a syphony of generators

symphony is what i meant

Gday,
Maybe he was using a different rule book to yours.
I cant see how you can have a "couple of rules that apply to everyone to keep everyone happy." 10pm doesnt always suit me? and some people have medical reasons for running a generator.
I think if you need a set of camp rules, a caravan park with a list of rules you can read before entering might be better.
And if there was a constant hum of generators it sounds like the rule was generators are accepted........maybe you should have just started up yours and joined in? When in Rome.......do as the Romans.

Cheers

if you want to camp with the crowds just accept the fact theres likely to be some people that dont fit within your definition of social acceptability.

otherwise just camp away from them elsewhere

Hello Trev@Ness B.
as a single camper I always free camp, not in road side pull ins but if possible a couple of hundred meters of the road, this way its just me no "stinking gen sets" a pet hate of mine, also this way I'm not smelling urine from the last couple of hundred campers that stayed at that roadside pull-in.

In my opinion, running a generator all night for a sleep apnoea in inconsiderate - you don't need a generator to run a sleep apnoea machine.

A number of people I camp with a have sleep anoea machines and don't use generators. There's plenty of options for running them off 12V. On occasions, they have had issues and I've leant them a solar panel or 12V-12V battery charger which keeps their spare battery charged when base camped and solves the problem.

Running a gen set day and/or night.. inexeperienced campers, and/or wrong equipment.

There's some basic logic here. One person using a generator can keep one hundred other campers awake.
Same in suburbia, one loud party....
There may not be any rules but surely basic consideration applies? If we pull into a camping area at 7pm and there's other people camping who've obviously gone to bed, we tip toe about. Equally so, we expect that, in a noisy camp site, when we go to bed at 10pm, others will quieten down.
It's called consideration and it used to be that people went camping to escape the rules and regulations that plague society but they take with them the same attitudes that caused those rules in the first place.

My question Trev is "who was there first?". If they were there first then they have the right to run the gennies when ever they want to, day or night. If you were there first then they should accept you were there first and keep the noise down. My point is, if someone sets up camp and no one else is around and they decide to run a gennie all hours they have done nothing wrong. If you then go and camp near them and expect them to keep the noise down then you are the one being inconciderate. When we travelled we always went by the first in rule. If we were there first then every one else who came played by our rules of noise ect. If we came in after some one else then we played by there rules. Pretty simple reallly and that should keep every one happy. Bet it doesn't happen though.
So Trev, who was there first????
Josh

Sensitive subject. From the thread I can see there are already some raw nerves being touched!
Common courteousy has to be the way to go if we all want to enjoy our camping. Obviously with the way people are and our society is made up, there are always going to be elements that don't give a damn and have the highest level of inconsideration that you can imagine. However.....I think that this inconsideration can sometimes go both ways.
Both ways? I hear some of you ask. By this I mean that no matter what the circumstance or geography, there are some campers that freak out and are prepared to go to war at the very sight of a genie. Reactions and objections can sometimes be completely over the top and I've witnessed grown adults stomping around like spoilt children because they feel their space has been breached.
I don't presume to tell others how to act, or react, to genies. I will say how I'd handle the situation and give an instance of situation we were involved in just over a year ago.
We had been to Karijini camping with friends. They were tenting and we had our trailer. We were all set for solar power but we carry a genie as a back up. Our friends had power issues so we had been powering 2 fridges off our set up. The batteries couldn't keep up forever obviously. Anyway this wasn't an issue as everything was working well up to the day we left for Millstream. We took into account our drive and were more than happy that our batteries would get recharged to maximum by the time we got to Millstream.
Unfortunately, and not sure how or when, but our Anderson plug wire had torn out and therefore the batteries had recieved no charge. We got to Millstream around 4pm and the batteries were pretty much flat. It was too late for us to capture any sun. When we arrived there were the elderly couple that were the camp hosts/commandants and two other sets of campers. Once I'd discovered our situation I explained to the hosts what had happened and asked them if I could just check with the other two if I could run a genie for just a couple of hours to give our batteries a bit of life. They were very blunt and borderline rude and said no. So there was one chap from Adelaide, Darren. He fixed our Anderson plug and said just run your car for a bit. This I did, and within 30 seconds the old lady marched over and told me to turn the car off. I obviously complied but wasn't happy. We were at risk of losing all our food stuffs and cutting short our visit to the park. This is where Darren stepped in and he used his power to run our two fridges and joined our batteries up to his solar set up the next day to breath in new life. Without him, we'd have had to leave.
So I know this is a little off the thread but its just a bit of an example where a little bit of compromise and consideration can go a long way. I think we showed that we were trying to do the right thing by being solar powered, but basically we had an `accident of circumstance'. All I wanted to do is ask for a little help from my fellow campers and gauge reaction. If everyone had said no, then I'd have just accepted it then probably have had to leave. I feel though, that given the circumstance, those other campers, would have granted permission and just wanted to help us out. I know for a fact that had the roles been reversed I would have accomodated their request. I'd have hated to see someones trip ruined by this inflexibility because of a little noise.
It shows that there are times when a genie maybe needed and sometimes all that is required is good communication and a little appreciation of the situation by all parites.

