5500 watt Onan generator with only one 30 amp breaker?
I have set up our class C Minnie Winnie with two high efficiency ACs because the standard one will not cool it in the Texas summer. It runs fine on 30 amp shore power, and the 4000 watt Onan that came with it does fine as long as I don't run anything else AND I'm below 2500 feet in elevation. I have hard start capacitors on both ACs. Anyway,the problem is we travel mostly on trips that take us above 2500 feet elevation for at least part of the trip. As soon as we get above that the generator shuts down on overload. I know you must derate the generator for every 1000 feet. Apparently around 2500 feet it doesn't have sufficient power to keep two ACs going. So I have gotten a Cummins Onan EFI 5.5 HGJAD 2138 to replace the 4000 watt original. The specs show 45.8 amps at 120v. It should run the two ACs without a problem. But--the generator comes with a single 30 amp circuit breaker. The old generator never tripped the 30 amp breaker when running the two ACs, but instead the generator just shuts down from overload because of altitude (it was pretty consistent above 2500 feet). I have another 5500 watt Onan in my fifth wheel, but it has two circuit breakers--a 30 and a twenty. That's what I expected on this EFI generator. But the 5.5HGJAD 2138 has only one 30 amp, yet the specs from Onan clearly list the output rating at 45.8 amps. You can't tap that power, though, through the bottleneck of a 30 amp breaker. I don't have to have the extra power, but I'm wondering what gives? I'm hoping the clear reserve that the EFI 5500 watt generator has will give that 30 amp breaker the full needed amps even above 2500 feet, but I'm puzzled as to why only the 30 amp breaker. Any ideas?
