How Loud Is An Electric Paramotor?

[@TuckerGott]

What are your thoughts on this sound comparison?

[@turkeyphant]

Nice little phone overlay but can you do a frequency spectrum comparison? Can't see the axes on the video.

[@andreschapero3615]

Brilliant video. Impossible to understand why paramotors are not fully electric today. You Mr. Gott should dedicate all your influence and knowledge to push for better and better electric systems. I think technology is ripe for minimal sport aviation to be electric in a couple of years....Go electric, go metric, go vegan !

[@TuckerGott]

@@andreschapero3615 Still never going vegan. 😂

[@turkeyphant]

@@andreschapero3615 Please don't associate metric with all that....

[@cloudpandarism2627]

ok here is what i found in my EPPG prototype noise tests: directly front and back noise level is loudest. for gasoline engines this doesnt change much from whatever angle i measured. but electric will loose alot decibel if i was directly left, right side from the motor. or up and down in flight. which means EPPGs mid flight will be significantly less noisy when directly overhead. which makes them perfect for flying over the area you live without annoying all people living there.

[@MatthewK863]

FYI every 3dB is double the "sound pressure" but every 10dB is what humans interpret as twice the volume. Awesome video and love the idea of electrics, especially for beginners, it removes the issue of the motor stalling out and dying.

[@TyeBratton]

I can’t believe there is less than 10db separating the electric from the Moster 185!

[@Cosmonnor_]

Also hard to tell from the video but won't distance to the meter have an effect? So the one on the very left is most likely louder yet bc it was further away?

[@Laerei]

@@TyeBratton The only noise from the electric comes from the propeller blades. In that regard, there is not much you can do.

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

@@Laerei In terms of the motor anyway. There are probably people working on making quieter propellers but with the motor having been louder there just wasn't much point in attempting it before.

[@SyntheticSpy]

@@TheAkashicTravellerI think it was mentioned in another video that they’re working on quieter props

[@tango_sierra8608]

This was really well done. The touch of playing them back to back right away was really helpful

[@JoshuaPlays99]

I really appreciate you doing all the testing back to back, without changing or moving the setup between tests. Best way to get a reliable comparison!

[@Brandon9thGen]

3:02 you had a cool beat going for a sec with those motor sounds lol

[@Tom-vb4rc]

Put a drum and bass beat behind it and you got a number 1 🥵🔥🔥

[@mizatt]

Song of Time

[@jamestunedflat8942]

Sounds like he was setting up someone to do a remix.

[@paradigm9061]

SAME! I waiting for the drop 🤣

[@DanielArnett]

Loved the back to back to back. You should do a KZbin Shorts with those clips! I'll definitely be sharing that part with friends.

[@TuckerGott]

Good idea!

[@svenholmquist]

Thanks for taking both my suggestions, spyder 3-26m (my wing!) and full throttle, max altitude climb, and making those into videos. Super stoked to see how that goes. Cheers

[@platypii]

Really good production value on this comparison nice work! I also own an SP140 and love it. It's worth mentioning in any sound comparison... there is nothing better than climbing up to altitude, letting off the throttle, and just immediately having silence. That's really hard to beat!

[@Robnord1]

Your comparison clips were *brilliantly* done!!! Two seconds of each in a repeating sequence is something I've not seen another KZbinr put together for comparing sounds. Sweet! I like the lower frequency of the Moster, even if it has a few more dB.

[@mmcowan]

I'm an audio engineer...this stuff is right up my alley. You did pretty well with these tests and they definitely tell the story. A few comments, though: On your fly-over testing, there is a smoothing factor in the app that measures the SPL (loudness). It's like a "running average". The app may or may not allow you to tweak the length of that factor. For the fly-by, you would want a very fast smoothing factor since you're flying by quickly. But, it's harder to get good measurements with fast smoothing. Then, SPL falls off quickly with respect to distance. So, the closer you are, the more important that the distance is identical with each test. Finally, the acoustic overload point (AOP) on cell phone mics is not super high (maybe 130dBSPL these days). During that instant when you're closest to the phone you very well could be louder than that, which could be affecting the measurement. That's a lot of words to say that's a tough test to get right and we shoulda gotten you a professional SPL meter. 🧐. I'm curious of what you would have gotten with a fly-by at 200ft or more. That would have alleviated those worries. The other test I would love to see is an in-flight test. We would definitely need to get a professional SPL meter for that and engineer something to block the wind. The last bit of nerdiness is that if you should probably do "A weighted" measurements. Your app may or may not allow you to configure the weighting, but the pro meters definitely do.

