Generator noise and times....

Oi Bilbo. You forgot about leaving the dirty, smelly, noisy diesel running at a fast idle just to really upset your neighbours hahahahahahahaha

Wasn't looking for flak or to stir the pot, just looking for opinions. I have been to a few camps where they are running right up to bedtime, then shut down to go to sleep. While I'd rather complete silence, I'd rather have tea and afew beers in relative quiet, then sleep to the humm of the gennie rather than the other way around

Cheers Andrew

Andrew,

I wasn't having a go at you. I understand what yer saying. I used to be a shift worker and a bit of gentle 'white noise" used to get me off to sleep.

I just felt like a being a "wicked little hobbit",,,,,,,,,,

Take care, see you in June or near enough.

Gramps,

My 6.5 Chev sure wakes 'em up. It rattles like a tin box full of hammerheads!!

Of course, I'm on the INSIDE of the car, where the soundproofing is now pretty good,,,,,,,,,so it's a case of DILLIGAFF.

;)

Bilbo - "The Noisy Hobbit"

I knew you weren't having a go....cant wait to see and hear that rig....vloomp vloomp vloomp

I _love_ sunrise and sunset in the forests of Australia - it's the most magical of times; I sit quietly in the evening and listen to the animals and birds getting ready for the night as the light gently changes to orange, red and, finally, black when the stars begin to make their magic dots of light across the sky. The dawn is just the reverse as the animals begin to wake up and the sun let's us know it will soon be peeking the rim of it's disk across the eastern sky.... A generator...? I don't think so :)

Mike Harding

Yep, the sunrise and sunset etc are the times I like the quiet as well. I just find them annoying when I am around the camp, talking or whatever, but when I go to bet, a humm in the background is acceptable (especially if I'm sleeping in an air con!)

Note - the only aircon I sleep in while camping is on a mates 28 foot boat. now that is the way to do a fishing trip in the tropics, fish and drink all day, have a feed, talk a bit more, drink a bit more, then have a fresh water shower, crank up the gennie in the cockpit, crank up the air con and sleep in a bunk in comfort.

beats the hell out of a swag in 30 degrees in my centre console!

cheers Andrew

That's poetic Mike.

Pete

The bush always makes me go all mushy :)

Are you for real!!! You camped in a caravan park, so you could charge you batteries for your camera by running a GENERATOR??!! Have you not heard of a powered site?!! Or are you a simple tight fisted bugger who still has his recess money from primary school? Wake up Australia, maybe trickle charging your batteries from a dual battery set up too? If I was the German guy your gennie would be in the workshop getting the sugar taken out of the tank...

I did want a powered site but because of the school holidays (Bloody kids) there were none available. As for trickle charging from the 5 battery set in the ute, unfortuanetly Nikon does not make a car charger for the particular camera I have.
As for being tight fisted I claim it back in tax so it dosen't matter about paying the extra dollars. The point being there were no powered sites available so I had to do the next best thing to do my job........ As soon as I can work out how to charge the camera battery from the car I will. Everything else charges from the car including the video camera. Just not the stills

So Snowbunny, before you chew my head off get all the facts straight first. If I had my way. Children should be banned from making noise for 4 hours a day. Sunset and Sunrise. Other question is have you heard the Honda EU10? I guess not as it is incredibly quiet. As I said above I am the first to enjoy the bush and it's peace and quiet.

Hiya,

I too have the Honda EU10i and it is great. However if you are only charging a camera battery and already have a 5 battery setup in the rig then surely an approriate size 12v to 240v inverter is the way to go and you can plug your 240v charger into that. May only need a 100w can sized model that retail for about 50 to 60 bucks! Should have written on the charger how many watts it eats.

You will find that using the genny just to charge a camera battery is SO overkill.

