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Overload built-in Onan gen. without popping a breaker?

joebedford
Nomad II
Nomad II
I was testing my gas-powered Onan 5500 the other day. I was running both air conditioners and the water heater. It seemed to be handling the load well but after 20 minutes, it just stopped - no sputtering or anything - just spun down suddenly.

I was able to restart it and it worked OK but I'm wondering what would cause it to stop like that. There's plenty of oil (in fact maybe a bit too much oil).

No breakers were popped.
12 REPLIES 12

RLS7201
Explorer
Explorer
joebedford wrote:
But if the generator overheats, wouldn't it give you an error flash? I didn't get that.


Note, I posted my generator is a NHM. My signature says 95. No error codes back then.

Richard
95 Bounder 32H F53 460
2013 CRV Toad
2 Segways in Toad
First brake job
1941 Hudson

joebedford
Nomad II
Nomad II
But if the generator overheats, wouldn't it give you an error flash? I didn't get that.

RLS7201
Explorer
Explorer
I encountered about the same issue with my 7K NHM Onan. It shut down suddenly under heave load. I was running my 2 air conditioners and my neighbor was running his air conditioner off of my generator. My shut down was because the generator over heated.

Richard
95 Bounder 32H F53 460
2013 CRV Toad
2 Segways in Toad
First brake job
1941 Hudson

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
joebedford wrote:
My Onan 5500 has a 30A breaker and a 20A breaker.


50 amp at 120 volt is 6,000 watts. and the generator is a 5500 watt unit. Still possible to overload.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

joebedford
Nomad II
Nomad II
My Onan 5500 has a 30A breaker and a 20A breaker.

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
My Onon was a 5500 Two 30 amp breakers. 30 amps times 120 volts is 3600 times two (Two breakers) is 7200 A bit more than a 5500 can output.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

greenno
Explorer
Explorer
Run it again with less load and see if the problem persists.

dougrainer
Nomad
Nomad
joebedford wrote:
There were no fault codes.

I didn't monitor the voltage because it seemed to be fine until it wasn't.

I'll check the voltage next time I run it under load.

When you say "kill" do you mean make it stop or break it?


Bad choice of words. Yes, it may stop running if too much oil. It can cause the LOPKO(oil pressure switch) to not see the pressure. Doug

joebedford
Nomad II
Nomad II
There were no fault codes.

I didn't monitor the voltage because it seemed to be fine until it wasn't.

I'll check the voltage next time I run it under load.

When you say "kill" do you mean make it stop or break it?

pianotuna
Nomad III
Nomad III
Hi joebedford,

Did you monitor the voltage?

Some generators will run overloaded for a while-and then shut down. I don't recommend doing this.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.

dougrainer
Nomad
Nomad
too much oil will kill a Onan Gas genset. Doug

CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Explorer III
Did it blink a fault code?
2009 Holiday Rambler 42' Scepter with ISL 400 Cummins
750 Watts Solar Morningstar MPPT 60 Controller
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland

Bob