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abe low · 10-06-2006, 06:16 AM

I thought my alternator had failed as it was putting out only 8 volts, so I changed it. Turns out it was a faulty ground to the alternator. I was able to continue on my trip by connecting the house batteries to the chassie batteries and running the generator for about a half hour out of every 4 hours. My mechanic said that was a great idea.

abe low · 10-06-2006, 06:16 AM

I thought my alternator had failed as it was putting out only 8 volts, so I changed it. Turns out it was a faulty ground to the alternator. I was able to continue on my trip by connecting the house batteries to the chassie batteries and running the generator for about a half hour out of every 4 hours. My mechanic said that was a great idea.

Gary RVRoamer · 10-06-2006, 12:55 PM

YTou could even run your generator continuously if need be - fuel consumption is very low if the load is light. Even running an a/c will only consume about 0.5 gallons/hour, but just keeping the batteries topped up would be even less than that.

gordon23 · 10-07-2006, 05:15 AM

A caution note

Onan's generator manual warns against running the genny for extended periods of time under no load.

charging the batteries draws very littl current as a percentage of the capable output.

You might be advised to turn on some added load such as and a/c during this exercise

Joe-K · 10-08-2006, 03:51 AM

Great suggestion of using the generator with an alternator failure. I'm sure it'll save someone else from being stopped on the side of the road at some point in the future. Good reminder of the precaution to add some other load too to the generator.