in good shape - brunnhilde part 19

With the Onan generator gone, and the spare tire carrier restored, I have begun planning for how to carry the Honda EU2000i generator in Brunnhilde.

Long before starting the air conditioning conversion project, I had looked into the viability of carrying the Honda generator in Brunnhilde. This is none acceptable way without a purpose design external enclosure unless you want to sacrifice precious cabin living space. Even if you are willing to make this trade off, one have to leave the bench seat up in the entire journey.

The most attractive option is to utilize the door mount spare tire carrier structure freed up to carry a strong box for it.

the welded steel frame on the door is plenty strong

I aim to find a off the shelf metal box to convert into this generator carrier. To this my choice of material would be steel - like one of 12-gauge. I reject aluminum because sheet aluminum can be ply open or cut through very easily. The only benefit of aluminum construction is lighter weight. I like to joke that Honda generator is more liquid tender than gold so thief deterrence is of utmost design consideration.

While intuitively one would think that the goal to also operate the generator in a compact enclosure is out of the question. I have found on the web photos of them but I was skeptical.

this ready made aluminum box is $275 plus shipping is quite reasonably priced; my take is at 0.073" thick a thief can ply the locked cover open within seconds

painted aluminum enclosure offered by Sportsmobile

My skepticism is completely dispelled when I found these sound reduction enclosures only sold in Japan by Honda. The enclosures (there are two models) are barely larger than the generator and there is no supplementary forced air. The ventilation is totally passive relying on the generator's own built in fan impeller. The enclosure offers 8 to 10 dB of sound reduction! For each 3 dB reduction, the sound level is halved. So 9 dB reduces the sound level to 1/8 (as you can see in the third video).

Here is the link to the product page with three demonstration videos. I am unable to embed them here. The enclosures are very well made and the price reflects that. They are about at par with the cost of the EU2000i generator. Few people in this country would buy these excellent product due to the perceived price/value ratio, but Japan and some European countries are so different. That is why we cannot have some nice things.

My kudos go to Honda for the third video that show the huge sound level difference of the generator running with and without the enclosure. They sure spent the time to design and create the video to properly demonstrate the difference. Brief and to the point. I trust them, being noise abatement experts, know not to use recording device that has automatic volume control for audio recording.

here is the illustration for operating a LPG model of the EU1000i equivalent

here is the LPG model similar to the EU2000i

Clearly the Honda enclosure is designed mainly for noise reduction. The product gives me very good idea what I need to provision in my homemade enclosure for internal operation.

the outer dimensions are about H 16 3/4", L 20", D 12" (46 lbs)

As I search for a steel enclosure online, very soon I realize this kind of boxes are typically use as tool boxes by truckers to carry tools, chains, and tie down devices. The are called underbody tool boxes. There are a number of brands with slightly different designs, mainly differ on the swing open doors and the locking latches. Almost all offer the same increments of dimensions and capacities. The closest dimensions that may accommodate the EU2000i is 24" x 18" x 18".

So far I could find none provides the dimensions of the opening. Judging the often poor generic photos (one cannot assume it is the 24"x18"x18" model) the opening typically are at least 1" less from each of the 4 sides. e.g. 22" x 16" in this case. I did call one brand and the reseller had to call the supplier. All they provided is reduce the outer dimension by 1" at each side. Judging from the relative proportion of the photo however, it looks to me more like 1.75".

Do note that all these boxes at this price point (circa $200) are built in country like China and the distributors often don't (bother to) have the dimensions I am looking for. Even if they do, I would still take the information with a lot of suspicion. So far with all that I have found online, I consider they are $200 gamble as if the generator will fit though the door opening.

this is one of many brands

this is another brand

So clearly the chance of finding a box where the Honda can fit in in a front loading arrangement is extremely unlikely due to the generator almost 17" height. I begun to entertain top loading arrangement. That is to turn the box with the door facing upwards. With some brands this actually provides a better weatherproof orientation as the weak point on all are the door gaps. While facing upwards would expose the lock and latch assembly to the rain it is much easier to fashion a protective cap for them.

The other category of strong enclosure are industrial ones, for one half the cost of the generator, and you still have to add your own latch and lock plus the cost of shipping freight.

i want one of this ;-{

or an autographed photo his soon-to-be successor