Forum Discussion
Bordercollie
Dec 03, 2015Explorer
The ground wire from the generator to the chassis may be corroded and not making a good connection. All connections in the generator and battery circuits must be clean and tight. All connections from your converter/charger and house battery circuits must be clean and tight. It often helps to have the chassis engine running when you try to start the generator. Using the emergency start switch on the dash connects the engine starting battery and house battery in parallel which provides more cranking power to the generator. Your generator's stopping sounds like a fuel filter and/or carburetor problem. If your RV is not new, the generator's carburetor and generator fuel filter may need replacement by a qualified Onan generator service. Generator service work is not cheap. It pays to run the generator for an hour running the air conditioner once a month to keep it ready for use when needed. Knowing how and maintaining your house battery connections and electrolyte levels is a basic part of RV ownership.
Get a cheap digital multimeter at Harbor Freight, etc., to check battery voltage and a rubber bulb battery filler to maintain battery electrolyte levels with distilled water. A battery terminal cleaner is good to have also.
House batteries should read 13+ volts dc when engine chassis engine or RV generator is NOT running. With chassis engine running, house batteries should read around 14 volts dc. House batteries charge very slowly when driving or when running the generator or when connected to shore power. Most RV chassis starting batteries do not charge when RV is connected to shore power unless equipped with a Trik-L-Start or similar device. Sorry if you knew this stuff already!
Get a cheap digital multimeter at Harbor Freight, etc., to check battery voltage and a rubber bulb battery filler to maintain battery electrolyte levels with distilled water. A battery terminal cleaner is good to have also.
House batteries should read 13+ volts dc when engine chassis engine or RV generator is NOT running. With chassis engine running, house batteries should read around 14 volts dc. House batteries charge very slowly when driving or when running the generator or when connected to shore power. Most RV chassis starting batteries do not charge when RV is connected to shore power unless equipped with a Trik-L-Start or similar device. Sorry if you knew this stuff already!
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