No power to Start 4K Generator in Fleetwood Terra 31C ClassA

[Burk12]

While attempting to start the generator on my Class A Fleetwood Terra 31C , it appears I have lost power to the starter button(3- two inside and the local start button at the generator) and the hour meter.. I've searched for a fuse but I can not find one..

I have no power at the generator starter coil and no power at the start buttons or hour meter inside the RV..

Any suggestions on the location of a fuse or?

Side note- The fuel tank was under 1/4. I filled it back to 1/2 tank tonight,, but still no luck.

[Gjac]

Glad you got it fixed.

[Burk12]

Found it!
I emailed Fleetwood and they sent me all the wiring drawings for the motorhome.
It was a Bussman 125 Amp fuse near the coach battery box.

Thank you for all the help!

[Gjac]

Burk12 wrote:
None of the 3 switches work (including the one locally)
No voltage at the starter

I'll keep looking for more fuses and breakers.

I'm at the point of crawling underneath the motorhome and backtracking the power cable that feeds the generator + voltage.

That is what I had to do and when I traced the positive wire twenty feet to the house battery I found the cable lose inside the terminal. Cleaned the corrosion off and re crimped and all was well again. If you checked the circuit breakers and they are good the next logical thing to look at is the positive wire. The other thing you can do is jump your car battery to the starter and if it starts you found the problem. You may have a braided ground wire going to the frame that you can check and clean also.

[Burk12]

None of the 3 switches work (including the one locally)
No voltage at the starter

I'll keep looking for more fuses and breakers.

I'm at the point of crawling underneath the motorhome and backtracking the power cable that feeds the generator + voltage.

[Gjac]

Check your circuit breakers as Drew said. Is it just the inside switches that won't work? Or is the switch on the genset not working also? Do you have 12 v at the starter? Sometimes voltage may be present but enough amps are not getting through to the starter. Battery terminals may look clean on the outside but corroded or lose on the inside check to see if the positive cable going back to your genset is tight inside the terminal(wiggle it back and forth). There are other things to check but check these thing first and let us know what you find.

[DrewE]

There shouldn't be power to the hour meter unless the generator is running, since that's what makes it count hours. I don't know offhand if the start/stop switch common lead is designed to be at +12V or at ground. It may well be ground by design.

Some models and variants of models of Onan generators have a 12V fuse on the generator for the control board. It's usually fairly readily accessible on the generator, somewhere in the vicinity of the on-board controls and AC circuit breaker. Not all are so equipped.

[Burk12]

I had checked both coach batteries. Both are good, together they are at 13+Vdc.
I've tried using the emergency start/aux start button also,, no luck.
I'll try both switches at the same time and I'll check the engine battery connection.
The weird part is, there is no power to the hour meter on the generator or power to the generator start switch (0 Volts DC)..
This happened when we were attempting to start the generator, it was cranking fine and then my wife released the start button.. All power was lost in the starting circuit.

[wanderingaimles]

As MadJack said, clean the terminals, then start the chassis engine and see if it charges all the batteries and allows you to start the genny.

[madjack60]

I had the same problem in my Fleetwood Bounder, turns out that I needed to clean the battery cables and posts. It was deceiving because all the lights would work but there wasnt enough contact for the higher amps needed to start the generator.

[larry_cad]

Are you batteries all dead? You probably have two battery banks, one for starting the engine, and one for supplying the DC power to your coach accessories. It is possible that the bank which starts your generator is dead. However, typically, the coach manufacturer supplies a switch on your dash to connect the other battery bank to the generator for starting purposes. I is labeled different names by different manufacturers, but look for something labeled, "EMERGENY START" or something like that. It is a momentary switch, so push and hold while attempting to start.