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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- The generator is on eco mode, running a 6000 BTU AC. Before closing the lid, I turn the eco mode off as an example of running the generator with a heavy load.
For security, I used 3 pad locks with removable shanks to lock the box to the cargo carrier. Makes for quick removal if I need to take the box off the carrier, as opposed to U shaped bolts with nuts securing them.
The fans are AC Infinity, Axial 1238. Each moves 110 cfm, so 220 cfm total. There is room to add two more fans on the raised floor of the box, which I may do, because more air flow is a good thing in summer heat. But for now, this works fine.
The only other modification I plan to do is to shave the expansion foam on the lid flush with the plastic box ribs for more air flow over the generator. I added it to help absorb some sound, but it's not really necessary.
Thanks to @Nathan Bradley for his TH-cam video, which inspired me to build this set up.
Basic list:
DeWalt box from Home Depot ~ $90
AC Infinity fans (2) from Amazon ~ $30
Nuts, bolts and 2x2 diamond plate aluminum ~ $50
Locks with removable shank (3) from Walmart ~ $10/each
I have to admit this works so well, I'm thinking of making a smaller quiet box for my EU2000 generator.
Ingenious! You should put it on the market.
Thank you 🍻
Very neat, clean, secure, and efficient. Nice job.
Thanks John 👍
This is a professional work, the sound is very quiet, great job, Thanks
Thanks Mohamed! 👍
Fantastic work. I have a Freightliner Columbia that I'm trying to rig up something like this so I don't have to idle the engine for AC and power. I have a bunk heater for the winter and a 2500w inverter. I love this set-up.
Awesome! Good luck with your rig! 👍
Good results. I just need a final larger box for my o
Igen4500.
Great work. I am building one of these myself. Thanks for the close up shots, you changed my plan a little. lol Thanks again.
Awesome 🤙
If you end up uploading a video of it, tag me in comments. I like seeing different ideas!
Yes just watched Nathan's B. vers. But so glad you gave us ideas esp on the parts. Thanks!
Awesome! How's it going thus far?
Best of DIY’s
Thank you!
Very nice setup.
Thank you!
Loved seeing this. This box is very similar to the boxes I purchased from Home Depot with the same plan in mind. In fact my plan is to mount two of these on a platform at the back of my camper, one for generator, and one for Camp junk.
That's a great idea. I keep a 5 gallon fuel jug beside the generator box to keep gas fumes out of the van.
It is a great setup and the box was very well done.thanks for sharing. One thing though is to be careful to make sure the generator exhaust CO won't somehow seep into the van thru gaps esp if you leave the genset on overnight with the AC running. Happy camping!
Thank you. I will say, I feel like there's always room for improvement. So far, I've never had any exhaust get into the van --- knock on wood!
very cool. would really like to know the db difference in and out of the box.
Me too! lol...
Unfortunately, the eu3000 is so heavy, it is difficult to remove it from the box, especially when it is on the hitch rack. Maybe sometime when I have a buddy over, we can extract it and do a comparison. I'll post results if and when I do. Thanks for the idea.
Nice job.👍
Great mod.have a champion 3500 gen i need to get a box for to mount to our cargo tray. Your video gives me some ideas, i had not previously thought of
Thomas, have you made some progress on your box?
@@shift957 no, which model dewalt box did you use. Any details of materials used in making your gen box would be helpful
@@thomasdipaolo2349 I don't recall the model, but if you measure your generator, it would be easy to make sure the box is large enough. I put all info I could in the description area
@@shift957 oops, I did not see the details list in description prior to mentioning. Thanks ;)
Best setup I have seen so far. Do you have overheating issues like others do?
Thanks Mark. I've only used the generator to run the AC one night so far, and I did notice the top of the genny getting hot near the exhaust. In return, I shaved back the insulation foam and cut the exhaust hole lip out to allow for a slightly better air flow. No overheating thus far. The 2 fans are rated at 110-120 cfm each. It looks as if one or two more fans could be mounted on the raised floor of the box if overheating becomes an issue.
My portable generator weighs 239. How to remove gen for servicing, e.g., oil changes?
Possible to add like fatmat or dynamat to the sides and bottom for more sound dampening or was there no room for more?
I'm not familiar with using dynamat, but from a google search, it says dynamat is 50-60mm thick? That's almost 2 inches. If that is correct, I don't think there's enough room on 2 of the 4 sides for fit and airflow
LOL when your van AC goes out buy a $250.00 generator, a $60.00 Dollar storage Box, a $80.00 Dollar Hitch Shelf, a $250.00 AC window unit, another $100.00 in misc parts and cool your van down. It probably would have been cheaper to repair that AC I think, not to mention the gas needed to run that generator. I loved the video and the quiet Box. I gave your Video a thumbs up for ingenuity not economics. Thanks for sharing. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya
Never, would I have thought someone could be cretinous enough to think I did this because my van's ac doesn't work... But here we are!
