Community Forums

twinboat · 02-03-2016, 07:17 AM

I am still thinking you have a voltage or Hz issue.

You stated in your original post that the coffee maker worked for a few months.

Wondering what changed to create this dirty power, since it didnt show up the first time you plugged it in ?

Steve Ownby · 02-03-2016, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

I am still thinking you have a voltage or Hz issue.

You stated in your original post that the coffee maker worked for a few months.

Wondering what changed to create this dirty power, since it didnt show up the first time you plugged it in ?

Generators, when operating as designed, produce clean power. If generator power starts to deteriorate, the most common cause is the slip ring to brush connection getting dirty. Sometimes the simple fix will work. Try loading up the generator to close to its rated power output for an hour or so. Be sure to let it cool at low load for a few minutes before you turn it off. Sometimes that will clean up the slip rings. Can't hurt.

wingnut60 · 02-09-2016, 08:54 PM

Very sympathetic to your need for coffee--in a MH that has got to be bothersome. I just use a old-style perk model when not hooked up.
Can't believe that I don't actually get up early, stoke the banked coals, add kindling and set the coffeepot on.
We love our conveniences, don't we?
Joe

1bigmess · 02-09-2016, 08:57 PM

Here is what I use to make coffee. No moving parts, no electricty, and a package of filters lasts for months and months.

The Aerobie® AeroPress® Coffee Maker

wingnut60 · 02-09-2016, 09:06 PM

Had my interest for a moment there--trying to figure out how it comes out hot? But, wait, you have to heat the water first, which was the OPs problem in the first place.
Always a catch...
Joe

1bigmess · 02-09-2016, 09:33 PM

It really solves two problems, the generator power issue that the OP has right now, and needing to fire up the gennie to make coffee in the first place.

You're welcome!

**TonyDi** · 02-09-2016, 09:48 PM

OP has stated that the coffee maker was working fine for a while then stopped. He has not said whether or not while running the generator with the inverter off, if any of his 110 plugs work. If they don't look at the genny and make sure the circuit breakers are not tripped.

Let us know how you get this resolved.

nothermark · 02-09-2016, 10:19 PM

FWIW assuming it is the coffee maker I'd bet on a bad aluminum electrolytic capacitor in the coffee pot filter. Common failure. Maybe not hard to replace for anyone handy. IT depends on how well they glued the coffee pot together to prevent service.

We us a Melita setup. Hot water in the kettle while leaking a bit of warmth to the kitchen and then hot mugs on the table... ;-)

Dr4Film · 02-10-2016, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nothermark

FWIW assuming it is the coffee maker I'd bet on a bad aluminum electrolytic capacitor in the coffee pot filter. Common failure.

The coffee filters that I use for my Senseo are paper!

Yup, I have had two devices self destruct while on Inverter power because of the square wave power that it puts out but I have always considered Onan Generator power to be excellent. They have robust systems built into their generators to shut off the power when things go haywire.

So are these "filters" in the coffee makers common is all brands of coffeemakers?

Dr4Film ----- Richard

wa8yxm · 02-10-2016, 07:41 AM

Have you checked the breakers on the Generator? Then do the voltage measurements.. From there on I'm better hands on than long distance.

I once had a Mr. Coffee that just plain did not like anything other than shore power. Not even the Inverter (Prosine 2.0 true sine wave) I mean power does not get any cleaner than that prosine but it did not like it.

nothermark · 02-11-2016, 02:33 AM

Coffee filter vs coffee pot power filter. I have several coffee maker power supplies in my junk box. They are pretty simple devices.

RVGuy1966 · 02-20-2016, 08:23 PM

you could always build a bridge rectifier and beef up the waveform with specific value caps but it seems a bit much when you can buy a ten dollar coffee maker to have your brew on a dirty genny. save the good stuff for shore power.

ABrask · 02-23-2016, 02:17 PM

RVGuy1966 is pretty much right on, and further speculation about the problem is also fruitless. Generator power is seldom "clean," and even if a particular generator is producing relatively clean power today, it won't necessarily do so in a month. As I wrote on this subject previously, the microprocessors used on some kitchen appliances are often sensitive to noise, voltage, and frequency variations from power sources, and the effort required to identify the precise issue and fix is probably not worth it.

If anyone really wants to read more about power problems, I'm attaching a .pdf document of an Executive Summary some smart dude prepared on the subject. I have the same problem the OP has in my own coach (affecting the microwave oven and my Tassimo coffee maker at times). I could scope the power circuit, but the whole subject makes my head hurt. Instead, I make our coffee while we're still attached to shore power in the morning, or I turn off the generator temporarily (or the engine, since the alternator is even worse) and run the coffee maker from the batteries (through the inverter), which works fine in my particular setup.

Or...fire up the propane stove and do it the old fashioned way?

nothermark · 02-24-2016, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ABrask

RVGuy1966 is pretty much right on, and further speculation about the problem is also fruitless. Generator power is seldom "clean," and even if a particular generator is producing relatively clean power today, it won't necessarily do so in a month. As I wrote on this subject previously, the microprocessors used on some kitchen appliances are often sensitive to noise, voltage, and frequency variations from power sources, and the effort required to identify the precise issue and fix is probably not worth it.

If anyone really wants to read more about power problems, I'm attaching a .pdf document of an Executive Summary some smart dude prepared on the subject. I have the same problem the OP has in my own coach (affecting the microwave oven and my Tassimo coffee maker at times). I could scope the power circuit, but the whole subject makes my head hurt. Instead, I make our coffee while we're still attached to shore power in the morning, or I turn off the generator temporarily (or the engine, since the alternator is even worse) and run the coffee maker from the batteries (through the inverter), which works fine in my particular setup.

Or...fire up the propane stove and do it the old fashioned way?

agree on the propane. ;-)

FWIW the paper put out is a summation of problems I first learned about as old hat problems in the 1960's. It was put out by a major supplier of power cleaning systems so it is the equivalent of a drug company talking about the dangers of not taking medicine.

There are a lot of sources of power line disturbances aside from motor home generators. In general the generators should be cleaner than a PSW inverter because it is a more or less pure sine wave while a PSW inverter just has more than a couple of steps in the voltage wave form. Look it up.

Reasonably designed power supplies can handle them. Note, I said reasonable design not the cheapest way possible under ideal conditions. Blame the appliance not the power source.