But when you introduce cost, and what could fit in the 20” compartment of
my 23’ coach, Generac made one that fit and was affordable.
I followed Ken Henderson down that rabbit hole. :) Both had a problem in
the first 100 hours. He replaced his with a well-conceived conversion of a
contractor generator, but I was able to repair mine by replacing the shaft
speed sensor, which required a lot of disassembly.
A reliable original Onan is a great choice, but getting to that point
depends on the starting point. And it’s extremely heavy—mine was 400
pounds, and the Generac 100.
Rick “still using the Generac 14-15 years later” Denney
--
'73 X-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
Offlist email: rick at rickdenney dot com
As I suggested a while back, check Craigslist, Facebook market place, Kijiji etc. In the northern NY areas I frequently see Onan gensets suitable for use in our coaches. I also see the occasional EV series Honda water cooled, but they still sell on the high side, and are getting harder to find in good shape. There are a couple of Onan 4000w RV units for ~$500 currently on FB Marketplace in the New England area. There is also a 2800 microlite unit available.
A road trip is the best way to get them because you get to evaluate the genset before committing.
Les Burt
Montreal
'75 Eleganza 26'
> On Sep 22, 2019, at 9:50 AM, Johnny Bridges via Gmclist <gmc...@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:
>
> We didn't concern ourselves as much about price as about longterm reliability. When I retired, one of our plants had a Dear John and one had a
> Kohler. They were reliable but cost a bit more in the long run to maintain than the Onans we had at the other three plants and studios. Most
> reliable was a 30KW Onan which had a 300 CID Ford truck motor running on natural gas with a propane backup system.
>
> --johnny
>
I was responding, tongue in cheek, to that sentence. I was asking if the 30KW Onan would fit into the Onan compartment on a 23 foot.
It was meant to be humorous. I was not asking if the engine would replace the 455 or 403 engines in our motorhomes. I know a 300 cid Ford engine would not work in our motorhomes.
I also knew that a 30 kWh generator would’t fit either!
Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Frederick, CO
> On Sep 22, 2019, at 4:33 PM, Johnny Bridges via Gmclist <gmc...@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:
>
> Emory, it won't fit, it's an inline six and the fan would be in front of the grille. And compared to the 455 as prime mover it's a little short on
> oomph. :)
>
> Question for Jim K - is the current Emerald series the belt drive system with the vertical shaft V twin running 2400 RPM? Fitted one in our bread
> truck and it worked well.
>
> As to heat pumps, I put one in the front of the 23'. Which still had the furnace fortunately, because below 40 degrees, they shut down. Perfect for
> a chilly morning to get the chill out while the coffee perks but not much for cold unless there's a heat strip- in there too. I'd keep the furnace
> 'just in case'.
>
> And as to Generac, they built a variable speed 3600 Watt genset with multiple windings to get the best of both inverter and inertia sets. It was a
> great idea, and if it hadn't been built to a price point it might have been a practical one as well. Disfortunately, it was lacking some circuitry and
> windings to keep it working over time. Ask Ken Henderson about his trials and tribulations with one. I gave mine to Briere along with the 23' which
> had a Freight, Harbor genset installed in place of the Generac. He may have changed back, or may not have. He wanted it, I sure didn't, it's gone.
>
> --johnny
>
A local ham club I play radio with was gifted a 30KW Kohler, which used a
(large) four-cylinder diesel. We put it on a flatbed trailer, installed a
tank, restored it, and for a while we used it to power a contesting site
occupied by 20 people, all with campers and RVs, and not to mention the
1500-watt radios. Tom Phipps will remember that. That trailer required a
substantial tow vehicle.
But what fits in a 23’ coach is the $64 question. Nothing does. That
Generac Impact 36G was the only one that was designed for RV use. The
Impact “Plus” version was not that bad, once the birthing issues were
resolved. But I use it about two dozen hours a year, while Johnnie’s
radio-station gig trucks probably did that every week for 40 weeks a year.
Actually, it’s less than that—I don’t think I have 200 hours on it yet.
26’ coaches present more options.
Rick “who designed his generator compartment to provide relatively easy tip
access” Denney
On Sun, Sep 22, 2019 at 6:08 PM Emery Stora via Gmclist <
gmc...@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:
> Will that fit in a 23’ GMC ? :) :)
>
> --
'73 X-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
Offlist email: rick at rickdenney dot com
It was fine until about 75 hours of operation, then it gave trouble which I
don't even want to think about, much less discuss now. To get rid of it, I
found, on sale at Lowes, a TroyBilt portable generator. Here's its
installation album:
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/g5330-troybilt-generator-installation.html
That was a somewhat more difficult installation, but turned out better.
