Onan generator replacement
Greetings all, I just some bad news about the generator in our 87 Southwind. The generator portion of the generator is fried and it will cost over $5000 to fix if they can find all the parts. I am w...
Forum Discussion
The portable Hondas are only "whisper quiet" when running in the lower one-fourth of their power output bands. I've heard the 2000i fully rev'd up in campgrounds and it's way more irritating (due to it's sound spectrum at full RPM and their full RPM speed) than my built-in Onan 4K is listening from outside our RV.
The portable Honda inverter generators rev above 4000 RPMs when at their full power ... while the Onans run at 3600 RPM at all powers. Which is going to be louder-per-watt-produced at full power? My built-in Onan sounds about the same whether putting out 200 watts or 4000 watts, so .... if one wanted to quiet their Onan down further with glued in sound insulated and full isolation mounts .... it would be a formidable competitor in the watts-versus-sound-level RV world.
I'm pretty much convinced that the low-sound reputation that the Honda inverter generators enjoy comes from most folks using them the bulk of the time at way reduced power levels from maximum.
FWIW, I have a constant speed Honda portable generator for battery charging that not only runs at a constant 3600 RPM regardless of the power I'm drawing from it ... but while doing this it's sound level is only 1 dB louder than the lowest noise specified for the Honda 1000i and 2000i inverter generators. I use it in tenting sites when even our built-in Onan might be too loud for our green neighbors.
The portable Honda inverter generators rev above 4000 RPMs when at their full power ... while the Onans run at 3600 RPM at all powers. Which is going to be louder-per-watt-produced at full power? My built-in Onan sounds about the same whether putting out 200 watts or 4000 watts, so .... if one wanted to quiet their Onan down further with glued in sound insulated and full isolation mounts .... it would be a formidable competitor in the watts-versus-sound-level RV world.
I'm pretty much convinced that the low-sound reputation that the Honda inverter generators enjoy comes from most folks using them the bulk of the time at way reduced power levels from maximum.
FWIW, I have a constant speed Honda portable generator for battery charging that not only runs at a constant 3600 RPM regardless of the power I'm drawing from it ... but while doing this it's sound level is only 1 dB louder than the lowest noise specified for the Honda 1000i and 2000i inverter generators. I use it in tenting sites when even our built-in Onan might be too loud for our green neighbors.
