Community Forums

Oldbear · 06-28-2015, 09:03 AM

Seems like I need a new controller for my onan hdkaj genset. It only has 420 hrs on it... $2500 canadian just for the part. Warranty is only 1 year. Has anyone replaced theirs and racked up a few thousand hours? I am hesitant to spend that kind of money only to have it fail again after 400 hrs.
Has anyone heard of a replacement controller that is not as delicate? I do not care about the " smart " technology . Perhaps some company has made a simple reliable controller,...

Dtwallace · 06-28-2015, 09:19 AM

Oldbear,
I don't think those controllers go out that often, unless you've seen or heard otherwise.
Unless the genset was just a worn out (POS) I would fix it and keep on trucking.

420 is nothing as far as time on these gensets, you should expect something in the thousand hour range before you may need to replace or rebuild it.

Jake74 · 06-28-2015, 10:24 AM

The inverter board crapped out on my quite diesel 6kw onan. I'm assuming that's what is wrong with yours. I did some searching around and midsouth cummins in birmingham alabama had best price. It was little over $1500 for the part. I did the work of installing it myself but be warned the genset has to be mostly disassembled to install the inverter board.

mikebreeze · 06-28-2015, 10:40 AM

I priced a replacement Onan 4000 at around 5K at a local dealer. That doesn't include labor. I also had the 500 hour service done recently on my Onan 4000 (it has close to 800 hours on it) at a local Cummins Service Center. That was about $700. These devices are not cheap to maintain or replace.

dennis45 · 06-28-2015, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldbear

Seems like I need a new controller for my onan hdkaj genset. It only has 420 hrs on it... $2500 canadian just for the part. Warranty is only 1 year. Has anyone replaced theirs and racked up a few thousand hours? I am hesitant to spend that kind of money only to have it fail again after 400 hrs.
Has anyone heard of a replacement controller that is not as delicate? I do not care about the " smart " technology . Perhaps some company has made a simple reliable controller,...

Onan is one of the best RV generators on the market but like any electronic component, it is subject to failure. If you were to use your generator continuously, it would last for many thousand hours. The biggest reason these things fail in RV service is the sporadic operation.

But, here's a tip when you get it back into service.
Unless you are doing Emergency Open Heart Surgery, Don't have any large loads turned on (AC, Microwave Etc) when you start the generator. Give it a moment to stabilize after the transfer switch kicks in before you turn on the big loads.
Once it is up and operating it will handle load changes very well but it's these initial surges at start that are hard on the electronics.

powderman · 06-28-2015, 10:52 AM

This place 300-2784 Onan ® Generator Control Panel Circuit Board Repair and Parts states they repair controllers for your gen. Even has a 2 yr warranty. It might be a rock to look under.

HD4Mark · 06-28-2015, 10:54 AM

We replaced our controller for $1800 (American of course) while in Florida. It is the same as yours an HDKAJ 7500 Quiet Diesel. We did the work ourselves and saved a bunch but it is not an easy job.

They are somewhere in the $8000+ (US) range for a complete new unit so I would say absolutely it is worth repairing.

HD4Mark · 06-28-2015, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powderman

This place 300-2784 Onan ® Generator Control Panel Circuit Board Repair and Parts states they repair controllers for your gen. Even has a 2 yr warranty. It might be a rock to look under.

Wow, you snuck that in while I was still typing. Sure wish I had known about that a couple of years ago when ours went.

Bookmarking link, thanks.