Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 01-01-2007, 12:51 PM   #1
Winnebago Owner
 
peter griffin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 233
I have 3 new batteries (interstate) and an onan ec 30 automatic generator starter. When I run the propane heater with a full battery charge My ec30 will start the generator normally three times during the night? Is this normal?

For those who dont have an ec30 can you run the propane heater all night without starting the generator? Even on cold nights?
My last RV would not go all night and I woul wake up to a beeping noise or freeze.

thanks for any input
__________________
Peter Griffin
2011 JAYCO 24 Z TOY HAULER -
2011 F250 Crew gas
peter griffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2007, 12:51 PM   #2
Winnebago Owner
 
peter griffin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 233
I have 3 new batteries (interstate) and an onan ec 30 automatic generator starter. When I run the propane heater with a full battery charge My ec30 will start the generator normally three times during the night? Is this normal?

For those who dont have an ec30 can you run the propane heater all night without starting the generator? Even on cold nights?
My last RV would not go all night and I woul wake up to a beeping noise or freeze.

thanks for any input
__________________
Peter Griffin
2011 JAYCO 24 Z TOY HAULER -
2011 F250 Crew gas
peter griffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2007, 01:31 PM   #3
Winnebago Master
 
AFChap's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: ...hopefully on the road!
Posts: 1,653
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">can you run the propane heater all night without starting the generator? Even on cold nights? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, I can run my LP furnaces all night (they don't actually run all night of course) without running the generator as long as we do NOT have the inverter turned on. We have done this several times at rallies where we had no power hookups and were under restricted generator use hours.

How long does your generator run each time it starts automatically? ...is it supposedly fully charging the batteries each time? Whether or not it is normal depends on what all you are running that is using battery power.
__________________
Paul (KE5LXU) ...was fulltimin', now parttimin'
'03 Winnebago UA 40e TRADED OFF JUL 2023 / '17 Jeep Grand Cherokee toad
AFChap is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2007, 01:45 PM   #4
Winnebago Owner
 
peter griffin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 233
maybe I should try it after a full charge and using no tv at all...my ec 30 is showing it is charging full after the first run but I know it is really not because the generator should take 5 or more hours to charge the batteries ... Plus the ec 30 would not have to come on 3 times...I would think....I am looking into changing the run and setting time on the ec 30.
__________________
Peter Griffin
2011 JAYCO 24 Z TOY HAULER -
2011 F250 Crew gas
peter griffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2007, 02:39 PM   #5
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 49
My guess is that you have something else pulling the battery down besides the furnace such as an inverter, l2 volt fridge, lights etc.

The EC30 is programmable but I would be careful in letting the batteries get too low before the generator starts.

The EC30 also will start the generator with a signal from the thermostat calling for electric heat--check to see if you have the thermostat switch on electric or gas--- if it is on electric and it is too cold for the heat pump or you are not plugged in to AC it will run the propane furnace and the EC30 will start the generator as it it got a signal from the thermostat to start the heat pump.
__________________
2004 Ultimate Advantage
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
rnabors is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2007, 04:44 PM   #6
Winnie-Wise
 
Harry B's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 358
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">For those who dont have an ec30 can you run the propane heater all night without starting the generator? Even on cold nights?
My last RV would not go all night and I woul wake up to a beeping noise or freeze. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Peter, I have the ec30 like you and had simular problems with the Gen. coming on to soon. I lowered the voltage setting upon which the gen starts. The volages that are set by default are no-load settings. However with a load you can go lower without draining the batteries down to far. If I recall I have mine set on 11.2 volts. I have checked battery recovery afterwards and with no load the batteries recoevered to more that 50% capacity
__________________
Harry
2015 Tuscany 40 KQ
2013 Honda CR-V
Harry B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2007, 05:47 PM   #7
Winnebago Owner
 
peter griffin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 233
You mean the start at voltage should be 11.2 what is your stop at voltage? Did you install it or factory?

It also seems that they are not fully charged either.

