Generator automatically stopped

RetiredTorng

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2024
Messages
229
Location
Laguna Woods
Last night I left awning light on and my inverter controlloer beeped in the middle of the night, the battery controller shows 10.8V, so I turned off the awning light and the inverter. This morning I turned on the generator, it ran for 20 minutes and stopped by itself.

Is it normal for the generator to stop by itself? Is something wrong with my generator?

I have a 2024 Chateau 22E, a Flex Power i4000 generator, and a Renogy 3000W inverter.
 
Did you try to restart it? Did it throw a trouble code?

No, I didn't restart it. I was afraid it may damage it even more, besides, I believe I've got enough power in the battery. No, where can I find the trouble code? Can I still check it now? Are the error code documented in the manual? don't remember seeing it in any video, I may need to find it. Want to check with others with experience before I do anything.

Thank your for the excellent diagnostic questions. I am not a handy man nor a technician, I usually stay away from any electrical problem. Glad there are many experts here that can guide me through the steps.
 
Did you try to restart it? Did it throw a trouble code?

Flex Power generators don't have trouble codes, they have a panel that indicates low oil and overload. Otherwise you're down to the basics: fuel and spark and reproduce the symptom by trying to restart it.

OP can either try to restart it or take it back to the dealer for them to restart it.
 
Do you have an AGS system (Auto Generator Start)?

If so have you checked the settings?

As stated, try starting the gen and see what happens and then go from there.
 
Thank you for the advices. Started the generator, no problem. Hope everything is fine. I wonder if the generator has the feedback whether the battery is fully charged or not? I was going to stop it qbout the same time when I felt the battery is quite full.

Thanks for all the helpful advices.
 
Thank you for the advices. Started the generator, no problem. Hope everything is fine. I wonder if the generator has the feedback whether the battery is fully charged or not? I was going to stop it qbout the same time when I felt the battery is quite full.

Thanks for all the helpful advices.

Congratulations great news!
 
Thank you for the advices. Started the generator, no problem. Hope everything is fine. I wonder if the generator has the feedback whether the battery is fully charged or not? I was going to stop it qbout the same time when I felt the battery is quite full.

Thanks for all the helpful advices.

20 minutes is nowhere close to enough time to charge your batteries from completely dead to full with a standard RV converter/charger. More like 6 to 8 hours.

And the awning light should not have drained your house batteries to 10.8 volts by itself, even if left on for 12 hours.

So either other loads contributed to the battery drain, or
The batteries were not fully charged, and/or
You also have a charging problem, and/or
Your batteries have been damaged to the point they have very limited capacity.
 
20 minutes is nowhere close to enough time to charge your batteries from completely dead to full with a standard RV converter/charger. More like 6 to 8 hours.

And the awning light should not have drained your house batteries to 10.8 volts by itself, even if left on for 12 hours.

So either other loads contributed to the battery drain, or
The batteries were not fully charged, and/or
You also have a charging problem, and/or
Your batteries have been damaged to the point they have very limited capacity.

Both batteries are brand new from delivery. May need to have a talk with the dealer. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Thank you for the advices. Started the generator, no problem. Hope everything is fine. I wonder if the generator has the feedback whether the battery is fully charged or not? I was going to stop it qbout the same time when I felt the battery is quite full.

Thanks for all the helpful advices.

If you know how to, check the oil level.
 
Both batteries are brand new from delivery. May need to have a talk with the dealer. Thanks for the heads up.

They were obviously new whenthe MH was built, but dealers are notorious for killing batteries on the MHs on the lot. So unless they changed them out the day you did your PDI you can't count on them being new and undamaged.
 
Motorhome batteries can be up to a year or two old before you even purchase the coach. Manufacturers by them in bulk, a truckload of them at a time. They can sit in storage and discharge for months before they get put into a coach. Add to that, as Ace said, the RV dealers are notorious for running them dead on the lot before they sell the rig, and you have a recipe for early battery failure.
 
Thank you 16ACE27, MJ62 & Jimbo56. That makes total sense.

I was hoping my two batteries (one comes from Thor, the other comes from the dealer) will last 2 years. Will replace them with two good AGM batteries or the new lithium batteries 4 times as powerful as current one.

