Quietest Diesel Gen set?

[Sailing Cowboy]

Originally Posted by darylat8750

Yes. I should have mentioned that..

Sounds like you have a good unit there. I have had several over the years for different applications. The last one was 35kw Yanmar 4cyl 1800rpm and it ran great. It needed to power a 12000sqft building in a very remote part of woods and it did without fail. I am a big fan of Yanmar for that reason. You do not want more than 1800 rpm. Uses more fuel, runs faster and falls apart quicker. I can't tell you how many cheaper Chinese knock offs I went through trying to go cheap. Would last three weeks and something rattled off or broke. Avoid Onan. We would run 16 hours a day 24/7 for 6months. Averaged 1gal per hour @50%load and 1.25 under higher loads.
I didn't realize Kohler had a Yanmar in it. Thank you.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Sailing Cowboy

You do not want more than 1800 rpm.

While I agree that a good 1800rpm unit is preferable, they are not practical if one has weight and space limitations. If a generator is to be used 24/7, or for many hours every day, then 1800rpm units are the best choice.

Mark

[marlinmike]

We have the 5.5kw Northern Lights, much of the sound reduction comes from a large water lift muffler and long exhaust run. I've seen/heard some gen setups where it dumps right out the side of the hull and its rather noisey and splashy sounding.

As far as installation goes, they come with nice panels (get the one with guages), the slightly harder part is installing transfer switch and wiring that, again not rocket science, you will need a yard with large (long) fork lift to set inplace.

[Sailing Cowboy]

Originally Posted by West star

I never understood why anyone would pay the same for a generator as they would for an entire car, or a mini-backhoe, or a small farm tractor. Surely Northern Lights is taking advantage of suckers.

I paid 15k for a 35kw. Price seems excessive.

[marlinmike]

Not sure what car you buy for 12k, but in any case my 5.5kw was $7k (10 years ago), so maybe he is just getting the list price.

Originally Posted by West star

I never understood why anyone would pay the same for a generator as they would for an entire car, or a mini-backhoe, or a small farm tractor. Surely Northern Lights is taking advantage of suckers.

[a64pilot]

I am getting list I want to know where to buy

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

List price for a Norther Lights 5 or 6 KW seems to be around 12.5 boat bucks, anybody know what one can be had for? Installation, is that something I should do or have done? I'm a decent mechanic and understand electricity pretty well.

Head to the boat show">Miami Boat Show. A good place to compare/price.

[Sailing Cowboy]

I'm not even sure a diesel is really required aboard? Running 5 or more hours a day.....yes. But would you really need to run it that long?

[Sailing Cowboy]

Originally Posted by West star

who would have a tank of diesel, and a tank of gasoline onboard? i guess if you are coastal you do not.

So you are suggesting that when you are offshore you bring along the diesel outboard for the dingy?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Sailing Cowboy

I'm not even sure a diesel is really required aboard? Running 5 or more hours a day.....yes. But would you really need to run it that long?

If it's an AC gen set and we're talking about 95F and >90% humidity, I would think closer to at least 12 hours a day is more likey, now if you could do a Hybrid system, then maybe you could get away with only five hours, depending on battery bank and gen sizing

[jeremiason]

We had the Fischer Panda Mini 8 installed on our boat when we commissioned her. The unit also gas a Aqualift, exhaust air/water separator.

You cannot hear the unit running outside the boat and it is very quiet inside the cabin.

The unit uses between .3 and .5 gallons per hour depending on the load.

The foot print of the FP units is considerably smaller than the other Gen Set on the market today.

It is reliable and the two problems I had in the last seven years, were easily fixed after talking to the Tech Advice guys on the telephone.

I would recommend Fisher Panda, especially for boats with limited space.