I will try the 11.2 Also, can you do me a favor and tell me if your back light goes out on your ec 30. Mine doesnt and I think I have a bad one. Speaking with onan now about this. I dont hink the backlight is connected to my issue.

thanks for your help
__________________
Peter Griffin
2011 JAYCO 24 Z TOY HAULER -
2011 F250 Crew gas
peter griffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-02-2007, 05:00 AM   #8
Winnie-Wise
 
vicsryd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Vancouver, Washington
Posts: 383
Send a message via Yahoo to vicsryd
Doesn't the EC30 have a "quiet hours" setting?
__________________
Vicki & Jon Pritchard
05 Journey 34H - CAT C7 - Toyota RAV4
3 doxies, 1 chihuahua - WIT, Escapees, FMCA

vicsryd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-02-2007, 05:16 AM   #9
Winnie-Wise
 
Harry B's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 358
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">You mean the start at voltage should be 11.2 what is your stop at voltage? Did you install it or factory?

It also seems that they are not fully charged either.

I will try the 11.2 Also, can you do me a favor and tell me if your back light goes out on your ec 30. Mine doesnt and I think I have a bad one. Speaking with onan now about this. I dont hink the backlight is connected to my issue.

thanks for your help </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Peter, You are right, I meant the start voltage. That is what happends when I answer emails late at night.

As far as the backlight on the LCD display goes, yes there is a timeout on it which turns it off. It comes back on when operating one of the buttons.

I installed it my self. I have not figured out yet how to hook the thermostat into it. There are no volatages present at the thermostat to trigger the EC30 when you remove the shore power. I need to call Coleman yet to figure that out.

The generator only operates about two hours, before the EC30 shuts it down again. That is only enough time to charge the batteries to about 80%. But it beats constantly watching the batteries when dry camping. I like the EC30 and only took me about 3 hours to install.
__________________
Harry
2015 Tuscany 40 KQ
2013 Honda CR-V
Harry B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-02-2007, 05:38 AM   #10
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 49
Harry,
You will need to get a new thermostat from RVP. On the new ones they have added a wire for an Auto Gen Start connection.
It is great---the EC30 will start the generator on low battery voltage, air conditioner demand from the thermostat, or heat pump demand from the thermostat.
__________________
2004 Ultimate Advantage
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
rnabors is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-02-2007, 05:55 AM   #11
Winnie-Wise
 
Harry B's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 358
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">You will need to get a new thermostat from RVP. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the tip. I will look into doing that. That will complete the EC30 hookup.
__________________
Harry
2015 Tuscany 40 KQ
2013 Honda CR-V
Harry B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-02-2007, 12:18 PM   #12
Winnebago Owner
 
peter griffin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 233
rnabors....what wire was that on the thermostat....was it marked or do you have a color?

thanks
__________________
Peter Griffin
2011 JAYCO 24 Z TOY HAULER -
2011 F250 Crew gas
peter griffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2007, 08:39 PM   #13
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Central FL
Posts: 166
Got through a full night with OAT around 40 and fully charged batteries. Failed the second night after about 4 hours because I did not fully chargwe the batts, (1 hour gen charge only). I found it intersting that the batteries appeared to automatically disconnect from ALL coach items at some threshhold of low voltage. Started Gen with chassis battery and used shore power the 3rd evening.

So where do I get one of those "ec30" autostart gizmos?

2006 Itasca Suncruiser 38T
Honda CR-V via Blue-Ox
__________________
2012 Phaeton 40 QBH, 2011 Ford Explorer & 2013 Jeep Wrangler Toads via BlueOx, TPMS by TTS, Delta Force toad brake system.
Paul T is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2007, 09:13 PM   #14
Winnie-Wise
 
Harry B's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 358
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">So where do I get one of those "ec30" autostart gizmos? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Paul,

You can order it directly from the Cummins Corporation. Don't bother with the local Cummins dealer, they are usually not familar with the units. The price when I bought it was $200 plus the cable, which in my case was the short 18" cable which was I believe $20.
__________________
Harry
2015 Tuscany 40 KQ
2013 Honda CR-V
Harry B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2007, 04:52 AM   #15
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 49
Peter
If I remember right the wire on the new thermostat that you connect the EC30 to is green.
__________________
2004 Ultimate Advantage
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD
rnabors is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2007, 07:37 AM   #16
Winnebago Owner
 
peter griffin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 233
Paul a must have piece of equipment you can contact me and I'll talk with you to assist in anyway with the install.

when you order the ec 30 make sure you get the cord 18" (pin connector with whip of wires a must have piece) a separate part. Onan is the only place I could fing it. Call them and you'll get transferred like three times but you'll finanlly get to somone who can order it.

rnabors where did you get the info on that green wire? THe manual or onan or IRV2? On my thermostat had to jump a wire and then tie in differently....my manual was not correct.