[@olliechristopher467]

Man Tucker!! Your fitness level/muscle mass is right on track!! Good on you young man.

[@allaboutroofing2]

He's not gay. Nice try.

[@tango_sierra8608]

@@allaboutroofing2😂😂

[@olliechristopher467]

@@allaboutroofing2 WTF!! Where is that coming from?

[@evan010101]

Fair play to you for trying an even bigger wing. Really thorough testing, appreciate it.

[@MrDRSMAX]

I study aircraft acoustics at NASA and would love to do a proper acoustic test with good calibrated equipment. I expect most of the noise is prop noise which is going to be basically the same between a gas or electric paramotor.

[@Redeem_Honor]

I actually just got done watching your previous video on the electric paramotor. What great timing!

[@apsestasis]

Great video Tucker, thank you very much for this objective comparison dispelling many myths found online. I think the 3 current big things on the paramotor market are: 1. Moster EFI 2. Electric 3. Eos Quattro It would be amazing to compare these 3 by one person at the time.

[@apsestasis]

@@lovisl. ofc you can, it just depends on the criteria you use. In my opinion moster efi is pointless due to batery limiting the flight time, electric could be perfect with a different battery tech, but currently sucks and quattro is the silent horse of the future

[@davidmack8813]

Good audio Tucker especially with back & forth and multiple assortments of noise levels good coverage of audio paramotor and going through it several times gave us all a better realization of what's going on.

[@classicaudioadventures]

I was looking forward to the noise comparisons. Very informative, thanks!

[@CelebrateGoodDays]

These deep dives are incredible! It is great information for people just getting into the sport and trying to decide what to get once we finish our training.

[@dowgy177]

While db meter apps do provide some useful data for figuring out relative loudness, they are not at all accurate. You need a dedicated db meter if you want accurate, useful numbers.

[@Xiaomila]

Understanding decibels is surprisingly unintuitive! They are not linear, so the difference between 102 dB and 95 dB means that 102 dB is about 5 times as loud as 95 dB. As an engineer, I can tell from experience that everyone just assumes a linear function, like driving a little too fast in a car, but the scale of dB is logarithmic! So, a 7 dB difference is actually quite significant!!

[@anthonyburke5656]

Thanks Tucker, I will be interested to see the results with the larger canopy

[@cloudpandarism2627]

ok here is what i found in my EPPG prototype noise tests: directly in front and back, the noise level is loudest. for gasoline engines this doesnt change much from whatever angle i measured. but electric will loose alot decibel if i was directly left and right side from the motor. or up and down in flight. means EPPGs mid flight will be significantly less noisy when directly overhead. which makes them perfect for flying over the area you live without annoying all people there. 2 blades are more efficient and quieter. but less power and more vibrations. 3 blades meanwhile have huge thrust. a bit less efficient but higher pitched noise (most people feel more comfortable with that) and less vibrations. i love the 2 blade most because i can fly a bit longer and the deep rumble noise at cruise throttle is the best sound i ever heard in the paramotor world. very comfortable to fly! i switch in between 2 and 3 blade props depending on my mood.

[@ParaglidingManiac]

Outstanding video! Can't wait for next ones!!!

[@RideOnTimePH]

I love the sound of SP140. The sound is very smooth.

[@TexasPanhandler]

This was one of my first questions too; I figured it would be quieter but in the past two videos it didn’t sound that different. Thanks for answering the question!

[@TuckerGott]

It's definitely less offensive but also not as quiet as you would think.

[@turkeyphant]

The prop is most of the noise on any paramotor.

[@MrCPPG]

@@TuckerGott Decibel is a logarithmic scale not linear. A 5db number difference is a lot more than 5 linear.

[@The18107j]

I'd love to see if there's a noticeable difference (sound, efficiency, power) with different props. Ideally that would involve testing different sizes, blade counts, and blade pitch. That's probably overkill for this type of video, so I'd be happy with a 2 vs 3 blade test.

[@garyjackson6836]

I would like to see some city shots as close as you can get without getting into trouble. The shots you did of NYC , Philadelphia and Miami were awesome. Of course all of your videos are. Thanks.

[@JuanAlvarez-lh3vy]

The measurement is unfortunately compromised a bit by using different props. Especially change from 2 blade to 3 blade prop makes big difference to the tonal noise of the prop playing in favour of electric paramotor in this case. The prop contribution to the OASPL is huge especially with tip mach speeds above 0,6-0,7

[@rattenmike]

@TuckerGott there is a big sound gap between the propellers , to have a real valid comparison, you should fly all motors with the same type of propeller.. ore swap propellers between the engines (if possible)

[@KeatShadows]

Tucker, one of my all time favorite videos, you and a friend rode the wind on the Moustache Gliders. Would it be possible for you to use the Moustache Gliders in your area or does it take a special upwind mountain? Thanks Tucker, I certainly enjoy all of your videos.

