Smaller, Quieter Generators. Easier to steal, too?

[EB]

While the new generation of Honda/Yamaha generators have been designed to be ultra-quiet, they're also ultra-compact and thus easy to walk off with (weighing little more than a heavy suitcase...)

Any ideas to keep the genny from getting pinched? It seems like a $900 genny is the easiest "big ticket" item a yahoo could pinch for the least amount of effort. (to stop the criminal, we must "become" the criminal...)

They're purposefully kept far away from populated areas, tucked in the back alleys and other out-of-the-way areas. And, yes, I won't be running my genny at night or in the early morning, so during those times, I can put it in my tent, but what about those times I'm running it while I'm away from camp?

To answer my own query, I guess one way would be to chain it to the undercarriage of a car, but that's not always convinient, plus who wants to stub their toe on a giant chain?

Another would be to knock in some rebar "extra deep" and chain the genny to the rebar. Yet, a pair of bolt cutters makes a chain obsolete in two snips.

I hate being paranoid about this stuff, but the last thing I want to worry about while I'm getting my ass beat in ThunderDome is if my generator's getting nicked.

This'll be my fourth burn, first with electric power, as it were. Would love to hear advice on this topic.

EB

p.s. Yes, I'll be building a baffle.

[ibdave]

Hey Ya EB, I take the eu2000 honda every year.. It's super quiet that I don't build anything around it. You need the air flow cuz of all of the plastic.. I don't impose the sound on other by sticking in the north 40, but I do chain it to my trailer. I run it 4-5 hours a night for camp lights. I also let it be know to my neighbors that they can use it for recharging things.. see ya at home soon.

[Tancorix]

I have a Honda EU2000i and I had the same worry about it vanishing. To prevent that I've built a small welded steel cage for the thing....that I can chain (or spot weld) to my trailer. If I don't have the trailer and I don't want to haul the cage I'll run a Kryptonite bike cable through the handle of the genny and around my tire and rim...or I can also loop it around the frame of the truck or the bumper of the car. Back to the cage, while the genny runs quiet there are places I go where practical jokers will turn the thing off. The cage prevents that crap too. I went so far as to encase the power cable in BX armor flex conduit. In other words it's only going off when I turn it off. Even the fuel cans are inside the cage.

I also bought an engraver and put some identifying marks and codes in various places...since it's a Honda I plan to have it for a long time and selling it is not an option. So I made sure a LEO could ID the unit as mine should it ever grow wings and vanish, if you know what I mean?.