geoff Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Can any one provide advice on silencing a suitcase genny ? Would an enclosure help or can I fit an additional silencer ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Unless you have life dependant reasons for needing one I would suggest you sell it and purchase some solar panels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fetch Carry Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Re-arrange words below to find best way to silence a generator. Skip in put. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 They aren't popular amongst fellow campers geoff. From my narrowboat days though, some of my fellow boaters built soundproof enclosure and these did help, though you'd need adequate cooling and ventilation.Most got sick of them after a while and chose alternative ways of battery charging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fetch Carry Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Some are reasonably quite, and run in the daytime on a site not easily heard, but it's more the constant droan than the actual noise level. Someone had one running for a couple of hours at Hollands Wood last weekend, we were about 100 yards away, and even though you can here the main road from that site the noise of the genny was irritating, and when you got near it it wasn't very noisy, it must have been something to do with the pitch of the sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I made a silencer out of ally, mesh and fibreglass, this worked well but I found most of the noise was mechanical, foiled again. Cheers :$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Alternatively if its keeping batteries charged that is the reason you need a generator perhaps a FUEL CELL could be your answer. The EFOY (Energy FOr You) 1600 unit is the size of a suitcase generator and will provide 5 amps output 24/7 if you need it to. But you will need to put a zero on the end of the price you would pay for a good generator. OK for overnight charging Mobility scooter batteries though. Go on, its only money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Clive ... you're not really taking this seriously are you my dear! Been on the tipple again? ;-) As for silencing a genny, you can purchase some soundproofing material that is now used in some modern flats etc but it is very expensive and you would still have the problem of the exhaust fumes having to get out and by default that would mean a hole of some sort through which the sound would escape, that's assuming of course that you had already worked out how to keep it cool in the enclosure in the first place. Have you contacted any of the companies that sell gennies to see if they have any products that might suffice? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 Thank you Mel B. Direct, useful, and to the point - naturally its from a from a fellow northerner! And you havent jumped to the conclusion that its for use on a campsite to charge a battery ! Clive, you really ought to ascertain the facts before you put in your sixpen'th. i.e. A Its for commercial use at an exhibition B My equipment will not run on batteries C Mains 240v is not available Are you on commision from the solar panel people ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caraprof Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 geoff - 2007-09-13 7:42 PM Thank you Mel B. Direct, useful, and to the point - naturally its from a from a fellow northerner! And you havent jumped to the conclusion that its for use on a campsite to charge a battery ! Clive, you really ought to ascertain the facts before you put in your sixpen'th. i.e. A Its for commercial use at an exhibition B My equipment will not run on batteries C Mains 240v is not available Are you on commision from the solar panel people ? Mmmm, to be fair to Clive and the others who made similar points about the use of generators I too, as this is a forum about motorhoming, assumed that you wanted to use a generator for motorhoming!Don't you think it might have helped if you'd forestalled any criticism of generators, which you must know is out there, if you'd mentioned your exhibition use at the start of the thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Well sir, if you'd have explained this he wouldn't have needed to guess. His Fuel Cell reply is absolutely serious, they are a splendid, if expensive way to generate electricity.It's a motorhome forum, how could anyone know you are a commercial user?Regards,Another fellow NorthernerEdit:caraprof beat me to the post, this is a direct respose to geoff's last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Hi Geoff, pleased to help. Clive does like his solar panels a lot and he doesn't particularly like 'portable engines' (which is what a generator is after all) ... unless they have a wheel at each end and a seat in the middle and go brum brum so he can ride about on them terrorising the natives of certain European countries ...! :D One suggestion, Geoff, use the emoticons, it helps to make sure that people know when you're gesting and when your not! ;-) Mel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivys Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 We did some experiments with silencing a cheap & loud (93dB) B&Q gennie with some success. We built a padded housing around the gennie and blew in air with a fan powered by the gennie. We worked on the simple cocept of blowing in more air that the unit needed. The idea was to start with a gennie that was way too loud to see how far we could bring the