In a atypical case of "it ain't broke, let's fix it till it is". I decided to upgrade my absolutely trouble free Onan with the Gary Bovee Pertronix Ignition system. After following the instructions to a tee, I buttoned it up and it wouldn't start. Not sure what I did wrong, but evidently something. Anyway, I had the brilliant idea of switching the + and - leads on the coil., this time, no start, AND smoke from the back of the control board. That CAN'T be good. I removed the board to find a trace burned. Soldered in a piece of wire, re-installed the board, and the Onan runs again, on the points, Pertronix disconnected.

THEN, I plugged the power cord into the power outlet in the elec compartment, and found that I had NO 110 volt power in the coach. Checked voltage between terminals 8 to 11 on the board, no voltage. Please tell me there is an easy fix for this. At this point I have given up on the Pertronix and just want to get power back out of the generator for our trip at the end of the week.

HELP!!!

Oh no. Only issue i had with my pertronix was installing the magnet upside down, and it was clear there was a problem as i rotated it and watched my ohm meter.

Just my memory here and not an expert. But thought no 110v on a running onan, to replace the bridge rectifier. Cheap part.

2nd would be to verify a connection behind the onan did not come loose from openig and closing.

Oh no. Only issue i had with my pertronix was installing the magnet upside down, and it was clear there was a problem as i rotated it and watched my ohm meter.

Just my memory here and not an expert. But thought no 110v on a running onan, to replace the bridge rectifier. Cheap part.

2nd would be to verify a connection behind the onan did not come loose from openig and closing.

The board or the wire switch did not cause you to lose 120.
There is a trick to the maget that you must follow the polarity.
Gary will be glad to go over with you.

On Sun, Jul 19, 2015 at 3:35 PM, Carl Stouffer wrote:

> In a atypical case of "it ain't broke, let's fix it till it is". I decided
> to upgrade my absolutely trouble free Onan with the Gary Bovee Pertronix
> Ignition system. After following the instructions to a tee, I buttoned it
> up and it wouldn't start. Not sure what I did wrong, but evidently
> something. Anyway, I had the brilliant idea of switching the + and -
> leads on the coil., this time, no start, AND smoke from the back of the
> control
> board. That CAN'T be good. I removed the board to find a trace burned.
> Soldered in a piece of wire, re-installed the board, and the Onan runs
> again, on the points, Pertronix disconnected.
>
> THEN, I plugged the power cord into the power outlet in the elec
> compartment, and found that I had NO 110 volt power in the coach. Checked
> voltage
> between terminals 8 to 11 on the board, no voltage. Please tell me there
> is an easy fix for this. At this point I have given up on the Pertronix and
> just want to get power back out of the generator for our trip at the end
> of the week.
>
> HELP!!!
> --
> Carl Stouffer
> '75 ex Palm Beach
> Tucson, AZ.
>
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>



--
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Reversing the polarity is the worse thing for electronic circuits... it lets out the "magic smoke". You pertonix is likely toast now.

There is no connection between the engine electrics and the generator, just Murphy's law likely caused the failure of the bridge rectifier.

The Pertonix is a great upgrade, I did mine this spring. I used it for the first time to run the AC while Paula went for groceries. I could not tell the Onan was running it was so smooth... till I went to the back of the coach.

Correct wiring, magnet polarity and magnet clearance are all important with the Pertronix.

Carl,

Email me your phone so I can call you and get your Onan running with the Pertronix.

Send your email to gary.bovee@gmcidiotsguide.com. Be sure to tell me when is a good time to call you.

