Community Forums

scdiver · 04-03-2016, 09:50 AM

I have a 1995 Generac NP-66G generator that I exercise one hour a month on or about the first day of each month. So last Friday, April 1st I started the genny for it's monthly exercise and although it started up ok it output no ac.

On checking the output at the genny I found only 21 volts. That meant the exciter circuit was not coming up. (Yes I know to hold the switch down a little after the genny starts.) I restarted the genny several times and still no power out.

Since we are using the MH at the end of this month I was not a happy camper.

I decided to let the genny run for about 20 minutes to see if it would dry out any moisture in it. I then restarted the genny and behold, it now put out AC.

I put a load on it and let that sucker run for three hours.

Today, Sunday April 3rd I started the genny and got power immediately. I will let it run for an hour just to make sure.

I feel that if I did not exercise this generator regularly it would probably not be working with out some repairs.

Just wanted to share this.

Pepper2 · 04-03-2016, 03:41 PM

Really appreciate the heads up. There are so many maintenance items on a RV we tend to forget some without an occasional reminder.

Happy Prospector · 04-03-2016, 06:00 PM

I exercise my genny every two weeks for 3 hours under about 3/4 max load.

The information is out there, all you have to do is let it in.

Fred and Bonnie · 04-03-2016, 08:47 PM

Also helps to live or house your unit in a low humidity environment.

Fred

twinboat · 04-03-2016, 08:58 PM

I store my MH 225 miles away for 6 months. An 8 hour round trip every month is not in the cards.

I pull the gas line off the fuel filter, start it up and let it run out of gas.

It worked fine last spring and I'll know how it did this time, in 2 weeks, when I pull it out of storage.

Murf2u · 04-04-2016, 06:13 AM

Maybe I'm just too much of a sceptic but I find it odd that a) not all generator manuf. call for regular exercise, and even then, not on all models, and b) that the one in question only began calling for regular exercise after it became a division of Cummins.

I know of LOTS of gensets that only get started to make power, they do so without issue too.

jondrew55 · 04-04-2016, 06:43 AM

I use my RV at least every month and alway run the generator. On my home back up generator, a Honda EUI 6500, I ran it at least monthly under load. I finally decided to sell the generator and sure enough, while showing it to a prospective buyer it ran for a while and then started sputtering and coughing. Not sure what was going on, used ethanol free gas. Fortunately the buyer wanted it really bad (it had 24 hrs on it and was in brand new condition). So I took a few bucks off and he drove away happy.

Regular exercise didn't help me

srt20 · 04-04-2016, 09:01 PM

My Onan genset in the MH didn't get started for 3 years. The MH sat outside those 3 years. Last week I started it up, and it worked as designed.

I have a portable 13K genset. Has sat for 6 years in a metal garden shed. Put some gas in it, checked the oil and it works as designed as well. The battery was dead so the electric start obviously didn't work.