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Old 09-02-2015, 09:52 AM   #1
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Generators...love them or hate them?

Do you use a generator for Boondock camping or camping in state and national parks that do not offer hook-ups.

Most of my camping is in these types of locations and I own a quiet inverter type generator.
Most of these campgrounds offer well shaded sites...I tried a solar unit for battery charging and it left too much to be desired.
Most if not all state campgrounds restrict generator use to quiet inverter types and allow use during limited AM and PM hours (about 2-6 hours a day) as not to create a constant generator sound level. This keeps the peace and allows battery charging and power hours for showers and such to reduce battery drain. The system of rules works out just fine.

If you use a generator what size and brand do you use.
Do your campground neighbors ever complain about your generator?

In my many years of using an inverter type generator I have never gotten any negative feedback from campers.
I have seen campers complaining about loud music...but that is another matter.
The music was always at least 100 decibels louder than my generator!

This could turn into a hot button issue.
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Old 09-02-2015, 04:04 PM   #2
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Honda EU2000I, never any complaints as I run it in the truck bed which muffles it a bit more. Use it everyday, coffee & micro and rarely more than ten minutes. I boondock, the few times I've been in a close park setting I was never bothered by some ones genny running. As for loud music, well that's annoying......at least gennys sing the same tune
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Old 09-02-2015, 04:06 PM   #3
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Honda EU2000I, never any complaints as I run it in the truck bed which muffles it a bit more. Use it everyday, coffee & micro and rarely more than ten minutes. I boondock, the few times I've been in a close park setting I was never bothered by some ones genny running. As for loud music, well that's annoying......at least gennys sing the same tune

NO COMPLAINTS... Mostly because most campers are to polite to complain. There's been many times I would like have complained but I know it would just make an enemy, so I just suffer.
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Old 09-02-2015, 04:35 PM   #4
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NO COMPLAINTS... Mostly because most campers are to polite to complain. There's been many times I would like have complained but I know it would just make an enemy, so I just suffer.
Well I have a question for you Byron. I've read many posts/comments from folks that seem to hate gennys but none that I can remember have ever stated why other than noise. Is it because some one is running one for hours on end? Or even a few minutes is too long? Personally, some ones barking dog is worse, it doesn't run out of fuel.
Yup, I can see this post going sideways. I was only answering the OPs questions, not judging others uses for or against them.
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Old 09-02-2015, 04:50 PM   #5
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Yup, can see this topic going sideways.
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Old 09-02-2015, 04:50 PM   #6
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Well I have a question for you Byron. I've read many posts/comments from folks that seem to hate gennys but none that I can remember have ever stated why other than noise. Is it because some one is running one for hours on end? Or even a few minutes is too long? Personally, some ones barking dog is worse, it doesn't run out of fuel.
Yup, I can see this post going sideways. I was only answering the OPs questions, not judging others uses for or against them.

I'll try to answer your questions. Noise is the main objection. I haven't seen a generator that doesn't make some noise, there may be some, but I haven't seem them. Even running one for a short period of time can be annoying at times. If I'm listening to a bird call I haven't heard before and trying to identify it, and generator starts up, my enjoyment is destroyed.
There's tendency of people in RVs to move portable generators as far away from their RV as possible, I'm assuming to reduce the noise level inside the RV, that could be a wrong assumption. But, they end up at times with generator right beside somebody else.
Generators have some inherit dangers, volatile spilled gasoline is one, the other is carbon monoxide. A few years ago some young folks were killed by CO when an RV with build in generator next to their tent cranked up the generator while they were asleep.
But it's mostly the noise that people I've talked to object to. Also as far as I know there no noise limit as to how loud they can be. Once while camping on Lake Mead some had generator without any muffler. Even the campground host made comments, but couldn't do anything to stop it.
Even the quiet generator like Honda and Yamaha will get loud with heavy load.
I don't about anybody else, but generally I go camping to get away from the noise of the city and want to listen to sounds of nature, wind in the trees, gentle sounds of water rolling over rocks, the chatter squirrels, and songs of birds. A generator, even a ways away, covers up these sounds.

