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Old 05-28-2015, 11:16 PM   #1
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Talking Not-So-Funny Funny Story

So, the rig has been "home" all of one full day, and I'm working in it to get things ready for our first weekend out. It's about 100º so, naturally, I fire up the generator and crank up the AC. Ahhhhh... nice.

I left the RV and went inside for a cool drink, and when I came back out the generator had spontaneously shut down. "Ok, don't panic," I tell myself. "You probably didn't break your RV on your very first day!" I started it back up, it purred beautifully and then boom... 5 minutes later it shut down again.

"Ok, now you can panic!!!"

The first thing I checked was the fuel level... 5/8 full, no problem there. The next thing I looked at was the AGS and there's a little yellow light flashing next to the GEN FAULT label. So, I grabbed my handy-dandy manual and looked up the error codes, but the light is just flashing constantly... no code, just flashing on-off-on-off without pausing.

So I go inside the house and log on to IRV2 for some answers. That's where I read that you have to press the stop button to read the secondary codes, and THAT will tell you what's wrong. So easy any moron could do it... except this one.

(It was right there in the manual, I'm just a lot better about reading stuff online I guess )

So I go back into the rig, the light is still flashing, I push the stop button and... nothing - the light just keeps on flashing, mocking me. I read through every error code in the manual (twice!) just to see if anything sounded familiar, and that's when I looked up at the stop button and saw that IT has a light on it, too.

Oh, man... serious DOH! moment. I thought the little light on the AGS was the light they were talking about. I say "I thought" but clearly I wasn't thinking at all Why would an Onan manual reference a fault light flashing on a Xantrex AGS??? Ugh... stoopid.

So now, to redeem my wounded pride, I'm determined to find out what happened: I powered everything off, fired up the generator again and waited. It ran. And ran. And ran... not even so much as a hiccup. Now it's close to 105º inside so I decided to turn on the AC again to try to recreate the problem... and that's when it hit me:

I had both AC zones on and the refrigerator was running constantly try to cool itself down and who knows what else was powered up in the background. Of course... I overloaded it! I turned off Zone 2 and the generator ran perfectly for over two hours after that. Never did get to try that stop button / error code thingy.

I hate being a newbie. When does that end?
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Old 05-28-2015, 11:41 PM   #2
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Generator should be able to run both air cons and the refer though. Even our 2000 DSDP with 6.2 KW propane gen set would.
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Old 05-28-2015, 11:50 PM   #3
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Hi WB, I haven't started being a newbie yet so can't tell you how long it lasts. Sounds like you are having fun...or...should I say Having a Blast!

Thanks for sharing you story!


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Old 05-29-2015, 12:58 AM   #4
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I think you stop being a newbie when you start answering your own questions....you just did that!!!
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Old 05-29-2015, 01:10 AM   #5
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Quote:
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Generator should be able to run both air cons and the refer though. Even our 2000 DSDP with 6.2 KW propane gen set would.
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Old 05-29-2015, 02:55 AM   #6
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Quote:
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Generator should be able to run both air cons and the refer though. Even our 2000 DSDP with 6.2 KW propane gen set would.
Yeah, it did yesterday no problem, but it wasn't as hot yesterday. And to tell the truth, because it didn't fault again I honestly don't know why it shut down because I never got the chance to read the fault codes. So I'm really only guessing, but since it ran fine with just one AC on it just seemed logical.

120v x 14a x 2 = 3360 watts, plus maybe another 400 or so from the ref and a few hundred on top of that for incidentals and now it's way over half the capacity of my generator. A couple start-up surges from any one or more of the motors / compressors could theoretically put it over the top... maybe. Hell, I dunno.

For all I know it's low on oil or coolant. I couldn't check because it didn't get cooled down enough before I called it a night. I'll check first thing a.m.

I could take it in, I guess; there's a Cummins service center only 20 minutes from here or so. I'm working on it tomorrow again... I'll run Zone 2 and turn off 1 and see if maybe there's a spikey draw from that unit.
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Old 05-29-2015, 02:58 AM   #7
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I think you stop being a newbie when you start answering your own questions....you just did that!!!
Thanks, but I'm not so sure. The fact that it stopped shutting itself off doesn't mean I "fixed" it

I'm gonna load it up tomorrow again, see if I can get it to fault so I can check the codes.

lol... that's kinda weird, wishing for something to stop working
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Old 05-29-2015, 04:12 AM   #8
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Before you try again, check all the fluids on the genset. Make sure coolent and oil are correct.

