Diesel Generator

Swoffer · Senior Member

Diesel Generator

Jaahn · Guru

Hi,

As a generic answer from a small engine mechanic smile Costly, heavy, noisy, vibrating and smelly.

If you had it built in to a compartment then it might be worth it but if you want to get it out to use then why bother because of the "trouble" of a container of petrol.

The major complaint about generators is noise, and that would be from the operator as well as the other people around, because the background noise 'out there' is very low so any noise sounds loud. Check out the new breed 'silent' petrol gennies and the weight is right too !! biggrin

Jaahn

PS solar power is sooo quiet and self starts every day too hmm

-- Edited by Jaahn on Wednesday 30th of December 2015 02:17:37 PM

Swoffer · Senior Member

Fair enough Jaan .

"The trouble of a container of petrol" ?
Well for me the trouble is its volatility.
Noisy , dirty , smelly , vibrating , yep I hear ya .
I guess I was hoping that with the quantum leaps that have been made in deisel technology over the last few years some of it might have flowed on to small engines.
I mean if you stand next to one of the new gen common rail 4b's you battle to hear them . Lets face it deisel engined race cars have been kicking arse at LeMans now for years .

Anyway it is what it is I spose .

Cheers Al

KFT · Guru

G'day
from what I have seen available the smallest in the "Quiet" sets is around 6kVA and weight is 175kg, noise level given is around 70db

Frank

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Have two .One built into motorhome and is VERY quiet. Twin cylinder diesel Onan 5.5 KW . The second is a cheap 8kw somewhat movable single cylinder 3 phase . It's was sub $1k and still works after 5 years . I wouldn't use it camping though .. Keep in mind there's $5000 plus difference between the two generators .. In this case you get what you pay for .. The Onan has less fumes than equivalent petrol version ..

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The Onans have a very poor and well known reputation for their inability to run some appliances due to wave form or power factor.

Cheers,
Peter

JohnR · Senior Member

We are currently parked up at Green Hill Lake Reserve at Ararat Vic. The last 2 days have been 37/38. Our saviour has been our 20I Honda Gennie that has been powering the Ibis air conditioning. Would not travel without the 20I and cannot recommend highly enough. 2years old and starts first time every time. The gennie runs the ibis in 3/4 hour blocks before requiring additional fuel.

(Note we are camped well away from other campers and will turn it off before retiring)

JohnR

D and D · Guru

JohnR wrote:
.... The gennie runs the ibis in 3/4 hour blocks before requiring additional fuel.

JohnR

John, is that 3 to 4 hours or three quarters of an hour? I get about 5 hours running our air conditioner from a tank full of juice in the same gennie as you but I have a totally different air conditioning setup.

Dave

JohnR · Senior Member

Dave

3 to 4 hours+ when working in temps of the high 30's. Last night at Ararat 39 at 4pm it worked very hard to bring the temp down to 28. We have it set at 24 and once it achieves this temp it only works hard when needing to maintain this temp.

Thanks

John R