Gifted a 1989 C Class

I think that ONAN Emerald Series is a two-cylinder "boxer" engine (opposed, flat like a Subaru or an old VW Beetle). If I'm right, that's an awesome genset.

I would, so you will know that every thing is In good working order.

Nothing worse than a leaking or failed dump hose.

Like This One and One Of These so you can see what is going down..................

Thanks Again!! going to try and figure out the water stuff next.. any suggestions always welcome. Should I just buy a kit from camping world for sewage? Previous owner has a bunch of it under RV, but who knows the shape any of it is in..

Plugged generator into RV and the A/C fired right up... Headed tomorrow to get the voltage meter and see what other things I can find at camping world..

j-d wrote:
If that box near the genset has a female/socket/receptacle in it that matches that heavy duty male/plug at the end of your Shore Tie cable, then YES, you "plug into yourself" to power your coach from the genset. Yiur genset us creating you own "power pedestal." Some owners add a "Buddy Outlet" where they can share power with another RV or run an extension into the house for a power outage, but that's not very common.
What is the Make/Model/Spec (if it's ONAN) of your genset?
I may be criticized for being vague, but have an AC Voltmeter connected when you begin to run the genset. The no-load voltage should be 5 and no more than 10 below or above 120. Bear in mind that the genset is a constant-speed machine. By that I mean that "idle" and "full" are the same RPM. A governor linkage opens/closes the caburetor throttle to hold the RPM as load changes. So... Do NOT "goose" the throttle by tweaking the linkage or Voltage will go crazy high. Our first genset (ONAN BFA 4.0) could hit 160 VAC doing that. If something was connected to it, that device would have been blown out by the high voltage.

I really think this is the problem and will get it plugged in and give it a shot tomorrow.

I will look into the meter.. Thanks

Generator:
Onan Emerald 1
Model #26100F

RV didn't make it all the way home today.
Stopped to get fluids changed and a full exam, good news is everything looks good, just need to top off some fluids and replace a belt or 2 (could have done myself, but those belts are a pain to get to)..

The Kill-a-watt is an RV'ers best friend when troubleshooting electrical load issues. It helped me a ton when I was troubleshooting my A/C problem. I could see clearly that it was pulling 2200 watts and not starting up.

You just plug the meter into a heavy duty household extension cord and use an adapter to connect your MH to it. Diagnose the load first. Then confirm your genset is putting out the right power by connecting the meter a socket in the coach.

Jose

J-D's got a good point, 'specially for one that maybe hasn't been under load for quite a while. You can buy a simple plug-in Kill-a-Watt meter at Home Depot of sLowes for under $30, I think. Let the generator warm up for 3-4 minutes, then gradually apply more load. When finished, turn off the loads, then let the generator run under no load for a few minutes to cool down. Avoid shutting the generator off while it's got loads on it.

Jim, "Instant human. Just add coffee!"

If that box near the genset has a female/socket/receptacle in it that matches that heavy duty male/plug at the end of your Shore Tie cable, then YES, you "plug into yourself" to power your coach from the genset. Yiur genset us creating you own "power pedestal." Some owners add a "Buddy Outlet" where they can share power with another RV or run an extension into the house for a power outage, but that's not very common.
What is the Make/Model/Spec (if it's ONAN) of your genset?
I may be criticized for being vague, but have an AC Voltmeter connected when you begin to run the genset. The no-load voltage should be 5 and no more than 10 below or above 120. Bear in mind that the genset is a constant-speed machine. By that I mean that "idle" and "full" are the same RPM. A governor linkage opens/closes the caburetor throttle to hold the RPM as load changes. So... Do NOT "goose" the throttle by tweaking the linkage or Voltage will go crazy high. Our first genset (ONAN BFA 4.0) could hit 160 VAC doing that. If something was connected to it, that device would have been blown out by the high voltage.

WOW!!! thank you all for the replies, what a great community you have here.

I will have the RV back at the house tomorrow so I will run thru all the ideas suggested for the A/C..

I know for a fact, I did not have the cord plugged into itself (this is the blue box located in compartment next to generator?) I Assumed that was for off shore power. I will also check the thermostat batteries..

Before I get it home tomorrow I plan on heading to the local grease monkey (used for years) and have them Check,Top,Replace fluids like suggested..

Also thanks for the book recommendations and links I will be going thru all of those tonight...