Onan 5500 not starting

Ladiver

Well-known member
We have used our trailer twice in the past few months and ran the generator a few times. This time around, I tried firing up the generator and just a loud clacking noise. It would not start. I tried priming and repriming and starting and restarting. I also had an issue with the auto leveling system not having enough battery power. So I thought battery (12V system) was the culprit. I looked at the 12V diagram in the manuals section and thought that maybe the breaker had been tripped. I figured try and reset that one first. Well, there was no visible reset switch. There are 4 or 5 breakers on one buss bar, then two other breakers together. None of them had a reset switch. Tomorrow, I may tackle the fuel filter to see if that is clogged.

Am I missing something, or does anyone else have something similar? I have a 2014 Cyclone 3100 with the Onan 5500 generator. I am also using a 12V Dry Cell EV/Deep Cycle Sealed Battery[FONT=Helvetica, arial, Verdana, sans-serif]. Any further guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff
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szewczyk_john

Well-known member
It is possible that your battery does not have enough juice left to start the unit. I would charge your 12 volt battery before trying any thing else. The fact that it primed (and I'll assume the light lit up while you were holding the priming button in) indicates that it has juice, but there may not be enough to turn it over. You should be able to just hook your tow vehicle up to the trailer and give it a little bit of time before you charge it. I had to do this same procedure once when the furnace ran my battery low enough that it would not start my genny. In the future make sure you shut the main switch to the off position so that there is no drain on your battery.

I hope this works for you
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi Jeff,

Could be a low battery affecting both the hyraulics and the generator. I've also had to recharge off the truck (run at high idle) to get enough power to start the generator.

It's possible that somewhere along the line the manual reset circuit breaker was replaced with an auto-reset breaker, but the reset button is teeny-tiny, so there might be one that's just hard to see. The breaker in question will probably have thick red wires attached to both terminals.

The auto-leveling control panel has a battery voltage readout. After turning it on, press the down arrow once to see the battery voltage.

Also, you might need to clean the battery terminals.
 

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Ladiver

Well-known member
OK, so I checked the voltage and the reading I get is 11.8V. I also checked the circuit breakers, and there is no reset button on any of them. This is straight from the factory, so I guess there is a chance they screwed up and installed the wrong ones. I did not try jump starting the generator, but I pulled out the battery and am going to take it to Autozone and see if it is good or bad. It is an Optima battery that was manufactured 4/13, so it should be OK.
 

ramdually4100king

Well-known member
I had to prime from the generator for five minutes the last time I tried to start the gen. There was a lot of air in the system. It also makes a clicking sound when there is no fuel in the system.
 

Ladiver

Well-known member
I took the battery to Autozone, and the said the battery is bad.

Rating:
750 AGM
Beginning:
40AGM 12.47 V
Ending:
40 AGM 12.17 V

Now time to talk to Optima Battery to see about a warranty replacement. The battery has a date code of 4/13. Is there anything in the trailer that could have caused the battery to go bad?
 

For20hunter

Pacific Region Directors-Retired
If it has completely drained a few times, that is really hard on batteries. Also if it is being overcharged when on shore power or on generator.

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 4
 

Ladiver

Well-known member
Tonight I tried jumpstarting the generator and battery. That worked. I ran the generator for an hour and the battery ended up with a voltage of 10.4. Luckily Optima is replacing it.

Hopefully that solves the problem.
 
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