3000W Chinese Gensets Info.
professor95 wrote: EDIT ADDED 45/5/2013- When this thread started in March of 2005, I never expected to see it survive this long or amass the quantity of information that has been shared here. In...
Forum Discussion
When the GenTent did a really good job of knocking down the noise from the 46538 without overheating I decided to see what it would do for an already "quiet" 2,000 watt inverter generator.
I don't have a Honda or Yamaha. Not even one of the new CPE inverters. But I do have a really close relative to the Honda in a Kipor KGE2000Ti.
I have run the Kipor side-by-side with a friend's Honda 2000 and we agreed that they were about the same noise level and power output.
Anyway, to start the test I laid out the requisite 7 meter distance and put my db meter on a tripod about 4 feet high.
The first thing I did was measure ambient noise. Boy, was it a quiet day! No wind or anything. The meter showed LO which is under 50 dbA.
The next step was to start the Kipor and let it run in Economy Mode to see what the sound reading was.
53 dbA is pretty quiet - but you can tell there is a generator running over there.
I plugged the camper into the Kipor and turned on the 6,000 BTU bedroom A/C along with the converter and fridge. The speed jumped on the Kipor as did the noise level.
60 dbA even at full throttle is not too bad as far as generator noise goes - certainly a lot lower than a open frame unit like the CPE 46538.
Now, it's time to repeat the test with the GenTent over the Kipor.
There is an open end facing away from the meter and the camper and about 3" around the bottom for cooling. Still on the closed side with the Kipor running in Economy mode the dbA reading was below 50 db. You could not even tell the Kipor was running!
Once again I plug the camper into the Kipor. The Kipor shifts into high speed mode as it is loaded to a little over 1,200 watts.
Now we are up to 56 dbA with the GenTent over the Kipor running at 5,000 RPM and a heavy load. The reading is 56 dbA.
Let's see now..... Kipor in ECO mode with no GenTent = 53dbA, With a GenTent it is below 50 dba.
Kipor in high speed mode with no GenTent is 60 dbA, with the GenTent we drop to 56 dbA. A 4 db reduction is significant. But, why wasn't the sound drop equal to the bigger generator in my previous tests?
Well, much of the noise you hear from an open frame synchronous generator like the CPE 46538 is mechanical banging, bumping and vibrating. The cases on the inverters are designed to considerably muffle that particular frequency range. So, even though it may sound sort of fuzzy, there really is not as broad of a sound frequency range to block with an inverter. As with any "reduction" device, there is a point of diminishing returns.
I actually use the Kipor more on my boondocking trips to the mountains than the big Champion 40008 permanently located in the front of my 5th wheel. I rarely need the 15,000 BTU A/C in the mountains so the Kipor provides more than enough power. But, in the NPS Campgrounds on the Skyline Drive lowering even the sound level of a mid-size inverter that mimics an angry swarm of bees when under load will be a plus. I was very pleased with the results.
I don't have a Honda or Yamaha. Not even one of the new CPE inverters. But I do have a really close relative to the Honda in a Kipor KGE2000Ti.
I have run the Kipor side-by-side with a friend's Honda 2000 and we agreed that they were about the same noise level and power output.
Anyway, to start the test I laid out the requisite 7 meter distance and put my db meter on a tripod about 4 feet high.
The first thing I did was measure ambient noise. Boy, was it a quiet day! No wind or anything. The meter showed LO which is under 50 dbA.
The next step was to start the Kipor and let it run in Economy Mode to see what the sound reading was.
53 dbA is pretty quiet - but you can tell there is a generator running over there.
I plugged the camper into the Kipor and turned on the 6,000 BTU bedroom A/C along with the converter and fridge. The speed jumped on the Kipor as did the noise level.
60 dbA even at full throttle is not too bad as far as generator noise goes - certainly a lot lower than a open frame unit like the CPE 46538.
Now, it's time to repeat the test with the GenTent over the Kipor.
There is an open end facing away from the meter and the camper and about 3" around the bottom for cooling. Still on the closed side with the Kipor running in Economy mode the dbA reading was below 50 db. You could not even tell the Kipor was running!
Once again I plug the camper into the Kipor. The Kipor shifts into high speed mode as it is loaded to a little over 1,200 watts.
Now we are up to 56 dbA with the GenTent over the Kipor running at 5,000 RPM and a heavy load. The reading is 56 dbA.
Let's see now..... Kipor in ECO mode with no GenTent = 53dbA, With a GenTent it is below 50 dba.
Kipor in high speed mode with no GenTent is 60 dbA, with the GenTent we drop to 56 dbA. A 4 db reduction is significant. But, why wasn't the sound drop equal to the bigger generator in my previous tests?
Well, much of the noise you hear from an open frame synchronous generator like the CPE 46538 is mechanical banging, bumping and vibrating. The cases on the inverters are designed to considerably muffle that particular frequency range. So, even though it may sound sort of fuzzy, there really is not as broad of a sound frequency range to block with an inverter. As with any "reduction" device, there is a point of diminishing returns.
I actually use the Kipor more on my boondocking trips to the mountains than the big Champion 40008 permanently located in the front of my 5th wheel. I rarely need the 15,000 BTU A/C in the mountains so the Kipor provides more than enough power. But, in the NPS Campgrounds on the Skyline Drive lowering even the sound level of a mid-size inverter that mimics an angry swarm of bees when under load will be a plus. I was very pleased with the results.
