Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » Huge Public Thanks - Onan (I have been away but owe people a huge thanks)
| Huge Public Thanks - Onan [message #252041] |
Thu, 12 June 2014 20:19  |
Steve
Messages: 506
Registered: September 2013
Location: East Greenville, Pa
Karma: 1
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I have been missing from the forum since end of April, best described as a Career Death Spiral. I have finally pulled out of it and owe a couple of people here on the net a HUGE thanks. My last real posts related to Onan the Barbarian. I had been trying to make the Onan produce electricity. I had it running well but no electricity.
I offer a HUGE public thanks to Tom McManus and Jim Miller!!
First, in a desperate attempt to having a functioning generator for the GMC, I traveled about 700 miles round trip to Chesapeake VA to source another Onan. Had a great trip in the 69 Chevy pickup, camped on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay, and met Tom McManus, a great guy who is building a really cool 1973 stretch. Anyway, a Huge thanks to Tom for giving me hope of electricity in the GMC when I was becoming very discouraged. New Onan still hangs from the engine crane as I have not had time to get it running. I removed the spark plugs and oiled the cylinders/rings before cranking. It cranks a little slow and no sign of spark yet but I will get it going.
Second, I had been working with Jim Miller to troubleshoot my original Onan and really learned a lot from Jim's systematic, methodical approach, along with the Maintenance Manual. When all else fails, read the manual. Anyway, with Jim's help, and input form others I now have the original installed Onan working. It has been working reliably since about the time I got back from Chesapeake with its replacement. Maybe it saw its replacement coming and decided to run before I junked it. Anyway, a Huge thanks to Jim Miller. I lost contact with Jim and have not seen him on the net so I hope all is well. I fell I have learned enough to help others going forward.
I will post more details about the Onan success so others can benefit, just the short story here now. It seems the problem was loose connections and corrosion in the coach breaker box. The connection from the Onan to the breaker was loose and corroded enough that it was not drawing power or "exciting" the generator. I tightened the breaker connection and it came to life. The screw tightened over a full turn. All connections have now been cleaned and tightened.
Just the latest in my Love/Hate relationship with Onan the Barbarian. Oops, one more thanks to Duanne Simmons. I got the DVD from his presentation at the Spring 2003 Rally. Watched 2 of the 10 chapters so far.
1978 GMC Royal
Eastern Pennslyvania
1968 Chevrolet C20 396 Camper Special
1969 Chevrolet C20 Camper Special
1985 Buick Electra Park Avenue
1992 Camaro 25th Anniversary Heretage Edition Black
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| Re: [GMCnet] Huge Public Thanks - Onan [message #252042 is a reply to message #252041] |
Thu, 12 June 2014 20:37  |
Ken Henderson
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma: 9
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Senior Member |
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Steve,
That's a very appropriate posting -- but it shouldn't be tied to the Onan.
Everyone with an old breaker box should, with all power removed, take the
cover off and do what you did: Tighten all the connections. After a few
years of heating and cooling, those screws WILL loosen. And they DO heat
and cool: Even the best connection has some resistance. Add current flow
and you have heat. Copper being quite ductile, every heating and cooling
cycle makes the connection a little looser. Eventually (maybe 40 years?),
the connection will become so loose it can no longer conduct electricity.
So, tighten all those connections! Better yet, disconnect every one of
them, polish them up, put some anti-corrosion paste on them, and THEN
tighten them up. Don't forget the "plug together" connections; they're
just as prone to problems, though perhaps for different reasons.
Ken "Getting Pretty Corroded" H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI & EBL,
Manny Brakes & 1-Ton, etc., etc.
www.gmcwipersetc.com
On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 9:19 PM, Steve Adams wrote:
> ...I will post more details about the Onan success so others can benefit,
> just the short story here now. It seems the problem was loose connections
> and
> corrosion in the coach breaker box. The connection from the Onan to the
> breaker was loose and corroded enough that it was not drawing power or
> "exciting" the generator. I tightened the breaker connection and it came
> to life. The screw tightened over a full turn. All connections have now been
> cleaned and tightened.
...
>
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
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| Re: [GMCnet] Huge Public Thanks - Onan [message #252049 is a reply to message #252042] |
Thu, 12 June 2014 22:56 |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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A few years back I walked into the main location of my bank about 5:45 in the evening and everything computer wise was down. They had provisions to work off line for their customers, but no bank employees in the main location and about 135 branches could go home at 6PM until the system came back and they could do their end of day reconciliation. The computer room takes up of one floor of the building that I was in and years before it was was my client when I was a Customer Engineer. So I was familiar with their operation.
I went to the Computer Room to see what was happening. They could not power up most of the 3 phase computer devices in multiple rooms. I checked the power to them and one lead of the three phase was dead on multiple circuit breakers. I told them what was wrong and to call their electrician and I left. About 1.5 hours later my phone rang and it was the bank. All of the branches were closed and people were just sitting around. They could not find an electrician on a Friday night. So I went back there and traced the problem down for them. It turned out to be one screw connection in one main feed to the panels. The connection was burned but I was able to move the offending cable to another connection point and everything was running again. I got them running and told them to call their building electrician to have them permanently repair / replace the burned up buss bar and connection.
