mind sharing how you installed the new run stop switch/ start switch? I was able to get the start button and control panel to light up while the charger was plugged into the gen and wall, but as soon as I removed the charger from the control panel it went dead. Thank you so much for your post!
 
Not your current issue but my warning is I have one and I have had to replace the carb after not running the fuel system dry and letting it sit for just a few months - they gum up REALLY easily. Some carbs do fine with gas + stabilizer and some must be run dry after every use and that's what I need to do with my Westinghouse 9500.

Westinghouse as a support company for their products is known to be a disaster.
 
As for the carb gumming up, these have Honda clone engines. They have fuel bowl drain screws (10MM).

ALWAYS drain the fuel from the carb bowl with the drain screw. Turning the fuel valve off and then running it until the engine dies is NOT enough as that still leaves 1-2 teaspoons worth of gas in the carb bowl.

THEN , once you have turned the fuel shutoff switch to off and drained the carb bowl, put the choke on and attempt to start the engine. This will suck any remaining fuel out of the small carb passages.

Tip- Always use non ethanol fuel if they sell it in your area. I would only use regular 10% ethanol fuel in a generator that is used weekly. If you use 10% ethanol fuel in a standby generator that is started only but a handful of times per year you will destroy your carb.
 
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