Forum Discussion

AdventureCoach's avatar
Aug 18, 2020

Boat versus RV Generator

Just curious of why our Onan generators in our boat and RV are designed to operate differently. In the 2006 boat (11KW) it operates at a constant RPM regardless of load but in the 2018 RV (8KW) it runs at various RPMs dependent upon load.
I also like how the transfer switch operates in the RV. There is a slight delay when plugging in to shore power but a 2 minute or so delay when the generator is started. This gives the genset a bit of built in warm up time automatically.
Just curious why the designs are not consistent.

22 Replies

  • MountainAir05 wrote:
    Our runs at a constant speed if loaded or not. Does not change with a load.


    Same here. We have had 2 MH's with Onan 5.5kw. Both have run at a constant rpm.
  • Our runs at a constant speed if loaded or not. Does not change with a load. We have own 4 over our life time and they all have been the same.