Onan / Cummins generator?

XCMARK

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2017
Posts
631
Location
Mass
Hello all , I have a 2015 RL-38 I am considering putting a used low hour generator in our 5th wheel. We have generator prep but don't have the generator. We are hoping to do some long trips like to Yellow Stone and then south at some point. I am also looking at upgrading the inverter to a 3000 watt Victron so we can run anything in the coach as long our battery can run them and that point we would need to plug in. We have 540amp hours of AGM battery's at this point and when they fail we would upgrade to Lithium battery's. I am looking for pictures of a factory installed 5500W Cummins installed in the front basement . Where does the exhaust get run too? I assume it uses the coach battery for starting, am I correct? About how long can I expect it to run on a 40lb bottle ? Will the noise make me re-think having the onboard generator rather then a portable Honda or Yamaha? Any advice is welcome and the basic install should be fairly easy , I have a very good working knowledge of what to expect for the install. Thanks for your help!
Mark
 
We had the On-board Onan in both our 2012 36RL and current 2016 39MB.
Running both AC Full Bore you can empty a 40# tank in approx 10 to 12 hours.
We have never ran ours for any extended period of time, normally just a few hours to get the inside temp down for a Hot Days travel.
The exhaust goes down and to the street side frame, then runs to the rear with a right angle exhausting out just past the Bed Room slide. That way you can put on a Genturi to exhaust above the roof.
Be advised the battery power you currently have won't run the ACs for very long, unless you have sufficient Solar feeding them.
If interested, I could post a couple of pics tomorrow when it's light outside to take a pic.
 
We had the On-board Onan in both our 2012 36RL and current 2016 39MB.
Running both AC Full Bore you can empty a 40# tank in approx 10 to 12 hours.
We have never ran ours for any extended period of time, normally just a few hours to get the inside temp down for a Hot Days travel.
The exhaust goes down and to the street side frame, then runs to the rear with a right angle exhausting out just past the Bed Room slide. That way you can put on a Genturi to exhaust above the roof.
Be advised the battery power you currently have won't run the ACs for very long, unless you have sufficient Solar feeding them.
If interested, I could post a couple of pics tomorrow when it's light outside to take a pic.


Going the inverter road with my current battery bank I would only have about 2 hours of run time on a single AC , If I am lucky to find a resonanble priced used onan I could run all night + on a single AC with one 40 LB bottle. If I add some solar to the roof then I could recharge and run the AC slightly longer on inverter. Both projects will be around $5000~6000 .

The victron multiplus II is able to provide some power while connect to utility power . say you connected to a 30 amp plug and you have both AC units and the refrigerator running the Inverter will make the the balance of the power needed to keep everything running and only using the battery's for the over the 30 amp limit set by the user at the time of set up (its fully adjustable for what ever power you have available).
 

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