Generator Prep

blkdodge

Active Member
2012 SanAntonio has "generator prep" Now I know about the switch and meter inside, the J-box and connector in the front compartment. What I dont see is any battery cables to the house batteries or a fitting for propane. Is this something that is NOT included in the "generator prep"

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
******Warning, STOP******* BEFORE you begin your generator install you must take the top off your transfer switch and remove the yellow lockout. If you don't you will burn up your transfer switch. Once you have installed the generator that yellow lockout is just trash pitch it in you box of "maybe someday I will need it stuff." I did not receive BATT cables nor LP connections. BUT you do not want to run your gen set off of the same LP cylinders on which you are running the coach. The gen set uses plenty of LP and will sometimes freeze. Theoretically, the genet has the ability to pull enough fuel from the system to rob the stove, heater or electric heater of gas. I personally do not believe it. Especially if you install a large enough regulator on the system. Message me and I can give you some ideas on what I would have done differently, or some of the things I did that saved a heap of money. I got my genet cheap. And I employed some novel ideas installing that heavy thing into the compartment.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
BUT you do not want to run your gen set off of the same LP cylinders on which you are running the coach. The gen set uses plenty of LP and will sometimes freeze. Theoretically, the genet has the ability to pull enough fuel from the system to rob the stove, heater or electric heater of gas. I personally do not believe it.
Our factory-installed Onan uses the same LP cylinders as everything else in the coach. We've had no problem running the generator at the same time as the furnace and a stovetop burner. In fact, I consider that a test of the propane system. If it's supplying good propane flow, the generator and furnace will both run.

With the generator supplying power, there's no reason to also run the frig and water heater on propane, so we haven't tried adding that load.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
...I dont see is any battery cables to the house batteries or a fitting for propane. Is this something that is NOT included in the "generator prep"...

Battery cables are not included in the GenPrep that I've ever seen. The gen "may" come with a propane hose/connector - not sure.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Our factory-installed Onan uses the same LP cylinders as everything else in the coach. We've had no problem running the generator at the same time as the furnace and a stovetop burner. In fact, I consider that a test of the propane system. If it's supplying good propane flow, the generator and furnace will both run.

With the generator supplying power, there's no reason to also run the frig and water heater on propane, so we haven't tried adding that load.

You are right but ONAN disagrees with you. Heartland provides a "stub out" along the frame under my cylinders that theoretically will run into the gen. compartment. However if you read the Onan installation instructions you will find that this method creates problems according to them. Additionally, for a run on the low pressure side of the LP to the other side of the gen set where the LP input is, requires a 5/8 id tube. So considering how much fuel the LP5500 uses (it is a miser BTW) and how much a furnace and stove might use, I elected to use three cylinders, one dedicated to the genset. Which will give me the option to pull one from the coach if needed. I admit that mine is still a work in progress and I am considering utilizing the coach plumbing to improve my setup. But one thing is clear, you must provide a 5/8 ID line on the low pressure side for LP runs over 4 feet. This is a must do or the Onan will starve for fuel.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
2012 SanAntonio has "generator prep" Now I know about the switch and meter inside, the J-box and connector in the front compartment. What I dont see is any battery cables to the house batteries or a fitting for propane. Is this something that is NOT included in the "generator prep"

