Battery & electrical questions
I have a 2014 Coachmen 21QB on a Chevy 4500 chassis, with an Onan 4KW generator. *Does the generator have its own starting battery? If so, how is this battery charged? Or does the generator crank...
Forum Discussion
coolmom42 wrote:
I'm thinking that POSSIBLY the generator starts off the chassis battery--because one day I couldn't get the generator to start (think I just didn't prime it enough the first time) and cranked it multiple times with no luck. Then the chassis battery turned out to be dead, as in it wouldn't start the vehicle. As soon as I got the chassis battery jumped, and the engine going, the generator started right up.
So my thinking was that I ran the chassis battery down in attempts to start the generator. Still not sure if that's what happened.
FWIW, I think that my Itasca's coach batteries start the built-in Onan generator ... not the Ford's chassis battery.
Sometimes I charge the coach batteries via a little portable generator powering an external charger. I attach the charger's output cable allligator clips onto the Onan's starter power lugs that have 8 gauge cables on them leading underneath the coach floor headed straight for the coach batteries on the other side of the coach.
When I start the little generator the coach battery bank ammeter jumps right up, indicating that the coach batteries are receiving current from the external charger being powered by the portable generator. Hence, the coach batteries are wired to the Onan's starter via the 8 guage cables.
