Hi,
A number of people have gone through the whole conversion process on their PM vans -- some have devoted a fair bit of labor and dollars to install noise reduction layers and some have done less on noise and some have done nothing on noise, but did put in insulation and paneling which reduce noise to some degree.
So, question is, does it pay to add the extra layers of sound proofing material over just insulation and paneling? And, if so, how much does it pay? And, which noise techniques work the best or offer the most bang for the buck?
This is a proposal for people who have not yet started their conversins to actually measure the before and after noise levels in a consistent way so that as people do conversions and measure noise levels we can develop a bit of a data base on what works and how well. This (I think) would be a big help to people trying to decide how much they want to put into noise reduction ?
So, here is a cut at a simple "standard" for measuring PM van noise:
Before:
1- buy a cheap noise meter. I've got this one [ame]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A13M9D2/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1428457842&sr=1&keywords=noise+meter[/ame] for $25 it appears to work quite well and gets lots of good reviews.
2- Make a 4 ft high support for the noise meter that you can place on the floor of the van. This could just be a 4 ft long 2 by 4 screwed to a square of plywood to serve as the base -- or anything that will support the noise meter 4 ft off the floor.
3- Pick a section of road that you want to use to do the noise measuring. Maybe a mile of "average" paved road that you can easily drive the van over with noise meter before and after the conversion.
Do the noise measurements:
1 - Before the conversion -- mount the noise meter between the driver and passenger seats on the 4 ft high pedistal with the meter 2 ft back from dashboard. With an assistant to read the meter (or a video cam to record it) do the run on your standard road at 60 mph once in each direction. Note the weather, time of day, ... anything that might influence the measurements.
2 - Move the noise meter and pedestal to a position half way back in the cargo part of the van -- eg half way between the back of the driver/pax seat and the rear door. Repeat the same two 60 mph runs on your standard road section.
After the conversion, repeat the same measurement runs as you did before the conversion. Even better, repeat the noise runs several times as you (say) finish the bare noise treatment, after floor, after paneling, etc. But, the main thing would be to get the bare van and the fully treated van.
The difference in noise levels between the two runs gives the noise reduction for the noise reduction your conversion achieves.
Post your noise readings and the noise reduction materials you used as well as the type of paneling, insulation, flooring...
I have zero experience doing noise measurements, so if you have a better idea or improvements to the procedure to suggest, please do.
I'm an incurable engineer type, and this may be way over the top of what any reasonable person would do -- please feel free to say so if you think this is just too involved.
If people think this is worth doing, I can arrange to take the noise measurements on my van, but it would only be for the after conversion case.
Gary
A number of people have gone through the whole conversion process on their PM vans -- some have devoted a fair bit of labor and dollars to install noise reduction layers and some have done less on noise and some have done nothing on noise, but did put in insulation and paneling which reduce noise to some degree.
So, question is, does it pay to add the extra layers of sound proofing material over just insulation and paneling? And, if so, how much does it pay? And, which noise techniques work the best or offer the most bang for the buck?
This is a proposal for people who have not yet started their conversins to actually measure the before and after noise levels in a consistent way so that as people do conversions and measure noise levels we can develop a bit of a data base on what works and how well. This (I think) would be a big help to people trying to decide how much they want to put into noise reduction ?
So, here is a cut at a simple "standard" for measuring PM van noise:
Before:
1- buy a cheap noise meter. I've got this one [ame]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A13M9D2/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1428457842&sr=1&keywords=noise+meter[/ame] for $25 it appears to work quite well and gets lots of good reviews.
2- Make a 4 ft high support for the noise meter that you can place on the floor of the van. This could just be a 4 ft long 2 by 4 screwed to a square of plywood to serve as the base -- or anything that will support the noise meter 4 ft off the floor.
3- Pick a section of road that you want to use to do the noise measuring. Maybe a mile of "average" paved road that you can easily drive the van over with noise meter before and after the conversion.
Do the noise measurements:
1 - Before the conversion -- mount the noise meter between the driver and passenger seats on the 4 ft high pedistal with the meter 2 ft back from dashboard. With an assistant to read the meter (or a video cam to record it) do the run on your standard road at 60 mph once in each direction. Note the weather, time of day, ... anything that might influence the measurements.
2 - Move the noise meter and pedestal to a position half way back in the cargo part of the van -- eg half way between the back of the driver/pax seat and the rear door. Repeat the same two 60 mph runs on your standard road section.
After the conversion, repeat the same measurement runs as you did before the conversion. Even better, repeat the noise runs several times as you (say) finish the bare noise treatment, after floor, after paneling, etc. But, the main thing would be to get the bare van and the fully treated van.
The difference in noise levels between the two runs gives the noise reduction for the noise reduction your conversion achieves.
Post your noise readings and the noise reduction materials you used as well as the type of paneling, insulation, flooring...
I have zero experience doing noise measurements, so if you have a better idea or improvements to the procedure to suggest, please do.
I'm an incurable engineer type, and this may be way over the top of what any reasonable person would do -- please feel free to say so if you think this is just too involved.
If people think this is worth doing, I can arrange to take the noise measurements on my van, but it would only be for the after conversion case.
Gary