So How Bad Are Silent Genny's? Honest Advice Appreciated

Wissel

Wissel

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Finally, our van is getting its new engine, then a bit of a refit and our travels begin :)

I'm currently finalising exactly what the refit will include, but this question is keeping me awake at night :)

Ensuring we always have enough power?

We have 400Ah of LiFePO4, 400w of solar and really good charging from EHU (40A), B2B (60A) and MPPT. We use about 120Ah per 24 hours.

This means that as long as the battery is full when we stop, we can survive 3 days without any solar or driving.

I was planning on removing the existing 400w of solar, and two mini-heki's, and replacing with 810w of panels. This would make us self-sufficient for about 9 months of the year. Thing is, we would like to keep the two heki's as one is above the kitchen and the other in the bathroom (have a MaxxFan in the back above bed which will stay whatever). Also, the extra solar would be next to useless the other 3 months of the year.

Our plan was to make sure we were on a site at least every third night, then as a backup, could simply drive for a while. But after the last year of issues and things going wrong, I'd like another safeguard.

So I'm thinking about getting a (Honda probably) so called silent genny as an insurance policy. I'd never use it on a site as wouldn't need to, but if we did get say, snowed in in Scotland in the middle of Feb and couldn't move for a week, we could fire the genny up for a few hours a day and it wouldn't be an issue.

Does this sound a sensible approach? Any alternatives to the Honda worth considering? What size and LPG or Petrol? (leaning towards petrol as redundancy if gas runs out), how much fuel (roughly) do these little things use? Anything else I've not thought about?

Thanks in advance,
David
 
It's not the sound level, it's the constant drone, modulated by the load. Buy 100m of hook lead if you must go that route. And some sand bags.
 
Wissel said:
I'd never use it on a site as wouldn't need to, but if we did get say, snowed in in Scotland in the middle of Feb and couldn't move for a week, we could fire the genny up for a few hours a day and it wouldn't be an issue.
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That was what happened to us in Scotland at New Year. We don't have a genny but several of our friends do and they were happy to share with us. The honda is very quiet but for much cheaper theres a chinese one, from memory it was 800w but fairly quiet if you only need it to charge the batteries.
 
peterc10 said:
There is no such thing as a silent generator. And the more peaceful the setting the less silent they get.
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Thats very true! but if everyone does it same time and you are indoors with the music on it ain't so bad.

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Hello Wissel

If you go for a re fit and have space on the roof go for as much solar as you can. I do have a maxx fan that restricted me of fitting a third panel.
I recommend to go for the panasonic HIT 295w module. Is the only panel high power with only 1,47m long that fits across the roof, without sticking out over the gutter. I managed two of those, that gives me 590w, a maxx fan and a Fiamma turbo vent over the shower room. In hind side , if I moved the maxx fan towards the back, I would of had space for another one at the front. The panel size is 1,47m by 1,05m , and it’s a hybrid, triple layer cell with amorphous sandwiched by two mono crystalline. That means it performs a little better than mono crystalline in poor weather. The other panel that matches this performance is LG neon R with a 370w of a 60cell panel 1,65m by 1m. This across will stick out a little.
I also got 400ah LFP and the most I used was 140ah. I average 80ah a day and the beauty is you can run days, weeks without being bothered to fully charge. I run a victron inverter charger 12/1600/ 50, that gives me ample charging on ehu, enough power to use the kettle, malaga water heater, ocasionaly microwave and induction cooktop. Not all at ones. The slow cooker it draws little power, and the fridge is a CRX 50 on 12v electric.
As for generator, the Honda EU10 inverter generator its the quietest at this size. After this champion 1000w version. I have a champion 2300w that I use on my of grid home, it’s quiet till about 1/4 load, and ascending with load.
You can make a sound proof box if really necessary.
Here is a photo of my van, taken from the bedroom window
 

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I have a gas-converted Honda. It's not smelly and is quite tolerable when not under stress (2kW). Using it with a SafeFill, I can run it remotely on a long lead (even chain it to a solid tree if required). Good for emergencies. The 2kW one is quite heavy. For lighter work, the 1kW one might be a better bet (smaller too).
I wouldn't give up roof lights. Good for light as well as ventilation. You may never get enough solar in Winter, however many panels you have.
 
we survive on solar panels , the drone from any generator where there are other campers is we think a bit anti social , had a caravan parked in front of us a few years ago and it fumed so much I had to ask him to switch it off, to be fair to him he said he had no idea the genny was a problem um!

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Nearly every genny ever built that’s small enough to carry is noisy, the sound just drives me nuts.
They don’t have big enough mufflers on them.
Although the supposed silent ones tend to have a slightly higher tone to them and are a tad less annoying.
As mentioned above It’s the constant drone, it’s worse than traffic noise and kids bouncing balls on tarmac.
There are a few vids on YouTube of people fitting bigger exhaust pipes and trying to reduce the noise.

