Onan Ensign issues

Discussion in 'General Maintenance/Repair Questions' started by Overvolted, May 26, 2023.

  1. Overvolted

    Overvolted Member

    84
    Feb 28, 2023
    1987 Sea Ray 268. Covered slip
    7.4 Mercruiser
    No power at the marina last night so fired up the generator. Power came up to 110v on the gague. Under light load it puts out 110v however with a/c on it drops down to about 99v. I shut the a/c off and power went to 110v.

    I noticed a few things: generator surges slightly. Under heavy load the engine does not pick up a lot of rpm, only slightly increases. I plugged in a set of string lights and noticed that they were flickering.

    I think Onan built this generator for my boat and maybe a couple of others and said the hell with it as I cannot find f@#$ all information on it. I was able to locate an operator manual and it is of little help. Can anyone tell me if this generator has an adjustable voltage regulator? Any other things I can look at? Its not a weekend killer but it will suck to have to leave the beach every evening and head back to marina to plug in as power will be restored today at the marina.
     
  2. hottoddie

    hottoddie Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2012
    Boston/Cape Cod
    1986 Sea Ray 390 EC
    Garmin 4212 Chartplotter
    Garmin 24 HD Radar
    Garmin 546s Plotter
    454 Crusaders
    Most likely it has a mechanical governor that can be adjusted by tightening a tension spring. As rpm increased so will voltage. Mechanical governors usually need a certain of oil inside to function properly as well.
     
  3. Overvolted

    Overvolted Member

    84
    Feb 28, 2023
    1987 Sea Ray 268. Covered slip
    7.4 Mercruiser
    Thank you, we will try and adjust Governor. I fired up generator this morning and had 115v no load, full load was 108v at 58hz so probably don't need much adjustment. This gen set has not been ran in a while hoping it gets better as it is ran this weekend.
     
  4. Overvolted

    Overvolted Member

    84
    Feb 28, 2023
    1987 Sea Ray 268. Covered slip
    7.4 Mercruiser
    Adjusted governor. I now have 111v at full load. Thank you and have a great Memorial Day weekend.!
     
    hottoddie likes this.

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