Generators and low voltage - Again!

[chessie4905]

Suddenly, everyone is down on Powertech? They have been the darling for past several years, from the many posts here.

[luvrbus]

Suddenly, everyone is down on Powertech? They have been the darling for past several years, from the many posts here.

Growing pains,off shore parts and quality control some models of Powertech have always been a problem,the CC manual it tells you to replace the bearing in the head @2000 hrs on the Powertech that never happens then the owners piss and moan about buying a new head I personally don't care for Powertech but they are not really bad for the price,CC used the PowerTech for a few years then dropped the PowerTech I think it was mostly due to no service network,one good point about Onan any Cummins dealer will repair it if you have deep pockets   

[DoubleEagle]

I have four generators at the moment, a Martin with a Perkins, a Kohler with a Yanmar, a Wrico with a Kubota, and a PowerTech with a Kubota. The Powertech has the most hours, by far, 19,849, and is still working fine. If I wanted to splurge on a new one, I would choose a Martin with a Yanmar, or Kubota (if they offered it). Martin is an Ohio company, so that makes the most sense for me, but the key thing is that Yanmar and Kubota engines are the best available for bus sized units. The generator heads don't seem to last as long as the engines, from what I have seen, and the proliferation of Chinese generators may have lowered the overall quality. But strangely, the Powertech I have with 19,849 hours, has a Chinese made head. 

[luvrbus]

Martin and EPS are the most desired generators for the entertainers buses when they are 20kw and larger,those little CAT engines like Brian's will run forever I seen those on marine generators in boats with over 25,000 hours working everyday     

[lostagain]

You need 2 generators. lol. I have seen it on some entertainers coaches: 2 20kw. So they have a spare, and have one running while you change the oil on the other one.

[DoubleEagle]

That's the case with my Model 15 Eagle. It goes beyond oil change flexibility though, they had appliances and three roof A/C's on one, and four CruiseAirs on the other. The previous owners had up to 24 people on board, and they really wanted to be cool when they toured the west. One larger generator could have handled it, but I think they wanted redundancy to insure that they always had something.

[Fred Mc]

"one good point about Onan any Cummins dealer will repair it if you have deep pockets  "
Yea, and usually its by suggesting you buy a new one.

[luvrbus]

"one good point about Onan any Cummins dealer will repair it if you have deep pockets  "
Yea, and usually its by suggesting you buy a new one.

Yep sometimes that cheapest way out on any generator with major repairs,I had my 3800w rebuilt cost me  a tad over 3 grand and a new generator was only $3200,never had any problems with Cummins repairing a generator,my propane generator wasn't venting and would not start Cummins in Boise worked on it for a about a hour and never charged me one penny he just ask me to buy a new air filter 

[belfert]

So...your Powertech has done this since new? How many hours? Does the head use brushes?

Not sure if it has done this since new.  I only had two air conditioners at the start instead of three now.  Five years of this off and on now.

1,800 hours.  Yes, it has brushes that were last checked in 2014.  I could check the brushes again.  I keep a spare set of brushes.

[belfert]

Take it to CAT dealer they can tell you in a few minutes if the engine is producing enough hp for the generator head you can spend lots of money and still be looking for answers didn't we go through this a couple of years ago ?

Thanks for the suggestion.  I got an appointment at the local CAT dealer for Monday morning.

[neoneddy]

I am about 75% certain I am going to get a Wrico generator next spring and junk the Powertech.  I talked to someone at Wrico and they assured me their voltage wouldn't drop like the Powertech.

Hey, I'd be interested in it. I don't use more more than 30 amp usually. Looking to go diesel.  You stopped out a few years ago when I just got my coach.

[belfert]

This generator is a hunk of crap.  My low voltage issues are so bad now I can't even run more than one rooftop A/C unit.  This thing is probably going to the nearest scrap yard.  I seriously want to beat it with a sledgehammer.

I think I want to go with Wrico for a replacement.  Wrico seems to understand the conversion market plus they use relays and not an ECU.  They advertise here like the others.

[usbusin]

How was your appointment at the Cat dealer on Monday?  What did they have to say?

[belfert]

How was your appointment at the Cat dealer on Monday?  What did they have to say?

I had to cancel appointment.

[chessie4905]

Are rebuilt or replacement ecu's still available?