I made this set up to power the digital AC while camping on surfing / kayaking / hiking trips. I sleep comfortably in single digit to triple digit temps on a queen bed inside. Insulated walls, ceiling and floor help, and the cedar ceiling is a nice touch and smells nice. I've run 12/3 and outlets to power a mini fridge, and heater for winter use, etc... And yes, the 7.3 powers the van's AC quite well while I drive. The generator is only for camping without shore power. I made the box to not only to protect an expensive generator from the elements and theft, but to also be courteous to others enjoying the outdoors without a noisy generator disturbing them.
Thanks for the comment, I guess. Hopefully you don't go around TH-cam commenting ignorant assumptions on the regular. 🤓
@@shift957 LOL. Occasionally I do, especially when the video keeps it's viewers ignorant by not saying why they did it, nor does the title. So yeah I was ignorant and made an ignorant assumption as to why you did it. Maybe a clue would have been that nice Kayak on the top. Eh, besides, I don't read minds very well half way across the country, and I'm not a particularly bright person anyways. I was just going by the title and what I've seen some other crazy folks do to cool their cars when the AC went out, I just ignorantly chalked it up to another one of those. My assumption, my Bad, I guess. I suppose if I had spent the time watching some of your other videos first, I might have caught that, but that's not why I came to this video. Maybe if the video title has said "Mobile Honda EU3000is Generator Quiet Box for off Grid van Camping" I might have not made such and ignorant statement. Or even if you had said something in the video as to why you did it. I don't go van camping either so it's not something I would have thought of to do. Oh well such is the life of an ignorant failed mind reader. :O(.....
l love the way you did your quiet box with the locks and foam insulated lid, also the quick disconnect cord on the back. You might try one of those weather proof outlets that has a shroud over the top of the cord when it's plugged in so if it rains the connection doesn't get wet. Overall I felt it was an exceptionally well done professional job, not like some of the other hack jobs I've seen. I'm designing a box for my home generator to keep the noise down too. I live in southern Louisiana and we're staring down two hurricanes and I want to keep it quiet for two reasons. One it's just the right thing to do for your neighbors and two, after Katrina some folks went around stealing Generators at night. They would listen to find them, then they would pull up a junk lawn mower and let it run so when they shut the generator down you didn't notice a change in sound in the middle of the night. So I figured with a locked quiet box that should solve those issues. Cedar is a nice touch on the roof, and yep it has a very pleasant smell as well. The van sounds pretty nice and comfy and I'm sure the quiet box and Ac make even more comfy. Thanks for sharing. Happy camping and Kayaking. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya
@Game Bred Duramax Yep they are expensive for sure they, they are pretty quiet too compared to most generators. My 7KW is pretty noise for sure, it will run two small window AC units and the house, just not the Central System, that has a 25KW start up surge. So that's why I got the two little 250 sqft units, so we could sleep in our rooms at night if the power goes out. How goes the camping and Kayaking? Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya
If someone ran a generator to cool a van, all those parts could be re-used for other purposes. So it would not be only for running AC in a van.. Those parts could also be bought at a good deal, in used condition and sold again for the same price after using them for 2 years or whatever. Clearly you haven't thought this through at all.
@Game Bred Duramax I paid $350 for my Honda in excellent used condition. You gotta shop around.
I also saw the Nathan Bradley video. Great video but I like yours better! I need your help. I'm also building the exact same box. I was planning to have a fan on one end of the box to draw air in and another fan at the exhaust end of the box to suck or blow air out. Having built the box already, do you think that my idea would work? I like what you and Nathan did and plan to do the same but I'm not about to "reinvent the wheel". I appreciate you posting the video and helping me out.
@Ride Virginia
Glad you liked the video. I had considered installing exhaust fans originally, but decided against it for 2 reasons. 1: If I only have 2 fans, using both as intake fans gives me 200 cfm (number given only as example) but if I use one as intake and one as exhaust, I reduce the cfm airflow by roughly half to about 100 cfm. So more cfm will help dissipate heat better and help evacuate exhaust. 2: I'm honestly not sure how well these fans would hold up to the hot exhaust flowing through them. I don't think they're rated for high heat, as they are intended for computers. So I wouldn't recommend them for exhausting the box.
I believe the absolute best option would be to make a duct from the exhaust vent of the generator to the vent of the box. This way, almost all the heat and exhaust is vented directly outside the box with no ability to recirculate within the box, keeping everything cooler. I have started in this direction myself, but have not finished it yet as other priorities have pushed it down on my project list. I am thinking of making the duct from thick rubber so it is flexible and not noisy as a metal duct would be.
@@shift957 Thank you! I'd like to see it when you're done.
