Loud Onan 4K Genny

It's not Onan - Today it's Cummings - they destroyed the Onan brand

I had a wonderful 2 cylinder 4 stroke 4Kw genset, pressurized oil system with spin on filter in the late 80's

My new 4Kw micro quiet. is a POS, a single cylinder splash oil system, no oil filter no pressure aka JUNK!!!!!!

My belief is Cummings destroyed the Onan brand

olygene wrote:
I kinda wish Honda would start building generators for RVs. Then maybe Onan would start putting more money into planning and engineering gens for RVs.

I think that is the main problem. Onan pretty much has a monopoly on built-in gennies with no real competition so they continue to use 20yr old (non-inverter)technology and charge us a pretty penny for it.

Would love to see someone come out with an inverter type 4K to compete with Onan's so called "Micro Quiet" genny.

Honda did.. and they quit..didn't sell enough of them to RV MFG

I kinda wish Honda would start building generators for RVs. Then maybe Onan would start putting more money into planning and engineering gens for RVs.

RJsfishin wrote:
If its 90+ degs, who cares about noise, its the stayin alive that matters.
If its cookin my tv dinner, who cares about noise, its only a few minutes.
If its charging batteries, DON"T,.....get a Honda,....or solar.

That just about matches how we think of our built-in generator. I might add that it's also an excellent emergency backup for a failed or out-of-fuel propane system.

For sun-or-no-sun charging of our batteries we bring along a very quiet Honda EX650 and the main engine's alternator.

If its 90+ degs, who cares about noise, its the stayin alive that matters.
If its cookin my tv dinner, who cares about noise, its only a few minutes.
If its charging batteries, DON"T,.....get a Honda,....or solar.

N-Trouble wrote:
I still feel most of the noise is coming from the motor (not exhaust).

The noise from the 4K Onan in our Itasca is the opposite. Most of it's noise is the swooshing sound of it's cooling air. Engine noise seems very low considering it maintains on tap an instant 4000 watts of output.

I don't think all RV 4K Onans are installed the same. The one in our Class C is well up inside it's cabinet with none of the bottom of the Onan showing below the RV's sidewall. Our traveling companions have a 4K in their Class C that has the bottom 3-4 inches of it showing below the RV's sidewall - and it is MUCH louder than ours both inside and outside their Class C RV.

We have even been able to sleep with our Onan running most of the night powering the air conditioner in the extreme heat and humidity of the Southern U.S. in August.

Inside the RV, the Onan noise from ours of course can be heard but we can easily tolerate it for hours-long runs of the air conditioner. The RV floor above where the Onan hangs also deadens it's sound well using a thick carpet and pad to keep interior noise and vibration low. However, our Onan did quiet down and smooth out just a bit more after I installed a special spark plug in it and switched it's oil to a high-$$$ synthetic several years ago.

One poster in these forums has mentioned getting his built-in Onan sound down to 56dB (some Honda portables are 53dB at low power output) using sound deadening material inside it's cabinet and upgrading the engine mounts for it.

But I agree .... a 4KW variable speed inverter generator of Onan quality would be a good improvement.

I found this which may help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQboSPqKtfE

Anyone have any luck with one of these?

I still feel most of the noise is coming from the motor (not exhaust). I may also look at adding some sound deadening material inside the genny compartment.

I say exactly the same thing about my factory installed micro"quiet". Others say they are really quiet and the difference is the installation. When I'm boondocking I carry an eu2000i to charge the battery. For short times like running the microwave I just put up with the noise. It is pathetic IMO that the current built-ins haven't caught up to 10+ year old consumer technology.

N-Trouble wrote:
..it runs at a constant high RPM regardless of load. Why is it that this high dollar generator doesn't have a "SMART" mode like many of the lower cost portable units that adjust RPM based on load?

Without taking the time to look it up, I'd have to say it's not an inverter generator.