[aspeed]

Maybe cover them up with a big fireproof insulated box or garbage bin, with a hole for the exhaust. A lot of the noise is from noisy valve and rocker clatter. Another option would be a couple of batteries and a wind generator or solar outfit hooked up to the batteries. The club could pay for it if it is a dedicated field.

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

The whole purpose of having an all electric club is for noise reasons... Not?

And yes a cheap (noisy) generator could easily be less expensive that more batteries if you are running big birds! We see them on sale often for $300 or less.

Wind charger? Would that mean that you could only fly on windy days?

How about going by the local machinery dealer/big truck shop & pick up one of those BIG batteries from the recycle pile. It may not have the capacity to crank a big Cat engine anymore but will still charge all the planes you can fly in a day!
Rig up a cable so your vehicle will charge it all the way to the field & back.

You could even give it back in the fall & get a better one next spring!

The attraction with electric for me is that #1 it's peacefull & #2 you don't have to buy fuel!

[pianodude]

500' extension cords are used at our field so genny noise isn't an issue.....

[Flypaper]

Our gens. are out in the parking lot where the charge tables are,you bring your own. If it's really busy, someone will plug a gen. into a remote plug set away from the clubhouse that powers up the clubhouse. then guys just plug into the outlets in the clubhouse. My gen is one I bought from CTC. It's a 1000 watt jobby that is more than adequate. Called a Champion, made in China and only slightly louder than a 1000 watt Honda. Usually starts first pull, although in this cooler weather, takes 2 pulls.

[Tyler P]

x2 for the quiet Honda generators. You can have one running right beside you and you can carry on a perfectly normal-volume conversation. If they're placed back from the flightline anywhere you won't even notice them running.

When I was flying big electrics we had two of them running in our easy-up during an IMAC contest and you barely noticed them running at all even while we were sitting in it. They cost more but they're awesome machines. If you're that invested in big electrics it's the only way to go.

[Guest]

I agree with OPRN. Buy another battery or two. Merv also suggested carrying an old battery around, but what about using the one in the vehicle you transported the plane with?

This hobby is gadget driven, I don't like packin' up any more than I have to, 'cause then you have do it twice more before you get everthing back to where it started. Not to mention, the issues with having to secure a extra battery or the genny while its in transport. Not an issue if you use a pick-up truck, real issue if you use a SUV or Mini van.

[Scott Esplen]

Like a lot of other things, this is really a club specific type problem or nonproblem,,,,nice hearing different ideas for sure,,,,,we fly a lot of big electrics on the weekends and two guys charging big packs, with the new chargers, can over load a 2-3000 watt genset easily,,,,,,AC power is the answer, but a little out of reach for our small clubs budget,,,

[Florin]

Invest some money in few solar panels and few deep cycle batteries. 10 batteries 120Ah each means a battery bank of 1200Ah that can be charged from the panels during the morning and discharged in the afternoon...charge during the week when the usage is low and discharge during the weekend...have a backup generator that charges the battery bank as opposed to many generators each being used for one charger...just a thought.

The guys on the www.fieldlines.com forum can give a quick answer if a solar system is feasible for certain power requirements: http://fieldlines.com/board/index.ph...topic=143583.0

I used to be an active member on fieldlines.com and I got a lot of help from the fieldlines members when I built the solar system for my parent's cottage: http://windpulse.com/index.html

[Scott Esplen]

The green method (solar panels/wind generator/storage batts) is totally my favorite idea-----I hate to think any public coming to our club will see/hear an electric only club needing 5 gensets running is a bit embarassing IMO,,,