Generator started on its own

[Colesmeister]

Got a 2000 D. My wife and I Got home from work today and the generator was running. We're afraid we'll come home and the D will have started itself up and driven off.

Seriously, what would cause the generator to start by itself? Is this some feature to keep the batteries charged that I missed reading about in the owner's manual?

[Colesmeister]

Got a 2000 D. My wife and I Got home from work today and the generator was running. We're afraid we'll come home and the D will have started itself up and driven off.

Seriously, what would cause the generator to start by itself? Is this some feature to keep the batteries charged that I missed reading about in the owner's manual?

[Mac and Chris]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Colesmeister:
...what would cause the generator to start by itself? Is this some feature to keep the batteries charged...QUOTE]

Correct

Your RV has generator autostart. I'm sure someone on the forum has a Discovery and can tell you more specifics. It's a useful feature, but does need to be managed. Convenient when dry camping especially.

Mac

[Hitchhiker]

Greg,

As strange as it may seem, there have been others who've had this or a similar problem. One member posted that his technicians traced it to a circuit board in the controller as the problem.

You might want to take a look at these threads I've linked to see if any of their experiences relate to yours: <UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Thread link.<LI>Thread link.<LI>Thread link.[/list]

[Doc Mark]

We have a Generac diesel genset that was "possessed". It would start or attempt to start on its own, with the usual result of tripping a breaker that required crawling behind the right rear duals and finding a reset switch somewhere in the dark nether regions of the chassis. Needless to say this was not a fun time.

Long story short, the dealer finally replaced a circuit board and all has been well since.

[DonavonP]

Greg, The Discovery/Freightliner for that era had problems with the automotive air conditioner dripping condensate on the wire harness/circuit's and causing "auto starts". The fix was to fashion a simple raincoat out of a plastic bag. Some guys, of course, built elaborate shields but the poly bag worked.

[doc]

Been there and done that! I thought I was losing my sanity. Our 2000 Itasca Horizon has the Onan 7.5 quiet diesel. A short while before I retired, the coach was parked in the driveway, after we had returned on a Sunday from a trip. On Monday I walked out of the house to leave and heard an engine running. Walked over to the MH and the little Onan was humming quietly along. I could not recall even having cranked the thing in the last few days, but there it was.
After talking to a few folks on this and other forums, I realized it had started itself somehow. Has never done it again, although I cannot say it has not tried, but I have no evidence of such. It is sort of scary to realize this thing just started on it's own.
I actually checked the MH over pretty good to make sure someone had not come in and fired it up as a prank.

[RV Wizard]

We have found that on a few of the models without "Auto Start" features that the control board was the culprit. Once replaced there were no other problems. It took us a while to eliminate all other possibilities but once we did we replaced the board and customer has never had another incedent of it self starting. This is not the only reason; there are others that have been mentioned so it will be on a per unit basis as to the fix.

[JoeT]

This happened to me, too. My Onan Quiet Diesel started while I was out of town. Fortunately my neighbor shut it off for me. I talked to Onan tech support and was told that this does happen due to a defect, but is rare. Most of the time it is caused by 'critters'. When I got home I pulled out the generator slide an saw cat tracks on top of the Onan. (I have an outdoor cat). I rigged the start switch on the generator so it couldn't be pressed and it hasn't happened since. (About a year)