Never heard of a RV with a fenset built in that can't run the entire RV.

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Old 05-29-2015, 08:01 AM   #9
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Generator should be able to run both air cons and the refer though. Even our 2000 DSDP with 6.2 KW propane gen set would.
Unless you have seriously upgraded the electrical needs of your RV (IE: converted from a propane stove to an electric cooktop, added a whole bunch of electrical heating) your generator should, as Mr. D said, run EVERYTHING and for hours on end and then some.

mine does.

Though you may have ovrheated it..

Also somthing you need to know is on ONAN generators the circuit breakers have two positions ON and Off/tripped.. There is no center (Tripped) position,, OFF is tripped.

This can make it hard (on some models) to tell if they are tripped.. NEVER FEAR though.. Your Brother is always at you side (So says my Brother P-touch when I ask for a test/demo print) and it can print a sticker that goes on either the ON or in my case OFF side so if the toggl points towards OFF,, I reset it.

True story: Local Grocery supermarket.. Had power fail a few days ago.. Their big 3-phase ONAN refused to start.. This one is going to be costly We reset computer and tried again,, Hooked up two doner vehicles to the battery to get it up to spec,, Still no joy, Engine did not move at all.

Possible issues: Siezed starter,, (New starter) Starter locked (Remove and reattach starter,, Consider replacement of starter gear and/or ring gear).. Sized bearings in generator or engine, Sized pistons in engine.

No matter.. Glad I'm not the one who has to fix it.
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Old 05-29-2015, 07:31 PM   #10
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Well, we do have seriously upgraded electric appliances, including a new mic / convection oven (that wasn't on), a new 22.5 cf residential refrigerator (that was on), a new induction cooktop and a radiant heating floor... neither of which were on (I don't think).

In any case, it happened again today, and it was code 33. So Lloyd, I think you might be right... low coolant level makes sense.... or a blown temperature sensor. It's way too hot outside to check now (103° today); I'll check all fluid levels first thing tomorrow morning.

I'll top if off if necessary, but it's going in for a full service next week; I'll add the genset to the list.
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Old 05-30-2015, 09:26 AM   #11
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I had that happen years ago when I brought home a used RV.
Scalding hot day - would run for 15 minutes and then fail.

The previous owner had overfilled the crankcase oil and the Onan was very sensitive to this - apparently the crankcase oil will foam up when overfilled which leads to overheating.
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Old 05-30-2015, 10:01 AM   #12
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Crankcase... hmmm? I checked the oil and it's right in the middle of the stick, but I'll add it to the list for the service guys

I just did a visual inspection - coolant was right to the top of the fill tube and the reservoir was just above the min cold line. It runs perfectly - except for the shutting down part - so I'm guessing thermostat or temperature sensor. If I wasn't running on shore power this weekend I'd swap them out, but the set is running fine when all it's powering is the fridge (I'm pre-cooling it down now for our departure later).

So, service next week I guess - oil, coolant flush, all filters on both the rig and the genset.
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Old 06-01-2015, 02:17 PM   #13
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I f I may ask what brand and model of house hold reffer did you change to??? AS I have a 2004 Mountain Aire 4302 / 7 1/2 kw Onan gen set Like yours!! ( watch out for your heater hose it will break just in front of the radiator and in back of your Hidro Hot)
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Old 06-01-2015, 10:43 PM   #14
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I f I may ask what brand and model of house hold reffer did you change to??? AS I have a 2004 Mountain Aire 4302 / 7 1/2 kw Onan gen set Like yours!! ( watch out for your heater hose it will break just in front of the radiator and in back of your Hidro Hot)
Hi myliladog.The previous owners upgraded the entire coach to all-electric, and they did an excellent job of it, too.

The refrigerator is an Electrolux IQ Touch like this one here, only ours is black. The also upgraded the microwave to a convection oven combo (and it's AMAZING!) and added an induction cooktop - also amazing.

However, the previous were full-timers in this coach, and they parked it in resorts far more than they ever drove it (it has only 34,000 miles on it and only 125 hours on the genset). They had no concerns about electricity because they we always plugged in - they never dry-camped. So the rig isn't really well set up for all those power hungry appliances unless it's tethered to a 50 amp pole. That'll be my job, because we definitely want the option of being able to boondock it if we want.

Solar, solar, and more solar. Maybe a wind turbine as well
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