GENERATOR BOX

Connie and Colin · Member

GENERATOR BOX

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Welcome to the gang Connie and Colin, enjoy here and out in the playground.

Try a caravan accessary place.

Also and as well even, make sure your caravan can have the weight of a generator added. They have a bit of weight in them. It's important to stay under the vans ATM.

Keep Safe on the road and out there.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I'm ducking for cover cos I mentioned generators and weights in one post. BigD (Dmaxer) will be after me now.

Whenarewethere · Guru

Run it off hydrogen, that will sort the weight issue!

I have zero knowledge of generators, maybe you can modify a fridge slide out unit, adding an aluminium mounting plate.

Or fridge mounting, I bought one to hack to pieces. Mount the generator on an aluminium plate (maybe 4mm 5083 alloy), then mount that on the fridge quick release plate, which in turn is monted on the slide out.

A good project to prevent Alzheimer's disease!

Connie and Colin · Member

Thank you for the welcome Doug and thanks for the info.

Connie

Connie and Colin · Member

Thank you for your reply "Whenarewethere". I like your humour! I think we will search the internet to buy a gen box.

Connie

outlaw40 · Guru

Dougwe you should be ashamed for mentioning the G word AND the W word in the same sentence .Its off to the naughty corner for you .

DMaxer · Guru

He has no shame. biggrin biggrin biggrin

outlaw40 · Guru

Dougwe · Chief one feather

In my defense, I didn't mention WDH. I could have but didn't.

Ooops! I just did, bugga.

OK then, I will take myself off to the naughty room as there is no naughty corner here but while there I will clean the 50" Smart TV and restock the popcorn ready for the next person.

Edit.....I think it's about time Webmaster updated the 50" Smart TV to a 80" Smart TV with Foxtel and Netflix subscriptions. Surround Sound would be advantages as well.

-- Edited by Dougwe on Tuesday 10th of November 2020 09:36:50 AM

Mike Harding · Guru

Think it through before you buy a gen. box and have a chat with the dealer you bought the van from.

My Honda EU20i (the minimum size gen for general caravan use) weighs about 25kg and a box would weigh (guessing) 15kg and 40kg is a lot of weight to add to either end of a caravan and may cause stability or other issues.

I appreciate carrying the gen in the back of the vehicle is a bit of a pain (I do it) but it may be a better solution for you.

Edit:

PS. Other caravanners often like to "piggyback" off your generator so to be sociable ensure you park as close to others as possible and make sure you run the gen all day and well into the evening to provide a social facility - this will ensure everyone wants to chat with you.

:)

-- Edited by Mike Harding on Tuesday 10th of November 2020 12:04:23 PM

Connie and Colin · Member

thanx for your info Mike, I will pass it on to Colin. At the moment, we are trying to find out who sells generator boxes.

Connie

DMaxer · Guru

Hi Mike. I understand both you and Doug carry your generator in the tug and it is a bit of a pain. I am sure the local funeral director would have an appropriate "box" in which each of you could store your generators. For a fee, I imagine he would also have some underground storage (about six foot deep) where you could keep them, say, on a permanent basis.

If I can assist with your search just let me know. Always happy to oblige if it is anything to do with a generator.

Whenarewethere · Guru

You can always get a box made at an aluminium fabricator. There is pretty much one or more in every town's industrial area.

I had a few boxes made for various things & they come up nicely. You will pay a bit more but you can get exactly what you need & that is worth the extra cost.

Also look at designing it as an adaptable acoustic enclosure with appropriate ventilation & line it with 25 - 50mm mass loaded acoustic foam, which you can get from Whitworths Marine or similar.

Have the generator rubber isolation mounted on a bottom plate, & the sides & top come off to divide the weight as much as possible. Access panels for operation.

yobarr · Guru

Connie and Colin wrote:
thanx for your info Mike, I will pass it on to Colin. At the moment, we are trying to find out who sells generator boxes.
Connie

Hi Connie....simply typing "generator boxes,WA" into your browser will reveal many suppliers.But,as has already been mentioned,you are playing with fire if you intend to have one of these swinging around at an extremity of your caravan.If you are planning to have it on a slide,contained in a tunnel boot,that is a little different,but the balance of the van is easily influenced by adding 40kg at any extremity.Cheers

Greg 1 · Guru

Also have a think about whether you really need a generator at all. I have lugged one about all over the country for the last 5 years and never actually used the thing for the van. (I know I am a slow learner) With a reasonable amount of solar on the roof and enough battery capacity, the generator becomes a bit redundant with the possible exception of driving the air con.

Whenarewethere · Guru

A few good short videos here with poorly loaded caravans.

https://abigpeacheyadventure.com.au/caravan-sway/

There was a video, I think recently on GN somewhere, which very clearly showed how much better it is to get the weight over the axles & not bolted on the extremities.

Connie and Colin · Member

Hi DMaxer, I think we will go with Whenarewethere's suggestion to go to an aluminium fabricator.

Connie

Connie and Colin · Member

Hi "Whenarewethere". Thank you for all your help. Good idea, we will go to an aluminium fabricator. Thanx again for all your info.

Connie

Connie and Colin · Member

Hi Greg, I think we will need it for the air/con as we will be travelling all over Australia and out in the bush too.

Connie

Connie and Colin · Member

yobarr, thank you for the info, and I think putting the box in the tunnel boot is a good idea - hope we have enough room!

Connie

Southern Cruizer · Guru

Try DS Custom Toolboxes at Campbellfield, Victoria

dscustomtoolboxes.com.au/
Plenty to look at there

Connie and Colin · Member

thank you Southern Cruizer, I will look at that site.

Connie

yobarr · Guru

Connie and Colin wrote:
yobarr, thank you for the info, and I think putting the box in the tunnel boot is a good idea - hope we have enough room!
Connie

You are,no doubt,aware that all you need then is a slide,so that's another weight saving.BUT...if you do the solar and batteries right,you can have your AC too! Cheers

Dick0 · Guru

Hi Connie and Colin,

I made my own entirely from aluminium thin checker plate and 30mm thin angle all riveted together and bolted to a slide out.

The generator is fastened to the slide out so the cover can be as thin as you would like it to be.

The cover is fastened to the slide out with 4 bolts.

I make no comments about weights or where the generator should be positioned, that needs to be your decision.

There will be plenty here who will have an opinion on that.

I also made my own 10lt x 3 fuel cradle.

Some photos provided.

Don't know why the pics are sideways?

-- Edited by Dick0 on Tuesday 10th of November 2020 04:17:11 PM

Whenarewethere · Guru

I have custom built all my accessories for my car. The best thing you can do is actually get off a project for a few weeks. You will solve problems & come up with better ideas unexpectedly.

The bracket in the foreground is for my fridge. The standard bracket was too high, I had to get it down to 6mm thick due to space limitations in the car. It took a few months to design this, but the best progress was made when I was off the project. To date I wouldn't change a thing. (Anodised aluminium & 316 stainless bar, mostly M4 screws 316 & tapped threads)