Live Truck Generators

I'm not the chief. But I have been asked to do some research.

We're looking to replace our aging Onan 6500 GenSet with a Honda EV6010.
The specs look pretty similar. I know the Honda puts out a little less wattage, but it should still have plenty of juice for our needs. According to the specs, it should fit in the existing compartment, too.

My only concern is that most of the live trucks that I've worked with have had Onan generators. Is there a reason?

If anyone has any experience with Honda generators in live trucks, I'd love to hear from you.

Eric
 
Honda replacements

We replaced 2 Onan generators with Hondas 3 months ago, but I'm not sure of the model number. They work great and can be serviced by any Honda mechanic. Onan has been the only game in town for years because of their size and the amount of power they put out. I think Honda just recently came out with a model this size and the right amount of juice that fit in a vehicle.

They are noisy however. Take extra precautions to mount them correctly and add sound deadening.

Drew
 

Silverado61

Active member
Go with the Honda, they are a little noisier but they always work. We have a honda in our oldest live truck...a 1991 Chevy and it is still the original, and it has pretty much always started. They work great in cold weather too. We have an Onan in our three of our trucks and they have been in the shop more than the Honda.The other thing is they are easy to work on, well they are for our engineer at least.

Good luck/
 
Thanks for the information.
I think we can live with the noise if it means a more reliable generator. I know we have had some trouble finding places that will service the Onans, so the fact that any Honda shop can work on them is a big plus.
Thanks again for the replys.

Eric
 

JimmyS.

Well-known member
Onans... Ugh...

At my old station, all three trucks had Onan. A week wouldn't go by that one of them was in the shop. Me, the Assistant Chief, and the Operations Manager checked the oil and rest of the components every single day. We got so many excuses from the Onan folks and our own engineers as to why the gennys weren't consistent. AND! We were taking them to an Onan dealership and begging our engineers to step up and help. Part of the problem truly had to do with the previous Ops Manager, he was an idiot. He made a lot of poor decisions without consulting many people, especially me. But, after he was FINALLY let go and I made the decision to take the trucks to the Onan dealership, we expected a fix and never got one. We were all frustrated beyond belief. The ND constantly blamed us three for the problems. We had a long meeting with him trying to explain that we AREN"T FREAKIN ENGINEERS or GENERATOR REPAIRMEN!!! We are photographers... He wouldn't hear it.

Sorry for the rant... But, in my experience with Onan, not a good one. It might have been the 'station's' own fault, but I'd never suggest Onan just because of the problems we had. By the way, find an engineer who cares. That would help. Remember, you are a photographer first, if you don't have specialized training with gennys, installation and such, get an engineer to back you up. IF you can find one.

Good luck.
 

jumpkutz

Well-known member
I may be too late to this party, but I'll throw my two cents worth in anyway.
Hondas are too noisy, period. I don't know enought about O'Nan reliability one way or the other, but Hondas are too noisy. The best live truck generator I've ever used was a Kohler. Don't know if they're still around or not, but Hondas are too noisy.
 

Dble(Punched)Vision

Active member
We went all honda a few years back and our generators stopped dying in the middle of live-shots. The Honda's are noisy but we redesigned the compartment door to reduce the noise that escaped. We also changed our field mics to a more directional pick-up pattern---our live shots make air, sound great, and no one complains anymore. Okay, the last part is a joke. The complaints are still loud and many but at least the focus has changed.

One draw back: the hondas do not sip oil they GULP oil. The "new" and enforced policy is check the oil before and after you take the truck out of the lot. Believe it or not, no one followed through with checking the oil before we started to crack down.

We are now moving towards removing generators from the trucks in favor of batteries. The field testing continues but the mandate was to "go green," so green we will go.
 
Thanks again for the help. We decided against the Hondas. I'm not sure why. We now have a shiny new Cummins stuffed into the back of Live 1. I know they had to make some mods to the compartment to get it to fit. It's reasonably quiet. And so far has been dependable.

Dble(Punched)Vision:
Good luck with the battery tests. I had some experience with battery/inverter systems a few years ago. Our inverter was an RV type unit. It was never a reliable system. Just curious about what type of batteries you are testing. Will you actually be able to power all that gear for a couple of hours?
 

satpimp

Well-known member
Honda vs Onan

The Honda is a more reliable platform... period.

We had to replace ALL our Onan's with Hondas.

The Hondas are louder and a faster RPM at load. The wattage output is less but not enough to be a problem in an ENG van. We have a unique problem here in South Florida, our generators ALWAYS run in the heat with full load b/c of HVAC and lights.

The maintenance on the Hondas is much better than the Onan. Our frequent replacement items have been fan motors. Easy to replace but keep several on hand for the fleet. After several thousand hours we have one suspect but serviceable fuel pump and extras for a quick change.

The Onan's COULD NOT HANG.

Kohler is the best option but they are diesel beasts and our trucks are gas to save space and weight. I know of no other maker of small enough gas generators to fit the bill even in marine apllications. I would love to see diesel based vans with the Kohler Yanmar 11kw option but the upfront cost makes it unlikely.

The biggest issue is that Honda is about to, or is considering, discontinuation of the 6010 because of emissions standards about to hit next year. That leaves Onan as the default winner for many including truck builder/integrators that are offering Onan as THE choice on new builds. We are consdering a bulk purchase of Honda 6010 gas generators so we can avoid a repeat of the headaches that followed Onan's redesign of their 6.5-7.5Kw gas gensets. We would prefer to do our own generator install than go back to Onan but we may have no choice.
 
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