No Generator Power in our new Axis 24.1

[DavidEM]

Unlke most of these open ended posts, I do have a theory and a diagnostic procedure to confirm it. I am just looking for ideas I might have missed.

Yesterday was warmer here in Ct so I went over the storage yard and worked on some electrical stuff: finished installing a battery monitor among others.

It had been at least a month since I had started the generator (at the PDI) so I figured I should run it for a while, warm it up to drive out any water condensate in the gas as well as circulate the oil to lubricate seals, etc.

After first mastering (well sort of) the Rapid Camp display I started the genset. It started right up. I let it run for a few minutes then looked at the microwave, no power. I didn''t check anything else but that was definitive enough. All breakers were on.

I immediately suspected the ATS, so I shut it down and came home to do some internet research. Fortunately someone posted that the ATS on this model is underneath the passenger bed and is a Progressive Dynamics 5100 model. I looked up PD's installation and operations manual (attached) and 90% was taken up by a diagnostic procedure to determine if the circuit board had failed. the relay coil was open or the contacts were toast (highly unlikely). That gave me a big clue that these things fail quite often. How I wish I had a manual transfer switch or just an outlet to plug shore or generator power into.

So I am heading back in a few hours to tackle this chore. Any other suggestions? Oh I don't have a convenient source of shore power to determine that it works on shore power. This is the state of the relay if the circuit board is bad or the relay coil is open. And for the life of me I can't remember if I confirmed there was power from the generator at the PDI, my bad.

David

[16ACE27]

1 - Check the output breaker on the generator itself

Proceed only if you are proficient with a multimeter and electrical safety.

2 - Open up the access to the ATS. Start the generator and after it has run for 1 minute measure the voltage in the ATS for the generator input. If good and no output voltage then you have a bad ATS. If no input voltage, turn off the generator and check the wirenut connections to the ATS (a common Thor quality deficiency).

If you have good voltage both in from the generator and on the output terminal check the wirenut connection to the breaker box.

[DavidEM]

16ACE27:

I looked inside the generator for a breaker and it wasn't immediately obvious, but admittedly I was being showered with snow melt at the time so maybe I missed it. FWIW I downloaded the Onan RV generator handbook and it said nothing about a generator breaker. I agree there should be one at the source.

I will also follow your advice in point #2. Interesting about Thor and wirenuts. It is sounding more like an installation problem than a bad ATS.

I am a retired engineer and a reasonably competent electrical guy.

Thanks for your advice.

David

[Popfla]

The circuit breaker referred to is not easily seen with a cursory glance. See the info attached. After removing the generator's cover, it is on the right side of the control panel, which is in the lower left part of the generator.

Reset Onan Circuit Breaker

[yukongrant]

One more vote for the circuit breaker on the generator. Same thing happened to me. (Do the simple checks first.)

[DavidEM]

Success. Thanks to the info above I first checked again for the Onan circuit breaker. I found it exactly where the pic said it would be and it was off. Why I don't know. But I turned it on, the starter gave a little kick?, then I went to the Rapid Camp panel, started the generator and all was well.

I microwaved a few glasses of snow to put some load on it for 5 minutes and checked that the generator was blowing hot air, a good sign that it was warmed up, and shut her down.

Thanks 16Ace27, Popfla and yukongrant for your thoughts. It IS almost always the simple things.

David

[pneumatics]

When I picked up our new MH, the PDI and everything went well. It was a hot day and when we left I immediately turned on the Genset and drove about 10 minutes for supper and could not get the A/C's to work. Everything else on the 12VDC side was fine.
Turns out somebody at the dealership turned the Generator breaker OFF.... as it was plugged into their shore power during the PDI was not noticed. And not checked.
As they say at the dealership's..... 'get 'um over the curb'.