[@NewtonWashinton]

Very well done Sound Testing.

[@markbrown-us4xe]

I don't remember hearing about the battery recharge time. Still love your content. Thanks for giving it to a lucky winner. Enjoy the weather because I'm still sleeping in layers and cat's.

[@TuckerGott]

Thanks! That was covered in the unboxing video. It takes 4 hours to fully charge.

[@porscheoffroad]

Awesome video Tucker!

[@tombird4263]

Figuring that a LOT of the sound is coming from the props...it would probably be "more equal" to do the comparison with the SAME prop on each unit. I think that would be more apple to apple to apple. However...it seems you need to have the 140 on the SF and the 125 on the Atom.

[@TuckerGott]

Correct. Each prop is specific to the engine, by diameter and pitch.

[@stevesmith3033]

Even though the Moster R is the loudest, I think it's the best sounding one and I'd rather listen to that sound while flying than the other two

[@madsloper]

I tested the Ozone Spyder 3 28m with my SP140 and I only gained 5 minutes of flight time. I currently have a 2018 Ozone Spyder wing 28m and I didn't feel like spending $4250 would be worth the extra five minutes. Happy flying!

[@burrr1047]

I loved the dark blue and gold/burnt orange hat you used to have but I hate snap backs, I’d buy a flex fit baseball cap, they’re unrivaled in comfort. You could even get some “Notch” brand hats if you like them and but your logo on them. Would be something no one I’ve seen do before. They make decent flexfit hats in the right colors. Some colors don’t fit well and are made differently for some reason.

[@blue_beephang-glider5417]

Most of the noise is the prop. Zip line Drones have a funky quiet prop. Props like that would allow most complainers to ignore us...

[@julianweijler2109]

We'll see about that Spyder3! I fly a 24m Spyder3, and surprisingly, the 18m ViperXC is WAY more efficient, very low rpm on cruise, i could not believe it.

[@TuckerGott]

That's what I'm thinking. The Spyder 3 will be 10sqm bigger, but it is a less efficient airfoil. I'm hoping that it is overall more efficient because of the size, but we will see. Regardless, it is a more "realistic" glider as that's what most people are flying.

[@cloudpandarism2627]

@@TuckerGott i got a new spyder3 and since i fly that my time in the air on the smallest battery got raised by good 10 min. there is a sweetspot for electric. tucker i saw your cruise power is 6-7kw at all times which is not good to reach an hour. try to find a wing to get that down to around 3-4kw at leveled flight and you are there to reach that goal.

[@Cee64E]

I wonder if a simple band brake on the motor could be used so you can do some thermal flying without the prop windmilling. This seems like the perfect motor to use if you are using it for self launch then doing some real sailing with a big wing. If the thermals are kicking you could be up all day.

[@rickardjonsson4526]

Plz mr. SP140 producer LEND TUCKER THE NEW BIGGER BATTERY so he can do this tests with the battery the customer will actually receive when ordering!! To my understanding tucker is flying a 3.7kwh pack and the new is 4.8.

[@teddypamperin6232]

Tucker said in a previous video (assembly IIRC) that he opted for the larger pack.

[@grejen711]

Compare the sound of the SP140 to the 2 strokes while clipling in and getting launched. 😂 My X4 is LouD. But I love hearing the trees rustle in the breeze and the birds chirping, and the sound of the wing inflating ...

[@m.gardner6173]

Very informative thank you

[@justin_time]

I wonder if this will open up a new area of R&D for paramotors of props that are optimized for quiet flights instead of range, power, climb rate, etc. 🤔

[@JuanAlvarez-lh3vy]

I would guess so, it is already huge topic in evtol bussiness

[@Lizlodude]

Watching the little box at the top of the dB app that says what it thinks the sound is was quite amusing The result was about what I expected, similar prop noise but a bit quieter overall, and none of the engine drone.

[@denvera1g1]

I for one didnt find it confusing in the last video that went over your ideal conditions. I would brace myself for people complaining about not using the same blades for all 3 sound tests

[@ozludo]

I don't think it would be an easy test, but initial battery temperature might influence efficiency and duration. That might be important for people in cold climates (I think). Maybe worth considering?

