Home Made Muffler for Generators?
Submitted: Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 10:13
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TentEnKaMan
Hello folks, lovely to speak at last! :D I am a Noob camper, and at the stage where I am starting to acquire my gear and money is an issue. I have been reading these forums with some interest for a few days and have learnt a lot of valuable info off the savvy people on here. Yes I am one of those annoying ppl with a generator :( ( 2stroke 650w scorpion). I am going to be upgrading my rig with a 100aH+ AGM battery and 500w pure sine inverter. However I also need to buy a trailer and camps australia wide. This puts my wish-list up to about $1200 and as I have already spent $1600 so far. Solar is unfortunately out of my reach at this time. So I will still have to run my generator to charge my deep cycle battery (or the car). I was wondering if some clever soul had tried making a
home made muffler for these generators, or whether this causes operational problems with them. We are always trying to set up in a corner to not inflict our racket on others, but would be so much nicer for us and everyone else if we could make it quieter, (as
well as cutting down usage thru deep cycle battery setup. I had a woman camper neighbour apologise to me recently for her awful country music blaring.... All I could say is why are you sorry? You have had to put up with worse from us. Oh on a side note is it only me that it seems ironic to, that a machine with moving parts is so much cheaper than little panels that collect sunlight? Just doesn't seem right lol.... Anyhows thanks in advance to anyone who can enlighten me on this issue and happy camping to everyone else :-D
Reply By: Member - joc45 (WA) - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 11:42
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 11:42
Hi TentEnKaMan,
Sounds difficult on a cheap 2-stroke. Might be simpler to invest in a long extension lead.
You could reduce noise by setting up a surround of thick felting/old carpet about a metre high, held up by 3 or 4 poles poked in the ground, arranged around the genny. Most of the noise will then go upwards. Should pack up easily as
well.
The 12v output from your genny is pretty low. You'd get best recharge on your AGM battery by using the 240v output and getting one of those 3-stage AGM chargers. Not cheap, but you'll pump plenty of amps into the battery, and safely.
Note you are using 20w halogens. Invest in 12v CFL flouros. You can get these quite cheaply (about $20) from Jaycar (cat SL2850 or 2852), but they need a protective cover, or buy a nice Versalite for about $100. You'll save a fair bit of power this way. You can also get 12v lights with an array of white LEDs. Not sure how good these are, but will use much less power.
Gerry
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: TentEnKaMan - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:12
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:12
Thanks for
the tip joc45 we do use a long extension cord bout 20m though could be longer. We also always set up in a corner park the car for a bit of noise shielding and make sure
our camp is in between the noise and anyone else. The noise doesnt bother you when you know you need it for power its those around you who get nothing from it that it ticks off lol . The felt is a great tip. Is easy to get free 2nd hand carpet will look into that when i get trailer. Thank you. I reckon since i got the bits sitting there i may knock up the muffler can anyhow lol . I used this coke can repair on a snapped exhaust on a 600 once although i did use hose clamps on that occasion lol it actually worked really
well. I called it my "perforamnce amatil exhaust system" (coca-cola amatil) lmao. Will only take half an hour to try out.
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Follow Up By: TentEnKaMan - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:19
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:19
Errr sorry where it reads snapped exhaust on a 600 means 600cc motorbike
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Reply By: me2@neuralfibre.com - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 11:56
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 11:56
240V charger will prob be 10A at best, and most likely less. Still going to take 5 - 10 times as long as an 80Amp alternator for $50 off a commodore.
Built one of these for the old mans boat for exactly this reason. Christie generator is the same thing with great packaging (and ouchie price).
I use the cruiser, but it's got a 120A alternator from factory, and the diesel is prety frugal. I won't idle it for hours though, might glaze it up. Take it for drive instead.
No easy way out of this game, I have tried.
Read my other post for info on battery economics - there is a link to battery isolator systems and discussion in there on battery ssytem costs and capacities.
Paul
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Follow Up By: TentEnKaMan - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:27
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:27
Thanks for the info Paul i thinki get it so if i have a 100aH battery charging at 10A gunna take 9hrs ? (90% use AGM) and the car would do it in an hour? hahahhaa fair point lol... I see my gennie will become obsolete with a decent battery setup. May try and quieten it down anyhows coz im stuck with it i need the trailer first :/ then im up for $600 between 115aH AGM and 500w PSW inverter can u post link to battery economics thread? I may have seen it anyhow I did trawl quite a few battery threads. We have a EL Falcon alternator pretty similar wattage?
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Follow Up By: TentEnKaMan - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:33
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 12:33
Speaking of which I dont probably have the room under the hood for a dual battery setup as I have LPG stuff under there already as
well :/. Was going to store battery on trailer and charge with gennie will have to rethink this :/
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Reply By: Axel [ the real one ] - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:50
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 13:50
Ive had the Scorpion 950 for about 4 or so yrs , [also have solar but thats not what your asking about] , do NOT try to charge a battery from the 12v outlet as it is unregulated , power from same can be anywhere from 12v upto 19/20v , as for quietening down ,one way is to braise an L shaped pipe about 6inches long onto the current muffler outlet and have it facing down to the ground , being 6 inches long it will extend down into the ground so you need to dig a hole about 2 shovel fulls round and deep where the pipe sits , drops the exhaust noise level from the normal 53db to around 40db ,quieter than a honda ,LOL. Ps , ours will and has run for 14hrs straight on the 1 tank of fuel [4.5lt] supplying 240v to a 15lt Engle + a 80lt Waeco + a 50lt Chescold and a 20yr old 60lt Engle + 2 old Cream and green 39lt Engles plus lights , would love to seea honda 1000 do the same.
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Follow Up By: TentEnKaMan - Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 15:27
Friday, Jun 01, 2007 at 15:27
great thank you axel, this is kind of the thing I was thinking of so nice to here its possible! We have run our scorpion about 16 hrs a day for four days with no prob.... lol its second hand too
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