The National RV Training Academy (NRVTA) has hired Chris Wilson as an instructor specializing in RV generators.
“The market for generator repair is hot because demand for those services is especially high in almost every region of America. People do not really give their generators much thought until they need to use them. That is a bad time to realize a generator does not work,” Wilson said. “In the RV industry, most service technicians are not skilled at diagnosing and repairing generators. Many dealerships do not have anyone on staff qualified to work on those units, so they outsource repairs to mobile technicians or direct owners to the factory for service.”
Three times every seven weeks, Wilson leads 20 students through a live class, including classroom instruction and hands-on labs. Training focuses on the electricity basics, how power is created and RV-specific generator operation.
“Once students understand the theory behind power generation, they can work on just about any type of generator, including those for RVs and home use,” Wilson said. “In classes and labs, we work with Onan generators because they are among the most popular generators on the market. They are found onboard many RVs built over the past 20 years as well as portable units used by RV owners.”
Wilson will teach students to understand how generators work and help them learn how to properly maintain them. He will prepare students to work on their own in a mobile repair environment.
Todd Henson, NRVTA academy director of education, recruited Wilson.
“I have known Chris personally for many years. He is intimately familiar with RV generators and has worked on them for much of his career,” Henson said. “RV generator maintenance is a specialty area for which most technicians are not trained to diagnose and repair problems. I invited Chris to NRVTA to formulate an advanced-training class to bring our instruction regarding RV generators to the next level.”
Wilson has a degree in electronic engineering from ITT Technical Institute. He has worked in several small engine repair shops and as a general contractor where he installed and maintained whole-house generators.
To learn more about NRVTA programs to train RV inspectors and technicians, click here.
