Onan genset circuits

February 14, 2003, 06:31:30 pm

I can tell from some of the posts I've seen that there are some EE's out there.I have previously had Power Tech gensets in my 97 and 00 Intrigues, and both of them had seperate breaker switches on the generator for the two 30 amp circuits. The Onan in my current coach has only one switch even though I'm told there are two 35 amp circuits. This means if you overload one circuit both of them are shut down. What gives?

Walt Rothermel
03Allure30811

Re: Onan genset circuits

Reply #1 – February 14, 2003, 08:07:48 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 4172

Yes, I may be one of those EE's :-)

I'd suspect that the difference between the PT and the Onan is that the PT has 2 truely seperate 30 Amp circuit (both 120V), while the Onan has one 240V circuit that is also subdivided into 2 120V legs (much like the 50 Amp 240V shore line is).

Since it is a 240V generator, one should protect both legs with a single breaker (just in case there is a problem with a 240V load).
If you look at your 240V breaker at home, you'll typically see a dual breaker with the on/off "arms" connected to each other, same reason.

Quote from: spiker1029\[br\

"]

Country Coach Owners Forum Country Coach Motorcoach Forum