Cheap generators at the track

[deadhead]

Is there no generator etiquette??? Nothing pisses me off more (except folks driving in the passing lane below the speed limit) than people with loud, cheap ass generators. Come on. Most of you can pull and replace a piston or clutch at the track. Can’t you spend an hour of your time and make a muffler for it? And just because you have a long enough extension cord you can move the generator out of YOUR campsite, that doesn’t mean I want it in mine.

If it wasn’t so annoying, it would be funny—guys with brand new Lincoln Navigators or 3500 series trucks, large trailers and a handful of race bikes, but they only spent $250 on a combination generator/jackhammer. Did you run out of money? Don’t you think it’s TOO FRICKIN' LOUD???

And campers, get your RV or trailer house batteries working. I’ve been out overnight at the track with temps below 30 and my single battery can run the furnace all night long at a comfortable temp. There should be no reason to run your generator 48 hours straight.

For you Honda inverter owners, may the Lord bless you and your families. I always look for you at the track.

deadhead

 

[Patman]

AMEN!

 

[MXGirl230]

DON'T even get me started!!! One reason why I HATE tenting it at Red Bud!!!

 

[mtk]

A muffler won't quiet a cheap generator as much of the noise is mechanical engine noise.

 

[Chili]

For you Honda inverter owners, may the Lord bless you and your families. I always look for you at the track.

deadhead

I accept your blessing, and while I'd never intentionally bless a Yamaha product :p their new line of quiet generators are nice to camp beside as well.

 

[Dewster]

And campers, get your RV or trailer house batteries working. I’ve been out overnight at the track with temps below 30 and my single battery can run the furnace all night long at a comfortable temp. There should be no reason to run your generator 48 hours straight.

Ditto!

 

[FiremanCRF450R]

I've been known to get up about 2:00 A.M. and turn a generator or two off of unsuspecting owner. :laugh:

 

[motometal]

amen to all that, we've had some of that at Dirt Week. Noise while trying to sleep is bad, part of what I look forward to on vacation is hearing the tick tick tick of the oil pumpers, and the howl of the coyoties. A couple of years back there were generators running during "campfire time", so that folks wouldn't miss their sitcoms on the satellite TV. What the???? In my opinion these people are missing the true spirit of DW...half the fun isn't the riding, its the BSing and bench racing.

rant mode off.

 

[slickpuss]

I dont think my batteries will run a tv, playstation, radio, microwave and a blender at 2am. Sorry for the noise. If its any consolation, its almost just as loud in the trailer as outside.

 

[deadhead]

I suppose the hardest part for me to accept is that the people who NEED to run their generators all night because they are relying on electric heat are usually the ones with the loudest generators.

For those of you contemplating a generator buy, please stay away from the blue Coleman Powermate 5250 Watt jackhammer. Thanks.

 

[2-Strokes 4-ever]

I always thought everyone was impressed by my straight-pipe 10hp Briggs&Straton!.......(it's the 4stroke guy in me)

 

[BSWIFT]

I think I'll pick up a used 250F, any make. Put a BigGun exhaust on it and use it to drive a generator. Then I'll park right next to the poser driving the $80K rv with the $10K bike that is sandbagging the Sportsman class.
At a rodeo a couple of weeks ago, a guy had a cheap, no name Justql type generator with a Subaru exhaust. Almost as quiet as the Honda with 5 X the wattage.

 

[deadhead]

That might have been a Suburu engine. A friend has a generator with one. You're right. It doesn't really have any sound absorbing body panels, but it has a very deep tone that isn't loud or annoying. Go Suburu!

 

[Moto Squid]

I usually bring ear plugs in case I get stuck next to some nimwit with a loud generator. After I put them in I can't hear a damn thing, and I love it.

 

[tx246]

im with ^^^^^ i ALWAYS take foam earplugs with me wherever i go. loud generators no problem. someone inside the tent snoring no problem. i learned this lesson the hard way at the sand dunes in oklahoma. the let you ride 24/7 and people are happy to do it. if you try and get some sleep, you had better be drunk or have something in your ears.

 

[Moto Squid]

lol, I learned it from living in the dorms. There's always someone up and about, if its not the idiots running down the halls screaming, or the neighbor and gf having a little squeeky action on the bed, its the room mate watching tv. So a few dollars for a monster box of foam plugs and I'm now set for years.

