In article ,
says...

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:10:48 -0500, JustWait wrote:

On 12/23/2012 1:41 PM, GuzzisRule wrote:
On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:19:29 -0500, JustWait wrote:

On 12/23/2012 1:05 PM, GuzzisRule wrote:
On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 11:54:55 -0500, JustWait wrote:

On 12/23/2012 11:36 AM, GuzzisRule wrote:
On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 10:47:39 -0500, BAR wrote:

In article ,
says...

I just ordered this thing, on sale for $279.99. Anyone ever used or had one?

http://tinyurl.com/cz9eobb

This will be used primarily for camping trips and, if necessary, emergencies.

How quite is it while in operation?

Supposedly, 70dB. A few of the reviews commented on how quiet it was. I'm sure it's much louder than
the Honda of the same size, but I didn't want to spend over $2000 for a 3KW Honda!


No, like I said I think 70 isn't bad. Our home gen I think is in the low
80's but it runs the whole house. We keep in under the roof outside and
it's not too bad inside. During storms we can run 24/7 and nobody can
hear it... then again, we are on wooded half acre lots here.

If we need it at home, I'll put it in the outside basement stairwell. It'll be 8' below ground
level, outside, well-ventilated, and easy to keep out of the rain.


Might be a pain in the ass to work with there.. Quite frankly, in a
power outage or storm, at 70 db I wouldn't be too worried about where I
ran it. You might hear it in a room adjoining the part of the yard it's
in, but one room over you probably won't hear it at all. Doubt if your
neighbors will either, unless your houses are real close.

Not much of a hassle. Just for gas every few hours.


Is it a step down bulkhead? Could CO2 be an issue in the basement?

Yeah, I guess that wasn't a great idea either. Like I said, maybe I'll just put it on the patio with
sandbags around it.

You two are morons!!! Why are you worrying about CO2? I'd be worried
about CO (carbon monoxide).

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 16:58:39 -0500, JustWait
wrote:

I just replaced an 8D diesel engine starting battery (155 lbs, $325)
with a pair of the AGM 31Ms in parallel (75 lbs each). The 31Ms are
much easier for my wife to lift over the engine. :-) I've been
averaging about 2 years of life out of the 8Ds so the AGMs will
eventually pay for themselves if I can get an extra year or two out of
them.


Could you run a small cabin heater all night long with one of those
batteries?

===

Only if it was one of those wimpy little dash board heaters that plugs
into a cigarette lighter. A typical full-powered electric heater
draws over 1,000 watts which translates to over 100 amps at 12 volts
DC. You might get ten minutes if you were lucky and the battery
would age well before its time if you did it very often. What you can
do with an inverter and a big battery bank, is run an electric blanket
all night. We do that on the boat but our inverter runs from (8)
heavy duty golf cart batteries, about 1,000 amp-hours total.

On 12/23/12 4:58 PM, JustWait wrote:
On 12/23/2012 3:28 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:00:54 -0500, GuzzisRule
wrote:

I'm thinking of new batteries for the truck before much longer. Any
reason you particularly like the
Diehard you referenced? They're expensive as hell, and made by the
same company that makes WalMart,
Costco, and other batteries.

===

The reason why the 31M Diehard Platinums are so expensive is because
they are AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) technology. It's the latest and
greatest for long term durability in heavy duty, deep cycle usage.
Unless you deep cycle your truck battery, probably not worth the
expense. For inverter batts however, yes. The Diehards come with a
very good warranty of course, and are spill proof. They are also
available on sale from time to time which makes them a bit more
reasonable.

I just replaced an 8D diesel engine starting battery (155 lbs, $325)
with a pair of the AGM 31Ms in parallel (75 lbs each). The 31Ms are
much easier for my wife to lift over the engine. :-) I've been
averaging about 2 years of life out of the 8Ds so the AGMs will
eventually pay for themselves if I can get an extra year or two out of
them.


Could you run a small cabin heater all night long with one of those
batteries?

No. Maybe 15-20 minutes. You want electric power all night, you want a
small generator.

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 17:48:00 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"GuzzisRule" wrote in message
.. .

I just ordered this thing, on sale for $279.99. Anyone ever used or
had one?

http://tinyurl.com/cz9eobb

This will be used primarily for camping trips and, if necessary,
emergencies.

----------------------------------------------------------

I think that if you fire that thing up in a public campground, you'll
get thrown out very quickly.
Way too noisy for camping. Many public campgrounds even frown on the
quiet Hondas.

All of the public campgrounds we've used have had electricity, so I wouldn't know about the
generator noise.

If we were to use it while camping, it would be where there was no 'shore power'. I imagine we'd
either be alone, or amongst others doing the same thing.

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 17:53:24 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"GuzzisRule" wrote in message
.. .

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 10:31:03 -0500, JustWait
wrote:

On 12/23/2012 10:26 AM, GuzzisRule wrote:
I just ordered this thing, on sale for $279.99. Anyone ever used or
had one?

http://tinyurl.com/cz9eobb

This will be used primarily for camping trips and, if necessary,
emergencies.


Contractor generators are very loud... You will not want to use this
for
home use. We used to use one and had to put it in the detached garage
and run cables to the house or it would keep the whole neighborhood
awake. They are made for construction sites, hope you are not trying
to
cheap out on a tool, cause if it's home generation you are looking
for,
you probably bought the wrong tool...