Yes, would like to see video of your mod
Can I ask how you routed the exhaust as I cannot tell what you did? Is it blowing at the diamond plate on the right side? Love how you did this and I was thinking of doing something similar. Thank you for the inspiration.
I used the diamond plate to help shield the box from the heat. The diamond plate has room for air to flow behind it. I bent the edge of the plate down to help direct exhaust and airflow to the exhaust hole.
That being said, I haven't had time to revise to a new plan for the exhaust to be ducted out of the box, not allowing any exhaust to mix in and recirculate with the box. This greatly helps in keeping the generator cooler.
I am planning on using a thick rubber sheet as a flexible duct, permanently attached to the box, but able to be affixed to the generator by strong magnets. That way, it could be easily removed if I wanted to remove the genny from the box. This would require a new exhaust port to be added to vent the clean air and help keep temps cooler.
Thanks for the kind words, good luck with your project. If you have any other questions, just ask. 👍
Do the fans pull enough air into the box? I really like the idea
Oscar, having not put the set up to the test in hot summer heat yet, it is hard to say. With that being said, I am planning on adding 2 more of the same fans in the raised floor and installing an exhaust extension to ensure I am getting fresh, clean air into the generator. With both of those mods, I am confident there will be no overheating issues.
@@shift957 I'm going to pick up the dewalt box tomorrow and I also ordered 4 of the infinity fans. What was he purpose of the diamond plates in front of the fans? For the weather? Could I use something else? Sorry for the million questions
@@oscarapple1365 in my opinion, the metal plates do 2 things. 1: They help keep the elements out, mainly rain. 2: They provide one last "barrier" for the sound waves coming from the holes in the box. Without them, the sound would project directly from the holes. The metal reflects some of that sound back into the box rather than let it straight out. I also used 3M adhesive to fix a piece of Harbor Freight rubber shop mat on the exhaust side to help dissipate sound and heat.
No worries on the questions. Glad I could help. Good luck on your build 👍
@@oscarapple1365 I forgot to say, yes you can use something other than diamond plate aluminum. I know it is expensive. I used it because it wouldn't rust and looks good. You could use just a regular sheet metal, but I would recommend painting it. Thinner, non diamond plate aluminum may work too. I would avoid plastics and wood plates.
@@shift957 I'll be building a quiet box for my 6500W genny this winter and will be making an exhaust extension so I can route the muffler outside of the box and build a baffled box or cover using rockwool or mineral wool to cover the muffler with. I'll also make similar covers with internal baffles to cover the intake & exhaust holes on the quiet box to absorb & deflect the mechanical noise from the generator that leaks through the vent openings. You want the openings of the baffled covers to be facing downward so that any sound that makes it past the baffles is directed downward toward the ground. You have a really sweet setup, though. It works better than most I have seen. With my design I plan to put an intake fan near the carb and an exhaust fan at the opposite end, mounting it up high so that the heat can escape. If heat becomes a problem during long run times or during summer I'll add a 2nd exhaust fan that is thermostatically controlled to come on as needed. The closed cell foam lining you used is great stuff but mineral wool has better sound absorption qualities and it can withstand temps up to 1000 degrees. As for the baffled covers you just put them together like a car muffler where the internal baffles are mounted opposite to each other in a ladder configuration where the air/exhaust/sound has to zig-zag its way around the baffles through the length of the box until it reaches the open end. The idea is to create a lot of surface area to absorb the sound. If the baffles are put in at angles rather than just straight across from each other you can create noise cancelling where the sound waves deflect toward each other and it increases the over all sound deadening. This muffling technique can also be used inside the quiet box itself by using egg crate foam where you apply it across all of the hard corners at an angle & anywhere else inside the box that is not too close to direct heat or interferes with the crossflow ventilation. The more places you can find to mount sound absorbing material inside of the box the better. Rockwool, egg-crate foam, and cork are some of the best sound absorbing materials you can use. In short, not all thermal insulating materials are as good at absorbing sound vibrations as others. Using the right "sound absorbing" materials will make a quiet box a lot more quieter.
YOU SHOULD HAVE GOT THE HONDA 2200 INVERTER.WAY SMALLER AND Quiet....
I have one also. Portability is it's #1 asset. However, the 3000 is actually quieter and has a large enough fuel tank to run all night without refuelling. Depending on what I am running, the 2200/2000 gennys need refueled. I also power an 18' car hauler enclosed trailer w/12.5k btu ac and a small refrigerator. Both gennys can power it (the 2k Genny has a 30 amp plug) but the 2k is running about full tilt. So I find the 3k to be fitting for my travels, while the 2k is better for use around the property. Both are great generators 👍
@@shift957 I would definitely go with the eu7000 inverter by honda.Problem solved 👌 😉
I'll pay you to make me one for my Eu3000is.
I wish I had the time to. I still haven't finished the reconfig on mine yet. Ha