Onan gen, solar charge voltage

rtbmrgl wrote:

USMarine0369 wrote:
Mark, was it a bad hour meter? My gen works fine and starts great, but the hour meter is blank. I'm thinking I need to replace just the hour meter. If you replaced yours, where did you get it? Thanks!

Hello, yes the hour meter was bad, I replaced the whole control board, it was close to the same price as the meter.
bought on eBay $39
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Onan-RV-Generator-Remote-Switch-Panel-With-Digital-Hour-Meter-028-00022-/292118679664?hash=item4403a15070:g:XXAAAOSw4GVYM1dV&vxp=mtr

thanks!

USMarine0369 wrote:
Mark, was it a bad hour meter? My gen works fine and starts great, but the hour meter is blank. I'm thinking I need to replace just the hour meter. If you replaced yours, where did you get it? Thanks!

Hello, yes the hour meter was bad, I replaced the whole control board, it was close to the same price as the meter.
bought on eBay $39
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Onan-RV-Generator-Remote-Switch-Panel-With-Digital-Hour-Meter-028-00022-/292118679664?hash=item4403a15070:g:XXAAAOSw4GVYM1dV&vxp=mtr

Mark, was it a bad hour meter? My gen works fine and starts great, but the hour meter is blank. I'm thinking I need to replace just the hour meter. If you replaced yours, where did you get it? Thanks!

DrewE wrote:

rtbmrgl wrote:
Hello again, I didnt want to start a new thread,
My Onan hour meter just quit, before I start digging around is there a good starting point to investigate.


Thanks
Mark, Roseville, Ca

The hour meter is (at least on my installation, and the ones I've seen) just wired in parallel with the red pilot light on the remote panel. If the wire to them is open, neither one would work. If the pilot light illuminates when the generator is operating, the problem should be very easy to find on the generator control panel--or else it's the hour meter itself that's broken.

There are four wires to the remote panel, as I recall: one common, one to the "start" side of the switch (which connects to common when the switch is pressed), one to the "stop" side of the switch, and one to power the indicator light and hour meter. I don't offhand remember for certain if the common was ground or +12V, but I suspect it's chassis ground. At any rate, if the start and stop switch works, the common is obviously OK.

If the hour meter is on the generator itself, I would guess it's wired similarly, but perhaps not.

Thanks Drew for getting back,
Yeah it sounds like it may be just a wiring issue or bad meter. The Gen light comes on and it charges. When I got the camper it only had 1.8hrs on the gen, so now I wondering if the meter was always operating although looking at the generator it was very clean and the oil looked new.

thanks again

rtbmrgl wrote:
Hello again, I didnt want to start a new thread,
My Onan hour meter just quit, before I start digging around is there a good starting point to investigate.


Thanks
Mark, Roseville, Ca

The hour meter is (at least on my installation, and the ones I've seen) just wired in parallel with the red pilot light on the remote panel. If the wire to them is open, neither one would work. If the pilot light illuminates when the generator is operating, the problem should be very easy to find on the generator control panel--or else it's the hour meter itself that's broken.

There are four wires to the remote panel, as I recall: one common, one to the "start" side of the switch (which connects to common when the switch is pressed), one to the "stop" side of the switch, and one to power the indicator light and hour meter. I don't offhand remember for certain if the common was ground or +12V, but I suspect it's chassis ground. At any rate, if the start and stop switch works, the common is obviously OK.

If the hour meter is on the generator itself, I would guess it's wired similarly, but perhaps not.

Better change the thread title and list the exact serial number and model number of the ONAN

Hello again, I didnt want to start a new thread,
My Onan hour meter just quit, before I start digging around is there a good starting point to investigate.


Thanks
Mark, Roseville, Ca

Thanks for all you feedback,
DrewE, sounds like the generator is acting normal.
You would think it should start charging as it started the gen very easily. I have a Arctic Fox camper so starting the truck is an option.

Ill step up the solar charge voltage as westend suggested.

heres a pic of the controller......



http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/ad102/rtbmrgl2/AB12ACD7-E9AC-4359-9928-E7C4CE715033_zps8gwzcgje.jpg

13.8 is low. What is the controller model?

Generator powering the converter should have brought the system voltage up fairly quick... what converter do you have?

Moved from "General"