Thread: Generator noise level

Originally Posted by gruntfuttock

One person, on one of the pages even suggested that “if there is anyone using a generator near me I would take an axe to his cables and possibly the generator itself. If you cant go 100% solar then don’t go”. Rather intolerant I think.

I ran out of battery. There was mostly cloud over a couple of days so my solar panels couldn’t charge the fridge batteries.

I could have started my car to charge them but it’s not the most efficient way as there isn’t a lot of charge at idle. I didn’t want to break camp to go driving to charge the batteries.

Originally Posted by p38arover

I ran out of battery. There was mostly cloud over a couple of days so my solar panels couldn’t charge the fridge batteries.

I could have started my car to charge them but it’s not the most efficient way as there isn’t a lot of charge at idle. I didn’t want to break camp to go driving to charge the batteries.

Exactly one of my thoughts. Maybe someone might invent a little hamster wheel with hamster that can do the job silently and environmentally safe.

Originally Posted by gruntfuttock

I might try this with some sort of foam on the inside on 3 of the sides.

Last year we had a number of planned and unplanned outages > 6 hours. Any night it was stinking hot I ran the generator for a couple of hours to run the split A/C in the bedroom an keep the UPS(s) charged up.
We live in a suburb, so it's not ideal.

I found the best results using boards to direct the sound straight up. It was incredibly effective. I assembled them around the gen, left the top open and the exhaust end board at about 45 degrees so the hot air followed the noise up.
I'd done a bit of a walk around the surrounding area doing some before and after subjective listening tests and it ended up barely audible over the neighbours fence.

I played with some old insulated panels I had lying around and if there was a difference it was imperceptible. The concept of reflecting the sound seemed to work just as well.

Originally Posted by BradC

Last year we had a number of planned and unplanned outages > 6 hours. Any night it was stinking hot I ran the generator for a couple of hours to run the split A/C in the bedroom an keep the UPS(s) charged up.
We live in a suburb, so it's not ideal.

I found the best results using boards to direct the sound straight up. It was incredibly effective. I assembled them around the gen, left the top open and the exhaust end board at about 45 degrees so the hot air followed the noise up.
I'd done a bit of a walk around the surrounding area doing some before and after subjective listening tests and it ended up barely audible over the neighbours fence.

I played with some old insulated panels I had lying around and if there was a difference it was imperceptible. The concept of reflecting the sound seemed to work just as well.

I’ll definitely give that a go. Thanks.

Originally Posted by BradC

...and it ended up barely audible over the neighbours fence.

How much noise does your neighbours fence make?

, sorry.

Originally Posted by biggin

How much noise does your neighbours fence make?

, sorry.

In the wind, a bit. When the kids are banging on it, a lot. When the dog hits it running full tilt chasing a rat, it's like thunder.
The generator is inconsequential by comparison!

People idling their vehicles to 'warm them up ' is more of a real nuisance,and a dumb idea,than a quietish gen going for an hour or so,not that we have ever used one.

Last year at Canarvon Gorge in the middle of winter, a coach driver decided to 'warm' up the engine,it was idling for well over 45 minutes,before it was even loaded.
Bloody noisy and annoying.
And unnecessary.

Originally Posted by scarry

And unnecessary.

The only real reason for doing this is to get the cabin temp to a comfortable level for the pax, who usually insist on it. This takes forever at idle.
The only other reason I can think of is a poorly maintained air system for the brakes.

45 mins does seem excessive though. Having it running as they board has a placebo effect, more so if it's hot and the aircon gives them the perception of being cooler.