Club Arnage

I was looking on eBay last night with an interest in buying a small portable generator. There are some good bargains to be had. You can buy a 1kwa 2stroke jobby for about £80. But there are some 2.5kva ones for about £150. 2.5 kva is probably too much capacity for our little lot but if we were to share with someone, it might be worthwhile. There are obviously even more powerful ones available but you're talking fairly big money.

Does anyone have any views or ideas?

Just ask Robbo about making sure that there's plenty of oil in the thing.  It won't start without the oil being at the proper level.  He had problems last year and we almost did an engine overhaul on the critter, still didn't fire up.  Later, Robbo discovered it to be a little low on oil.  Lesson:  don't forget the basics.

I have seen some that are quieter than others. The last thing you want it a really noisy one, if you have the choice that is.

It's difficult to consider the noise levels of them when buying mail-order but it might be worth a question.

Tony

H: Any views on whether you prefer the quiet ones are better than the noisy ones?

Can't really speak for the Euro's but over here in the States generators in campsites at races are as common as hangovers, the drone of generators just comes with the scenery.  Most people use RV's (I think you guys call them caravan's) rather than tents and having electricity, hot water and AC make generators essential without electrical hook-ups.
Fax

Re noise levels, most seem to be about 65 to 70 decibels at 7 feet, which seems acceptable.

Fax, the Commer is an RV only this time it stands for Rubbish Vehicle. It's not AC, only DC, though I'm not sure I'd very much like a bit of AC/DC in there! All I want is something that will run an ice chest and a few lights.

RV's translate as 'Campervans'... Caravans are a whole different story and tend to be owned/pulled by a completely distinct type of person...  ::)

We have the use of my mates Campervan, and he comes equiped with a very quiet generator which sits behind the van and is barely noticable. I have noticed other's on the site which make like unlimited scooters such as those that sit just outside the burger vans...

Gaz's one, however, looks very camper friendly, surounded in plastic and not out of place on a family friendly site... stay clear of the one's looking more like the noisy part of a petrol lawn mower!

Almost pressed the Report to moderator button there, just to see the reaction from Smokie, but I am sure he will be along at some point anyway ;) ;)

I would think that a 6.5 hp four stroke Briggs & Stratton would be more than enough to keep the lights running and the beer cold. I'm not sure about a two stroke, seems like it would be loud and smokie.
Fax

Are you implying that Smokie isn't a man of 'distinction' ??  ;D

Check out the 6 cylinder diesel, 110 Kva; that short run a few fridges quite happily. Not sure about the Dba rating though - might give the old Panoz a run for the money !

Makro have a 2.3kW with 2 x 240V sockets on offer from Wednesday at £199 + VAT.

It's the same one that we have and last year it ran a household fridge, medium sized chest freezer, four electric cool boxes, lights, TV, Video and occassionally the electric kettle without any problems!

We will have it again this year, but if everyone is interested in having a larger one to share then we'd probably be interested.

Don't forget of course that we then all need to be next to each other too as per IRW's suggestion!!

Lawks a mercy!
"do you like 'em noisy or quiet"
"AC or DC".
Beggars can't be choosers, but a little muffled sobbing is quite nice I think...
On the generator front though Andy, our team are going to be without a generator, and also the means to get one down there, ie no van this year. So keep me clued up with your research, I'm sure we could chip in and help.
Uncle Albert is taking his van, but he has every square inch mapped out in regimental style and won't hear any talk of foreign objects. Speaking of foreign objects, I reckon it's what you would expect from a man of Alberts military training, you don't get to shoot loads of Germans from up a tree unless you're pretty fastidious in your habits. (I apologise to any of our German friends who are tuning in, but this was during the war, and the man was only doing his duty, I know it's in pretty poor taste).
He used to get them right between the eyes.
H

'Scuse me???

Owning a caravan, I tend to suffer all kinds of similar jibes from mates. No-one seems to complain so much when they are gagging for a roof over their head when it's chucking it down!