[@Flight_Rider]

Changing the prop for sound difference and range. Be an interesting comparison without an engine noise

[@michroz]

My thoughts: I noticed compustion engines sound differently in different directions. This probably depends on geometry of exhaust. Not sure about electric - I guess it is more or less uniform. Also, different frequencies are perceived differently. Maybe you need some kind of "normalization" on frequency. I guess there must be labs doing this job more precise, but still: very well done, thanks! P.S.: I think paramotor manufacturers unfortunately just _don't care_ too much about noise. I believe some simple and light casing would dramatically decrease the noise.

[@fededabz]

Is there a way to eject the battery if the worst happens?

[@The18107j]

Can you eject a fuel tank? Liquid fuel is far more likely to catch fire than a battery, especially with a very hot combustion engine nearby.

[@kevkev5935]

The back to back tone part sounds like the start of a Skrillex song.

[@lobbyrobby]

That's a great idea trying to test what altitude you can get up to with a full charge

[@mr-huggy]

It's no just the loudness of the motor and prop but also the frequencies. Higher up frequencies tend to be less noisy unless their real high pitched and the other factor is the prop that is used a large slow RPM prop will make less noise so will a prop with many blades as it will push the frequencies higher.

[@EverydayRoadster]

Most race tracks I go to are limited to 95dB these days. 😳

[@jethrobradley7850]

Some kind of thermalling comparison would be interesting. Is this one of the areas where electric could shine?

[@TuckerGott]

Not really. I think a lot of people think so because when the motor goes to idle, it is silent. But I can do the same with gas and just turn it off without any trouble restarting. Both have the same drag component and the electric is actually heavier. So it doesn't really have any advantage as far as thermalling.

[@jethrobradley7850]

@@TuckerGott Good points re: drag and weight. I just thought (wrongly) that the electric might be easier to restart.

[@MrTemzi]

Well made video👏🏻 nice to know that the sp140 is from a distance atleast below the 85db permanent hearing loss risk level, especially if you have audience when taking off👍🏻 atom80 is suprisingly quiet as well! And to add if someone doesnt know, +10 desibels means that the sound is 10 times more powerful!

[@mgpBLARG]

I'd like to see you set up a three dimensional course and fly different wings through the gps waypoints and compair speed, climb rate, and power draw/flight duration with this electric paramotor.

[@iKenFlyPPG]

Liking that throatier Moster. However, a 3-blade prop could make a difference since the prop is the source of the sound hehe. Could you spin it up without the prop and measure the motor whine or try it and report back? Motor controller should be speed limited I think. Anyway nice video Tucker!

[@atomicsmith]

Might be cool to see how long you could keep it in the air. Pick a day with some thermal potential and see how well that works with the new wing?

[@michaels9595]

Stay safe during their monsoon season! the isolated ones look like titans walking the earth and other ones can catch you off guard.

[@BCKammen]

Question, would a 3 prop change the tone or how loud a engine is compared to a 2 blade prop?

[@TuckerGott]

For sure.

[@joelmorley]

How Much distance can you travel and return from?

[@dfordrone4092]

You inspire me lots thanks tucker

[@COSMEREAUDIO]

In the next video can you add a List of side by side comparison of pros and cons of electric and icy engine?

[@TuckerGott]

Will be doing a gas vs electric comparison soon!

[@hippyraverocker]

I'd be curious for some kind of test or review of how quickly / if the battery could be dumped should ot cause a fire during flight. I'm also curious as to the recharge time of the battery. For example if you wanted an afternoon of flying but with breaks, how quickly could it be charged from your car for example. Great videos and super informative.

[@zachmoyer1849]

would love to hear your thoughts on what the cost differences would likely be between the two now that you have some experience with it.

[@Bergstaller01]

How about a time to climb comparison, say to like 2000 or 3000 feet between the three motors?

[@JonathanHair]

Everyone watching needs to understand that decibels is a logarithmic scale. 3 dB means 2X as loud, even if our human perception is different.

[@TyeBratton]

I really appreciate the side by side comparison! I learned that I really like the sound of a 140 prop on a moster. I’m also really surprised how loud the 80 and electric were! Any way you can get a big block (300) to compare as well?

[@toddchristenson632]

wonder if the SPL sampling rate is fast enough during flybys - to be confident in the peak level shouldn't there be several measurements at or near max SPL? Great stuff here - seems this technology is ready to 'take-off'

[@BlakeJoy]

I have a Spyder 3 24m, So the next duration test should be very close to my setup, if I had an OpenPPG motor.

