My uncle has a sound level meter, and I'm borrowing it because this has fascinated me for quite awhile, going back to high school physics class. What makes this particularly exciting isn't the running around measuring my home, although there was plenty of that:
- Turns out that computer is as loud as I thought -- from 48 db to 57 in the living room
- The quietest spot in the house I could find was a pretty-darn-quiet 28 db.
The main reason it's exciting is because I can now quite scientifically evaluate the effects of putting the Durabak floor liner into my car, compared to bare floor. I'll test it again when I put the Dynamat on, and once again when the window rubber is replaced.
I also got a chance to put the new engine to pace. Turns out it is, in fact, the fastest motor I've had yet. It goes from 0-60 in about ten seconds and peaks at between 80-85 miles per hour. Not bad, and enough for freeway driving, which is what I wanted.
My results from today's tests (results in parenthesis are with the windows rolled down):
Car off, fuel pump only: 50db (50db)
Starting: 95 (95db)
Idle: 82 (83.5)
Running: 90-94 (95-101)
Accelerating: 100-104 (102-107)
@ 80 MPH: 103 (104)
Peak dbA levels: 104 (110)
For a list of examples of db levels, check out my previous post. My car is about as loud as an alarm clock at idle, and as loud as a chainsaw when accelerating. OSHA would not permit a business to have employees drive my car for more than an hour of highway driving. The goal, then, should be to get my car's noise levels down to about 90 db (which I think is possible).
By comparison, the Prius (which is an extraordinarily quiet car) has the following noise levels in the same conditions:
Car off: 31
Starting: 56
Idle: 54
Running: 65
Accelerating: 73
Stereo at 2: 62
Stereo at 4: 72
Stereo at 6: 80
Stereo at 8: 87
Stereo at 10: 92.5
A/C blower on LO: 46
A/C blower on MED: 61
A/C blower on HI: 71
To be continued ...Labels: Leelu, physics, science, Yoshimi |