Nowadays I only use the caravan once a year, for LM. When te=he kids were younger it was a cheap and easy way to get away for a weekend or two, as well as joining the usual throng on the M4/M5 down to Cornwall each summer. I don't miss that. (However unless I come up with a better idea, Mrs S wants to do that this year - just the two of us!!)

I'll admit that certain caravanners are a "distinct type of person" - I know some of them. So are some people who go motor racing. But actually most of them are almost human, and oddly enough, only spend a very small percentage of their driving time dragging an overweight box around - the rest of the time they are ordinary people like you and me, driving ordinary cars with added rear protection...and cursing caravan drivers!

btw - I just passed my Institute of Advanced Motorists thing. I suppose that confirms I'm distinct does it?

Pass my cloth cap then...

 :)

I've already arranged a generator to hire for 90 euro's (no vat), it will deliver 6kW. We will get away with that :)

Does anyone else remeber the noise from our 2kw version last year. Bloody noisy.


We are hireing a 3kva Silent version this time. This should run all out gubbins.

The 2kva last year did. TV, Sat < Stereo, 500watt Lighting rig, fridge, freezer, battery charger and a few twinkle lights. It died when the hair dryer started up..

2 stroke will require a little effort mixing in the oil. 4 stroke must be easy.

although you cant beat the smell of 2 stroke in the morning

Hi Robbo,
You've just described our learning curve of a few years back.
We eventually ended up with a Silent Running (or something similar...) Honda fourstroke. It comfortably powered a couple of fridges, chandelier, draught beer chillers, kettles etc - and even aircon one year. The noise was still a pain in the arse though. You can either surround it with those piles of tyres that are around the tarmac at MB, or - and this is what the Brethren do, take a fork and spade and dig a hole to put it in. This is hard work, but is very effective. One thing to bear in mind is the size of fuel tank, if it's getting heavy usage, you'll need to fill up the standard tank every 4 hours or so. If this is a problem, and in a large group it usually isn't, then consider an endurance version.
Alternatively, rig some sort of generator up to the back wheel of Uncle Alberts bike, and feed him on sausages and red bull for the weekend. He should light the place up.
H

I thought "Silent Running" was a slightly naff 70's sci fi film? Saw in Exchange and Mart today that £750 buys you 5.5kw diesel near silent model - got to be worth a few extra quid for those without access to a proper motorhome 12kw model?!

Or we all just camp around Mr Toad's set-up and run dozens of extension leads from his hired motor home.   ;D

We could help hold down his gazebo as well.  :o

Any news on the Double Decker Bus Toady??

Ahh yes JPC - the old double decker bus dream - detailed analysis of the conversion costs (and storage) have put us off for now, but I am working on something else very big for 2005 and so secret that even the Beermountain accountants don't know what it is yet! Rest assured though, I'll let everyone here at CA know as soon as I can go public. In the meantime usual 36ft Thor Infinity is booked.

I trust you're on MB again thsi year??

Yes! - we'll try and fit in behind all the people building scaffold structures the height of the Eiffel Tower down towards Smokie and the bogs...

We run a couple of generators, and as H said. dig a hole to pop them in. Keeps the noise right down. You do need a long tank though otherwise you will be hauling the mother out every 4 hours which is a pain in the frigging arse.

Anyone interested in buying new should check out www.justgenerators.co.uk. Bought our second generator from them last year, delivered to the door. No pissing around, and there is back up if needed.

They currently do a Honda ECM2800 long tank which runs 10-12 hours straight for a touch over 500 nicker including VAT and delivery which is a bargain. Exactly the same as one of ours, runs like a dream, whisper quite for such a large output and has been faultless for 3 years. Easily runs fridges, freezers, lights, chainsaws and electric chairs ( essential for keeping the peace )
There is also a Pramac 3kva for mid 400's which is equally bargainworthy.

Check it out.
Rusty

Gone the same way as our branded fire breathing Ice Cream Van fantasy ??

Rusty

I thought they were a slightly naff 70's west coast rock group....
H

 fire breathing Ice Cream Van fantasy ??





