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got nuttin honey
Hi gang, I need a bit of help here. I headed down to lake Okeechobee the other day and went to fire up the generator and got nuttin, no clicks no noise at all. I looked everywhere for a fuse or breaker but other than the ones on the generator itself I cant find anything, The battery is ok but I hooked up a booster just to be sure. still nothing. Anybody got any ideas other than shooting the damn thing? I checked all the connections and they are clean and tight. Im leery of trying to jump the solenoid. Im electronically challenged at the best of times. Its a powertech in an 02 forty foot american coach. Thanks in advance. Im hoping the rally at Lazy days has some electrical seminars LOL.
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14 Replies
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A couple of years back our power tech would do nothing. Found that the way the converter wired the ground from the gen to the battery had come apart. Repaired ground and all has been well
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If it has ECU check those wires
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breaker: Is that the one that has the push in breaker on the side of the control pannel? might ck and see if it is out and push in.
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Thanks guys I will check all the connections again and the breakers again as well. Keeping my fingers crossed. Damn I hate electrical stuff !
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Have you tried starting it at the Start-Stop switch on the Generator itself? If you have verified you have power and a good ground, I would start with that switch.
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Yup I tried that first but alas its never that easy LOL. Tomorrow I will get out there and double check everything again. Wish me luck.
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Good Luck! Hope she starts for ya!
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Thanks, I do too LOL. I just put the charger on it and when its fully charged Im gonna do a load test on the battery just to make sure. no sense doing things out of order.
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Ok guys I just put in a new battery and viola ! Gee and all I had to do was take a deep breath and think logically instead of panicking. I tend to do that when something goes wrong with one of my babies. Im ok when its someone else’s vehicle. I can remain calm and figure things out but when its mine , well all I can say is OMG ITS THE END OF THE WORLD !!!!!! LOL . Gonna replace the engine batteries too so I dont have any more surprises. Thanks again guys. Looking forward to the lazydays rally to meeting some of you in person.
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I don’t know how other coaches are set up concerning the generator battery, but I try to run mine 15 minutes or so every month because that is the only way the battery for the gen gets charged.
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Since none of our coaches are identical we tend to have a hard time offering advice to owners of other conversions. This places a burden on coach owners to try as best they can to understand how their coach is set up. Buddy’s comment about his generator start battery is one example. He has to understand (and does) that to maintain the charge on his generator he needs to run it because it gets charged via his generator alternator.
Everyone should know details such as that because if they have to learn it when they are in trouble we who have other conversions may have answers for a cry for help, but they might be wrong.
Ask questions before you get a problem. We may even be able to offer correct answers.
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Red,
So the gen start battery was dead after all. That shiny new one should hold you for several years, if in fact the battery was the problem.
In 2010 we went to the old style POG rally in Maine. I had everything serviced for the trip, especially the generator since one night was a dry camp in Rockford at an airfield and transportation museum. So when we arrived, with our little doggy Wilma it was lunch time. Start the generator no problem. Get back to the coach after lunch, BIG problem. The generator was not running and Wilma had been inside for two+ hours. Turns out the alternator was charging at about 50% and that rate was enough to draw down the battery low enough the generator quit.
We too thought it was the battery so off we went for a replacement, which Miles Circo ordered me out of the underbay so he could do the changeout (thanks a million Miles). Cranked the generator up and found the battery was not being fully charged by the alternator. OK, here we are way out in Maine. NAPA was my first thought to get a replacement from. They could order one and it would be available for pick up three days later, no overnight shipping up there in Maine ya hear. Well NAPA gave me the name of a local Alternator/generator repair shop. Of course I’m lost as a new born Pup there in Maine and oh by the way it is already 4:30 PM. So I called ahead and got good directions, set off to find the shop and got there with about 5 minutes to spare. Thank goodness my Dodge Ram pickup is HEMI powered. We burned up some roads I’ve never been on before which is not how I normally treat my HEMI.
What a fun time we had speaking AND understanding each other. What with my down south accent and him with a Maine accent, well you get the picture. In case you have a similar problem, or know of someone that does, the shop is “the starter shop” at 101 Western Road, in Warren, Maine 04864; phone number is (207) 273-2161. The owner/rebuilder’s name is, don’t laugh, Arthur Anderson. No not the firm that went down in flames several years ago, the real Arthur Anderson. I asked if I could get the rebuilt alternator back the next morning. I was told to be there at 9:00 AM. I was and the alternator was ready to go. Talk about customer service and saving our vacation, what a nice guy too!
Now for the knock wood moment, neither the generator, nor the alternator, nor the battery has failed since then. That was in mid-June 2010.
So let’s bottom line this story and get to the point. Don’t go away merrily thinking the new battery has solved the problem. You need to check the output of your alternator, NOW, to make certain the battery is being charged properly.
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thanks guys ,its charging and the battery was junk. Just replaced the chassis batteries today too. turns out that the ” new” batteries were new in 2007. Gee I thought all salesmen were honest ! LOL thanks for the advice.
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Red: Do you flat tow the HHR? Thanks!
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