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msmith1199's avatar
msmith1199
Explorer II
Jun 01, 2013

Generator problem

Last night I started up my generator and everything worked fine, it supplied power to the motorhome. I let it run for about an hour since I had not run it in a couple of months. I turned it off and plugged the motorhome into shore power. Today I went back out and unplugged the shore power fired up the generator again, but could not get power to the motorhome from the generator. Turn it off and on and still no power. I check all the breakers I could find and nothing was tripped.

My auto switch is a Parallax ATS 5070. Their website has a 2 page manual for the switch which gives little info and nothing on trouble shooting. It specifically says "No user serviceable parts inside."

I'm no electrician. So the question we be is there an easy way to tell if the switch is the problem without electrocuting myself? And I should add everything still works fine on shore power, I just can't get power from the generator to the coach.
  • You did not say what kind of generator but most have 2 breakers on the side of the gen set and turning the generator off or on can trip the breakers or in my case they just trip sometimes on shutdown.

    On the transfer switch sometimes the contacts stick and a rap on the box with the handle of a screwdriver will free them up.
  • The generator is a diesel 7500 watt. I could not see any breakers on the generator itself from the compartment door, but I think I do recall them being there someplace now that you mention it. I'll have to go pull out the generator manual and see where they are. I may have to climb under to get to them.
  • Those breakers will probably be on the right hand end of the generator. Just a guess...

    You probably shut it off under load and it popped the breakers.
  • I did that once. I forgot to plug the MH back into the gennie. :o I don't have an auto switch.

    Hope yours is as easy to fix as mine was.
  • Problem solved. Just a popped breaker on the Genset itself. And the break was right on the front panel next to the on-off switch. I just couldn't see it because it was black and coated in road grime.