A post script to this story is that these two commandants that had their van about 80metres away from our set up, came by at just before 9pm and told us that `we may like to think about going to bed !!!!' UNBELIEVEABLE. All we were doing was sitting, as is our right, in mild conversation.........

A little commonsense can always help to diffuse this problem .If generator users display a sign at the front of their campsite saying"GENERATOR USED HERE" it tends to help others decide where to camp. Perhaps generator resellers could include such a sign in their packages?

Common sense, consideration and courtesy apply but if all else fails noise abatement rules applied by either the camping ground owner or if elsewhere the rules of the local council apply. The later is normally something like 7am to 10pm on weekdays make as much noise as you want and on weekends something like 9am to 7pm apply. Within these times a person has every right to make noise including gennies but I hope common sense applies. If you want to go to bed before these times and a genny is running - really your issue not the gennie owner - same rules apply at your home in suburbia - no different elsewhere.

However it is the boozie yahoos rather than gennies that worry me - inconsiderate yahoos are far more prevalent than inconsiderate gennie owners.

Garry

Hi Trev & Ness,

By now you are probably aware that generator use in a camping area is one hot topic and there will be an even spread of "for and against" answers.

Our view on generator use in the great goldfish bowl of life is this ..............
REGARDLESS of the need in the end ............ some people WILL run their generator ALL night.

As indicated, some people NEED to run a CPAP machine all night, although I would not trust my life to a machine that may run out of fuel, cease to start, cease to run continuosly or be turned off by an irate fellow (TIC) camper. One of our club members used a CPAP and made sure that there was sufficient power to run the machine all night and the generator (1KVA Honda) was only employed to top up the batteries and was usually only run 500 metres away from where we were camped.

We agree that some people have a "so what" attitude to generator use, like one feral who pulled up in a camp-site in a very well fitted out bus, rolled the 6.5 KVA gen set out next to the bus and then went to bed. We didn't realise that there were no opening windows on the bus and while we suspect the generator was employed to keep the interior of the bus cool, it may have been required to run a CPAP. Although they did leave early in the morning and did not wave or say good bye.

It would appear that there are more people out and about who have a "I don't care about you - it's all about me" atitude and also have little regard for any courtesy.

As a final to this, we were out on the Holland Track a number of years ago and camped in the (old) camp areas around the edge of the Victoria rock. We were getting ready for the evening when a couple of "good old boys" turned up to camp for the night. Eureka Stockade flag off one antenna and the Australian flag off the other on the 75 series ute. Torn off sleeves and lots of tats completed the "don't mess with us look". We chatted with them in passing and the boys asked what time generators should be shut down as they did not want to annoy anyone. At that point in time, we thought that nine pm was pretty good, wished them a good night and went our own ways. While we were on Victoria Rock later in the evening and basking in the light glow from their camp-site.......... at ten to nine ................ it all went dark.

While they may have appeared to be a "little" rough around the edges, we were happy to have them camped near us and they were polite and courteous.

For the moment it is enough of my ramble and I am not trying to force my view on others, although I'm sure there is a good reason that we seek out our own camping areas so we can enjoy our time in the bush.

If we wanted to be a metre away from noisy, drunk, objectionable and "me" people....

we would stay at home and invite our children over for dinner............. at least they would head home at the end of dinner when there where chores to be done lol.

Regards,
Wayne & Sally.

Generators?? Before I got the TPI (dont ask if you dont know) I went through some very dark times and breakdowns and the worst thing that I remember were generators chuffing along 24/7. So much for quiet camping to sooth the soul. No 4wd then so we were stuck to 2WD camping and van areas.

We stay as far away from generators and noise as we can. If we drive into a camp spot and there are caravans and/or generators there we just do a "U" turn and go elsewhere. We have found that where there are generators and caravans there is noise. When we had a van we could run the fridge on gas. That's quiet. We didn't take the TV even though one was a 12V version. We did take the model trains and slot cars one christmas for the boys (and Dad). No noise there.

Now we run two fridges in the car off three batteries and lights out early. Quiet and do not bother anyone. I guess that if I ever need it we could run a CPAP machine as well off the batteries.

In my opinion, as I am freely allowed to have, well so far I am, if you really need the TV, internet, huge 240V fridge and freezer, microwave and damned airconditioner and all that then you should either stay at a powered site or at home. And I am free to go elsewhere. Ahhh the peace and solitude of the deserts. Another good reason to travel solo.

Phil (apologies to offended mates if any)