Thanks for sharing the facts.
 
Last night I left awning light on and my inverter controlloer beeped in the middle of the night, the battery controller shows 10.8V, so I turned off the awning light and the inverter. This morning I turned on the generator, it ran for 20 minutes and stopped by itself.

Is it normal for the generator to stop by itself? Is something wrong with my generator?

I have a 2024 Chateau 22E, a Flex Power i4000 generator, and a Renogy 3000W inverter.

I don't have personal experience with the FlexPower generators......

But I don't see in any of the responses that anyone asked you an important question.

How much fuel was in your tank when the generator shut down?

Many RV generators are wired to automatically shut down the generator when the fuel supply is less than 25% of Full.
 
I don't have personal experience with the FlexPower generators......

But I don't see in any of the responses that anyone asked you an important question.

How much fuel was in your tank when the generator shut down?

Many RV generators are wired to automatically shut down the generator when the fuel supply is less than 25% of Full.

Good question, I forgot to mention that. I had over half a tank when the generator stopped. Thanks for reminding me.
 
Last night I left awning light on and my inverter controlloer beeped in the middle of the night, the battery controller shows 10.8V, so I turned off the awning light and the inverter. This morning I turned on the generator, it ran for 20 minutes and stopped by itself.

Is it normal for the generator to stop by itself? Is something wrong with my generator?

I have a 2024 Chateau 22E, a Flex Power i4000 generator, and a Renogy 3000W inverter.

sounds like you have an AGS setting. It will turn the generator on and off based on the battery charge. check your settings on the control panel. You have the firefly screen right?
 
sounds like you have an AGS setting. It will turn the generator on and off based on the battery charge. check your settings on the control panel. You have the firefly screen right?

My AGS is only a button On/Off, nothing else. I can't find the AGS control panel. But there seems to be an app I need to install to monitor it. Haven't figure out how to do that yet.

That's what I suspect. If an AGS is designed to start a generator because the battery is low (under condiditions), then it should be able to stop a generator when the battery is fully charged or the conditions are met.

Thanks for your comment.
 
My AGS is only a button On/Off, nothing else. I can't find the AGS control panel. But there seems to be an app I need to install to monitor it. Haven't figure out how to do that yet.

That's what I suspect. If an AGS is designed to start a generator because the battery is low (under condiditions), then it should be able to stop a generator when the battery is fully charged or the conditions are met.

Thanks for your comment.

See post #5
 
My what a big Inverter you have. 3000 watts. If you had the inverter on, what else was running besides the awning lights. i.e. was your fridge running off batteries ( inverter too)?

When your batteries get below 12.2 vdc you are damaging those batteries.

Takes my genny at least 2 hours to just top off batteries that are well charged. i.e. my house batteries may be 12.vdc and my AGS will turn on genny around 6:00PM and shut off at 8:00PM because of my quiet time settings.

Also, you didn't say what the voltage was when genny shut down? I assume you boondocked the rest of the night when you turned the inverter off with nothing on?

FWIW, some gennys allow you to set a minimum run time. Mine is 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes if all of the conditions defined in the settings are me, my genny will shutdown by itself.
 
My what a big Inverter you have. 3000 watts. If you had the inverter on, what else was running besides the awning lights. i.e. was your fridge running off batteries ( inverter too)?

When your batteries get below 12.2 vdc you are damaging those batteries.

Takes my genny at least 2 hours to just top off batteries that are well charged. i.e. my house batteries may be 12.vdc and my AGS will turn on genny around 6:00PM and shut off at 8:00PM because of my quiet time settings.

Also, you didn't say what the voltage was when genny shut down? I assume you boondocked the rest of the night when you turned the inverter off with nothing on?

FWIW, some gennys allow you to set a minimum run time. Mine is 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes if all of the conditions defined in the settings are me, my genny will shutdown by itself.

Well, the vendor initialy suggested 2000W, but found out 3000W costs about the same, so the 3000W. Refrigerator runs on DC only.

Didn't know when under 12.2vdc, it's hurting battery. Learn something new.

I don't believe my generator or AGS has any information about automatic start or stop conditions. Need to find out from the dealer or Thor. I also need to set up my AGS apps so I can see the status on my smart phone.

Thanks for the information.
 

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