Taking care of an irritating generator next door

[tdhcsc]

I don't know about others but I've taken a lot of effort in making my teardrop self sufficient. I've got a battery system and invertor that can supply all my considersble needs for 4 days without charging. When I do, it's solar or from the tow vehicle. A couple of weeks ago we checked into a campsite and the guy next door was running his generator 'All Day!'. Most of the time he was inside watching TV. He finally shut it off at 8 PM long after we were looking for a quiet dinner in a beautiful place.

I got this idea,,,, What about purchasing a PA battery operated system with a directional shotgun mike. I could turn it on pointed at his generator and have it play back to him at about twice it's DB level. If he shut his generator down the sound would stop. It would drive him crazy.

Then I thought,, there's one machine on Amazon that's really inexpensive and has a 1/4 second delay sound effect mode. If there was a party it would shut them up as you can't carry on a conversation listening to yourself on a slight delay.

Maybe I'm getting to be an old F--t but come on, shut your generator off after your batteries are charged. If you don't have enough batteries, bight the bullet and gert more amps.

Anyone else feel as me or am I expecting too much?

[lrrowe]

Oh I agree with you.
Remember, you cannot fix stupid or inconsiderate. Unfortunately we are being exposed more and more to the "it is all about me" trend.

If it was at an on grid campground, what about complaining to the CG owners?

[JuneBug]

I wish we'd all rise up and start a quiet campground movement. All state and national campgrounds would prohibit generators, prohibit any music coming out of a speaker, and any general noise, especially drunken parties going on 'til all hours. Yeah, quiet time starts at 10 pm, but if you're really drunk, what does 10 pm mean.

Paradise Canyon, near Rio Medina, TX, does it right. A private campground, It's a sliver of a magical place, tucked between a paved road and a limestone bluff on the gorgeous Medina River They've prohibited the things that cause problems when there are a lot of adults and kids camping close together in a relatively small place. To keep the peace, no dogs, "no glass bottles, or pre-recorded, amplified or otherwise generated music".

Spent too many nights not sleeping well 'cause loud music, drunks or generators running. All told, not that many, but one crappy night's sleep is one too many.

We usually camp out at mountain bike races 6 or 7 times a year. I finally requested that race organizers create a separate camp area for RVs and trailers using generators, as far as possible from all other campers. Since most races are private venues on ranches, there's lots of room to spread out and the landowners have been super accommodating to this request. They also carve out a separate area for rowdy campers, so people can stay up late around the campfire.

Respectfully submitted by a secret curmudgeon.

[Shadow Catcher]

We tend to go for state parks which have rules and can find a back in spot too short for the big jobs they also have 120AC In Canada we often go for a tent site. In cases where none of the above works a well insulated tear and XM radio

[daveesl77]

a few years back we were at Ten-X just south of the Grand Canyon. It was October, so the NFS campground was to close in the next week. In a place with hundreds of open campsites, there were maybe 10 of us there, scattered around the campground. The day after we set up this couple came in with their gigantic RV and proceeded to park within 100' of us. Yes, it was legal, it was just stupid. Beginning on that first evening and continuing every evening after that, they would return to the campsite around dusk, immediately fire up the generator, turn on the big screen TV, cook supper on the electric stove and watch Wheel of Fortune, blaring. That went on until about 9pm. Yes, they were inside the "quiet hours" rule, so nobody could do anything about it. I tried to talk to them, but they refused to answer their door when I knocked on it, in daylight.

On the final night before the closing, some jerk showed up on another loop and obviously had a contractor type gennie. You could hear it everywhere. The hosts had to get a ranger from the GC to come down, as the yeehaws refused to shut it down.

Yes, I carry a small HF 800 watt, but would never run it except at mid-day and only if really, really necessary.

dave

[lrrowe]

I have some ideas for solutions....opps, I think they are illegal .

[Jiminsav]

the easy answer is don't camp where there is no power.. shore power = no genny's.
as for federal campsites, i thought there was a 1 hour a day rule for generators..and most state parks have power, and usually water.
as for no drunken campers, well, that just shut down the Mighty Southern X3 groups..

[Tomterrific]

Tap the sparkplug with a hammer. Jam a ball of foil up the exhaust. But of course, politely ask first.

T

[3GKnight]

Expanding foam earplugs. The sound of your own heartbeat can be loud but you probably won't stay awake long enough to get too annoyed.

If I ever have to move again, one of the selection criteria will be access to large dispersed camping areas. I've been spoiled with easy access to that in WY. I've stayed in one developed cg in 10 years and slept in my car that time so noise wasn't an issue. I've had to move sites but I'd picked a new spot and quickly discovered the area was popular with ATV's.

[CAJUN LADY]

the easy answer is don't camp where there is no power.. shore power = no genny's.
as for federal campsites, i thought there was a 1 hour a day rule for generators..and most state parks have power, and usually water.
as for no drunken campers, well, that just shut down the Mighty Southern X3 groups..

[KennethW]

Does running a gen for 2 minutes to make a icey drink count as being bad? I share!

[rowerwet]

Just play your favorite bag pipe albums loud enough to cover the offensive noise

[beakman]

Maybe I'm getting to be an old F--t but come on, shut your generator off after your batteries are charged. If you don't have enough batteries, bight the bullet and gert more amps.

Anyone else feel as me or am I expecting too much?

Well, you might be expecting too much of humanity in general, but you're not expecting too much for your trip.

As George Carlin said, if you want to know how many stupid people there are out there, just think how dumb the average guy walking down the street is, then realize half the people are dumber than him if he's the average!

Maybe he doesn't even know it charges the batteries. There sure are a lot of people with RVs who aren't RV people!

And you shouldn't have to, but you could always try going over and asking nicely if he'll shut it off. Some people are just plain oblivious to how other people are affected by their actions, but are still nice enough to fix the situation once it is pointed out. If nothing else, maybe you'll "learn him sumfin" about how to act in a campground. Maybe he'll even learn the gennie is charging his batteries! LOL

[tdhcsc]

I do my best to nicely talk to a generator operator when it's being used during ''quiet times'

The last time it was 1.5 hours after shutdown. I walked over as he was messing with it and asked if I could help. He said no, he was fine. I responded that I thought he might have a problem as he was running it after hours. Of course the response was "I thought it was OK". I told him that if he needs to charge his batteries to get through the night then perhaps run it for a half hour before shutting it down.

He did return to our campsite in a 1/2 hour and apologised.

Nice guy,,,,,, now read the pamphlet they give you when you pull into a campsite.

I guess my aversion to the generator noise comes from the fact that we were sailboat cruisers logging 25,000 miles under the keel during our almost 13 years. People that cruise a long way from home know the rules at anchor even though there aren't any. You only run your generator during the day and only to charge your batteries. If you need air conditioning you have a sillenced generator. That's the unpublished rule.

You can't be clueless and cruise on a boat. If only they could do that with RV'ing.

Dan

[ckelly78z]

I generally turn on a circulation fan to drown out any outside noises. I also always have a set of ear plugs for getting better sleep.