Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 10, 2025 ...

generator problem - voltage meter is reading over 130

September 23, 2010, 05:45:35 pm

Started generator to check before starting out for Texas in <2 weeks and the voltage meter is reading over 130.  Never had that happen before...Idle seems normal...Only goes down to 130 with front air condition on and down to 128 with both front and rear on...??

Shut everything down, restarted...same results...

Propane gen 6.5 ...

Thanks for any suggestions..

Quote Selected

Re: generator problem

Reply #1 – September 23, 2010, 05:51:41 pm

Jeff,

Start by verifying that the throttle linkage is free/not binding.

If that is OK and you have not changed anything mechanically, suspect the voltage regulator.

Brett Wolfe

Quote Selected

Re: generator problem

Reply #2 – September 24, 2010, 06:34:10 pm

Dave,

The 6.5 Onan is a propane fueled generator.  It does (at least our 1993 does) have a voltage regulator than controls voltage.  It is a sealed unit and they do fail. I know, ours went out and I replaced it several years ago.

Brett Wolfe

Quote Selected

Re: generator problem

Reply #3 – September 24, 2010, 09:05:11 pm

Brett, Good, If his is the same unit, the NH Onan is a good unit, and again I would be looking at the governor, it might have the electronic  governor, but I would have to assume it is the mechanical fly ball type, a good governor, but they can get out of order.  AS for the VR, yes they fail, usually when they fail the symptom is generator will not run when you remove your finger from the start button because of lack of sufficient voltage built up.
Have never seen one have over voltage that was not running too many RPM/Hertz.
Why I suggest using a freq meter to see where you are, both freq and voltage, maybe his volt sensor is not too close.
One of the major problems with these 1800 rpm generators, most wanna be mechanics set the governor/rpm to where it sounds good, usually that is WAY too fast causing the voltage to go up too.
Other wise one can start replacing parts, sooner or later it might get fixed.
We sell many Onan parts that become spares, as not needed, just bad guess as to problem by a well meaning wanna be generator mechanic.

Dave

Quote Selected

Re: generator problem

Reply #4 – September 24, 2010, 09:26:14 pm

Hmmm...  Jeff - might be wise to route your trip to Texas through central VA and enlist Dave's expertise in a hands' on mode (if you don't need to run the genset enroute).

-M

Quote Selected