noisy generators

Road Phantom wrote:
I have a fiber glass cap on my pickup. Cost being a factor, my thought was to buy a cheaper generator like a "Champion" and crank it on inside the cap with an opened window to keep the noise level down outside. Does anyone else do this and does it work for you? I only need it to turn on for the AC on the hottest of days or charge the batteries. So, it would have to be at least a 3000 W gen.
VS a Honda for $1800, a Champion cost about $300+.

Have you ACTUALLY heard a REAL Champion (or any other Chinese clones like it)?

Although the knock offs are a bit louder they actually are not all that bad, in fact I think they are extremely quiet when comparing it to a old school Briggs and Stratton contractor type.

I would say that my Chinese gen is about as noisy as a gas powered golf cart (and we know that golf courses demand quiet carts).

I have even gone as far as measuring the DB level and comparing it to my trucks which have a 5.4 gas engine with unmodified exhaust systems.

Hands down the gen IS quieter than my pickup truck at idle, the truck easily was 10 DB LOUDER than the gen at 21 ft..

Running a gen under a cap is asking for trouble. Heat build up which was mentioned will happen fast since you will not have much cross ventilation.

Then CO is another issue to consider.. Your cap will be open to your trailer and the trailer will be only a few feet away from the truck when connected. Basically ALL the exhaust WILL exit the back of the cap and could potentially seep into your trailer.

If using the gen while truck and trailer are connected ALL the noise WILL BE DIRECTED TO THE TRAILER making it seem louder than it is.

With all that said, I have a two piece "topper" on my truck and the gen is at the front of the bed. I lift the front topper and have modified the gen exhaust with an added tail pipe which directs the exhaust up and out of the bed.

I then drop the tailgate to allow the gen to circulate cooling air out of the bed.

I do not CAMP with the gen running, it is only used when stopping for the night (overnighting without power) to cool down the trailer before getting some rest.

Some folks have made special noise reducing boxes which are open to the sky. This redirects the noise upwards and helps to quiet the gen.

But, if you absolutely can not stand ANY engine noise what so ever then I would recommend get yourself a roof full of solar panels.

In this case even the expensive brand name gens will be too noisy for you (They DO MAKE NOISE in spite of what some folks tout).

I've seen a few generators on pickup beds. My observation is that the bed acts like a sounding board, making a loud generator even louder.

I think the best fix for a loud one is to get a very long extension cord, and find a ditch or a tree at least 70' away.

Our road mechanic tried to run a generator inside the utility truck with the back door open but could only get about 1 hr before it didn't like the air inside the closed space started acting up.

Remember you get what you pay for.

It'll take a lot more than that cap to cut the noise enough to do you any good. Plus there's a small problem of cooling, not to mention the matter of enough fresh air to run the engine. Since hot days and AC are when you'll be running it, cooling is going to be a major issue. You won't save much folding green burning up that $300 generator every couple days.