AC killing generator?

[JAC1982]

Preamble: We have an appointment for service with the dealer, but not for 2 more weeks, so I'm just curious 🙂

We spent this past week out at the Flaming Gorge, and this was our first boondocking trip with the new rig (purchased in April), relying solely on the generator/batteries for power. We have had 2 previous trips where we had 50AMP hookups. On Day 2, our front AC started killing our generator (on board Onan 5500). It would initially turn on, and you could hear the power load affecting the generator, then the generator would just shut off altogether after a minute or two. The rear AC did not do this, it worked fine for the entire trip. Both were running OK on Day 1 from what we could tell and we've also ran it for shorter periods of time in our yard when loading up etc. The fan part worked fine all week, but no cold air. Husband's stepdad is a manager at a Cummins shop and he couldn't find anything wrong with the generator itself.

So, what could be some causes of this? I'm assuming it's something with the AC unit itself, versus the generator, since the rear AC and everything else worked fine.

[JAC1982]

GrumpyandGrandma wrote:
When the geny shuts down you should get a code on the start switch (flashes) ex 5 times then 3 times =53 that will usually tell you the problem.

OK I'll have to look for that. It did throw a "please service" error.

[theoldwizard1]

My SWAG is a problem with the front AC.

Adding "soft start" capacitors for both is a good idea.

[GrumpyandGrandm]

When the geny shuts down you should get a code on the start switch (flashes) ex 5 times then 3 times =53 that will usually tell you the problem.