MY ec30 went back to onan last week...the backlight would not go off.. waiting to try the 11.2 volts

Also ...Onan says if you dont run the house battery indicator voltage wire all the way to the batttery on a seperate feed it will not read the batterys correctly. wire #8
They say it might cause unecessary and frequesnt starts. They also want wire # 7 all the way to the battery on a seperate feed.


Hope this helps
__________________
Peter Griffin
2011 JAYCO 24 Z TOY HAULER -
2011 F250 Crew gas
peter griffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2007, 08:32 AM   #17
Winnie-Wise
 
Harry B's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 358
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Also ...Onan says if you dont run the house battery indicator voltage wire all the way to the batttery on a seperate feed it will not read the batterys correctly. wire #8
They say it might cause unecessary and frequesnt starts. They also want wire # 7 all the way to the battery on a seperate feed. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was going to hhok it up as stated above but deu to lack of time teporarily hooked it to the sensor wires for the battery volatge on the All in One control panel. I am leaving it this way as it seems to work just fine.

What I will yet be doing is running an additional wire to the generator so I can read failure codes in Enlish off the the EC30 panel and as mentioned change out the thermostat to connect the automatic start when heat or A/C is called for and no shore power is present.
__________________
Harry
2015 Tuscany 40 KQ
2013 Honda CR-V
Harry B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2007, 08:56 AM   #18
Winnebago Owner
 
peter griffin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 233
what wires are you connecting the ec 30 to inorder to get those english codes? nice idea!

also what type of thermostat do you have?
digital? make?

I agree with you about running those wires..
__________________
Peter Griffin
2011 JAYCO 24 Z TOY HAULER -
2011 F250 Crew gas
peter griffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2007, 08:58 AM   #19
Winnie-Wise
 
Harry B's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 358
First, sorry for the bad spelling (should have checked it)

When I said order it directly from Cummins I meant the Onan Corporation.

As far as running the sensing wires for the 12 volts batteries directly to the battery, the reasoning is that if you connect it somewhere in the 12 volt wiring other than at the battery, you could be measuring a lower voltage than what is actually present at the battery due to resistance developed in the wiring and at connector connections while under load.

In case of my Horizon, I measured with a Fluke digital meter the voltages at the All in One meter and at the battery at the same time, while having considerable and several different 12V loads present. The voltages were exactly the same, meaning there was no resistance causing voltage drops to the All in One voltage meter. I can only deduct from this that the voltage metering for the All in One meter must be pretty direct. This is why I decided to hook it up temporarily that way.

Now having used it for several months hooked up this way I found that it works just fine (No false or early starts), so I am leaving it connected as such.

Running these direct connection to the batteries would have been the greatest amount of work for the entire installation

Anyway hope this helps for future installs by others.
__________________
Harry
2015 Tuscany 40 KQ
2013 Honda CR-V
Harry B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2007, 01:33 PM   #20
Winnie-Wise
 
Harry B's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 358
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">what wires are you connecting the ec 30 to inorder to get those english codes? nice idea!

also what type of thermostat do you have?
digital? make? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I currently have the electronic thermostat that works the A/C, heat pump and gas furnace. It needs to be changed to a newer model that provides a signal for the EC30 to trigger on. My current model does not provide this. I initially thought it did, but when I dropped shore power, none of the connections to the thermostat had power on it anymore, so I couldn't hook it up.

Wire #6 on the 18" harness coming out of the EC30 needs to be connected to pin B at the connector on the generator. I believe it s an 8 pin plug.
Alternatively you can also connect it to the Generator on/off switch mounted on the dash, to the hot wire that flashes the light build into the switch. The EC30 interprets the flashes and puts out the error code in English on the EC30 panel.
__________________
Harry
2015 Tuscany 40 KQ
2013 Honda CR-V
Harry B is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Auto switch - Heat Pump to Propane Furnace not happening dboliek General Maintenance and Repair 12 01-02-2013 06:22 PM
Dometic Refrigerator not Running on Propane corvettec3 Heating, Cooling and Appliances 12 03-18-2012 08:16 AM
Diesel engine starter batteries Lake Electrical | Charging, Solar and Electronics 10 11-17-2008 01:49 PM
Suggested replacement for 35A starter (not coach) battery. ARNE-T Electrical | Charging, Solar and Electronics 9 06-02-2007 10:56 AM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Winnebago Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:57 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.