lisamc
Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2017
- Posts
- 18
Hi all,
Aspiring full-time family here looking to purchase our first RV. We are completely new to RVs as far as owning and operating one, though I lived in a Class C for a while with my family as a kid. A salesperson recently "corrected" me on several points about the generator in a 2006 Monaco Cayman diesel rig with Onan diesel generator we were considering, and I know at least some of the information she gave me is wrong. I've only got a basic handle on understanding the electrical systems myself, so I'd love some help sorting fact from error here.
The situation that prompted this discussion was that the salespeople turned on the RV and the generator so my husband and I could inspect it thoroughly, but after about 15 minutes the generator and all power in the RV shut off unexpectedly. The salesperson made several statements during our subsequent conversation that are suspect to me- please let me know if my understanding here is correct.
1- She said the reason the generator shut off is almost certainly because the house batteries were indicated as being "low" when she turned it on.
My take- There are actually many reasons the generator would turn off, including running out of fuel, being overloaded, being in poor shape. I asked whether it maybe ran out of fuel, and she stated (#2):
2- Generators in diesel RVs run off of batteries only, they do not generate electricity using diesel/gas fuel.
My take- now this is just ridiculous. My understanding was that in a diesel rig the generator typically uses diesel from the RV tank as long as it's above 1/4 tank. The salesperson condescendingly corrected me again that, no, only a gas RV shares fuel with the generator; on a diesel rig the generator uses batteries exclusively, it does not generate electricity from diesel or gas fuel. At this point I insisted on talking to a service person rather than a salesperson. He *thankfully* confirmed that generators in a diesel rig do use fuel : and they typically use the fuel sharing system from the fuel tank just like in a gas rig. However, he still insisted that (#3):
3- A generator must have a constant supply of power from the house battery to run.
My take- I asked wouldn't the generator only need to battery (house or its own) to start, just like a car, once it's running it's self-sustaining and/or charging those batteries rather than drawing in them? He said no, "because there's no alternator" like in a car, the generator needs constant power from the battery. But I asked again, isn't there some system in place, similar to an alternator or not, to allow the generator to be self-sustaining, power-wise, after start-up since it is *generating* electricity, and in many cases isn't there a system by which it can charge the battery? He said no. But wouldn't that make running the generator completely impractical because it would run the house batteries down quickly?
PS Don't worry, I will not be purchasing from this dealer.
Aspiring full-time family here looking to purchase our first RV. We are completely new to RVs as far as owning and operating one, though I lived in a Class C for a while with my family as a kid. A salesperson recently "corrected" me on several points about the generator in a 2006 Monaco Cayman diesel rig with Onan diesel generator we were considering, and I know at least some of the information she gave me is wrong. I've only got a basic handle on understanding the electrical systems myself, so I'd love some help sorting fact from error here.
The situation that prompted this discussion was that the salespeople turned on the RV and the generator so my husband and I could inspect it thoroughly, but after about 15 minutes the generator and all power in the RV shut off unexpectedly. The salesperson made several statements during our subsequent conversation that are suspect to me- please let me know if my understanding here is correct.
1- She said the reason the generator shut off is almost certainly because the house batteries were indicated as being "low" when she turned it on.
My take- There are actually many reasons the generator would turn off, including running out of fuel, being overloaded, being in poor shape. I asked whether it maybe ran out of fuel, and she stated (#2):
2- Generators in diesel RVs run off of batteries only, they do not generate electricity using diesel/gas fuel.
My take- now this is just ridiculous. My understanding was that in a diesel rig the generator typically uses diesel from the RV tank as long as it's above 1/4 tank. The salesperson condescendingly corrected me again that, no, only a gas RV shares fuel with the generator; on a diesel rig the generator uses batteries exclusively, it does not generate electricity from diesel or gas fuel. At this point I insisted on talking to a service person rather than a salesperson. He *thankfully* confirmed that generators in a diesel rig do use fuel : and they typically use the fuel sharing system from the fuel tank just like in a gas rig. However, he still insisted that (#3):
3- A generator must have a constant supply of power from the house battery to run.
My take- I asked wouldn't the generator only need to battery (house or its own) to start, just like a car, once it's running it's self-sustaining and/or charging those batteries rather than drawing in them? He said no, "because there's no alternator" like in a car, the generator needs constant power from the battery. But I asked again, isn't there some system in place, similar to an alternator or not, to allow the generator to be self-sustaining, power-wise, after start-up since it is *generating* electricity, and in many cases isn't there a system by which it can charge the battery? He said no. But wouldn't that make running the generator completely impractical because it would run the house batteries down quickly?
PS Don't worry, I will not be purchasing from this dealer.