I'm bored and looking up all the things I have to buy over the winter. I want to pick up warmers, but with warmers comes a generator. The "big boys", as Mopar calls them , use the Honda EU2000i. And I admit they are awesome. Quite as hell and do the job. But they are $1000. I did some searching and found this on the Northern Tool website.


http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...3480_200313480

It has the essentials. 1000W, which is just over what most warmers draw. It's quite (69dB). You can get a 2yr warranty for only $25 and it got pretty decent reviews. And it's only $120!!!!

Downsides: It's not a Honda. It's a two stroke so you'd have to mix the fuel. Its run-time is only 4.5 hrs at 1/2 load.

Good buy or a wasted $120??? It's not like I'm gonna buy it now, but I guess I'm just wondering if I have to spend $1000 for a good generator or if I can get by with something less than the almighty Honda.

One of the reviews on the site:

"This generator is awesome for people like me who race motorcycles and camp out at the tracks. This generator is all you need. It is small, easy to store, move aorund and start. It is affordable and I would recommend this to anyone looking to purchase a generator."

It doesn't mention warmers though

the word is quiet

and you might want to pm stive403 he just picked one up this year

EU2000 FTW

everything else is just plain amateur

This one is pretty quite. Only 10 more dB than the Honda. I think I've seen Matt's generator, but I didn't really see it in action. I'll check it out this weekend.

Thanks douche How well does Matt's gen. hold up? I'm sure you've seen it. But more importantly how much did he spend?

I think Mopar's new nickname should be "captain douche bag".

Stive's generator was loud as shit and ran on 2-smoke gas. Gheeeeyyyy.

Buy the loudest most annoying generator you can find. I think coleman makes a 150 decibel model. Run a long ass extension cord far away from your pit and put the generator next to your friends tent. Fire that bitch up at 5 am on a cool, quite morning because you want your tires to be warm before the track goes hot at 9.

Coleman Powermate 1850. Cheap, relatively quiet, compact and more than enough juice for your warmers. Thats what I use.

10dB is A LOT of noise man. i can't even hear mine running over the sound of Stives

+10db is actually twice as loud. Its not a linear scale.

It's a track where bikes are loud.... and face the muffler away from where you are working.

This guy spends alot of time at the track. Listen to him!

Rule of thumb is 7 or 8 db loss per distance doubled.

So if a generator is 100db at 100 feet. It would be 92 or 93 db at 200 feet and 84 db at 400 feet. But then you have to take into account wind, ambient noise and obstructions. I have a Db meter here at work, maybe I'll bring it to the track some time to see how loud mine is.

A peice of ply wood with carpet stappled to it place in front works pretty good for loud generators at the track.

Having spent over 100 days at Sebring I can say from my perspective a quiet one is 'nicer' than a loud one, but a couple of days later a generator's volume is not even a part of conversation anymore.

That's another model I was looking at too. I think it has the same dB rating, has more juice, and costs twice as much. But that still only about $350.

I'll just put it in your tent and run a 100ft extension cord to my pit. I won't have to worry about it.

But seriously 69db is only about as loud as a vacuum cleaner. If i put it like 20ft away behind a trailer, you'll barely notice it.

The Coleman really isn't too loud. I use a 50ft extension, put it on the the other side of my truck with the exhaust facing toward the track. Directs most of the sound away, and the truck reflects the rest
Its a good generator. Starts super-easy and has lasted me well over a season with 0 issues, and I bought it used from Kruz. You might be able to find a lightly used one cheaper.

I went to PepBoys and bought a 3500 watt gen. I can run three set of warmers off of it with no problems, or two sets and a couple fans for under the pop up on those hot ass days. Cost me 250 after my rebate. Its quieter than my friends 2000 watt pepboys gen too! Besides, who wants to mess with mixing gas at the track.

Does it sound like a freight train is parked next to your pit or is relatively quite if you place it behind your truck or something?

Eric see us at BHF. You work for the company, and we have your hook-up.

Remind Mike to bring the pics I emailed him about.

I run mine in front of my truck about 30 feet away and cant hear it much at all. Even with out it being behind anything if about the same distance, its not bad really.

If you want to hear it, I'm only in Batavia. I'll be home all night getting everything in line for Autobahn this weekend.

For the person who likes to tinker, here's how you can quiet any loud generator... We've camped next to people w/ an 8000 wat generator @ Sebring with a similar muffler arrangement and you could barely hear the thing...

http://www.alpharubicon.com/altenergy/gensetquiet.htm

There's a video at the bottom where you can hear the results.

good idea. I was thinking about doing something similar to make the Coleman quieter. I've got the stock exhaust from the Husky just sitting in the garage, that just might work.

Just picked up a Wen 3500W generator from Menards. $300. 71dB.

Snagged a B&S 5500 w/ 8500 start capacity from Home Depot for $499

I plan on doing a similar muffler trick...

hey, get what you can afford. i wanted something nice, quiet, and SUPER reliable

if i remember right, when we were at BHF, Stives generator stopped working and he had to use mine the remainder of the day

Honda baby

I love my Honda gen.

If anyone else wants to try the muffler trick, I have a Coleman Powerbase 4000 watt generator that I will gladly part with for $250. This thing powers both 120 and 240 v outlets and has an 8.5 hp. B&S motor. I have used it for my tire warmers and had no issues except noise. The generator will power damn near anything you want it to, but noise could be an issue without the exhaust mod.

The wife approved the purchase of a Honda which is on it's way as we speak. Had I read this post previously, I may have got off quite a bit cheaper!