Generator Surprise???

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4ducksrus

4ducksrus

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Nov 17, 2010
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I am totally baffled by this one and hope someone can help me understand what happened!  First, let me say that we keep our MH plugged in to a 20 amp circuit at home.  We went out to a movie last night and when we returned home our generator was running.  I couldn't find any reason for the generator to have come on, especially since we were plugged in.  The only thing I have going inside is the refrigerator...I checked all the sources, power was plugged in, we hadn't had a power outage during that time...etc.  Anyone have any ideas?  I also checked to make sure that the control was set to manual and not auto!  Any help would be appreciated, we are leaving for vacation and not taking the mh and would be very upset if this happened while we were away!  Thanks for any help. 

Mikie
 
Does your generator automatically exercise itself?  They need to run once a month, whether you need it or not, to keep everything lubricated, move along the old fuel and so on.

Was your motorhome unlocked?

Neighbors playing games with you?  Your cat or dog having a party in your absence?

Could the manual/auto switch be broken and you had a power hiccup which made the generator fire up?

In the Caribbean we say "You got jumbys mon!"  (Jumbys are spirits or ghosts that do things around you, creating mysteries.) ???
 
That's happened twice to us.  Once when we were out, the generator was running when we returned.  Chalked it up to a stray cat in the generator compartment pushing the on switch.  The second time it started while we were sitting inside.  Both times we were on shore power and no power outages, and we don't have an autostart anyway.  Must be gremlins :)
 
I read a post on here sometime back about something similar Mikie, but can't find it now. I don't know the specifics of your generator, but many, if not all have a fuse on them. Maybe you could pull it before you leave, or disconnect the battery cable to it. If you don't have it set on auto, I wonder if the problem might be in the remote switch (or harness)?
 
Motorhome was locked.  Generator compartment locked.  Totally baffled!
 
This is actually a not unusual complaint, but nobody knows for sure what causes it.  Lots of finger pointing, few facts. Moisture in the switch, either remote or on the genset, is a common guess and I've heard some success stories with hot air drying the switch or replacing it.

You didn't mention if you have the  Auto Generator Start feature, or what brand of control electronics you have, e.g. Xantrex, Magnum, Onan, etc.
 
Gary,
Our generator is an Onan.  We have the control panel that gives us the option of "manual or auto" and it is on manual.  I've never had it come on before and since we weren't home, we weren't even sure how long it ran!  We are leaving on Wednesday for a week vacation in Mexico and are now wondering what we should do to make sure it doesn't happen.  What we've sort of decided, shut down all batteries, both house and chassis.  It means I'll have to empty the refrig, but that's not too much trouble.  We are so new to this unit that we really don't know exactly what we have!  We are planning on taking a factory tour next summer since this one isn't possible for us to make!
 
My Onan Generator has a fuse right on the front of it and will not start without it. I realize that yours is most likely a lot newer, but I would check the owners manual for a generator fuse (and it's function). It would be much simpler to pull the fuse, than disconnecting things, and you could still leave the fridge on.
 
Thanks Waterdog..we'll take a look.  I'm also planning on giving Winnie CS a call tomorrow and seeing what they think happened and what we should do, if anything.
 
Update:  Gave Winnebago a call and the guy I spoke with didn't know/hadn't heard anything like this ever happening before!  He said he would talk to a "tech" person and call me back and let me know.  I'm worried about when we are going to be gone, so I guess I'll just unplug the rig and shut off the batteries.  I hate to do that, but I don't think I have a choice.  Otherwise, I'll worry the entire time we're on vacation! 
 
Update:  I'm taking the MH into our local Pan Pacific dealership tomorrow and they're going to diagnose our generator problem.  They are going to keep it while we are gone!  So, now I can go and relax!  I'll let you all know what they find out....thanks!
 
I've seen a number of reports of Onan diesel generators starting up by themselves unexpectedly.  Moisture in the plug connection for the control wires is frequently cited as the cause, providing a path to ground which is what's needed to start the gen.  This plug is typically near the top, passenger side of front-mounted generators.
 
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