I thought that was rather naff 70's porn movie.

Fire breathing ice cream van fantasy.

Remind me Rhino, was that the one with the giant 99's and the funny shaped flakes???

brown sugar makes a nice fuel additive for those noisy gennys that run too late into the night  8)

What, like those noisy Corvettes and Panoz????   :-\

4.5kW slient running Diesel. A regular seller so it will be interesting to see what they for go!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46412&item=4353538853&rd=1

Sold - £533 - that's a monster size though! Maybe some sort of trailer might be good to go with this....

Not very useful if you drive a Caterham!

Rusty - I had an ice cream van fantasy as well (not involving fire or 99's!)....who knows - that idea may still fly!

The 3kw we have on order from Beaver Tool hire is as quiet as a Honda 1.4 Civic, almost un-noticable.

We will half bury it as well, which will remove all traces of it...

£500 is a lot, about 7 years of hire, with which you never have to worry about them going bang....

That's we we thought, one year whilst camped in Terte Rouge, untill we came up against a bloody Honda. The damn thing proved almost indestructible. We finally got it to shut up using TWO whole bottles of Fairy Lemon Washing-up Liquid.

Only problem was, the twerp who added the second bottle managed to get it over the top of the Genny  >:( Bit of a giveaway to the owners when they smelt this slimey, lemoney liquid stuff all over their lovely Genny. Even bigger give-away when we were the only other tent still pithched within 200 meters  :-[

Oh well, at least we had a quick brush up on diplomatic lying.  ;D I think those western lads are still looking for a dodgy, drunken, French fairground roadie we swore walked past their Genny just before it packed up. :o 8)

You're absolutely right.
6kW for 90 Euro's is definitely a lot cheaper then, unless you go to more venues a year...

My generator has a 300 bhp engine driving a 90 amp alternator at 12 volts - runs the radio anyway  :'(

As long as it doesnt get over hot  ? :-[

http://www.makro.co.uk/ie/mmail/Makromail_Overview.cfm?newsletter=4&email=2502405

pages 40 - 42 may be of interest though someone may be interested in the female clothing section

which is on page 32   ;D

Anything like this Rusty?

You can't be serious, surely. f**k*ng-up someone's generator because it's a bit noisy, whilst camping in the midst of a 24 hour motor race?
A textbook exercise in how to get your teeth kicked-out in one easy lesson, I would imagine. You should be ashamed of yourself.

No doubt Matt,
Christ, if you pulled a stunt like that at a NASCAR race, f**k*ng up someone's generator, the last that would be seen of you is your bullet riddled body being chucked into a gator infested swamp.
Fax

I believe you're right, Matt. Last year (and for me, in '02 at some camping during the Austrian GP) we always stop the generator's irri-exhaust at the dark hours. But I wouldn't dream of wrecking someone else's generator.
Just get pissed enough, so the f*cker won't harm your ears ;D

Trashing someone elses gear would seem a triffle harsh - boot on the other foot and all that. Maybe some earplugs would have been a preferable solution........

I was thinking of something much more along these lines ;D

Rusty - I apologise my ice cream van fantasy project was far more plain vanilla than this! I'll stick to dreaming about double decker buses!

Not ashamed.

During the race, no problem.  But 5 nights on the trot with  a genny running until 4am and then back on at 7am.  It is inconciderate actions like that which need a good shoe-ing, so brown sugar is a light let off.  Most genny oners arent like that, it was just the idiots I was bitching about.

Calm down Mr Harper, no offence intended....

Due to the most dreadful eBay fu ck up imaginable, I thought you gents might like to see my other posting on the sale or swap section of the website.  

http://www.clubarnage.com/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=2884

At least it wasn't anything serious, like an English Electric Lightning, or one of Steve Brown's strange engines....  :-[

Hi DR
I'm not offended at all. I just think it's kind of low to deliberately damage someone's equipment.
Maybe you might have taken them a beer and said, "Look lads, we don't want to spoil your fun or anything, but your genny is driving us nuts - can we agree to shut it down at midnight (or whatever) - that way you'll save gas, we'll get some shut-eye and everyone's happy". If that were to fall on deaf ears, then maybe a little more direct action is called-for - but to just sneak around in the night and sabotage someone's gear is well off-side, in my view.
In the final analysis, how you conduct yourself is your business - and maybe I should have kept my comments to myself - just don't f**k with my generator!

