Generators and Remain Stealth

[fraz627]

I plan on doing a lot of stealth living in the city. Also plan on using a generator to recharge house batteries. My van will have a sort of garage at the rear sectioned off from the remainder of the van.

If anybody out there is in the same situation, how do you handle it.

thanks
Fraz

 

[highdesertranger]

so you are planning on running that generator 8 hours a day? first off IMO the only person you are fooling with stealth is yourself. anybody that wants to know you are in there knows. highdesertranger

 

[Sky King]

The sound of silence link
Move to Michigan where we don't need air cond.

 

[B and C]

Move to Michigan where we don't need air cond.

But a great big heater would be a plus!

 

[Sky King]

If your speakers are big enough they'll never hear the generator. Problem solved

 

[C-Cat]

They way I would do full-timing in a city is to only "stealthy" park overnight for "sleeping" - means, spend the daytime / evening hours at any mall / shop parking lot with lot's of traffic around and park in a way that generator noise wouldn't annoy people in houses or businesses nearby. Run your genny to your heart's content, you will likely never get complaints or be bothered by police, particularly if you move around and don't park in the same spot every day. Then when it's time to sleep, turn the genny off and drive to your "sleep" parking area (hopefully really close-by) and just go to sleep. The idea is to just look like any other parked vehicle, so no rummaging around or running lights / appliances, just sleep. After waking up immediately drive to another day time spot like above. Of course if you're in a climate that is too hot at night to sleep without ac, you're pretty much out of luck, because you'd need an ungodly amount of battery capacity to run even a small window AC unit over night and the AC noise would also negate your "stealthiness"!

 

[MrNoodly]

Bob has a video with a guy who runs his Honda generator inside and has the exhaust running out through the floor. I imagine if you used a large enough muffler you could be almost silent.

 

[C-Cat]

Bob has a video with a guy who runs his Honda generator inside and has the exhaust running out through the floor. I imagine if you used a large enough muffler you could be almost silent.

You could not buy me enough CO detectors to even consider trying that!

 

[Sky King]

I planned on putting the solar panels, batteries, controller on the alum snowmachine trailer why not the 1000/800 watt generaator in an aucoustical box rhru the floor into a 2nd muffler so the enire poer system is on the trailer. Motorhomes do it inside just in a box wich I'd feel safe with it in a sealed latched down box inside the ambo with fresh air intake & exhaust to the outside.

 

[highdesertranger]

just a word of warning about generator exhaust extensions. they up the back pressure(always) sometimes considerably. same with "adding a bigger muffler"

which will make the genny run rich, which means even more pollutants and CO(carbon monoxide) pumped out.

an extended intake has almost the opposite effect, leans out the mixture, still bad.

don't believe one will cancel the other. without expensive equipment you are playing with fire(literally)

if you search for "RV generator extended exhaust" you will notice that the extension is not connected directly to the exhaust. there is an air gap, by doing that way there is no added back pressure.

highdesertranger

 

[Sky King]

With stationary Onans I've buried a 55 gal steel drum so it was totally underground run the SS flex pipe sealed in one hole & an elbow on the outlet hole & worked well with no back pressure at all. Common practice back then. On ultralights we run intake silencers also. You can read the spark plugs to tell it it's tuned correctlly.

 

[RogerD]

just a word of warning about generator exhaust extensions.  they up the back pressure(always) sometimes considerably.  same  with "adding a bigger muffler"

which will make the genny run rich,  which means even more pollutants and CO(carbon monoxide) pumped out.

an extended intake has almost the opposite effect,  leans out the mixture,  still bad.

don't believe one will cancel the other.  without expensive equipment you are playing with fire(literally)

if you search for "RV generator extended exhaust"  you will notice that the extension is not connected directly to the exhaust.  there is an air gap,  by doing that way there is no added back pressure.

highdesertranger

Is there any real proof of an extended exhaust increasing back pressure. Other than people saying it is true. I can't find anything.

The exhaust is like 1/2 inch and you could go from it to 1.5 - 2 inch extended exhaust. I find it hard to believe it will have any effect.

