Generator not cranking

[GWHayduke]

Generator used to work. However, now I'm not getting any voltage to the solenoid or anywhere in the generator compartment. Is there a fuse or breaker somewhere that I'm missing? I don't see anything in the schematics.

Getting 12+ at the Short Stop breaker in the engine compartment. All house lights, etc. working.

1990 Chinook, Ford E350, 460. Generac NP5500 generator.

[GWHayduke]

I just checked the shortstop breaker underneath the stove, and it is good. There is a red wire coming off of it that I don’t know where it terminates. There are no red wires on the generator coming from the battery.

[GWHayduke]

Finally traced it down. White wire from vehicle battery disconnected. The generator wires into the E350 battery, not the house battery. I kept looking for a large gauge (10 or 8) wire that was disconnected from the house battery, but Chinook wired it into the vehicle battery. Learn something every day on this beast.

[chin_k]

Glad that you found the issue. I was reluctant to comment, since mine is a 2000, and they change how the genset is wired between the 90's and the shortly after 2000. I do not even know which way mine is wired... I can not even find the shortstop breaker for the genset in mine. A few folks send me their pictures, but I was not able to find anything in the engine area. I will check underneath the stove and see if we have the same setup. Where under the stove is your breaker?

[GWHayduke]

The short stop under the stove is battery to house red positive wire. Right under the stove, behind a expanded mesh door (for ventilation) are the inverter/converter and another plastic cover with 3 square head screws (Chinook seems to love square head screws). Remove that cover and the short stop is behind it. I removed my stove/oven to get to it more easily. 6 screws and disconnect your gas line to remove the oven (4 on top and 2 on the sides...access them by opening the oven door). This circuit breaker/shortstop appears to be the second in the circuit from aux battery to the house fuse panel (first is on the firewall).

The generator circuit breaker appears to be attached to the firewall of the engine and it's the round Texas Instruments Klixon type. There is a second one in the generator compartment, although on mine it appears that someone (previous 2 owners) has attached both wires to the same post...bypassing the breaker.

All of this is part of my campaign to correct the wiring on the beast. Previous owner(s) replaced factory wires with all black wires. Wierd wired.

If I can figure out how to post pics on the forum, I'll post them later.

[chin_k]

Thank you for the info. I think mine is different from yours, since it does not have an inverter. There is nothing under the stove that I can find that match your description.... some model have the oven there, but mine is just empty shelf for storage.

The Robertson (square) screws are popular in Canada. I guess Trail Wagon is close enough to Canada. The Robertson is more superior than Philips, and often used in quality wood working projects.

Regarding attachment, it is not that obvious, but if you click on the "Attachments" tab right next to the "Option" under the reply box, you should see the "Add files" button to upload up to 3 photos at one time.

[GWHayduke]

Thanks for the reply...generator works great, air conditioner works great. Onward to other issues. Attached are the pics of the door under the stove/oven, the plastic housing that contains a ShortStop and the Texas Instruments Klixon automatic circuit breaker under the hood with white positive wires that feed the generator. Thanks for the assistance!

[chin_k]

Glad that you got the picture to work. Did you check the LP, CO and fire alarm? You may need to replace them if they had expired.