My point is that this building was at least 30 years old and never had a previous problem. Over the years the screwed down connection loosened and shut down the whole operation. So do what Ken suggested (with power off). These failures happen in locations other than just GMCs.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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| Re: Huge Public Thanks - Onan [message #252055 is a reply to message #252041] |
Fri, 13 June 2014 06:17 |
jhbridges
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma: -74
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This is a use for your infrared thermometer. Twice a year, our building Engineer comes around with one and measures all the connections in the place. This reminds me to take my thermometer and go check every power panel and transfer switch we have. I often find an overly warm one and tighten it.
Please turn the power off before you tighten, and please don't solo around an open power panel the rule is two people present when there's voltage exposed.
--johnny
'76 23' transmode norris
Braselton GA
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
[Updated on: Fri, 13 June 2014 06:19] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: [GMCnet] Huge Public Thanks - Onan [message #252059 is a reply to message #252044] |
Fri, 13 June 2014 07:16 |
midlf
Messages: 2212
Registered: July 2007
Location: SE Wisc. (Palmyra)
Karma: 1
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ljdavick wrote on Thu, 12 June 2014 20:45By golly I love a story like this. Except for the career death spiral, that is. I'm stinky with the smell of a project from hell, but still employed, fwiw.
A lot of fellows on here have figured out how to retire. They are generous wit GMC advice but I'll be darned if they haven't taught me a thing about retiring well;-)
Larry Davick
Well to start you need a financial system like the one I have. With this system I do not EVER have to worry about money. It is a very simple system. The CFO worries about money enough for the both of us so therefore I DO NOT have to worry about $$$ at all.
Steve Southworth
1974 Glacier TZE064V100150 (for workin on)
1975 Transmode TZE365V100394 (parts & spares)
Palmyra WI
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| Re: [GMCnet] Huge Public Thanks - Onan [message #252060 is a reply to message #252042] |
Fri, 13 June 2014 08:01 |
Steve
Messages: 506
Registered: September 2013
Location: East Greenville, Pa
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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Ken Henderson wrote on Thu, 12 June 2014 21:37Steve,
That's a very appropriate posting -- but it shouldn't be tied to the Onan.
Everyone with an old breaker box should, with all power removed, take the
cover off and do what you did: Tighten all the connections.
Ken, very good points. I specifically tagged the posting with "Onan" hoping there would be a better chance of Jim Mill picking up on it as I am truly grateful for his time and knowledge.
I had given the short or Readers Digest version of my experience. I did have the cover off the electric panel with the Onan running because I was trying to track down or trace a drop in voltage. I was measuring 1.5 volts AC outside the coach at the Onan, but 0 volts inside the coach at an outlet in the rear bath. I wanted to see where I was loosing the 1.5 volts, so I had the panel off and was using a multi-meter to carefully check for voltage at the breaker. It was measuring exactly zero touching the screws on the breaker. I then thought I would try to get contact with the actual wires so I positioned the multi-meter leads lower, directly on the wires and then pushed pretty hard to make sure I had good contact. When I pushed in hard on the wires it made better contact and the gen came to life. It really scared me as I had a drop cord light plugged in as a test light and it lit up in my face. I let the gen run 10 or 15 minutes while I celebrated this great occurrence. I didn't really tighten the connections until after generator shut down.
I have a good friend who has an electrical background and has worked in electrical automation and generators for many years. He currently works on big generators, really big, Nuclear Power Plant BIG. He wanted to see the schematic for the Onan and after studying it he was convinced that it would need a load on it to excite the system. He said it was very different than most small generators he had worked on. This is also seems to be consistent with the experience Sean Kid had where his Onan would only excite under a heavy load like the air conditioner, but not under light load. Sean was smart enough to upgrade to the Honda. I am crazy enough to try and keep these old units going.
1978 GMC Royal
Eastern Pennslyvania
1968 Chevrolet C20 396 Camper Special
1969 Chevrolet C20 Camper Special
1985 Buick Electra Park Avenue
1992 Camaro 25th Anniversary Heretage Edition Black
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| Re: [GMCnet] Huge Public Thanks - Onan [message #252101 is a reply to message #252044] |
Sat, 14 June 2014 07:08 |
Steve
Messages: 506
Registered: September 2013
Location: East Greenville, Pa
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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ljdavick wrote on Thu, 12 June 2014 21:45By golly I love a story like this. Except for the career death spiral, that is. I'm stinky with the smell of a project from hell, but still employed, fwiw.
A lot of fellows on here have figured out how to retire. They are generous wit GMC advice but I'll be darned if they haven't taught me a thing about retiring well;-)
Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, CA
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Larry,
I hope your project turns for the better. Mine has been "stinking" up the place as well. Too many 80 hour weeks. As far as retirement, my CFO says I have to put in 20 more years to keep here in the lifestyle she is accustomed to. At least I have plenty of time to get the GMC ready.
1978 GMC Royal
Eastern Pennslyvania
1968 Chevrolet C20 396 Camper Special
1969 Chevrolet C20 Camper Special
1985 Buick Electra Park Avenue
1992 Camaro 25th Anniversary Heretage Edition Black
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