levels down to. We brought the mechanical sound levels down considerably, but have not yet done enough to silence the exhaust. That's the next experiment. Too much sound also escaped from the air intake of the housing, so we would need to tackle that. We ran it for a few hours and checked the temperature every now and then - no problem. We will push on with the current gennie to see how quiet we can get, but if we ever "go live" it will be with something that starts off silent (60dB-ish). With out Hymer B654 this would not have been an option (not enough payload and space). With our current MH we have both the space and the payload but now have four leisure batteries so are not sure we need a gennie in the first place. We are toying around with the idea of building a housing around a gennie in the garage with a decent exhaust silencer coming out, the gennie will be noisy inside the MH but very quiet outside. So…. in a nutshell yes, it can be done, but it will become a pretty bulky and heavy item. Rog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 Point taken Mel ! Cant expect everyone to appreciate my humour ! Clive, just having a go mate !http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/images/emoticons/icon_lol.gif (lol) Any way moving on to ivys, What did you use for the box insulation, and how much surround space did you allow ? What ideas have you got for the silencer , can you add another silencer onto the existing one ? Mines a 92db (whatever that means) if I can reduce the sound a little it will do the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Nothing wrong with clive's idea about fuel cells 240vac are availible, trouble is if you have to ask price you can't afford one http://www.fuelcellstore.com/cgi-bin/tornado/view=Item/cat=31/product=1096 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivys Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Geoff, we used a cheap carpet and left about three inches clearance all round with a bit more for where the fan blows air past the front. We figured that a double layer with a sound-absorbing inner would work better. Rog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 OK OK, so Its not for camping but for a commercial operation. Different ball game. I have a 3.5 KVA single cylinder Peter diesel "site" generator that get used regularly by fellow members of our Ham Radio Club for contesting. Thats operating radio in the middle of a field on top of a hill. Our secret is to use a couple of 100 metre thick extension leads between the operating caravans and the genny. It has a good 36 hour fuel tank as our contests are typically 24 hours continuous operation with operators doing shifts. The genny is then surrounded (by the farmer) with a load of straw bales straight from his store. These bales are the BIG ones that weigh about a tonne each. So for commercial use distance and insulation are the key. Does that help? Lastly on Fuel cells and batteries you can use a large inverter to generate the mains you require - providing its not lots of mains for lots of time. Have a look at http://www.efoy.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=105 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Ok OK Clive wheres he gonna get these hay Bales from then ..............lol. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Woodgaston Farm, Upper Wootton Basingstoke But I doubt if the farmer will use his tractor with bail clamp attachment to take them to where Geoff wants them! For serious commercial usage there are some low db genny sets available. Warners use some big ones for the shows. Frequently 250 KVA and they make less noise than those little ones sold to us punters at shows for camping. If one wants to make a screen to shield the noise then its best (in my view) to make a 4 sided foldable screen with good sound insulation on the inside, like back door mats etc. Something with thick sound absorbing medium. But it needs to be at least a foot away from the genny set all round so as not to compromise its cooling and breathing. If the walls of this shield are 6 feet tall then no roof is needed as any sound going straight upwards is less likely to travel sideways. Cooling of the genny is not compromised either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 Cheers Clive, The frame sounds good to me however I would consider a roof ( say an inverted V with some clearnce ) in case of rain. I Just tried adding an additional silencer of theReliant Robin type, but it didnt do a blind bit of use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I,ve got an old Robin silencer on my old tractor! I have to lift it off to be able to open the bonnet. Yes Mechanical noise is as loud as the exhaust note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo3090 Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 A 2lb bag of sugar added to the fuel at 2 in the morning should do the trick!! Sorry very flippant and of course illegal so don't try this at home kids! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 Mothballs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 Just found I have a picture of the sound insulating system we employ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 For a commercial operation have a look at http://www.genpoweruk.co.uk/product.php?productid=16150&cat=0&bestseller=Y It includes an acoustic coat and meets new acoustic regulations. Diesel and 5 Kw and will run for 48 hours at 2KW continuously on one tankfull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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