As a member of one of those groups that do run a genny until the early hours, I would also point out that the noise made by all the people still up drinking and chatting (and watching porn......impossible without power) probably is louder than a noisy generator anyway. Most of the groups near us were doing the same anyway.

I think it is pretty well known that Le Mans is a party scene, not a quiet camp site in the middle of the Dordoyne, and that you can't expect a silent nights sleep. There are fireworks going off until the early hours too, and half the people on the site snore so loudly in their drunken state that they could drown out a genny too. Maybe they should have their mouths filled with Brown Sugar too to quieten them down? This is why we take earplugs along for anyone who wants them (about 50p a pair) so if you want some peace and quiet you can without having to worry about what those around you are doing.

As Matt says, surely a quiet word with someone that you have a real problem with should resolve the problem, rather than damaging someones machinery that they have probably spent a good few hundered quid on. How would you feel if they retailiated by filling your car petrol tank with it!!!!!

And besides, our generator belongs to Rotty and anyone that wants to upset him is simply mad!!!!
 

Yes - but always be suspicious of a fellow camper with a huge power output - next thing you know they will have the disco speakers out and you won't be able to hear your self talk Thu through to Sat.

FYI if you are camping near us, Mr Disco, our in house DJ at Beermountain, only plays soft Abba and Andy Williams tracks after 10.00pm so as not to keep anyone awake!

I would think on the Friday night some sort of a party would be going on... ::)

I am not unreasonable.

Brown sugar = last resort.

Friendly chat first, sabotage later.

I bet none of you would be inconciderate enough to run a generator for 21 out of 24 hours for days (or would you?).  Of course, I am up too, until 2, 3, 4am, or whatever, and no, I dont expect peaceful campsite, but there are reasonable limits on sleep depravation.

If you ever attend a race over here I would strongly encourage you to strip the word "sabotage" from your vocabulary.  Since the fans who camp at races over here are often armed to the teeth, putting brown sugar in ones generator could end your trip with a 357 gunshot to your face.  If you don't like the noise, find a different place to camp!
Fax

nice

Just telling it like it is.  99.9% of racing fans are good strightforward people and I seriously doubt that someone was running their generator just to piss you off.  Over here everyone camping looks after each other, if a genny is in a bad place or running at a bad time you simply ask politely if they can modify their usage, its always no problem and is usually followed with a "hey, you guys want to sit and have a cold brew?".  If we need to borrow firewood from our neighbors its no sweat, likewise if they need some ice or brews.  Everyone's there to have a good time, no aggro.  However vandalizing someone's gear is serioulsy bad form, no self-respecting, toothless redneck would stoop to that level.
Fax

My god, do you all think I run around with a big bag of brown sugar pouring it into every generator fuel tank I can find?

It was ONE occasion, with one idiot who made a particular attempt to piss off, not only us, but a large section of the site.  We tried diplomacy, that failed, and this was a last resort.

I kinda feel that we are a bit mixed up here and just want things to be straight, I have nothing against gennys.

Also, I agree vandalism is very bad form, and yes, we did try the "lets have a few frosted ones" approach first, it was after 3 or 4 long very hard attempts at diplomacy that we resorted to the sugar.

No sweat, just jerking your chain and playing devils advocate a bit.  Actually we had a guy with us at Talladega a few years ago who got pissed off at the way someone parked and decided to pull the stem out of his tire in the middle of night. Needless to say, Dave Harper, myself and the rest of our crew were ready to deposit this miscreant at the local gator farm.  He wasn't invited back the next year...
Fax

Next year, camping folk might want to try this approach to any noisy neighbours, it works on several levels I reckon.

