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Smoke Filled Cabin!
A few min ago, our power went out for quite a while at home. The coach is plugged in to our regular 50 amp connector. Despite the generator being off (even the main gen switch in the bay is off) the watchdog system apparently started the generator. I heard it but didnt respond to shut it down for about 15 minutes and then heard it shutdown. I walked outside to the bus and I didnt see smoke but smelled burning plastic or the like. I entered the bus and it is full of burn smell and light smoke, mainly from the galley back, so is the generator bay, and the water tank bay. I removed shore power, waited and wanted to start the gen again to see what was wrong since a visual inspection looked normal. The gen switch is illuminated showing that it is still running but it wasnt, and for the first time I have ever seen, the push in reset breaker on the generator master switch in the bay is popped out and will not reset. So i have everything shut down and I am not sure what to do or what is safe to do.
My first thought was a piece of my ratty generator insulation in the bay was touching and burning until I saw the gen breaker popped out.
Jon I sure could use “neighborly’ advice I am in full panic mode!
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7 Replies
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Sorry I forgot to rotate those pictures. I have plugged the bus back in to shore power and run everything as it was before (we only keep the fridge, front outlets, and the galley Cruiseair on 74 degrees running when at home) everything is fine so i still cant reset the gen breaker to even restart it and see what happens.
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So another hour and I still cant get the gen to even attempt to start and that push in breaker will not reset. I have reset the gen master breaker and switch turned the gen battery switch off and back on (this has caused the watchdog to let it start instantly in the past idk why) everything on the shore power side seems to be fine
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John,
I think your best bet is to call Liberty in Stuart and get some help. They’ll help regardless of the age of the coach.
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John, This brings back bad memories. We were heading for a trip the next day around 1991 and I started the generator to do a pre-trip check.
I also got the smell of smoke, and the generator shut down. I determined the generator start system (no watchdog at that time on a 1987 coach) had an issue.
When I opened the gray box it was housed in almost all the insulation on all the wiring had burned. As it turned out there was a low oil pressure sensor, or a vacuum sensor, or high temp sensor on the generator that had a loose or disconnected terminal.
Open the gray generator start box and see if that is the source of the smoke. If the insulation has burned you are going to have to replace all the wires, but it will happen again unless you determine what caused the problem. With a Watchdog yours is likely set up different than on my 87 so I cannot be more specific.
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Jon,
This is the “Generator Start Box” you are referring to correct? Its in the next bay but it is the only one I know of. Gen only has 400 hours on it. I wonder if that little watchdog box could be bad given some of my start/stop issues with the gen in the past.
I am going out to check that box’s wiring shortly as I am working from home.
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Just FYI, after 30 min on the phone with Liberty and no real solution, we are going to visit Jeff. I will post what he finds out in a few days.
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Jeff is fifty miles away. I’m so envious.
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