Our solar panel covers the rear 400mm square skylight in our kitchen area, but we have big windows in our van so not really an issue but it still allows light in.
The panel 255watt can be raised. We’ve found even in the winter a good sunny day can still put a reasonable amount of power in the battery.
 
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If on a site, there is no need for a genny. A genny is more likely to be used in remote locations
 
Mine is in the garage under the work bench, with a corrugated pipe over the exhaust, thru the wall. It’s noisy until I shut the door. I do not hear it from the house.
On the Motorhome, is different story. Only a sound prof box will make it bearable.
 
irnbru said:
Thats very true! but if everyone does it same time and you are indoors with the music on it ain't so bad.
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Remember when we had ours on in Millport after IanF had the issue with their fridge? When I went to apologise for the noise people looked surprised as they hadn't realised it was running :)

Also a couple of years ago at Falkirk we were asked more than once how the PA system was being powered.

At home the big genny is in the garage and is a constant drone when in use.
 
Puddleduck said:
Remember when we had ours on in Millport after IanF had the issue with their fridge? When I went to apologise for the noise people looked surprised as they hadn't realised it was running :)

Also a couple of years ago at Falkirk we were asked more than once how the PA system was being powered.
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And what make was yours lol go on give it a plug :-)

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You could think about getting a bigger mains battery charger too. You want to minimise the time that a generator is on, and if it charges at 40A that's 3 hours at least for 120Ah of charge to go in.

LiFePO4 batteries can be charged at a very high rate: C/2 is typical, and C is not considered excessive. So if you had a 200A charger you could put a day's worth of charge into it in only 36 minutes. OK, maybe that's a bit OTT, you'd need a 2.4kW generator, but a 100A charger with a 1.5kW genny would work.
 
Some great replies here guys - all very appreciated :)

As I said, I'm only considering as an insurance policy. Just for when everything that can go wrong does and I have no choice. I need a solution so if all else fails (full-timing), Claira and my dog are warm and comfortable. Nothing more.

In reality, our van runs pretty much all summer just from solar already. I can switch the PC and large screen off and use either laptop or tablet. This alone cuts our power usage by half (difference is I can see the 27" monitor without glasses and way prefer working on a desktop), so if just using 60Ah per day in winter, can last a week without any charging.

I'd certainly not be using a genny on a regular basis or with others around (unless a few vans got snowed in without power - guess I'd suddenly be more popular :) )

I guess as I won't use it often (if at all - like with any other insurance), a cheaper model might make more sense?
 
Wissel said:
Does this sound a sensible approach? Any alternatives to the Honda worth considering? What size and LPG or Petrol? (leaning towards petrol as redundancy if gas runs out), how much fuel (roughly) do these little things use? Anything else I've not thought about?
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EFoy, the benefits of which have been well represented on this Forum, you appear to be content in funding the need of power in your commendable set up so why not go the extra length and get the optimum set up if your funds allow.
EFoy system kicks in when the battery voltage needs a boost and works 24/7 silently whilst you sleep,on board, and the running costs are not that expensive because of its efficiency. Had in my last three MH’s and would be without it.

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Littlewheels said:
EFoy, the benefits of which have been well represented on this Forum, you appear to be content in funding the need of power in your commendable set up so why not go the extra length and get the optimum set up if your funds allow.
EFoy system kicks in when the battery voltage needs a boost and works 24/7 silently whilst you sleep,on board, and the running costs are not that expensive because of its efficiency. Had in my last three MH’s and would be without it.
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If I had the funds I would choose EFOY. Not been a good year or so though, so after the van is finished I need to start building a bank balance again. My work is picking up and I'm more than covering bills etc again, but still a way off what I was used too. Can see EFoy coming in the future though :)
 
Hi

If it comes to it, we have two Gennies.

Ive never ever used one within 500m of anyone else. other than being on a busy service station or similar.

They are noisy and can be very smelly.

To be fair, with todays technology, its easy enough to go without.

I saw an American RV pull up on a trial Are in the UK. They parked next to the houses, put the Diesel generator on at 11pm, ran it for an hour at least. Then in the morning, dumped the grey waste on to the car park and drover off.

If you need to use one, be considerate is all I can suggest.

TM
 
Wissel said:
If I had the funds I would choose EFOY. Not been a good year or so though, so after the van is finished I need to start building a bank balance again. My work is picking up and I'm more than covering bills etc again, but still a way off what I was used too. Can see EFoy coming in the future though :)
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current cost of Efoy please?
 
We have a Honda Eu1 which I carry as I like stargazing in the middle of no-where.
It is fairly quiet but, genny's seem to stir up hatred in some folks however they are invaluable in an emergency such as snow etc.
Ours runs on gas so there's no smelly petrol to carry around & that'd be my recommendation.
 
Seems when it’s your noise it’s bearable, whether your at work or home.
When it’s your neighbour or the road gang outside your house then your annoyed.
 
We have a Honda 2.0 gas genny for emergencies and are considerate guys, if I was cold with no light I would apologise to immediate campers any fuss after that, get a life!
Try parking near an RV you will not complain again!

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