Generator noise/vibration question

[mrchiefe7]

We have a 2020 Gulf Stream BT Cruiser 5240 with an Onan QG4000, Model 4KY-26100R generator. This model has a pull down murphy-bed located in the front. The generator is located directly under the bed. When we are camping without electric hookup and need to run the A/C or heater, the generator needs to be running and between the noise and vibration from the generator it is pretty hard to sleep. Has anyone been bothered by this same thing and were you able to come up with a solution to help lower the noise/vibration?

 

[Chuck v]

Your heater should run off the house battery and not need the generator to operate... The fan on those propane heaters do pull a lot of amps, so you might want to increase the battery bank capacity for such dry camping uses. You can use the generator or solar to top of the batteries during the next day.

Air conditioning is only going to work on the 110 from shore power or from the generator -- may have to do without the air during the times you want enough quiet to get some sleep. You can look into inverters and very large battery banks, but you may not have enough space (or commit enough cash) to take that route...

You still have to charge up the inverter's battery bank in the hours you are not being 'quiet' and sleeping, so plan for an even larger generator and/or very large solar panels.

Chuck

 

[mrchiefe7]

Thanks for your reply. You are correct the heater would run off the propane/house battery. We only have (1) 12-volt battery and no solar. And if it is hot out it is very hard to sleep without A/C.

 

[proost]

Thanks for your reply. You are correct the heater would run off the propane/house battery. We only have (1) 12-volt battery and no solar. And if it is hot out it is very hard to sleep without A/C.

You might consider investing in a couple of lithium batteries which will give you 4x the capacity you now have and give you the ability to run your furnace off of battery when you need it. I have a couple of these (www.redodopower.com) as well as eight of the pricier brands (Lion Energy). I like these better. These lithium battery are meant to be drop in replacements and you can charge them with your non-lithium optimized converter and onboard charging system but eventually, you'll want to make some mods to upgrade. Since you have a 2020, you can check to see if your setup is already there.

 

[THenne1713]

Battery will run furnace 4-5 hours in 25deg weather on mine b4 cranking engine or gen to recharge.... longer in warmer weather

 

[mrchiefe7]

I want to thank everyone's replies. I should not have said anything above the heater. Everyone is right that it can run for a long time using the battery. It is more about when it is hot out and need the A/C to be able to sleep at night without electric hookup.

 

[Chuck v]

Thene1713,

I am startled by the short run time for your furnace. Even the largest 40,000 BTU old technology ducted furnaces for RVs draw only 9 amps of 12 volts to run, and the typical 24K modern unit demands only about 3.5 amps.

5 hours at 5 amp of draw only amounts to 25 amp-hours (or about 25% of the charge on a SINGLE deep cycle 12 volt battery commonly used on RVs -- most RVs have at least two of these batteries in parallel so capacities are likely much higher.

Sounds like your batteries may be end-of-life and not providing much capacity...

Chuck

 

[Gulf Santa]

My BT came with a Generac Guardian that was noisy. I just installed a new RVMP 4000I. Much quieter. When traveling it is hard to hear if it is on. You can still hear that it is running under the bed when in bed. We stop in rest stops and here and there and some constant noise is better than no noise when sleeping in rest stops.