 

[deadhead]

It happened again this weekend. It kills me. I keep thinking, "You wouldn't mow your frickin' lawn at 2AM. Why do you think this is different?" Interestingly, both "offenders" also had those cargo trailers with the camping area inside. Both were painted black. So, this idiots live in a black metal box at the track and have to run their air conditioners all day and night, BUT, they got the cheapest generator they could find. Jeez, it was nice enough to sleep outside, but I had to shut half the windows in the RV and wear earplugs. They're probably the same folks complaining about the price of gas while they're holding a bottle of water they paid $1.50 for.

deadhead

 

[Chili]

We had a guy near us at Millville last year that was running one of these atrocities all night. It started a real battle, a couple of other folks nearby would get up and shut it off, then this guy would come out cursing and turn it back on and back and forth it went about 5 times that night. The next night allegedly it got shut off and the spark plug cap was snipped off in a hurry. We had a quiet remainder of the week.

 

[BRush]

Nothing worse than tent camping near a generator that runs all night. Don't events like DW have a "No generators between 10pm & 6am" rule? That's been a staple at our events since forever.

 

[WoodsRider]

Nothing worse than tent camping near a generator that runs all night. Don't events like DW have a "No generators between 10pm & 6am" rule? That's been a staple at our events since forever.

Yeah, our last family tent camping trip was a real joy. It wasn't even that hot out and the Bonehead family in the next site was in a rented RV. They had the generator and the A/C running and were inside watching TV while we were sitting around the campfire.

I waited until they shut-off the lights before knocking on their door reminding them that the generator needed to go off at 10:00 and it was already 11:15. They were not too happy. Guess that's why they left the next day. Obviously we were having too much fun camping "redneck" style.

 

[KC10Chief]

I've gotten used to all of the noise. I have a 25' travel trailer that I camp in at all of the races I go to. I keep it stocked with a giant bag of earplugs. The very first race I camped at a couple of years ago was a pretty miserable experience. There weren't many people there yet and I didn't have generators. So, I paid $15 to plug into a pole on the property. There was a guy about 50 feet away with a 6000W beast of a generator. It was pretty freakin annoying. About 10pm, a little girls voice was suddenly screaming over the loudspeakers that were on the pole that I was plugged into! I guess the owners had a little girl about 6 or 7 years old and they were letting her scream, yes scream into the mic at 10pm. WAY more annoying than generator guy. She was screaming her ABC's over and over and over and screaming at people to go to sleep. After about 15 minutes, I decided to see WTF was going on. So, I go up and knock on the door. The lady opens up the door and there's the little girl screaming away. I politely explain to her that the speakers are seriously three feet from the back of my trailer and that we can't even talk to each other and that my dog is really freaked out and my son was trying to sleep. The lady just says "She'll be done whenever she gets tired of it" and slammed the door in my face! I was furious. I went back to my trailer and was digging around in all of my tools for my wire cutters. I couldn't find them and finally, about 5 minutes later, the little brat finally shut up. Then, around 12:30am, generator guy decided he needed more firewood and fired up his gas powered chainsaw and sawed up logs for 20, yes TWENTY minutes! Good thing I didn't have a gun. Anyways, that was the worst camping experience I've had so far. The generators are pretty noisy, but I've been to so many races, I'm used to it now. I bought myself two of these babies:

They run everything in the trailer at once if I want and you can't even hear them unless you're standing next to them. People are always amazed when they walk by and realize that they are running. Out of about 75 campers at each race, I'm the only one who uses quiet generators. Some have some pretty quiet Onan's in their big rigs, but most are the noisy jackhammer gen's. Looking back on it, I should have saved myself $1,500 and bought a crappy generator like everybody else. What's one more noisy generator? The Honda's are very fuel efficent though. I made some external tanks for them and on a hot summer weekend (Friday thru Sunday), I go through about 8 to 9 gallons of gas. The beastly noisy ones go through over 20. They'll pay for themselves with these gas prices!

 

[Ud Luz]

Supersoaker, warm water, 1 cup salt.

Generator problem solved.

 

[mx547]

i always thought that my generator was loud. now that everyone is riding four-strokes, my generator sounds quiet. i occasionally run it at the races and i get frequent comments about how quiet it is.

 

[hamilcrf]

Boy do I agree we need to start a curfew on the things you would think common curtiosy would prevail

 

[motometal]

Supersoaker, warm water, 1 cup salt.

Generator problem solved.

how does that work? shorts it out?