END OF RANT and hopefully answers some questions. I haven't and I won't complain if you camp next to me and run your generator. I won't like it, but you'll never know that.
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Old 09-02-2015, 05:59 PM   #7
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I have not camped with a generator yet, but a Honda 2K is on my wish list for Xmas this year (if I continue to be a good boy). I hope to never need it though. I intend to get my boondocking energy needs met with solar, and the occasional move with the tug charging the batts. However, I am realistic enough to realize that there will be occasions when I must charge off a genny. I expect to only do so in suitable locations/situations and for 2-3 hours every 2-3 days in the worst case.

It had been a llooooonnnnggg time since I had been around one of the little inverter gennys when a couple of months back we attended a rural wedding where one of the little Yamahas was used to run music and a sound system. They used what cord they had, and the thing ended up on my side not 40 feet from me. I heard the thing, but it in no way interfered with the wedding and to be honest, when I was concentrating on the activity up front I forgot the thing was over there.

I would not want to be in a campground full of them running all the time. But a few here and there running a few hours mid-day is not going to ruin things either. I will just go for a hike!
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Old 09-02-2015, 06:07 PM   #8
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I have a Honda EX350. Yup a whopping 350 watts. It is a two stroke, but I suspect that even Byron would not hear it, even under full load. The wind rustling the leaves is louder.

I have run it, but I have never seen the need to use it. Mostly it is for charging my battery when 80 watts of solar don't.
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Old 09-02-2015, 06:48 PM   #9
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Have to agree with Byron. Even the quiet gensets annoy me. 100 watts of solar and towing supply all the juice we need. Too often poorly trained dogs also irritate and scare away the wildlife to boot. Still I don't complain. I am even trying to figure out how to silence all the beeps my car makes when locking and unlocking.

We still call our outings camping. Bird calls, breezes in the trees, crackle of a fire, a babbling brook, a child's laugh are the sounds I enjoy. I can get all the noise I need in the city. Our camping usually happens in the shoulder seasons, when campgrounds are less crowded. Staying in national parks, lakeshores and forests helps too. The big rigs with all the comforts of home, including noise, tend to go elsewhere.
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Old 09-02-2015, 07:26 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Uplander View Post
Generators...love them or hate them?

I have seen campers complaining about loud music...but that is another matter.
The music was always at least 100 decibels louder than my generator!

This could turn into a hot button issue.
Me thinks you are exaggerating a situation. Your 3100 watt Generator is at least 60db and a sound pressure level of 160 dB is usually found at a rock concert, with 10,000 watt sound systems. Here's a reference:
Decibel Equivalent Table (whats how loud) | Decibelcar.com the Car Audio Knowledgebase



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Old 09-02-2015, 07:37 PM   #11
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I have a Honda EX350. Yup a whopping 350 watts. It is a two stroke, but I suspect that even Byron would not hear it, even under full load. The wind rustling the leaves is louder.

I have run it, but I have never seen the need to use it. Mostly it is for charging my battery when 80 watts of solar don't.
I have to agree I probably would have to be pretty close to hear that one. At one time I wanted buy that generator, but only one could find were well used and expensive. That was before I bought solar. A friend has one and standing there when he started it up. Most RVers turn their nose up at 350 Watts. They want enough to run AC and Micro Wave at the same time.
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Old 09-02-2015, 08:03 PM   #12
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The only reason I'd want a generator is to run the AC when boondocking. We have solar and it more than meets our power needs for everything else.

I see no issue with running a generator when camping if thats your bag, but camping and sitting in an RV park are two different things.

It's like anything else- we think about what we do/don't do in terms of how it might impact someone else. It used to be called manners, and it was commonplace. Today, not as much.


