Camping Generator Sound Box

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LDUBS

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We took the trailer to a state park near Santa Cruz easier this week. Very nice to get away from the heat and smoke.

Unlike most of the places we go, this campground had electrical and water hook-ups. When those are lacking we have a 3800 watt "portable" generator mounted on a rack in front of the trailer. Though, at 100 pounds I don't find it all that portable.

While this generator is pretty quiet to begin with, I built a sound cover to cut the noise even more. It is 1/2 exterior ply coated with epoxy resin and then paint to match the trailer. The inside is lined with rigid acoustical insulation. I was going to add a layer of Mass Load Vinyl, but decided I didn't like the cost or the added weight. That strange looking thing sticking out on the right side is where the exhaust pipe goes and also incorporates a 650 CFM exhaust fan to help keep the gen from overheating in the enclosure. I've determined that my air intake opening on the left side (can't be seen in the pic) is too small for the airflow I think is needed. I will be doing some surgery to remedy that.

At 25 feet I measured 51.5 dB. It isn't the most beautiful thing but does the job.


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It has a 2.2 gallon gaso tank. The brochure says it will run up to 8.5 hours at half load. So far I've never run it long enough to test this.

I bought this larger capacity generator so we would have enough juice to run the trailer's air conditioner. Every camping trip we have taken during the hot weather months has been towards the coast so we haven't really used the AC that much. Most of the AC usage is me turning it on and letting it run for a while just to make sure it is working.
 
51 db isn't bad at all. That's comparable to the inverters I use for my bow fishing rig and I can carry on a normal conversation without having to raise my voice to be heard. If you decide that you want to increase the airflow to the generator you can always mount an electric fan out of an auto and run it with a 12v battery.
 
Thanks Eeshaw. When I was putting this together I looked at a lot of radiator fans as an option. I could never find any sound level info so was reluctant. I ended up with a 110V 650 CFM exhaust fan, the only reason being a guy had used the same model fan in his sound box. I power it from the generator.
 

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