Rigmaster APU wont generate electricity
- Thread starter bigrigr
- Start date
Flappy
New Member
Skateboard do you know of any good generator heads that I can replace my Rigmaster unit with everything else works fine except the generator head. I noticed one made by a company called McMillan that claims to be a drop in replacement for the Rigmaster OEM. A friend of mine has modified his Rigmaster to provide water thru his trucks engine kinda cool. Thanks Flappy
The bearings went out on my RM generator at about 2K hrs, I had them replaced at a local electric motor shop but still cost over $300, a friend ordered a gen from McMillan but it was somewhat diffrent, I think it would have worked if someone knew wiring, We didn't! Also Sktbrd, I checked my RM's air cleaner and indeed the top was loose and I wrapped it with duct tape and quietened it down considerably!!
I spent hours looking at the wiring diagram until I realized they really went out of their way to make it totally confusing. When I figured it out it was simple when I got rid of those Mickey Mouse breakers and put a real breaker box on top. The generator is actually two separate generators in one core. That's why it runs at 3,600 rpm's instead of 1,800 like others. It is possible for one side to go out and the other still work.
I can check but not sure if this price is just for me but I pay $665 for the generator including shipping. I don't know anything about the McMillan but if I had the wiring diagram I could give it a look.
I can check but not sure if this price is just for me but I pay $665 for the generator including shipping. I don't know anything about the McMillan but if I had the wiring diagram I could give it a look.
Tim
U.S.Constitution
BINGO!
IMO I believe this is one of the biggest down falls of ANY brand APU that use breakers and the fact that the breakers are placed within the APU box that has the most extreme conditions just from cold to heat, rain water to salt water.
Glad you said that because. Most people dont know that.
@SkateBoard, My generator has quit working and the weather has been too bad to check the breakers but I have no power from the engine heater cord or the cab cord, thinking it might be the capacitor but I was in New Braunfels on Monday and didn't have time for Big Rig to check it but one of their mechanics told me that the reason we had loose caps on our air cleaners is that our filters are probably not RM but aftermarket and they are slightly shorter than RM, so I am going to put a small gasket under my filter and see if it quietens it down. Let you know!!
The air filters are RM on mine and it still makes noise unless I tape it or make a gasket so the cover fits on tighter. You need to put a volt meter on the cab cord and see if there is 3 or 5 volts coming out. If you do get a reading chances are a new capacitor will fix it.
Also, you should not be plugging in your block heater. It's a big drain on you generator when the element gets old. If your batteries are low and the RM alternator is charging along with the block heater and other stuff it can take it's toll on the generator head.
If you have a smart phone you can download a sound meter app to see the effect of the air cleaner cover. Keep in mind, the sound meter is NOT a linear scale just like the earth quake scale. 100 is not twice 50.
Also, you should not be plugging in your block heater. It's a big drain on you generator when the element gets old. If your batteries are low and the RM alternator is charging along with the block heater and other stuff it can take it's toll on the generator head.
If you have a smart phone you can download a sound meter app to see the effect of the air cleaner cover. Keep in mind, the sound meter is NOT a linear scale just like the earth quake scale. 100 is not twice 50.
SkateBoard, I finally got to look at my RM, problem was belt tensioner pulley had broken, belt was off, FOI, the pulley is a Gates item and can be obtained locally, kind of a PIA to install but finally got it done and making electricity, also put gasket under the air filter, didn't help much, went back and used duct-tape. Herb..
Thought I might add: the part # for the idler pulley on the belt tensioner is : Gates #38001, this is also the # for the other pulley on the belt, they are common pulleys, most parts houses stock them. Herb..
Thanks, I was able to fix my unit because of this post and wanted to share what I learned. The serpentine belt tensioner is identical to the unit from an 01 Chevy impala 3.4 engine. Dayco #89203. I figured that out by taking the pulley # and looking up applications that it fit. After an hour or so, I found a pic that looked just like it. Installed it yesterday and it works perfectly
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