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Old 09-02-2015, 09:10 PM   #13
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We relish camping "off-the-grid", rarely using the trailer battery.

I agree with Byron. Many, if not most of our camping trips have been marred by the sound of generators. Generally, campers that use them stay inside their camper and we NEVER see them. I would not complain because I don't relish the inevitable conflict.

I'm always delighted when we have a choice of a no-generator zone when camping. We moved from a lovely spot next to the creek in Sequoia National Park in California to a basic non-generator camp only to find the street crew was up bright and early running heavy equipment. Sometimes we just can't win!

Often I pine for the old-days when we did tent camping, no generators there (usually). And then I remember there were loud noises there too; dogs, children, loud groups late at night, and vehicles going back and forth.
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Old 09-02-2015, 09:24 PM   #14
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We relish camping "off-the-grid", rarely using the trailer battery.

I agree with Byron. Many, if not most of our camping trips have been marred by the sound of generators. Generally, campers that use them stay inside their camper and we NEVER see them. I would not complain because I don't relish the inevitable conflict.

I'm always delighted when we have a choice of a no-generator zone when camping. We moved from a lovely spot next to the creek in Sequoia National Park in California to a basic non-generator camp only to find the street crew was up bright and early running heavy equipment. Sometimes we just can't win!

Often I pine for the old-days when we did tent camping, no generators there (usually). And then I remember there were loud noises there too; dogs, children, loud groups late at night, and vehicles going back and forth.

This is why my preference was backpacking until we started camping with some hobby groups. Then getting dressed while laying on your back got old real fast. Then it was back to the campground in a trailer. I still wish I could just put on my backpack and get lost for a couple weeks.
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Old 09-03-2015, 06:33 AM   #15
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I was at a state campground a few weeks ago where they had a few electric sites but most were not. I went for a walk and heard a gen. running. Whats the big deal? I hardly heard it. If you are going to go where people are you are going to constantly hear some one driving buy, setting up, breaking up camp. Dogs, cats, babies, toddlers, teenagers. Adults who act like teenagers. So forth so on. Just my thoughts, by the way i do not think i will ever get a Gen. to many things to carry. Carl
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Old 09-03-2015, 08:02 AM   #16
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I too yearn for the good ole days when camping meant a tent, a lovely warm wife, zip together down bags, a campfire and a Svea 123. But over the years the ground got harder and dressing lying down became more difficult. Now our Scamp has many comforts of home. Still we smile at the folks who bring, ATVs, gensets, outside TVs, mopeds, 40 foot - multi-slide beasts, and spend most of the time in their rigs. We also smile at nearby tenters, sitting at a picnic table wearing rain gear, eating their warm and soggy meal. Been there and loved it.

To each their own. As Mr. Bennett said, "For what do we live but to make sport of our neighbors and they can laugh at us in their turn" or something like that. When we show off our rig we mostly get two responses, about 50/50, "Too small, we'd kill each other" or "So cool, We want one.". As with most things, YMMV. Thankfully most campers are really nice folks no matter how many toys they bring along, though the fgrv folks are the best.

Forty five years on I still have the lovely warm wife. Yet the bed is softer and the bathroom is 4 steps away. And nature is still amazing, if a bit more crowded. I'm very lucky. Jill is less lucky in her mate, but still always says yes to camping. Life is good.

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Old 09-03-2015, 08:35 AM   #17
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I don't carry a generator; I have enough solar to cover 99% of my needs. While I don't mind the sound of them most of the time, when someone nearby (or in a few cases, all the way across the campground) fires up their open frame construction generator I do cringe.

If I changed my mind & added a generator, it would be one of the quieter inverter generators form Honda or Yamaha. I've walked around campgrounds listening, and found them the quietest. While it would be convenient to be able to run the AC on very hot days, the inconvenience of carrying fuel, the generator itself (I don't have truck) isn't worth it.
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Old 09-03-2015, 09:07 PM   #18
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Well, that went sideways very quickly. This thread is closed.
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