My 94 Regency with the 7KW 3cyl Kabuta diesel generator will not start energizing the RV. I'm afraid that I left it dormant too long in the cold weather (I'm in north MS for a while) without startup each month. It's been setting for about 3 months and when I did start it up in about 50F weather --- it would not switch over from the ground source (with the ground source unplugged). While the gen set is running, there is no 110V inside the RV and now there is a new "whine" that I've never noticed before coming from under the RV near the gen set. Any ideas on what is causing my problem? I hope its simple!! It was working just fine before --- not a hint of a problem.

"A new whine." suggsts some mechanical fault hiding in the bushes jumped out and bit you while the genny was dormant. It might be brushes or a bearing. or something else entirely. Odds are there is a safety device that prevents switchover if the genny isn't producing its rated voltage. That would be check #1. If the voltage is OK, it's probably in the switching mechanism. Others may have more suggestions. Bearings dry out & electrical stuff corrodes when machinery sits unused.

My Breakaway has a time-delay device that allows the genset to run for a couple of minutes before closing the 120V circuit from the generator.

As olroy points out, that switch may not be getting enough voltage/current to throw. Corrosion may be an issue on connections, but 120VAC can stand a lot more than 12VDC. However, the switch may use 12VDC to the coil.

The whine may be a bearing or something, or it may be evident only because the genset engine is louder when loaded, masking the whine. My guess would be it's the generator cooling fan.

Generally the bearings are either permanently-lubricated sleeves, or more likely, sealed ball bearings, and they just rarely fail.

A mechanics stethoscope can be helpful in isolating the whine. First, however, I'd track down the electrical problem.

Thanks for your help on this one guys. I haven't had time to do any diagnostics yet but I suspect you are right about the output voltage being low. On our trip to CA this past summer, there were a couple of times on really rough roads that the genny output would just suddenly quit but the genny would still be running. We could pull over later and restart and the problem would go away. I suspect a loose connection or a short somewhere but it was working perfect before storage.
I'll let you know when I start trouble shooting.
Thanks again.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Strong:
On our trip to CA this past summer, there were a couple of times on really rough roads that the genny output would just suddenly quit but the genny would still be running. We could pull over later and restart and the problem would go away. I suspect a loose connection or a short somewhere but it was working perfect before storage.
I'll let you know when I start trouble shooting.
Thanks again.

I don't know your system, but is there a relay that could have been jarred out of its closed position by the rough road? If that is the case, the contacts could be arced.

quote:

I don't know your system, but is there a relay that could have been jarred out of its closed position by the rough road? If that is the case, the contacts could be arced.

There's got to be a suspect relay in there somewhere - in addition to the possibility of arced contacts is the possibility of a bad relay or corroded coil connections.

Good news!!!! My problem turned out to be a wire that was grounding out and creating the intermittent condition. When I crawled under the front of the RV and inspected all the wires and other cables or hoses jumping from the chassis to the generator, I discovered a 4-wire flat ribbon cable that went into a black box mounted on top of the generator (not the motor). This wire had slipped out of its protective black sleeve and had rubbed all the insulation off on one of the 4 wires. I moved the wire and started the genny just for a confirmation and it worked!!! The whine went away and power started up in the unit --- just like normal. Now I will go back and insulate the wire and tie it off somewhere with a zip lock. There was no rubber gasket where the wire intered the black box and I guess road vibration caused the insulation to wear off over time.

I would advise others to check their units for this potential problem. It's a quick and easy check if you don't mind crawling under your unit.