Generator turns on but doesn't juice anything.

[MaybzNDave]

We have a 2015 30DS, 30amp, that was plugged into 110 shore power. The AC was on and we went to microwave some food and they both turned off. After some investigation on our end it turned out the circuit breaker to the outlet on the shore side had tripped, so once flipped over everything was fine. Today we were readying to move and start a week of boondocking, so we turned on the generator to power the AC and the generator kicked on but the AC never did. We looked and the microwave was out (no time display) and there is no power running to our outlets (checked phone chargers). We checked the breaker on the generator and regardless of which way it is flipped there is no juice.

Help! Thank you in advance.

[Iggy]

Did you check the 120 volt main breaker inside your rig?
Turn it totally off and then back on.

For the main circuit breaker to trip at the campground means you have a major short some where in your rig.
Do you have a transfer switch for the generator?

I still think you need to check all the breakers 120 volt inside and all your GFI breakers.
Let us know.
Iggy

[llr]

when I had a class A the brushes in the generator wore out.

has to be Generator, transfer switch or internal breaker/wiring issue.

does everything still work when plugged in?

when it tripped the post breaker what else was on except the microwave? AC, water heater etc.

[KansasFR3]

Might be a obvious question, but did you plug the shore power cord into the generator outlet? There is no transfer switch in the 30DS, so its either the 30 amp generator breaker, or the 30 amp main breaker in your electrical panel. If you haven't done so, move your AC off the shared 30 amp breaker to a dedicated breaker. You'll find the AC kicking offline when it gets hot out due to the breaker getting warm. Also, if your using the electric water heater, and your running the AC, and your trying to use the microwave, and you trying to charge some batteries, its for sure going to blow the 30 amp breaker.

[MaybzNDave]

Originally Posted by llr

when I had a class A the brushes in the generator wore out.

has to be Generator, transfer switch or internal breaker/wiring issue.

does everything still work when plugged in?

when it tripped the post breaker what else was on except the microwave? AC, water heater etc.

AC, water heater, and the microwave. That was it.

On shore everything is working flawlessly once they fixed their end.

[MaybzNDave]

Originally Posted by KansasFR3

Might be a obvious question, but did you plug the shore power cord into the generator outlet? There is no transfer switch in the 30DS, so its either the 30 amp generator breaker, or the 30 amp main breaker in your electrical panel. If you haven't done so, move your AC off the shared 30 amp breaker to a dedicated breaker. You'll find the AC kicking offline when it gets hot out due to the breaker getting warm. Also, if your using the electric water heater, and your running the AC, and your trying to use the microwave, and you trying to charge some batteries, its for sure going to blow the 30 amp breaker.

We will look into this once we park. Do you mean the electrical panel under the bed? That's the only one we know of.

[MaybzNDave]

Originally Posted by Iggy

Did you check the 120 volt main breaker inside your rig?
Turn it totally off and then back on.

For the main circuit breaker to trip at the campground means you have a major short some where in your rig.
Do you have a transfer switch for the generator?

I still think you need to check all the breakers 120 volt inside and all your GFI breakers.
Let us know.
Iggy

We didn't check the 120 volt main breaker today, just when it originally blew two days ago. Will check when parked. What does GFI stand for? We are still fairly new to all of this.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by MaybzNDave

AC, water heater, and the microwave. That was it.

On shore everything is working flawlessly once they fixed their end.

If you add the amps used by those 3 items it comes to 45 amps.

You can NOT use the AC and microwave at the same time with a 30 amp coach; let alone have the water heater on AC power.

Any time the AC compressor, Microwave Magnetron, and the water heater AC element power up at the same time you will blow circuit breakers.

You need power management when trying to live with all the toys they stick into our campers. ALWAYS turn off the AC Water Heater and run propane if the air conditioner will be needed in a 30 amp rig.

I also turn off the AC when using the microwave, hair dryer, or any other high draw electrical appliance (like a fry pan or slow cooker).

[Carl17]

Onan gen has a 30 amp breaker on the generator by the starter controls on gen.. Cover on gen has to be remove to get to it . If i remember its under right side . Then make sure its plug in to outlet and main breaker in side is not trip. I run my AC and micro wave all the time not had a problem.

[MaybzNDave]

Thank you to everyone who replied! We carefully went over everything, soup to nuts, and found the loose connection. Problem solved and we are ready to boondock this week! A lot of useful information and we will definitely be more vigilante in the future.

[HDU]

In addition to the other suggestions, I would also make sure your generator is running at mid to 3/4 throttle. I once had a 6500 watt generator that would not send any voltage to the outlets until the generator engine was at half throttle or greater.

[BobHanke]

GFI=Gound Fault Interrupt. As above, you may have to plug your shore line into an outlet from the generator. Also check for on a tripped breaker on the generator itself. Note that a GFI (usually in a bathroom or gally) will be "daisy chained" to other outlets. Seeing the clock on the microwave not functioning is a good clue and is normally on a breaker by itself.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Do head what Herk said in post #8. It sounds like you are overloading your system.

[PenJoe]

GFI stands for ground fault interrupter. These are mandatory in basement , kitchen, bathroom and moisture prone areas. They have a trip reset on the outlet device. The RV industry uses them similarly. They will tend to trip quicker than a circuits breaker and will prevent electrocution. So, for instance, if DW drops the hairdryer in a vanity basin of water, it would be instinct to grab for it. But, the circuit will trip before she can react, thus saving her from a frizzies hair do. For all their advantages, they can also be a pain because they sometimes trip for very little reason-to us at least.

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by MaybzNDave

Thank you to everyone who replied! We carefully went over everything, soup to nuts, and found the loose connection. Problem solved and we are ready to boondock this week! A lot of useful information and we will definitely be more vigilante in the future.

Where and what was the loose connect?
May help others if we knew what was loose.

[MaybzNDave]

Originally Posted by Iggy

Where and what was the loose connect?
May help others if we knew what was loose.

This is so embarrassing...

The plug was knocked loose from the port in the bay when we were packing up. Haha.

But thank you all for the knowledge that I'm sure will help us in the future. Like how our generator then shut off mid dinner prep and on an old thread we found out if your gas is at a quarter tank it's a killswitch so you're not left stranded.

We laughed a bunch at our own noob-ness yesterday.

[youroo]

Originally Posted by MaybzNDave

This is so embarrassing...

The plug was knocked loose from the port in the bay when we were packing up. Haha.

But thank you all for the knowledge that I'm sure will help us in the future. Like how our generator then shut off mid dinner prep and on an old thread we found out if your gas is at a quarter tank it's a killswitch so you're not left stranded.

We laughed a bunch at our own noob-ness yesterday.

When you say "Port in Bay" is this a 30 AMP RV outlet? Youroo!!

[MaybzNDave]

Originally Posted by youroo

When you say "Port in Bay" is this a 30 AMP RV outlet? Youroo!!

Yeah.