Re: Ping Neon John or Allen Robinson: Generator questions

On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:30:29 -0500, Bob Giddings
<bobgiddings0@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Thanks John. That's a lot of options. I notice that quite a few
of them involve a receiver hitch rack off the back. Maybe I
should just carry the Honda 3000 back there. I bet there's some
stout security cable available, and it wouldn't be too unsightly
to find an anchor point under the bumper you'd have to hacksaw a
long time to get loose from. Of course nothing discourages a
determined thief with time on his hands.

please don't use a cable. I lost a very expensive Yamaha generator
learning that lesson. I didn't have a cable. I had a CABLE.
Specifically a length of crane cable with loops swaged on each end. A
friend who owns a millwright company made 'em for me.

I had the generator on the back of my concession truck. I went out
for not even an hour and when I got back the generator was gone and
the cut cable was laying on the ground, complete with the biggest
baddest lock I could find. You could see the marks on the cable where
they went at it with bolt cutters, a few strands at a time. This was
right out in the open on a city street.

For my replacement generator, I got my friend to get me the biggest
baddest chain that could reasonably be handled. Case-hardened and
rated for lifting service. We checked to make sure the link wouldn't
fit in the biggest bolt cutter we could find.

That chain could still be cut with a torch or a cut-off wheel but
apparently subsequent candidate thieves thought it too much trouble
because nobody ever tried again.

Tomorrow I'm gonna fire up the Honda and see if I can run the A/C
with it. Or maybe day after tomorrow. Cold front blew through
tonight.

If it won't run the AC then something is wrong with one or the other.


I'm glad you mentioned the Chicom generator. You call it quiet.
Can you tell me how it compares in quietness to the Honda? I'd
almost be willing to buy that on a whim, if I didn't
instinctively equate "two-cycle" with "banshee".

It's hard to compare, the sounds are so different. It definitely
makes more noise than an EU at light load. It would not be my choice
for light loads, if for no other reason than it pings at light load
and the pinging is louder than the rest of the noise. I recommend
that generator where it is going to be mostly or fully loaded. Driving
a 60 amp smart charger, for example.

It is quiet enough that when the power goes off up here, I can sit it
on the porch and let it run just a few feet from my open window and it
not bother me. I hook it to my vital bus (UPS supplied, lighting and
computers mainly) as an interim step between running on batteries and
getting the QuietPack out when the outage extends into major parts of
days.

The only advice I can give is to get one and try it (or make a road
trip up here :-). The sounds are so much different that I don't know
how to compare them in words. You could drive your rig over to
Northern Tool and check the fit with their floor model. Then if you
didn't like the sound, surely you could Craig's List it for almost
what you paid. Almost zero risk.


Far as the handle goes, I could probably fashion some side
handles.

I just looked at mine. I could slide a nylon strap of the sort used
to tie down bikes and stuff under the tank and make a soft handle.
There are some photos of the unit disassembled in my blog article
where you can see what I'm talking about. Plenty of space between the
bottom of the tank and the top of the engine.

Unfortunately Ted missed an opportunity to put in a smart
charger/converter a couple of years ago. Instead he paid just as
much on a Parallax 7345 RU, which is pretty much a straight
replacement for the original Magnetek. I think it's designed to
charge at 13.5 amps until your batteries boil dry or you remember
to turn it off, whichever comes first.

:-)

Speaking of Ted, why don't you turn this challenge over to him? See
how Ted can fix things. I bet he could whip out ducting or whatever
in a day that would let your EU fit in and run in the existing
generator box.

Charger and batteries are another minor problem I have, but
that's really just a matter of accepting the downsize. I was
used to 400 AH in 4 golf cart batteries. I now have about 200 AH
in two Group 24 Marines. And no place to put any more, unless I
want to start loading the storage compartments with Optima AGMs
at $160 a pop.

I need to write a blog article with photos on my battery setup. I
have 5 Group 29 batteries under one of my dinette benches, babied and
cared for by that 80 amp Intellipower. The rig is plugged in to shore
power all the time except when I'm actually using the rig.

They will have been in there 2 years in July. I haven't added a drop
of water. There is no corrosion on anything. There is no soiling or
blemishes on the plastic tops. I stapled some blue shop rags to the
bottom of the dinette cushion support as early warning indicators
against acid vapors escaping. As you might know, the dye is a great
acid indicator, turning pink in the presence of even a little acid.
The rags almost touch the batteries and yet they're still all blue.
They might as well be AGMs.

I can flip my microwave on and pull nearly 100 amps through the
inverter and the cabin lights don't even flicker. And since they're
in conditioned space, they're warm and cozy and full of power even on
the coldest camping trip. My only regret is that I waited so long to
do the move.

John
.

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