generator sugestions?

Jason Miller

Jason Miller

Veteran
ok I finally have a location for my night shoot, problem is it looks like I will only have access to two outlets. not even sure if they are on seperate breakers at this point.

so it looks like I need a generator or two


problem two, money not much in the budget, so I know I'm not going to be able to rent a movie quiet generator. to I need sugestions, on other standard gens that are quiet enough, and other ways to make them quieter?

Jason
 
Well, let's look at it from another perspective -- what kind of lights are you planning on using? If you can use fluorescents you'll use 1/4 as much power as tungsten, which might make your existing two outlets much more viable than you might otherwise think.

Tungsten light chews through a circuit breaker very quickly; a 1k and a 650 and you're pretty much done. But with fluorescent you could run something like 8 4-bank fixtures off one circuit...
 
ok heres the list.

2hmi's both 1200, one also 575

fresnels- 1 1k, 2-800w 2-500w, 5 650s,

open face, 3 1ks 1 650w,

2 1k softboxes,

5 500w photofloods,

then a few work lights from home depot



it is a large open space, next to a warehouse. it may be possible to get some establishing shots, at dusk, or dawn, but most of it needs to be night shots.

I'm having a friend search the area for other outlets, it is on an Army base so maybe I'll get lucky and just have to buy a bunch of 100ft cords. but I'm not holding my breath.


that beign said it is possible to have a less than silent generator located 50 to 100 ft away or so.

or maybe 2 or 3 lesser wattage gens located in defferent locations.

Jason
 
Honda makes some fairly small quiet generators. I've used the EU2000i (~1600 watts) and the EU1000i and they're very portable and relatively quiet. Use a long stinger and put the generator around a corner if possible, or behind a car or some other barrier. Barry Green's suggestion about using flo's is a good one. There are tons of fixtures and bulbs out there and they draw much less power.

Edit: maybe you can pare down that package, otherwise, you're going to really need a large generator.
 
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as far as fixtures I'm pretty stuck with what I have, and since its an outdoor night shot, flours I don't think will really work. might use them inside the cars for some of the shots.

Jason
 
Jason,
I own a Honda EU3000i and boy does it purr like a kitten.

I mean at night with no other sounds you can hear it. but 20-30ft away its not that bad. at 50-100' I can't imagine it would be noticeable to the human ear.

Your mics might pick it up, but if you are booming, or lapel, then you should be able to take it out in post.

We had it at a park with some kids playing about 50-100ft away and some wind. at 20-25ft away we coudln't even hear it was on unless you concentrated and looked for it.

they are expensive though.
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gensup.asp
 
Check this out:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99325.htm

I didn't read the whole thing, but this chart was what I wanted to share.

Some decibel ratings:
0 db Threshold of hearing
30 db Whisper
40 db Buzz of mosquito
50 db Normal conversation
70 db Vacuum cleaner
100 db Subway or power mower
120 db Rock concert
130 db Jackhammer or machine gun
150 db Nearby jet plane


for the price it doesn't sound bad, but there is a big difference between 40 and 50 decibles
and between 50 and 60

so between 48 decibles and 65 there is a big difference. hence the price difference. if you find out how much distance it takes for 65decibles to be perceived as 48 decibles, then maybe you have your answer. maybe it only take 25ft. so for a savings of $1400, you can definitely get a 25' cable? I'm not sure. Let us know what you find out. More power is better.
 
yea I do find it hard to believe that its quieter than a vacume cleaner but anything is possible, and it diesnt say what vacume they are talking about lol
 
I also noticed that the honda 6500 wat one is also 60decibles. for 5 decibles I would not pay the extra money for sure.
I'd go with this one if you need the 6500. you can also build a barrier to keep the sound away. maybe a box that covers front, left, right, and top, and leaves the back open for air and exhaust. but the other sides can have sound foam or some sort of sound deadening device on them.
 
but yeah the one I have is definitely quieter than a vacum cleaner. at least in econo throthle mode. on full mode it goes up to 58db and that is a bit louder.
but if you compare apples to apples.

the one you found - $700 at 65dcb
the Honda 6500 - $4000 at 60 dcb.

you can pay for alot of extra cable and build some creative sound deadening solutions with the $3400.
 
Every 6 decibels means a doubling of the volume. So the difference between 60 and 66 is that 66 is twice as loud.

The difference between 49 (the eu3000i) and 65? The 65 is about six times louder than the 49.
 
but that last one I selected was $999 for under 58dcb. the honda I have is between 48 and 58 and it reatails for $2000. so when I put the honda at its loudest which is the same as this one for $999. it definitely adds to it, but it is still a $1000 difference.
If you are in LA Jason, you can come check out mine and see the difference between 48 and 58. and if 58dcb is acceptable you can get that one for $999.
 
Okay, but let's also keep something in context -- if he got an EU2000i for $1,000 he could drive maybe one 1200w HMI. That's about it.

There is simply no way on a budget to drive a lighting package like he's describing. He's got something like 20,000 watts worth of light there. That's going to need a maybe 500 Amp generator, and a truck to tow it with, and a lot of gas.

Those generators aren't necessarily prohibitive to rent, depending on the shot; you should be able to rent a 500-amp "movie quiet" generator for $450/day or so.
 
yea I've got about 17,000 watts, so I would need 9 to 10 outlests on their own breaker. I'm hoping we find more. I'm looking at 3 to 4 nights in this location, so I have one cc that isnt maxed out yet with 1700 bucks on it.


I figure, the 2 hmis are a must. have to filln up the area with light, using an hvx with an m2,

so thats thats 2400 w, if there are indeed only 2 outlets, that would allow me to hook in the two 800 moles.

I don't know much about the location yet, I havent seen it, but beggers can't be choosers,


least I think I'll need,

2 1200 hmis, 1 1k fresnel, 2 800s, 3 500 photo floods, then 2 1k nook lights.

thats 8500 watts,

4000 with 2 outlets, so i figure with a 6500 gen I should be well covered, as thats 10500 watts, which will give me my low end, and then 2 more 1ks, or maybe 3 650w and couple work lights. I might can get creative if I have 10k in power to play with.

but at 72 db how far would you guess I would need to run the stingers?
keep in mind that at least one car in the for ground will be running at all times. this should mask some of the generator noise, also there will be a lot of gun fire and not much dialogue out side of the running cars. for the in car shots, I also have the cars 12v system


Jason
 
i know. bring a vacuum cleaner when you get to the set for scouting and run it off the outlet and see how much sound. maybe bring some cables and see how far you have to position it before the sound goes away. hahahaha
 
thats not a bad idea, I know you said it in jest, but hell, it might work, I just need to ding the loudest vacum cleaner I can find.
 
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