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

I installed an entire solar system on my Big Country. So when I installed the Onan LP5500 I used a separate battery. I chose a large motorcycle battery of the Harley ilk. Its widely available "Nationwide" LOL. Motorcycle battery mounting brackets are available all over the net. The batt is sealed lead acid. You may want to consider this because you might wake up one morning with your coach batteries dead, then you will be doing the old jumper cable routine. When you install the generator install a 120V outlet inside your generator bay using one leg of the generator output, there you can plug in a small battery charger that is more than enough to charge the generator starting battery when the generator is running, plus it will give you an additional outside plug, perhaps for an electric impact wrench to remove lug nuts in the event of a blow out. The the harley battery is sufficient to start the Onan. If it can start a 100hp Harley it can surly start a 19 HP Onan. This will save you the trouble of making penetrations into the coach battery compartment. This will also allow you to dedicate your battery compartment to the coach only. This is important because you will eventually want to install an inverter to run the AC appliances without running the generator. I promise you will be discarding that "deep cycle" they provided with the coach in favor of a pair of Trojan 12v, T1275 (not 6v) batteries that have the capacity to run an inverter large enough to watch TV or run other 120V appliances. Your generator battery leads will get in the way of this process later on. When your generator is running it is charging your coach batts through the "converter/charger" so if the coach batts are also your starting batts then you do not need a charging source. But if you do separate the generator batt source from the coach source then you will need a charging system for the gen batt. As I suggested you can install a 120v plug to accommodate a common battery charger available from Walmart or auto zone, OR you can order the ONAN with a charger on it for that purpose. I hope this give you some ideas.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
But before you do any of this, you need the generator. Cummins Onan LP5500 generators are all over the internet for a very reasonable price. I would not buy one from a RV dealer because you will most likely have it serviced by a Cummins Onan service department somewhere in your town IF anything goes wrong with it. Sooooo that leaves a dealer out unless he can come across with a huge discount. You can get the Onan LP5500 down to the $3800 area may be a little more now, they will pay the freight, and if you order from out of your state you can eliminate the sales taxes, at least in Texas you can do that. I bought mine from a online discount house in Arizona and paid no freight or sales taxes. UPS put a scratch on it and popped for $500 in repairs, making my LP5500 $3300 out of pocket. LOL thanks UPS. Careful which LP5500 that you get, for the San Antonio you need the one with two 30 amp circuits, not one with a 30 amp and a 20 amp circuit. Get a whole parts list together so that you don't have to Mickey Mouse around ordering in tailpipes and other stuff. Remember the discount house is providing the freight and you are not paying sales tax, get the whole package. If you are in AZ you need to just look around for an out of state discount house. Perhaps I can provide a link and a part number for you to consider. It looks like the "San Antonio" is exactly like the "Big Country" so I should be able to assist you in running down what you need. BTW you don't need the template to cut the holes under the gen set.
 

blkdodge

Active Member
Jim
Thanks so much for all your information you have given me alot of ideas. The Gen I bought was the Marque Gold 5500. A good friend sold his 5vr and they didnt want the gen. so with a total of 196hrs I paid $2400.
 
I just bought a 2012 Torque 291, it is ready for a gen, just dont know if it is for LP or gas. How do I figure out what type of gen I need to buy (with out having to pull to a dealer ship) Thanks for any help
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Look at your brochure it should state which generator under the options list, pretty much all of them are LP5500. Here is a link....There are two breakers on these generators. Depending on which model one breaker is 30 amp and the other is 20 amp or both are 30 amp. You need to know which one to get. You probably need the one with the two 30 amp breakers, if you have a 50 amp rig with 2 air conditioners. If you order the wrong one you just have to swap out breakers. This is where I got mine, not tax, no freight. I had them hold for pick-up at the UPS loading dock. If worked out good. If you proceed with this project let me know and I will give you some unique ideas about how to get that thing in your generator compartment without much effort.

http://www.norwall.com/products/Cummins-Onan-QG-5500-Propane-RV-Generator-5.5HGJAB-1270

BTW, if you are installing it yourself it is a completely do-able job. but you must get to the transfer switch before you start and remove a lockout on your transfer switch or else you will burn it up. I know that now. lol:cool:



I just bought a 2012 Torque 291, it is ready for a gen, just dont know if it is for LP or gas. How do I figure out what type of gen I need to buy (with out having to pull to a dealer ship) Thanks for any help
 

porthole

Retired
I just bought a 2012 Torque 291, it is ready for a gen, just dont know if it is for LP or gas. How do I figure out what type of gen I need to buy (with out having to pull to a dealer ship) Thanks for any help

The Toy Hauler option for generators from the factory is gasoline, since the trailers have fuel cells.

Do you have one or two fuel tanks in the rear under the garage?

If you do, you have a choice of gasoline or LP, if not LP will be a less expensive install.
 
