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john hd · 03-17-2003, 01:41 PM

hi all,

anyone ever seen a onan generator like this? it has a control panel in the living room.

the name plate sez: 0.3 TL-212R

it is 12volt 20A 300watt

kinda looks like a lawn mower engine, electric start with a pull handle on the top.

it is a single cyl. horizontal engine. propane powered.

it is factory installed in a '74 excella 500.

any info or experiance with this type of unit would be appreciated!

john

Chas · 03-17-2003, 02:08 PM

I've never seen one in person but they are shown as being an option in my 74's owner's manual. They called them battery chargers. Looks like the one in your pic has seen better days. They were probably a high maintenance item, you can do pretty much the same thing today with solar power.

Chas

john hd · 03-17-2003, 02:59 PM

chas

it does turn over, and the electric start works too!

even though solar would be nice, thats not the point!

should be interesting to see if it can be made to run. what the heck, if nothing else the cool factor is way up there!

john

Chas · 03-17-2003, 03:10 PM

John,

Who's A/S is it on?

Chas

john hd · 03-17-2003, 03:15 PM

chas

it is on a friend's trailer, just brought it back from iowa this past weekend.

since i took the photo's i put them up fer all of you to see!

john

BobbyW · 03-17-2003, 04:15 PM

Neighbor down the street has an Excella 500 with an Onan in it. I have not seen it but MarilynW has. He gave her the $.05 tour, opened the panel and showed her the Onan. She says it looked to be in good shape.

-BobbyW

Pick · 03-17-2003, 06:27 PM

I would be interested to hear how quiet it is. I would think it would be fairly quiet, considering it is in a housing. Really should not be to hard to get running, as long as you got propane, and spark, it should fly.

Inland RV Center, In · 03-18-2003, 08:45 AM

John.

That 12 volt generator was an option in 1973, on the larger models.

When it worked, it was great. Problem with it was altitude. If you adjusted it for sea level and went to 2000 feet, it would not start. If you readjusted it to the 2000 foot elevation, it would run OK.

When you returned to sea level, it again would not start, until you once again readjusted it.

That seemed to be an inherent problem. Therefore Airstream stopped installing it.

For those that may still have that generator, it appears that repair parts are long gone.

Was a great idea for those that liked to be self contained. It was quiet, efficient, and did a good job. Unfortunately, you had to be a generator mechanic to keep it adjusted correctly, at different elevations.

Andy
inlandrv.com
airstreamparts.com
airstreamcandy.com

Silvertwinkie · 03-18-2003, 12:48 PM

What a dinosaur. I am comparing this to the Honda I just recently discovered on this forum. Amazing what about 30 years does.

30 years from now, maybe solar will be far more potent as well.

Eric

BobbyW · 03-19-2003, 05:13 AM

Neighbors Onan Generator on his 1974 Excella 500. MariilynW went and took some pictures of it. She said he has fired it up and then did so for her to show her how quiet it was. She said you cannot even hear it inside. Only a slight vibration when you are close to it.

-BobbyW

john hd · 03-19-2003, 06:01 PM

that's cool bobby, thanks for the pic! now at least we know there are at least two still in existance!

my friends manuals are on order, when they arrive perhaps we will get a better understanding of the unit.

the timer in the living room has a max run time of something like 4 hours. i wonder if that is all that is needed to recharge a flat battery. or was it designed to be used under high load conditions, like running the furnace overnight to augment the battery.

john

74Argosy24MH · 03-19-2003, 06:12 PM

Quote:

the timer in the living room has a max run time of something like 4 hour

Maybe to conserve propane for the frig and furnace.

John

john hd · 03-20-2003, 05:21 PM

good point john!

john

Silvertwinkie · 03-20-2003, 06:13 PM

Anyone worried about CO entering the cabin at all. I am sure new it was pretty well sealed, but as age sets in, are you all sure that it's still pretty sealed off from letting that nasty stuff back into the trailer?

Eric

john hd · 03-20-2003, 07:33 PM

eric

that will be number one on the list before it is ever put in regular use!

john

Silvertwinkie · 03-20-2003, 07:56 PM

Cool. You have a CO detector in the camper?

Eric

john hd · 03-21-2003, 12:03 AM

but there will be!

a propane detector will be added also.

john

Dave-O · 03-21-2003, 06:55 AM

Propane detector?

Is that another name for your nose?

Seriously the odorant that is added is noticable at a few parts per million and as I understand, it is only explosive when the propane makes up between 4-14% of the air, well above the smelling threshold.

I am sure I am missing something here

Silvertwinkie · 03-21-2003, 07:19 AM

Well, I think it's really for when you are sleeping. Kind of like a smoke alarm. In most cases if you're up and about, you will most likely see the problem and be able to act upon it. Not the case when you are getting some shuteye.

When you are sleeping however, the smoke detector does not cover LP gas leaks and the CO does not show it either since it's not CO at that point, so to me it's cheap life insurance.

Add the fact that unlike your home, this rig moves and bounces around making the possibility of something coming loose, like a LP gas line possible, not probable, but possible.......

4-14% is a wide range too for such a small confined space. If I were sound asleep, I could see hitting that 4% pretty quickly since my sniffer is also turned off mostly when I sleep.

Just a thought, I could be wrong. But if so, I'm wrong and alive with a smoke alarm, CO detector and LP gas alarm that really didn't cost me much at all. They have never gone off, but it's nice to know that if they did and I was asleep, I would surely wake up pretty quick since they are some of the most obnoxious sounding things I have ever heard!

Eric