Stealthowner
Washington
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Joined: 02/26/2012
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Ok,
I really thought I had this dry camping thing down.
I bought my first trailer 4 months ago. It's a toy hauler with a Onan 4000. We finally used it New Years weekend and everything was great. We were able to plug in at the campsite so I didn't need the generator. We camped again a few weeks later and again was able to plug in.
I have been running the generator from time to time and it has worked perfectly. I ran it last weekend while at a race and it was the first time we dry camped. It worked fine for awhile then began surging a bit....then finally quit and my batteries were not strong enough to turn it over. My batteries have always been good or so it seemed. I keep the trailer plugged into the house when not in use. Although there was a stretch in Jaunary where I couldn't park it where I usually do due to snow and ice and so it sat for about three weeks not being plugged in. Can't remember if I had lights on inside or not...maybe a few days.
I got home last weekend and this week I plugged it back into the house for a few days then had to pull it out for another race this weekend. I plugged it right back in two days before we left and added Seafoam to the gas tank to see if that would help clean out the carb. We dry camped again yesterday and stayed the night, and I brought my spare 6000W generator with us just in case. The trailer generator fired right up and we ran it for about 16 hours.....and no surging....but then this morning, my carbon monoxide alarm started blinking and beeping for a bit so I shut the generator off and couldn't get it to crank. Well the batteries were dead again so I got out the big generator and plugged into it and ran off of that the last few hours we were at the track.
I drove home and parked it out front (I will park it behind the house tomorrow). I tried the battery disconnect and turned it on and had power...I cranked the generator and it fired right up then quit....was getting the 3 blinking lights on the start button saying service required. WTF? It currently has about 65 hours on it.
Do I start with the batteries? Are they not getting fully charged being plugged into shore power? How does that relate to the generator? I am stumped. I will park it behind the house and plug the trailer into the house again tomorrow. We won't be using it for another few weeks but I don't want to have to keep bringing my other generator hoping the batteries don't go dead and the generator won't start or run. I should be able to just run the generator during the day and shut it off when we go to bed right?
Any help or insight would be appreciated! I searched for similar posts but the search function isn't working for me. Sorry for the long post!!!
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donn0128
Pronounced Ore-gun
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Joined: 04/21/2005
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Propane or gasoline generator?
Donn,Lorri,Max (The Rescued Lab)
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MrWizard
Traveling
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check the voltage on the batteries
before you start the genny
then check the voltage on the batteries with the generator running
should start at 13+ and climb to 14+ as the batteries charge
sounds to me like you have a charging problem, this test will tell you
also something else to check
make sure the fridge is set to LP , manually set the button to LP
a fridge on automatic , might be running from 120v supplied by the TH installed inverter iF you have one which will really suck the batteries down, also make sure the water is set to LP or OFF, and I am assuming that you do have an inverter, its normal because everybody wants modern entertainment big screen tv DVD etc ..
Options, always have options, and the journey goes much smoother
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sunkatcher
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Not sure but when you said that the trailer was unplugged with lights on could have froze the batteries. Have you checked the water level? I would charge the batteries up to full test and then unhook them for a day and see if they are still up full. If they discharge after being unhooked you are in for new ones. If you’re genny is trying to supply full power to shorted out batteries it may surge under extreme load.
Ron
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Stealthowner
Washington
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It's a gas generator.
I will test the batteries tomorrow as stated to see if that is it.
Couple of questions:
1. How do i turn the water to LP or off? The fridge I can run off of LP like most trailers I assume.
2. This might be a naive questions, do I turn the battery disconnect in the trailer off when the generator is running or turn it on? I have been making sure its turned off. Does that make a difference? I was under the impression that you only turn it on if I was going to just run off battery power and not use the generator.
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HarryBB
Big Lake Minnesota
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I'm guessing if you disengage the battery while generator is running you are not going to be charging the battery.
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Stealthowner
Washington
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The more I read up, it seems like I MUST have the battery disconnect turned ON when hooked up to the house or having the generator running. I have always had the battery diconnect off! Maybe that is the problem....since I have owned it maybe I have never really charged the batteries? And the brief amount of time that I have turned it on is enough to just turn on the lights in the trailer.
My plan is to first check the battery voltage, then plug it into the house and turn the battery disconnect ON, then re-check voltage after a day or two and see where its at. If the batteries are low both times then maybe I need new ones since I haven't been charging them. Maybe that will help with the generator issues.
Does that sound reasonable?
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RJsfishin
Winston Or.
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Joined: 10/16/2007
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Quote:
drove home and parked it out front (I will park it behind the house tomorrow). I tried the battery disconnect and turned it on and had power...I cranked the generator and it fired right up then quit....was getting the 3 blinking lights on the start button saying service required. WTF? It currently has about 65 hours on it.
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Doesn't that tell us that there is a generator issue that should be corrected first ??
Rich
'01 31 ft Rexall Vision, Generac 5.5k, 9245 conv, 400 watt inv, 2 12v batts, ammeters, KingDome/sat, Two Oly Cat heaters, and towing a '05 Jeep Liberty, or sometimes towing a Lowe bass boat.
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Stealthowner
Washington
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That is true. But I wonder if the generator is having issues because it is not getting consistent battery power when cranking since the batteries are almost dead everytime I crank it? Maybe not. The generator worked great this weekend until I shut it off. I would like to get the battery issue figured out first just because they are more critical for what we are using the trailer for currently.
I have a backup generator that I can use in the meantime. I was going to change the generator oil and clean the carb once I get the batteries taken care of and see if that makes a difference. If I am still getting the service light then I will take it in for service but would like to fix myself if I can.
Thoughts?
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chinook507
Fountain
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Had a similar issue and it was the fuel pump. Our TH was also brand new when this happened. It was covered by the ONAN warranty.
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