RV generators have either rope or electric starting systems.
The rope is the old standby and is a carry over from lawn mower engines. Most modern rope systems incorporate a spring loaded compression release mechanism in the engine to ease starting of the larger engines and to help keep from breaking your arm if they kick back. The only thing you can do to a rope system is to possibly carry an extra rope and enough tools to change it out. A broken rope can ruin an otherwise good boondocking trip. Please don’t use plastic coated braided wire as a replacement. If the engine kicks back, it will twist/rip the entire front sheet metal housing off the engine. Don’t ask me how I know.
Electric starters come in two basic configurations.
1. The starter motor is integral with the generator. This involves a lot of brushes and fairly complicated rotor and stator windings. ONAN and Kohler quit using the system in the early eighties. They were heavy, cumbersome and expensive to repair as one burned wire could cause a $$$$ rotor rewind.
2. Separate starter motors have come to be the norm in modern RV engines and the only variation is where they are located on the engine and how they are connected to mechanically crank the engines. All use an electrical switch called a contactor or solenoid to connect the battery to the starter motor. They usually give you a key or a fancy control board to operate the solenoid. Earlier starter motors had both stator and armature windings and were expensive to repair. Modern starter motors have ferrite magnet castings glued to the case and the only windings are on the rotating armature which also has a commutator and a set of brushes to induce rotation. There are a couple of different ways that the starters can transmit motion to an engine. The expensive ones have a solenoid shift starter. This means that a solenoid moves the starter gear into mesh with the flywheel teeth and then the motor energizes. More expensive but more positive in its operation (also more parts to go wrong). Other starters get the motor running first and the resultant twisting effort throws the starter gear into the flywheel gear. It’s cheaper but the starter gears are usually nylon reinforced plastic and have a nylon spiral element that aids in engagement of the gears. They probably won’t last as long but, with moderate care, they will last the life of the engine. If they start to wear out, the gears will most likely jamb against the flywheel gear teeth and lock up the whole thing. Most times you can gently rock the flywheel back and forth and get it to work – one more time.
The key to longevity is NOT reenergizing the starter while the engine is running or NOT energizing the starter until the engine comes to a complete halt. To keep us safe from ourselves, most manufacturers incorporate these two features into their control boards (and I thought they wanted to sell starters). A second key to longevity is not operating a starter with low battery voltage. The first starter type would whistle first and then, if you didn’t get off the start switch, would burn our one or more wires in the $$$$ rotor. The modern starter motors just crank slower and, if you didn’t get the battery fixed, the motor would heat up and then break a magnet, burn out one or more wires or eat up a set of brushes.
I should be able to write more blogs. With the price of diesel fuel going out of sight, the 38 ft fiver and the dually diesel aren’t going to get as much usage this year unless it’s in the driveway. Happy camping y’all.
Jim Latour