 

[highdesertranger]

oh boy, you know what I am not going to sit here and argue with you two. put 4 miles of exhaust on it I don't care. if you don't think it increases the back pressure you should have paid more attention in physics. highdesertranger

 

[RogerD]

I planned on putting the solar panels, batteries, controller on the alum snowmachine trailer why not the 1000/800 watt generaator in an aucoustical box rhru the floor into a 2nd muffler so the enire poer system is on the trailer. Motorhomes do it inside just in a box wich I'd feel safe with it in a sealed latched down box inside the ambo with fresh air intake & exhaust to the outside.

I'm building a swingaway hitch similar to the stowaway (just wider) and thinking of putting a box on it to put the generator in when running it.

This week I'm going to see how much I can reduce the noise from the generator using layers of Firecode 5/8 sheetrock and Green Glue Noiseproofing Compound. Will see what happens.

 

[Sky King]

I just posted what I've done & works, I'm not here to argue with anyone. It's your deal do it as you wish. Mounting the entire system on the trailer away from the ambo seems like the safest to me but you do it as you want. I thought this was a place to share what has been done & works & is proven or bouncing around ideas or am I mistaken?
Sorry if I offended anyone else  :s

 

[Doubleone]

^^"Is there any real proof of an extended exhaust increasing back pressure."

Inquiring minds want to know... and the answer is, Yes!  It's fluid dynamics, there are frictional losses with any length of tubing.  Look up Colebrook-White, Darcy-Weisbach, and Fanning frictional loss equations for the hard science behind the phenomena.  Colbrook-White equation is probably the most relevant to internal combustion engines.  Exhaust gas is compressible but also subject to harmonic waves and temperature changes.  Research the first, second, and third order harmonic wave tuning of race engines for that explanation.  Any changes in volume or length have a very significant effect, and it affects both intake and exhaust, but in different ways. Texture can also affect flow. The reason an engine with a long exhaust of given diameter may go rich is because the length causes back pressure and reduces intake vacuum (less air for a given amount of fuel, aka rich).    Theoretically this could be compensated for by adjusting the carburetor jetting or Lamba fuel trim, but the performance of the engine won't be the same.  If you need real-world hands-on see-it-with-my-own-eyes-or-I-won't-believe-it proof, try an experiment before and after severely restricting your car exhaust while driving on a highway with a vacuum gauge attached to the intake.  Another experiment... try breathing through a drinking straw for a couple minutes.  One can offset some losses and reduce back pressure by increasing the diameter of the tubing, aka bigger straw equals less back pressure.  Still not convinced... then I suspect the "real proof" you seek is going to cost you at least 4 years and a lot of money to get that engineering degree. 

 

[Sky King]

If you use larger exhaust tubing then no problem with back pressure. If you wrap the tubing with header wrap it will cut down on engine noise resonating in the rubing. Correct or not? You read engine richness or leaness by looking at the ceramic part of the spark plug. Done it for years in motocross, airplanes etc. You want a creamy coffee color, no soot(too rich) no white(too lean) again correct or not. Link to reading sparkplugs by Champion https://www.championautoparts.com/P...-and-maintenance/how-to-read-spark-plugs.html
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2012/12/20/reading-101-how-to-read-your-spark-plugs/
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2012/07/18/how-tune-your-four-stroke-dirt-bike-7-steps/
http://www.challengers101.com/IntakeTuning.html
Let me ask this on school busses the long 40' foot bus & the 20' bus run the same engine, right?

 

[owl]

OP, I noticed you haven't responded since the original question. I will attempt to answer your query based on my experience. I don't think running a generator in a vehicle would go unnoticed at any time of day, particularly at night. The most expensive gens run at about 50 to 60 decibels. Conversation is about 60 decibels. the closer you are, the louder. I don't believe you could make a gen. run quiet enough to not be noticed by folks in your area. The matter of fuel would also be a major consideration and a pita.

 

[Sky King]

IMHO Charge the batteries during the day when you're at work, at the store, driving if safe, not at night when it's quiet. You can't run a generator & an ait conditioner near peple without them knowing so have the batteries topped off before your night parking spot.

 

[B and C]

^^^ Great advice.