Thanks for the info, I only have one tank (at least there is only one cap) I think I would like to go with the LP one as with it would not have to worry about the fuel going bad ( if that would be an option since preped for gas). This prob. wont be done until next summer, just wanted the info so I could research. next ? how loud are these, last week we had a storm come through and half the park was with out power, I saw a Raptor with his gen on and was quiet, and just down from him was another 5th wheel and his seemed loud. Again thanks for the info and ideas. I have picked up a lot of info on this site. God bless every one and watch over ya in your travels.

oh ya the rig is only 30 amp service / one AC
 

scottyb

Well-known member
IMO there's only one reason to have a propane generator, only if don't have a fuel cell. If you are planning to use the generator any significant amount, you should get a gas generator, and keep a good fuel stabilizer in it. I use mine as a transfer tank to fuel power equipment at the house year round so my fuel never gets stagnate. Fuel consumption is almost identical but is a lot easier to get gas cans filled than it is to get propane bottles filled. This time next week, I will run mine for about 96 hours straight, shutting down twice a day to refuel and check oil. Last time I did this I averaged about 0.5 gph. Can you imagine having to provide propane for that.

I have heard that the Onan 5500 meets some kind or Fed Parks noise standard. They seem very quiet to me.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Hold on there partner, there are a whole host of problems with gasoline. first and foremost it is dangerous. second there is a perceived expense problem which may or may not be factual.

I buy my propane from U-haul which sells by the gallon and they are everywhere. The price is reasonable. Maintenance cost alone may cover any price difference in fuel. The difference is miniscule when you take into account how often you use it. In Fact the less you use the gasoline model the more maintenance required and the less the difference in cost of the propane model. LP produces at least 30% less carbon monoxide perhaps 60% less and way less volatile evaporative compounds. Then there is oil changes, spark plugs and a multitude of other expenses to be considered. All in all I don't think you can identify any savings that would compensate you for the use of gasoline over LP. You already have LP on board why would you want to install a dedicated gasoline tank for this purpose.

Put a pencil to it, math never lies and see if you are willing to have a very flammable messy fuel system or a neat clean safe and maintenance free LP. BTW Will you be sleeping with the generator running? This is a hazard no matter what you do, but I would rather have a fuel that only burns .8 gallons per hour and put out 30 to 60% less carbon monoxide. :cool:

Thanks for that point about getting gas easier than filling a tank at times
 

danemayer

Well-known member
If you have the generator for boondocking, you may be somewhere it's not all that convenient to refill either gasoline or propane. So another consideration is that a fuel cell holding gasoline holds about 30 gallons. Dual 30 pound propane tanks hold about 13.5 gallons. The propane supply is also shared with other devices.
 

scottyb

Well-known member
The fact is that the OP has a toyhauler and already has a fuel cell. There is a quick stop at just about every spot on the road, but not necessarily a U-haul. I strongly discourage hauling gasoline while traveling, in anything other than the DOT approved fuel cell. I carry 2 empty 6 gal VPRacing fuel cans in the garage. They get filled at the nearest station and ride in back of the truck from there to the rig, and usually dumped into the fuel cell immediately. I certainly understand why someone with a 5th wheel w/o a fuel cell would want a propane generator. It's the best option for them.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Thanks for straightening me out, that is what he should get then.

The fact is that the OP has a toyhauler and already has a fuel cell. There is a quick stop at just about every spot on the road, but not necessarily a U-haul. I strongly discourage hauling gasoline while traveling, in anything other than the DOT approved fuel cell. I carry 2 empty 6 gal VPRacing fuel cans in the garage. They get filled at the nearest station and ride in back of the truck from there to the rig, and usually dumped into the fuel cell immediately. I certainly understand why someone with a 5th wheel w/o a fuel cell would want a propane generator. It's the best option for them.
 

porthole

Retired
I have heard that the Onan 5500 meets some kind or Fed Parks noise standard. They seem very quiet to me.


From Onan's spec sheet

Sound 67 dB(A) Readings at 10 ft (3 m) half load
- Meets National Park Service sound level requirements (60 dB(A) @ 50 ft) for national park use.
- Typical installation will further reduce sound level.
 
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