Just a thought.
Muddy

Yes my friend I have heard the Honda's and they are a very quiet gennie, however you've used the gennie in a van park and also displayed your lack of people skills to impress a German tourist. You sport, are a great ambassador for Australian tourism. You also could have possibly used the van park owners power for a mere hour ?? Maybe you didnt think of that?

no powered sites !!!!!!!!!! take the charger and battery up to park office and ask them to plug into office solves security issues i to would have abused u . Col

I adhered to the rules of the van park and only had the genny going during times they allowed. As a consequence I waited until all campers in my area had departed for the day before I turned it on. I did actually find it strange that the majority of their powered sites did not have campers in them. I have only stayed in a handful of caravan parks in my many years of camping and all have allowed gennys. What I was not impressed by the way the German tourist in true German stlye came straight to me within 30 seconds of getting out of his car as if he owned the place and told me to turn it off. I generally don't have an issue with tourists and I worked for 5 years in the tourist industry in north Qld. Over the last 3 months our family business has employed over 50 backpackers.
What I am trying to say is in my opinion I was doing the right thing by waiting for all campers to be out sightseeing before I turned it on. And I would never be as rude to demand for somebody to turn of their genny when it is on during the allocated times........ Even if I was travelling overseas.
I respect other peoples rights and I expect others to respect my needs

Sounds like you have an aversion to kids. Yes they can be annoying at times and I have two - 18 and 14 yrs.
What I think some of you need to remember is that one day someone's kid will probably be wiping mush and dribble off your face and $$hit of your arse!
Enjoy your photos before you get to that point in life.

Extfilm,

",,,,,,,, unfortunately Nikon does not make a car charger for the particular camera I have.,,,,,,,,,,"

There's 2 ways out of that - buy a 12volt/240volt inverter OR buy 12 volt variable power supply. I have one of the latter. I can plug that into my 12 volt ciggie lighter socket on the truck and dial up any voltage output from 3.5 volts throght to 19.5 volts. I use mine for powering a laptop.

What is the input voltage for the Nikon? There's usually a voltage range on these things.

And as for this comment,",,,,,,,,If I was the German guy your gennie would be in the workshop getting the sugar taken out of the tank... ".

Well, we won the war,,,,,,,,,,

;)

Bilbo

Bilbo......
Yes I would like to have the oppurtunity to not use the genny and have everything else set up to work of the other batteries. Since IMO the Camera is the most important piece of equip I take with me and I do take a few spare batteries with me, hence the need to use the genny only once every 3 days for a few hours. I really am not up to date on other means of charging the camera battery. Seeing the charger is powered from 240 volts I have not yet grasped the mechanics of turning 12v DC into 240v AC. I am researching other methods including 1 or 2 65 watt solar panels on the ute. I just don't want to destroy the batteries.....
As for the voltage range it is 100 to 240 AC
Hope u can enlighten me as to what is available and maybe explain the mechanics of these inverters

Extfilm,

I'm no electrical expert. On this forum there are far more qualified people than this little hobbit, BUT,,,,,,,,

As your required input voltage range is so high at 100 to 240 volts (AC) I doubt you'd get a simple 12volt variable power supply as I've mentioned above, to do the job - these are only DC voltage supplies..

Therefore, I'd estimate that you going to have to buy a full blown 12volt/240 volt inverter. What these do is convert 12 DC volt power (that's your car battery power) to 240 volts AC (that's full mains power).

Inverters come in two types - cheap and expensive. The cheap ones are "modified sine wave". These do seem to have difficulty powering some electronic devices such as laptops and particularly microwave ovens (but who'd want to run a microwave in the bush anyway). The expensive ones are "pure sine wave". These are the "best ya ca get" and have no issues with "wave form sensitivity" and will power just about any 240 volt device depending on power needs of the device.

So I reckon you'll need an pure sine wave inverter. You now need to work it what size inverter you need to charge up your camera batteries, or anything else that you want power with it.

Best bet is to go along to solar panel place or 12 Volt Shop and tell 'em what yer trying to acheive.

I'm surprised that a top company like Nikon don't do a 12 volt charger for the camera batteries, Very surprising. Are you sure they don't make 'em?

Bilbo

Bilbo,
I am very surprised too...... But then again I was one of the first 50 to recieve the camera in australia and maybe they have a car charger now??????????

