The next hair brained idea, rear generator box

[mtdave2]

[jjrbus]

Looks like a good job.  85 lbs, wow.  I only welded a little bracket on the frame added by National, the undercoating was tenacious. I believe I used acetone and then wire brush.

I had it welded, I cannot see the puddle anymore so I make mess's.        I am still weeks away from adding a box.    Jim

[mtdave2]

 

 

[jjrbus]

I see you have the same back tire mount as mine.  I wonder how they made the rear wall strong enough to hold it?  That is a lot of weight bouncing around back there. 

[mtdave2]

 

[mtdave2]

I do plan on using that tire mount, gona run a bracket up to it for more support.  Well, when I get the new ac, I will only need one generator so that will take 50 off, not putting the spare back there so that is another 40 or whatever. I had my honda dirt bike on the back a few times, its 400 pounds and I didn't even notice it. so....?

Now i figure I could tow something big if i wanted. take all the boxes off and run it like in the photo. I can see all sorts of options now that I am confidant it won't break off!

[jjrbus]

My Toy is an 04 and has 98K mi on it and that spare tire area is just fine.  You may not need to support it?

[mtdave2]

the mount is solid. I am going to use it to support something else! 

 

[payaso del mar]

wow.  really nice work!

[Totem]

Agree. The final design looks efficent and fantastic. Did you por15 it? Great job!

[mtdave2]

Thanks gents. Yes totem I did use por15. Will do a full undercoat once I'm all done screwing around.

Edited May 24, 2016 by mtdave2

[mtdave2]

 

[mtdave2]

[mtdave2]

Does interfere with the ladder a bit, not sure what I'll do about that, if any thing. 

If you have never used a rivet nut before, do. Every time I can use these I do. Great way to attach the box to the frame work. Ended up with 5 on each side.

 

 

[jjrbus]

Darn Dave, now another tool I must go buy

[mtdave2]

I have both of these, the second one does both metric and sae. LOVE these things!

http://www.amazon.com/Astro-1427-Hand-Rivet-Nut/dp/B004KLVJAA?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

http://www.amazon.com/Astro-1442-Thread-Hand-Riveter/dp/B003TODXQW?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01

[WME]

If your only doing a few, HF has a tool set with riv-nuts for $20 or so

[jjrbus]

I thought I was on top of things with my pneumatic pop riveter and long barreled impact hammer for buck riveting.  Metric or SAE, decisions, decisions.    If only doing a few I will go borrow Dave's 

[mtdave2]

Lol, more than welcome, come on over!

[mtdave2]

[jjrbus]

Honda states that their gensets are not to be put in enclosures,  people of great knowledge and wisdom on forums go on and on about not enclosing them.

This is a quiet box manufactured and sold in Japan for inverter generators by Honda!

Nice job, now to get it a bit better, if you have the room, your vents need to be baffled.  Noise likes to travel in straight lines, a baffle forcing the intake and exhaust around it would greatly reduce noise.

 

[mtdave2]

The exhaust is going to be plumbed out of the box. The vents are for the fans to pull the heat out. Honestly noise won't be a major deal, the Honda is quite enough. But I guess why not baffle? Lol

[mtdave2]

Now I am looking for some sort of 12v thermostat that I can wire up to turn on the fans when they are needed. Guess I won't know how hot this will get yet but I may have it done today to test.

[WME]

Many generators have a 12v charging plug, just hook up the fan there and when the generator is running so is the fan

[jjrbus]

The charging plug fan idea rings a bell?   I don't think it is advised with the Honda, need to look that one up.    

[mtdave2]

oh, I guess I was not clear. I have no problem powering the fan (as long as I am just using the one, I have a 2nd in case i need one on the intake side), I have a nice small a/c to dc converter that i will just plug into the 110 outlet. I was thinking about having the fan only come on when needed, but I just did a test and I will just let the fan run when ever the generators are running, so no problem. 

What Ideas do you all have for baffling the vents? I had everything running, without the plumbing out of the exhaust yet, and it was very acceptable to me. but why not try to make this thing even more quite? 

 

Edited May 29, 2016 by mtdave2

[mtdave2]

 

 

Edited May 29, 2016 by mtdave2

[mtdave2]

this is my parallel cable, does the same thing the $200 honda thing does. even has a breaker. =) 

[mtdave2]

Baffle. how about just a plate of metal at an angle like this. weld in sides, maybe line it with some sort of foam? 

 

[WME]

A simple baffle sounds good. Where does the fan go?

[jjrbus]

When I was into bus conversions, they could take big diesel gensets and make them whisper quiet.   They had the advantage of space and weight not being a concern. I lined the bottom of my generator compartment with sheet lead and the walls and ceiling with the fancy high $$$ foamed lead!  The concept was to get the airflow to go around corners, sound does not turn well. They also used giant mufflers and extended the exhaust above the coach. Extending the exhaust is simple, with 3" PVC pipe.

In your box I would make a suspended baffle, hard to describe so will try a simple drawing, I would be trying to keep the genset out of the line of sight of the vent  Where does the fan go, good question, with the amount of room you have I suspect it will have to go on the vent?   I would cobble something together out of scrap before putting any real effort into this. May or may not be worth the effort? But if I were doing it I would give it a try..

 

Another one steals my parallel cable idea, from now on I will patent my ideas! 

 

Edited May 29, 2016 by jjrbus

[zero]

On 5/9/2016 at 3:16 PM, Totem said:

good lord 2 honda 2000's on the back? w

Why would anyone want a Honda 2000 at all? It is only a 1600 watt generator. Why not just buy one higher-wattage generator? Like one generator that makes an honest 2000-2500 watts instead of 1600 like a Honda?

[linda s]

Well for one so I can pick it up. For another, the Honda wins hands down for quiet. No I don't own one yet but I have had to walk over to Honda's at other campsites to see if it was even running. I have also left campsites cause the neighbors were running noisy ones. Very unpleasant

Linda S

[jjrbus]

2 hours ago, jdemaris said:

Why would anyone want a Honda 2000 at all? It is only a 1600 watt generator. Why not just buy one higher-wattage generator? Like one generator that makes an honest 2000-2500 watts instead of 1600 like a Honda?

I  hope you do not expect sound reasoning from people that buy vintage, under powered motor homes?    Jim

[zero]

There are plenty of portable generators around just as quiet as  Honda.  You have to compare apples to apples though, and not a  true 2000 watt generator against a 1600 watt generator like a Honda 2000i.   But if the key factor for buying is so it's easy to pick up - well?  What can I say?  There are no magic generators on the market yet that I know of.