One of the joys of RV’ing is that you are heading off across country, totally dependent on technology. Sometimes old, worn, technology. One of our traditional problems occurred today, the generator failed.
We have a gasoline powered Onan generator belowdecks that provides 110 volts for everything from the air conditioner to the cell phone chargers. On several previous trips it has failed on us, and we have learned to make do with the inverter system.
On one trip, it burned out it’s electronics and they had to be rebuilt. On another, it was just a matter of tuning the system for the correct altitude. Last time it was as simple as the circuit breakers.
Tuesday morning, when we drove off (at 10:15 am), I had the generator running to provide air conditioning using the two roof units, rather than try to make do with the weak car-style unit in the dash. For five hours it worked perfectly. But then, I shut it down when we stopped to get gas. As we drove off, it wouldn’t start. The generator motor won’t turn over.
Mechanical problems are often beyond my capabilities, so no immediate fix is in the works. I’ll tinker, and if something magic happens, it will come back up. Otherwise, we’ll try to find an Onan repair place somewhere down the road when we don’t have a deadline.