The performance has been VASTLY better. I recently changed the oil in it,
probably for the first time since installing it in 2009. And that's the
ONLY thing I've done to it maintenance-wise since completing the
installation. It ALWAYS cranks right up, takes any load it's offered
without even surging, and runs until I shut it down, which has been a
couple of days later during a storm some years ago. It IS noisy, even with
two mufflers, but since we mostly use it during noon stops, it doesn't
really bother us nor neighbors ('tho' we did once in a campground have
neighbors behind us ask me to move my truck back between us to deflect some
of the sound). I wouldn't go back to any previous generator.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI & EBL,
Manny Brakes & 1-Ton, Troy-Bilt APU, etc., etc., etc.
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Les Burt
Montreal
'75 Eleganza 26'
This album was about soundproofing, but it contains my best pictures of the
Generac.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/g4438-soundproofing.html
It was a better deal for me than for you. But I did have to make a big
repair on mine at maybe 100 hours. It wasn’t an expensive repair,
particularly. Took me a couple of hours and a $20 part.
I remember what made it the “plus” model—the dedicated inverter and
electronic engine control.
The start logic doesn’t work very well—I often have to hit the start button
four or five times to get it to stay running, though the automatic transfer
switch helps with that.
But my Onan was blowing oil and had a cracked exhaust manifold—there was a
charred area in the compartment. It was going to need a complete overhaul
with lots of new parts. The guy I gave it to used it at a hunting cabin,
where those aren’t issues.
Rick “recalling the back end of the coach covered in oil grudge after
generator use on the highway” Denney
--
'73 X-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
Offlist email: rick at rickdenney dot com
> Didnt have anything to start with or i wouldn't have been in this predicament....lol.
Have 4K and 6K Onans near Cincinnati, OH in all conditions of repair and operability. Some even have their drawers and slides depending on what someone needs. Could have helped.
—Jim
Jim Miller
1977 Eleganza
1977 Royale
Hamilton, OH
Sent from my iPhone
> Do you have a used electronic board for a 6000 Onan? And if so, how much would you want for one?
Hi Mike, I have some OEM boards in the pile but I would not recommend them to anyone - not even my worst enemy. Any generator that I get my hands on gets either a Dinosaur board or a Flight Systems board. The old boards have numerous failure modes and I refuse to be involved with them as they only serve to disillusion people about the Onan.
jofarr
Soddy daisy tn
'74,'76 & '78
> Do you have a preference of those two?
Hi Matt,
I have been exclusively using Flight Systems’ boards for a while now - including on my own coach. Here’s why:
I have seen with mine own eyes several failed Dino boards - all with the smoked resistor/melted relay coil failure in the part of the circuit connected to the flywheel alternator - and I have talked to other owners who have had the same experience.
I have never seen a failed Flight Systems board. That said, the sample set of FS boards has been small so far compared to the number of Dino boards - so I am not ready to draw any conclusions.
Some time ago I reverse-engineered the portion of the Dino board containing the smoked resistor and relay and found that these components are being operated WELL in excess of their ability which leads to a cascading failure - first of the relay and then of the resistor.. As an experiment I changed the relay to a 24V version and also changed the resistor to a different value and ran it on my coach for a while without problem before I switched over to the FS board as a long term solution.
Supposedly Dino had a mod for the boards that were getting smoked but I was not able to get exact details on it.
—Jim
Jim Miller
1977 Eleganza
1977 Royale
Hamilton, OH
Sent from my iPhone
Mine was plain worn out. There was no air filter installed and who knows
how long that had been missing. It blew smoke and covered the back third of
the coach with a sheen of oil. It left a puddle of oil which was not from
the usual causes, which I had tried to fix. The exhaust was cracked and had
charred a part of the enclosure—I couldn’t fix that and just had to clamp a
sheet-metal patch over the cracked part so it wouldn’t set the coach on
fire. The carb was leaking, the control board relays were like they all
are, and the wiring a mess. I was going to have to do a full overhaul on
the thing, at who knows what cost. It worked no more than half the times I
wanted to use it, and even when running would turn itself off with no
warning or pattern. I spent hours rebuilding that control board, and in
those days there wasn’t a replacement. Didn’t work anyway. I’ve never had
much luck bringing dead relays back.
Unlike the 455, the Onan was not my hobby and I still work.
I don’t miss it. Not even when I had to pull the flywheel on the Generac to
replace the shaft speed sensor.
Rick “glad yours is reliable” Denney
On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 3:04 PM John R. Lebetski via Gmclist <
gmc...@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:
> Back to original post title, I say Onan Power Drawer as it was made to GM
> criteria. Mine starts in any weather with no primmer add-on. I pulled the
> unit and cleaned up and reloomed the wiring undoing PO mess. Also put
> board on bench and redid any bad solder joints. New O ring on main carb
> needle.
> Replaced carbon core ignition wires with magcore. No electronic ignition.
> It's been rock solid ever since. Never decarboned. At some point I should
> do bearing and brushes
>
--
'73 X-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
Offlist email: rick at rickdenney dot com
--
Jim Kanomata
Applied/GMC, Newark,CA
ji...@appliedairfilters.com
http://www.appliedgmcrvparts.com
1-800-752-7502