This is the 'classic': Peter Blakeman's clients:

"include Deutsche Bank" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Germans were correct - their 'right' to a quite camping experience in the Australian bush trumps your 'right' to run a business that, by its very nature it seems, has to upset others.

Happy days

George
PS Nice to know that while others are being annoyed by your noise, you are claiming it (or some part of it) as a 'deduction' too and 'it doesn't matter about the extra dollars'!!!!!!! Give me a break........................!

Same as that meself Willem. Why go bush just meet other people?

I like the anti-social aspects of 4WDing as much as the next guy,,,,,,,,,,,,,

;)

Bilbo - "The Lone Hobbit"

Gdday Peter

I'm with you on the not after 4pm, I'd prefer not after about 3. I would rather be asleep if they have to run than awake.

Cheers Andrew

Gday Baz

I generally don't use a gennie, but the times I have I just prefer them to be going while I sleep. Some places I go I leave the car stationary for 4 - 5 days if possible. After 2 its time for a charge. I can't justify the cost of a decent solar set up (although if I find a reasonable one going cheap I may lash out). I have a gennie available anyway, and it is sometimes the simple way to go.

I like having the gennie in case of a battery failure/mismanagement, for a backup, but try to keep its use to a minimum if I take it. High idle in the car for half an hour can be a top up, but its a bit noisier than the gennie, and possibly not that good for the car. (better to go for a bit of exploreing, but sometimes you just want to sit around and do stuff all)

The best time to run the gennie is when you are away from camp.....but then you just annoy others. Most places I camp this isn't much concern, and If no-ones around at all I'll leave a note on the camp asaking people to shut it off if they turn up and it is annoying them.

As I said, I don't use them much, more of a post for people to say what they prefer for all to survey

Cheers Andrew

well said Redback totally agree with you. Col

Redback,

",,,,,,,,,Your camping for gods sake, do without some of the things you use every day at home, and give us a break from city noise, isn't that why you go camping to get away from all the noise and stress of home,,,,,,,

Now, I might be wrong here and if I am, I'll apologise now up front, but wasn't it you that was asking about DVD players a few days ago??

Bilbo

Gday Steve

You may be onto something there - I've spent a lot of time in noisy environments...my hearing tests fine, but have a gennie in the background and conversations can be difficult to hear, on the other hand, that same genny in the background is fine for me to sleep to.....a bit industrially deaf, maybe the industrially deaf need our own special areas of the world lol.

Cheers Andrew

Andrew,

"I'm alright Jack" - I wear 2 hearing aids, like you I suffer badly from Industrial Deafness - but its' great when I can turn 'em off and have some REAL PEACE!

I've done it a few times when I'm with someone that's boring the bum off me but I'm forced to stay!! e.g some of the wife's friends ;), or noisy pubs etc.

Bilbo

Bilbo,
I know industrial deafness has set in with me and that is why when 100 kms East from Belt Bay (Lake eyre) my mate and I could hear? A car, A plane, A boat.... I do not know what we heard but I put it down to the sound the body makes when there is silence......... "Outdoor Australia" magazine has it quoted in a past issue.
Thank you for making me aware of this problem........ I am now quiting the construction industry......
I hope to have a few months with my cousin who found the evening star in WA and he knows where there is a little bit more....... I have kept my eyes open and know there is a hell of a lot more............... in places he has not explored yet........

Extfilm,

",,,,,,,,,I have kept my eyes open and know there is a hell of a lot more............... in places he has not explored yet........ "

Hmm,,,,,,I've heard that many times before and witnessed a lot of broken hearts and minds because of it - but as "hope springs eternal" we could always swap notes on the subject ;)

Good luck with it,

Bilbo

Too right, Shaker.

But when they do that, we all bring our chairs around and watch.

that soon persuades them to do it at a time when no-one is near!!

Ken

Depending on who is showering it could be you that is persuaded not to bring your chairs around!

Morning glory or worse! LOL

By the way we don't have a car mounted shower but you never know! Could be fun