 :D ;D :D ;D excellent

Or try what i did 10 years ago.
2 French guy's near us Played Johnny Haliday cd's very loudly. We had a beer with them where they showed us their Johnny bloody Haliday tatoo's.
After asking for the 'music' to be turned down, it wasn't.
Cue large amounts of insults shouted at them, they turned it off.
Bonus, in the morning they don't talk to you.

Being a friendly and peace loving bunch, we've been known to create a fair amount of noise both of the generator and music stylee until the early hours of the morning. I've personally found having at least 10 equalisers of 300lbs plus usually readjusts miscreants minds sets should they have a sense of humour failure particularly when they forget the majic word. It costs nothing and is very effective. Use it and sleep peacefully.
Peace.
Rusty

Rusty,
I've been racking my brains trying to work out what this magic word is.
I think I've got it though. It's "perinium".
Mine's not too bad now, thanks. I decided to follow a strict 'cleanliness' schedule (they say it's next to godliness, but in my case it's smack bang next to my wrinkled old retainer). Anyway, after a week or so of scrubbing, I reckon NASA could have sent my ringpiece to Mars on one of those little robot explorers.
I can't wait to wander over to a bunch of campers with a running genny and let them have The Word!
H

What is the magic word  :D

jerk? ???

To my mind, it's a real shame that nobody seems to use Izal Medicated any more.  Whilst I appreciate it was quite uncomfortable on first contact, with a bit of persistence it was possible to get a wonderful shine and lustre to the ringpiece, you could see your face in it.  It's just another reflection of a world gone soft, and clearly much of the blame for the current problems associated with gentlemen's giblets can be ascribed to the bloody Andrex puppy.

Now wash your hands.

I've (surprisingly) often wondered what it must have been like in the offices of Izal. I would imagine that company policy would mean all of the lavatories would be stocked with their product, meaning the gait of the employees would be interesting to speculate on.
An early morning evacuation would leave you walking, to begin with, with a wiggle like Marilyn Monroe. As things stiffened and dried in the rear of the trouser department towards lunchtime, I can see more of a John Wayne/Alan Ladd swagger shaping up. By 5:30 we'd be looking at a full on Jack Palance.
"Gentlemans giblets", indeed!
H

On reflection, I've changed my mind a bit following some research. Apparently H, it's made by Jeyes Limited, Brunel Way, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 1HF.  Co-incidentally, I drove through Thetford on Sunday and I did wonder why the denizens of that historic market town were walking round like Burgess Meredith, The Penguin in Batman.

Anyhow, I've discovered that it was medicated with San Izal Disinfectant, a powerful phenolic germicide, the ingredients of which are: Aqua, Propylene glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Aloe barbadensis, Polysorbate 20, Myrtrimonium Bromide, Methylparaben, Sorbic Acid, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Disodium Phosphate, Parfum, Laurtrimonium Bromide, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Chloride.

Izal had other features too mind. My Dad once showed me how to make a kazoo out of a sheet of Izal and a comb, and it was used as tracing paper by impoverished artists. But you'll remember it was crap for blowing your nose on.

Basically then, it was a grown up paper for grown up men's arses and we really shouldn't have been given it to use at school, someone would be on an offenders register for that these days. We were rubbing that little lot into our nether regions for years and it's a relic from an age when Craven A was good for your throat. And we wonder why we have this trouble today.

So if you do use it again, remember not to do the first wipe with the shiny side.

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Pardon?

OK its such a good bargin its secret - can anybody decipher it?

Our firm delivers on the Russian market invertornye devices for argonodugovoj weldings and plasma are sharp metals, provides guarantee and service of devices. obloeshot vjvmmnaa ultvosrlnol ptliejaary rzram eoovbinrtn livalvjuyi losiee vbbgoole


As close as I could get

If you enter the numbers into an html editor then look at the page view you get a load of characters (if you cut and paste them they come up as the numbers above)



Put that into 'Google's what language is this thingy and it comes back Russian

Then transalte to get the above jibberish.

Thanks Stu.......................?