Trip from hell

Doc Weaver

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
483
Location
West Chester, Ohio
After spending the last two weeks getting everything perfect on the truck, the demon of mechanical breakdown got to work. The generator started hunting for an idle, so I went outside to check it out. I started sounding like a dirt bike, winding up way too high. So obviously I turned it off. Well, the nest morning I went to Camping World to have them look at it. Yikes! hillbilly hell. "I never seen anything like that before". after two hours of telling then what to do, we discovered that the generator was whizzing 177 volts on the 110 feed. I figured I could still plug in when I got to Floridia......yea....but the electric toilet was cooked by the 177 volts. At least the RV resort has clean bath rooms next to the space we are in. Speaking of which, the one good thing is Tropical Palms RV resort in Kissimmee, FL is truck conversion friendly, and a nice place to stay.

Anyhow, I still have to get back to Ohio...Cross your fingers
 
sorry to hear about your troubles. what kind of generator was it? do you know what caused it ? was it the one you just bought? any warranty?
 
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It was used, so there was no warranty. Apparently the governor went haywire and ran the rpms way up and down. If I would have noticed it in time I probably could have saved the toilet and the generator. Incenolet overnighted the parts that were toasted to the RV Resort. They are good to work with (Ininolet).

I've had it with used generators. I'm probably going to bite the bullet and buy a new one with a warranty. The Onan 6.5 wont turn over anymore. I think the hillbillies toasted the stator and rotor. I don't care anymore. I'm going to limp home and dump so more money into the truck.
 
I saw an ad today on Ebay. 6500 watt Generac gasoline RV generator. New,delivered to your door for $3300. Onans are quite a bit higher. I have had both. Both are pretty good units. Parts are cheaper for the Generac and service seems to be more available than Onan (Cummins). Just my experience. MMM
 
FA, I'm still motoring home. I'll call you when I get home.

BTW, The air conditioning compressor came unbolted and lost part of the bracket. I went to home depot and got myself some hillbilly engeneering parts. the air works as long as the rpms arent low.

Whoever cursed me with the demon of mechanical failure.......quit it. :)

One more stop in Atlanta today and I'm Ohio bound.
 
Voltage regulator?

..... we discovered that the generator was whizzing 177 volts on the 110 feed

Can't you put a voltage regulator or protector of some kind in the line coming off the generator to prevent an "over voltage" situation from killing everything if this happens again?
 
Can't you put a voltage regulator or protector of some kind in the line coming off the generator to prevent an "over voltage" situation from killing everything if this happens again?

Absolutely. The sick part is that I sell products like that. I just hadn't had to the time to install them. Well I have a good example to tell my customers why they should install them. I have already been kicking myself over that one.
 

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