Posted 2011-04-16 10:31 AM (#133051) Subject: Whats the best for the money?
Veteran
Posts: 123 Location: Bridgeport,wv and Gaffney,sc
My trailer is pre wire and already has a gen start etc for a Onan generator i was just wanted to know if there was any cheaper ones that are good as well.The one i looked at was $2500
Posted 2011-04-16 9:05 PM (#133066 - in reply to #133064) Subject: RE: Whats the best for the money?
Expert
Posts: 2453 Location: Northern Utah
Most converter/Breaker panels for RV's are wired for 30 amp or 50 amp circuits. (Most LQ's for the 30 amp) I don't know about the Onan , But I would strongly suspect they have a 30 amp outlet that you connect into. And that is usually the same outlet that Honda and Yamaha have on their generators.
Posted 2011-04-17 8:26 AM (#133087 - in reply to #133051) Subject: RE: Whats the best for the money?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 402 Location: Valentine, NE
A Honda can be wired up to the Onan remote start but is does take some electrical skills, fabication experience and a voltmeter. I just put the correct plug on the cord headed to the converter box to plug, and unplug it when I took the generator out. Than you have put an ohm meter on the wiring at the Onan switch to find out which colored wire needs to be hot and hooked ot the generator battery thru the generator switch. Than which one needs to go to the switch side going to the solenoid to energize it. Was fairly easily. I put a 4 prong trailer plug in on the generator to hook and unhook the switch wires for when I took the gen out of the trailer.
I had to manually turn the switch and fuel on when I used the gen. Also, the Honda has a manual choke, so, at times, you had to start the first time at the generator if not started for a few days.
The exhaust was a little tricky--had to cut the spark arrestor off, weld on a piece of flex exhaust on the Honda exhuast pipe going down thru a hole cut in the bottom frame of the generator, and the trailer floor. Made sure the flex pipe extended down a good 4" or so and put the arrestor back on it, and was a fairly tight fit thru the trailer floor. The Honda did have enough room to run the flex pipe and still put the heat shields/covers back in place.
I would recommend having some mechanically skills before one tries to tackle this! Current trailer has an Onan and so much easier!!!
Posted 2011-04-18 8:21 PM (#133146 - in reply to #133051) Subject: RE: Whats the best for the money?
Veteran
Posts: 114 Location: Home of the WNFR at Christmas
We had the choice of doing what we wanted for a generator, and have had the large Onan in the past, nice generator but a fuel hog. We did a little rewire and went to a manual start Honda 2000 inverter. It starts and runs the AC, and uses less than a quarter of the fuel the Onan did. I honestly think the slight bit of work to start it makes us think about it quite a bit more than just pressing the button or triggering it off battery voltage. It is a better thing to use it less.
Whats the best for the money?