Gary Bovee
Red Bluff, CA
1978 Royale
www.gmcidiotsguide.com
Free "Internet Idiot's Guide for GMC MotorHome Information"
For MAC, iPad & iPod users - http://iTunes.apple.com/us/book/internet-idiots-guide-for/id623353780?mt=11

> On Jul 19, 2015, at 6:53 PM, Carl Stouffer wrote:
>
> Yeah, thanks again Jon. The module triggered the voltage drop with the 9v battery just like it should have. The magnet was installed with the white
> marking up, right in the middle of the mark on module, the clearance was set to the thickness of the doubled over business card, per instructions.
> Can't explain what went wrong, but no start with the Pertronix hooked up, and immediate start with the points hooked up. Yes, I was very frustrated
> and apologize for the rant and any perceived sleight Against Gary. I must have done something wrong. I'm not great at electrical stuff, but this was
> mostly mechanical. I'm sure I'll get over it and try to get to the bottom of the problem sooner or later but, for now I'm just happy to be back to
> where I was before attempting the "upgrade".
> --
> Carl Stouffer
> '75 ex Palm Beach
> Tucson, AZ.
>
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> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
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Oh my. A list of bad gys

On Sunday, July 19, 2015, Jon Roche wrote:

> when i installed mine and had things right. (I thought the white on the
> magnet was a sticker and i scraed it off. And installed the magnet upside
> down. )
>
> But when it was right, my multi meter showed the pertronix closing very
> clearly and accurately when i spun the flywheel. Every time around, at the
> exact place it would drop to zero volts. And timing mark was right on in
> the hole.
>
> There was no question. So if you are turnkng the flywheel around and it
> is not zeroing out the volts when it is hooked like the instructions show
> with the 9 volt batter, the unit is bad, The magnet is installed in our
> out too far, or too much gap. Or something else.
>
> So alot of guessing in what could be wrong. But when it is right, it is
> right.
>
> Glad you have 110v again. Hopefully your heart rate and blood pressure
> are back to normal. That would be a scary frustrating feeling that you
> might
> have toasted a working device.
> --
> Jon Roche
> 75 palm beach
> St. Cloud, MN
> http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/
>
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Gary will help. He was a huge help to me and Jeff Sirum when we did mine in FL back in May. Got our "installer error" straightened out and didn't get frustrated at all with our beginner's brain. I think he made a believer out of Jeff as well and I'm pleased with how the Onan is running, although less so with the danged oil leaks!

jknezek wrote on Mon, 20 July 2015 07:26

Gary will help. He was a huge help to me and Jeff Sirum when we did mine in FL back in May. Got our "installer error" straightened out and didn't get frustrated at all with our beginner's brain. I think he made a believer out of Jeff as well and I'm pleased with how the Onan is running, although less so with the danged oil leaks!

Thanks for the encouragement, Jeremy. I hope to talk to Gary today and get straightened out on what I may have done wrong. Unless it proves to be an easy fix, I will probably leave well enough alone until after our week long trip that we are leaving on Saturday. We will be driving across the Arizona and New Mexico deserts and will almost certainly need the roof AC en route.

Carl S. wrote on Mon, 20 July 2015 11:08

jknezek wrote on Mon, 20 July 2015 07:26

Gary will help. He was a huge help to me and Jeff Sirum when we did mine in FL back in May. Got our "installer error" straightened out and didn't get frustrated at all with our beginner's brain. I think he made a believer out of Jeff as well and I'm pleased with how the Onan is running, although less so with the danged oil leaks!

Thanks for the encouragement, Jeremy. I hope to talk to Gary today and get straightened out on what I may have done wrong. Unless it proves to be an easy fix, I will probably leave well enough alone until after our week long trip that we are leaving on Saturday. We will be driving across the Arizona and New Mexico deserts and will almost certainly need the roof AC en route.

I hear you. We almost did the same thing with mine coming home from a FL trip when AC was necessary. But Gary pointed out our simple error in no time. It's a simple system, so there are only a couple things that could be off. I forget exactly what we did, but it made perfect sense when we did it and was exactly the wrong thing to do. As soon as Gary actually got us to tell him what we did, he told us how to fix it. 5 minutes later the Onan was purring like a kitten. Sadly it also slobbers oil like a St. Bernard, but that's not Gary's problem! Good luck, but I'm betting you'll have a relatively quick fix once Gary knows how you have done the install.