Ironduke2018 said:
Dear all.
Recently I have been considering the issue of power generation for off grid / wild camping trips. (none of which have we tried yet). I have two significant concerns here:
1) What is the attitude to DIY power generation within the community? How would you feel if your neighbor started a generator for an hour each day to top up his battery? Seems the american's take this in their stride..........!
2)The noise issue is a significant one yes, I completely recognize this, does anyone have a recommendation for a sound proofing box or a self built design that has actually worked well ? By well I mean, no complaints.
I have looked at all the youtube vids on this, it's all possible, but what's the status of this issue for UK tourers in general please?
The issues surrounding the use of petrol generators on touring sites can be contentious, with most caravanners being very anti-generator.
This is not altogether surprising, if you're on a caravan site anyway why not pay a bit extra to use the electric hook up if there is one supplied on site?
The original post mentioned 'off grid / wild camping' however, and this raises a fresh set of issues.
Would the wild off grid camping be a solitary enterprise, well away from other caravanners, tenters, motorhomers, cyclists, hikers and others who enjoy the peace and quiet of our lovely countryside?
If the answer to all of the above is 'yes', and you have the permission of the landowner to camp there and to use your generator then you don't have a problem.
Caravan rallies with one of the large club district associations can be a great and relatively inexpensive way to spend time off grid with fellow like minded campers, often enjoying locations where it's not usual for caravans to be pitched.
Generator usage on caravan rallies was not uncommon until a few years ago, but regular rally goers have now switched to the aforementioned solar power with low power usage led lighting and gas for kettles, fridges etc; to maintain a battery charge for a long weekend or even longer.
Some rally goers still use their generator on rallies, often for medical reasons to power nebulisers, electric wheelchairs et al.
The usage is entirely at the discretion of the rally marshall, often by prior arrangement, the hours of usage are restricted and the generator users are normally sited well away from other rally goers to minimise noise and potential nuisance.
I have an 80watt roof mounted solar panel which does a decent job of maintaining the battery state in the warmer months, I'm considering upgrading to an 150 watt panel to use my 80 watt panel on the roof of my garden shed to occasionally power 12v led lighting via a spare leisure battery which is on an electric charger in the shed anyway.
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I actually own a Honda pure sine wave 4 stroke 'quiet' generator, and I use it at a music festival that we go to every year to charge mine, and usually neighbouring caravanners batteries over the course of a long sometimes cloudy wet Bank Holiday weekend.
I wouldn't dream of carting it to normal sites with ehu, or to rallies for just a couple of days.
Our music festival has large commercial mobile generators all around the festival site and camping area which run all of the time to power the stage equipment, stage lighting, site lighting and many other things for a multitude of food outlets, stall holders and pop-up bars.
The commercial generator noise fades into the background as we all become used to it, so an hour here and there in the morning after breakfast with mine when everybody else is up and about is insignificant.
My little 'quiet' genny lives inside a little canvas tent housing which deadens any noise even further, and it can't be heard from outside my festival friends motorhome which pitches next to us every year. Often if the sun is shining my generator isn't needed, although I've come to the rescue of quite a few festival newbies who hadn't realised that they would do well to economise on 12v usage when they come for the first time and they would have ended up in the dark with no water pump and their fridge / freezer off because the gas is ignited from their leisure battery.
Horses for courses, if you're in a place where generator use is commonplace, such as music festival caravan parks then why not?
If you're on a site with 230v electricity available, or in a quiet beauty spot where other will really appreciate the peaceful environment, then why spoil it?
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