Generator Problem in 2010 Itasca

[Five2o]

Hi all...

I have an Itasca 42AD 2010 with a 10kw Onan genset.

When I first got the coach my auto gen feature would not work, but was remedied by Winnebago in November at their factory by repulling heavier gauge conductors from the battery bank to the gen.

Shortly after this fix of theirs I began having intermittent problems with the gen that never seem to happen when I am at a service centre lol.

Again today we are forced to wait for Interstate 5 weather to clear near Weed so are dry camping in Redding. I used the gen 1st thing this morning for coffee etc and it worked fine.

2 hours later we pull off to a rest stop. I put the gen to auto....heat pump was turned on so gen started right away but no power...no battery charging going on etc. No breakers were kicked (previous troubles would be inverter breaker thrown or if not then resetting the breaker would get power going)

I turned gen off and restarted after 5 minutes...roof fan started but after 2 seconds went off...no power...no breakers tripped but gen still purring.

3 more tries resulted in power for a couple seconds the nothing.

We drove on to Redding and I tried the gen...works fine now 3x in a row!!

I was thinking somehow my transfer switch was sticky or something, but why would power come on for a few secs then off? Winnebago is stumped and say let the problem become permanent so they can diagnose it which is reasonable, but I normally dry camp and it really sucks when after a few days this problem arises.

Any guesses as to what it could be?

Thanks in advance....Ed

arg...just started gen manually...power on then off quickly... 2nd try power came on normally after 20 sec...think I better let it run .

[AFChap]

The transfer switch normally defaults to generator if available. If it is dis-connecting you should be able to hear it click if you are near it. I had one that would stick, and I sometimes had to "thump" it good to get it working on shore power. It does sound like a sticking relay or something similar.

[OldChief7155]

Don't start it with things like heat strips, a/c, etc on. Let it run for 30 sec or so before loading it.
See if that doesn't solve the problem.

[smlranger]

Originally Posted by OldChief7155

Don't start it with things like heat strips, a/c, etc on. Let it run for 30 sec or so before loading it.
See if that doesn't solve the problem.

I agree with Oldchief's advice. Try starting the genset with no loads....turn off heat pump, etc. Once the genset is up and running, then set the T-stat on your heat pump. If that doesn't solve your problem, that is at least what Onan suggests.

[bluepill]

In my experience the best way to track down intermittent electrical problems is to wire test lamps at critical junctions/connections so that you can verify input/output conditions. In your case, a few cheap 120 volt night lights could be wired to the transfer switch to verify if the genny signal is coming in and the contacts are "making" so that there is output from the switch.

Winne ought to be able to help on this, since it's simple wiring that a good dealer could install in less than an hour.

[Five2o]

Originally Posted by OldChief7155

Don't start it with things like heat strips, a/c, etc on. Let it run for 30 sec or so before loading it.
See if that doesn't solve the problem.

I think I'll try this but it kind of defeats the purpose of the auto gen feature... cooling or heating as required...

Anyway the gen has performed flawlessly today...just setting me up for our week drycamp stay in Kelowna coming up I think haha.

I really think the trouble is unrelated to the generator though and hope whatever the problem is that it becomes permanent.

Thanks to all that are racking their brain thinking about this...I know it hurts!!