Supposedly, this one is 'Super Quiet', with a 70 dB noise level. If I
use it at home, it would be
only for a few absolute necessities - with time management. I
primarily wanted something I could
throw in the pickup for camping trips where electricity isn't
available.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

70 db isn't close to being quiet. For comparison, the well known
Honda EU-2000i has a 53/59 db noise level (depending on load).
Every 3 db increase *doubles* the noise level.

Yeah, but the well known Honda costs right at $1000, and provides half the power as this $279 model.

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 17:58:04 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"GuzzisRule" wrote in message
.. .

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 12:43:11 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 11:27:44 -0500, GuzzisRule
wrote:

Supposedly, this one is 'Super Quiet', with a 70 dB noise level. If
I use it at home, it would be
only for a few absolute necessities - with time management. I
primarily wanted something I could
throw in the pickup for camping trips where electricity isn't
available.

===

70 dB is not super quiet, not at all.

These are reasonably quiet at 53 to 59 dB depending on load level:

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/Honda-EU1000IKC-Portable-Generator/p6548.html

70dB is approximately 10 times louder than 59 dB.

Even the small Hondas get annoying after awhile but at 29 pounds are
easy to carry and load into a truck.

....and cost almost ten times as much! Hell, I'm ex-military, not
ex-hedge fund manager or writer
for a union rag.

---------------------------------------------

John, the point is that if you are thinking of it for camping use
.... and plan to stay at public campgrounds ... they are most likely
not going to allow use of a generator like that. It's too noisy and
an annoyance to other campers. You might not mind, but others will
definitely complain. Heck, I remember back when we were into the RV
thing for a while. Campsites didn't like you running the generator
that came with the camper.




Apparently my camping use got overlooked. I wouldn't be using it at campgrounds where electricity is
available, but where I'm either alone or with others on a generator. I've never, while in
campgrounds in the US, had a need for a generator.

Friends who've traveled with their trailers to Alaska had need of a generator, both while
boondocking alongside the road and in some of the Alaskan campgrounds.

Hell, I won't even play a radio outside in the campgrounds we frequent!

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 15:47:00 -0800, thumper wrote:

On 12/23/2012 2:58 PM, Eisboch wrote:

John, the point is that if you are thinking of it for camping use ....
and plan to stay at public campgrounds ... they are most likely not
going to allow use of a generator like that. It's too noisy and an
annoyance to other campers. You might not mind, but others will
definitely complain. Heck, I remember back when we were into the RV
thing for a while. Campsites didn't like you running the generator
that came with the camper.

Anyone in a nearby tent will especially hate it.

Actually, I can't even think of a place we've stayed where tents were nearby. Usually the tent area
is well removed from the RV area.

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:01:51 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"GuzzisRule" wrote in message
.. .

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 10:32:14 -0500, JustWait
wrote:

On 12/23/2012 10:26 AM, GuzzisRule wrote:
I just ordered this thing, on sale for $279.99. Anyone ever used or
had one?

http://tinyurl.com/cz9eobb

This will be used primarily for camping trips and, if necessary,
emergencies.


Oooops, missed he "camping trips" part. Your camp neighbors are
gonna'
hate you for running a contractors genny at the campsite.. Just
sayin'..

At those kinds of campgrounds, electricity is available - wouldn't
need a generator. If camping in a
place where a generator is needed - like off the highway in Canada
somewhere - anyone else around
will be using their generator also.

-------------------------------

Nope. You are wrong. There are electricity-less campsites but they
are typically favored by people who want to truly connect with nature.
They go there to get away from noise, not to microwave hotdogs or run
a coffee maker.


I agree, but those aren't where we stay.

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:01:51 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"GuzzisRule" wrote in message
.. .

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 10:32:14 -0500, JustWait
wrote:

On 12/23/2012 10:26 AM, GuzzisRule wrote:
I just ordered this thing, on sale for $279.99. Anyone ever used or
had one?

http://tinyurl.com/cz9eobb

This will be used primarily for camping trips and, if necessary,
emergencies.


Oooops, missed he "camping trips" part. Your camp neighbors are
gonna'
hate you for running a contractors genny at the campsite.. Just
sayin'..

At those kinds of campgrounds, electricity is available - wouldn't
need a generator. If camping in a
place where a generator is needed - like off the highway in Canada
somewhere - anyone else around
will be using their generator also.

-------------------------------

Nope. You are wrong. There are electricity-less campsites but they
are typically favored by people who want to truly connect with nature.
They go there to get away from noise, not to microwave hotdogs or run
a coffee maker.


They *are* where we stayed when we were doing all the motorcycle camping. But then all we needed for
heat was a little candle lantern in the tent and heavy duty sleeping bags - but not in Houston.

On 12/23/12 8:56 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 16:58:39 -0500, JustWait
wrote:


Could you run a small cabin heater all night long with one of those
batteries?

I would use propane for heat. You would use less than the gas to run
the generator.
Generators are the most expensive power you can buy. Use them for
things that you can't do old school.


Right, if you're not worried about CO, you can worry about hypoxia,
especially in a closed area!