An Opportunity To Make a Truly Quiet Generator, someday.

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It's probably going to be a long time before you realize that your roof has been leaking from solar panel mounting bracket screw holes - and by then the damage could have been extensive - including mold growth within your roof insulation.

What I do know is that in these forums post after post talks about periodically redoing all roof seals around air vents, air conditioners, antennas, refrigerator vents, etc.. The posters say "it's just a matter of time" before leaking will occur. How is one going to (easily, inexpensively, quickly) reseal all of the solar panel mounting bracket screw holes in their RV's roof - even if one can get close enough to each screw hole?

It's for this same reason that I refuse to have solar installed on our home's roof ... solar panels maybe mounted on poles in the ground out in our meadow would be ideal - but on our home's roof ... definitely not.

If your RV's roof is smooth material, Very High Bond double-backed tape hold down of the panel mounting brackets seems like the only way to go. By the way ... wouldn't the non-metal/non-fiberglass material under the soft sealing material (rubber or otherwise) on some RV roofs be even more susceptible to eventual leaking around screw holes?

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pnichols wrote:

DarthMuffin wrote:
Solar is here now and works, but I think the real silent generator revolution will be fuel cells. They have been "coming real soon now" for about 15 years...

EFOY has had fuel cells that can be used in RVs for quite some time. This seems like the ultimate RV set it and forget it automatic battery topping up any-time/all-the-time solution to me:

http://www.efoy-comfort.com/how-it-works

As an aside, after reading all the posts about leaking RVs in these forums, for the life of me I can't understand why so many folks are willing to punch holes in their beautiful one piece RV roofs for mounting of solar panels. IMHO instead, doubled-backed 3M VHB tape should be used for attachment of solar panel mounting brackets to RV roofs instead of screwing into the roof:

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Adhesives/Tapes/Brands/3M-VHB-Tape/

When instaling solar panels on my roof I filled the holes with silicone then pushed the bolts thru,,never leaked yet..

We don't wash plates or cups or bowls when RV'ing - boondocking or not.

We use disposable paper versions of all three ... cuz trash repositories out in the middle of American nowhere are easier to find than potable water is ... to be used merely for washing stuff off. If push comes to shove boondocking I can cram many days of paper debris in a plastic bag and then cram the bag into our largest outside storage bay until we can dispose of the plastic bag when we return to civilization ... or even just burn the paper stuff if there's no civilization.

The five things I hate most about RV'ing is filling fresh water/propane/fuel tanks and dumping black/grey tanks. I wish I had a dream RV that was only 22 feet long, 8 feet wide, 10 feet tall, self propelled (no towing), and could carry enough provisions so as to leave home fully loaded, travel thousands of miles, and then return 2-4 weeks later without having to resupply or dump anything, including food.

Except for length and height, maybe Earthroamer's largest model comes close to making this possible.

And here I thought the "New Wilderness Experience" took form in "Burning Man".

If you don't wash plates with salt water and sand to conserve fresh water, yaint boondocking.

Utterly alone for a distance of a mile-and-and-half (to the Mexican lobster diver's tarpaper shack) I ran a Yamaha 5500 diesel from 10 June (or thereabouts) until the day hurricane Gilberto struck the Yucatan peninsula. Day and night 24/7 except when I with with him diving the Chinchorro reef.

I hauled 4 55 gallon drums in my pickup. Thirty dollars worth of Mexican #2-1/2 diesel. Lasted 4-weeks (just shy of a month). That's right, a shade over fifteen cents US per gallon. Had three 13.5K roof air units going.

So I can't be accused of being an anti-generator fanatic. From the wooz's house up the hill behind me, to the goat lady's place near the bottom of the arroyo my Kubota runs but dead silence fills the air. Supposedly a 10-year old's ears are the most sensitive and none of the girls can hear the generator. It's a matter of jungle (tropical savanna) vegetation.

But jamming into a place where rigs sit closer than 150' is not my style. The last time I stayed in an RV park I could count the number of deep-night toilet flushes on both sides. Then there was the couple that simply -had- to have a 300 bulb Christmas light string that varied patterns every 30-seconds. I admit it - I'll ring the bell - I can't take that. Twenty five dollars for -that- ?

Solar panels mean solar ovens depending on where a person camps. If the sun is so hot it leaves a red mark and stinging if I touch chrome, its time to heddum up and mooobum out. That's what a 8,200 watt alternator is for. Flee and recharge on the way out the gate.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
It's very possible down here to still find true wilderness camping.

It's possible up here too!

Try camping at Dubinky Well in Utah. The only ears hearing generators out there are the owner's ears ... you better have a genny out there, too, for at least 4-5 months of the year.

Also try the Oregon Outback ... unlimited genny running out there if you want.

Hmmmm...

"One man's noise is another man's blender?"

I remember servicing campgrounds where there was no power and no generators.

Shrieking children, Paul Bunyon grade wood chopping, cars coming and going...

"Raallllpppphh! Where Are You? Raaaaaallllppphh! The barbecue is out of gas!"

Pack the mules, grab the lead line and gooooooooo. Twenty miles in a zig-zag line. Fording rivers, dismounting and leading it across DG (decomposed granite) slopes). Sticking the balkiest mule on string end loaded with the most unbreakable gear. Stubborn. Didn't want to walk so it got dragged a hundred yards but six other animals convinced it, sitting on it's but was not an option.

Maybe it was "RV Boondocking" that showed me "getting away from it all" took effort. If one person in a ten mile radius is alone, does a generator make noise?

Horse packing spoiled me rotten. in camp, zero noise except water exiting a lake, birds and marmots. Backpackers were careful to spread out and make camp in copses of firs to reduce light-pollution which spoils a sky with a billion stars.

It's very possible down here to still find true wilderness camping.

But when I go north and see clusters of rigs (even at Quartzite) I shudder. Different strokes for different folks.

horton333 wrote:
.... and for those who say their generators are already quiet well - do your neighbors agree and/or have you just acclimatized to their noise....?

Well, when I go outside and listen to my running Onan generator or Honda suitcase generator - they don't in the least bother me as compared to:

1) Contractor grade RV generators hundreds of feet away.

OR

2) Honda RV portable inverters when they are rev'd up supplying their full load (~59 dB sound level).

OR

3) Idling TT/5'er diesel tow vehicles.

My little Honda suitcase genny runs at ~54 dB sound level all the time and produces only a low-frequency humming sound at that.

Also, I really don't understand why anyone is bothered by the sound of fully enclosed built-in gas/diesel generators that are run a few hours here and there.

The couple that we travel and drycamp with do not have a generator for their TT, and they REALLY appreciate coming into our RV with it's built-in generator (along with their dog) for some A/C comfort in hot weather. We would never own an RV without a well installed genny on board for A/C, a microwave or convection oven, and no-sun/low-sun time periods.

Solar cells are not going to give you A/C nor bulk charge a larger battery, and for those who say their generators are already quiet well - do your neighbors agree and/or have you just acclimatized to their noise....?
The title acknowledges that this is not for now, but there is a real problem out there with every generator I've heard and this could help that IMHO and people should be looking for improvements constantly - also IMHO.
Replies may be delayed as this one was, RV.NET is back to not liking me (yes I know the thread about other access portals, too occupied just now)