[@EthosAtheos]

I think something you just showed is prop noise is significant at cruising speed. But at full throttle the ICE engines exhausts become the bigger factor. I suspect there is a lot of work that could be done to make the prop quieter. I know that there is a lot of research going into drones right now. I doubt that has made it to the para-motor space. You may still be able to realize some sound advantages by having quieter props on ICE engines. As ICE engines are likely to be the preferred choice for a while yet. Batteries haven't been able to catch up with distilled dinosaurs for energy density. Someday batteries will catch up with dino fuel but we aren't there yet. Before someone comments I'm wrong, gasoline is about 12KWh/kg; the best Li batteries are about 700Wh/kg. Even factoring in thermal efficiency you can't get to batteries are more energy dense than gas.

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

Now that quiet motors are available, work can be done on the propeller. 40% of the noise from a helicopter comes from the tail rotors. There are several methods of reducing propeller noise

[@mathius-hc4yu]

Just had my National Forest T-shirt delivered 🎉

[@TuckerGott]

Heck yeah! Hope you love it.

[@Island_Line_Rail_Productions]

I have a Kolb Firefly ultralight that I am almost done building and will have a rotax engine, I would love to convert it to electric someday. I wonder how long the battery would last with a 254 lbs airframe not including the pilot

[@MarkLoves2Fly]

The majority of the sound comes from the prop wash rather than the engine. So In the air at a distance they will sound similar given the same prop rpm.

[@yamamancha]

You should do a two-person flight test and a trike test on the electric motor, or is it specifically not recommended for those applications?

[@risingtide_official]

hearing protection is an absolute must!!!!! You can't get new ears.

[@iCanSeeWhatMostCant]

gotta have the same props on each

[@TuckerGott]

That’s not a thing. Props are specific to the motor.

[@iCanSeeWhatMostCant]

@@TuckerGott then you can never do a real test

[@TuckerGott]

@@iCanSeeWhatMostCant Ok.

[@dennismanje1133]

Watching you from Kenya 🇰🇪lol

[@walk4718]

Very cool that you’re giving this, this much content. E-technology will obviously be an important part of our lives pretty soon, so it’s great that you’re taking this technology seriously. Love the editing; you may have a musical 3 note chord 😂

[@ChrisMuncy]

How about doing a speed test with different wings?

[@hansvanderwalt5472]

You should come visit South Africa .

[@heatleynoble]

Do you ship international for the comp?

[@justin_time]

Video idea: What is the absoulte largest wing that can be flown with the electric paramotor (safely) and how much would it truly affect flight time?

[@cjermo]

Hey Tucker, thanks for this! Any chance of doing a max cross-country range test on the 26m Spyder as well? Can obviously guess on the basis of flying time, but would be good to know definitively. Also interested what you think of the ICE conversion kit for the SP140.

[@benjaminjohnson6476]

It really shows how much of the in flight noise is generated by the prop.

[@stevenjenkins7090]

have you thought about the danger of lithuim batteries catching fire

[@The18107j]

Have you thought about the danger of a combustible fuel sitting next to a hot engine catching fire? Batteries don't get very hot, and won't catch fire unless something catastrophic has happened. The media tends to over-hype battery fires. In most news stories about battery fires, the battery is actually fine, and it was just an unrelated fire near the battery.

[@clenaghen]

Is a 3 blade prop more efficient than a 2 blade prop with the electric paramotor? I havent done any actual tests, but it seems like I get more flight time with a 2-blade vs increased performance and more fuel consumption with a 3-blade.

[@rjtumble]

How much do you think the prop impacts the sound in these tests? Not that I want you to test this, but how dangerous is it in an emergency water landing?

[@RabbitStu-M7UTS]

4:28 three blind mice

[@jethrobradley7850]

See how they paramotor. They all flew after the farmer's wife, who chopped off their tails with a two blade 140cm E Prop

[@markreed9853]

Could you do a video with it connected to a trike?

[@TuckerGott]

I'm going to try!

[@markreed9853]

@@TuckerGott I would love to try it but at 93kg with arthritis in my foot, I would probably be to heavy for me on a trike?

[@tyrian869]

Do they produce a toroidal propeller big enough for those things. I would think that would be super quiet

[@jchoneandonly]

That side by side tone bit cops be made into a song

[@alcampbell5831]

Not a bad test but perhaps it would be better to try every propellor on each motor. As prop noise is the main factor, I've thought that toroidal propellor would be ideal for paramotors, quieter and more efficient.

[@coffeebreakrecab]

What happens if the Sp-140 gets wet/does a waterlanding?

[@jstefa2]

this with the emerging solid state batteries reaching 400w/kg or possibly 600w/kg will be a killer for petrol paramotors for 98% of the fliers. especially if the prices really will be 50-70 bucks per kwh. 90 minute dynamic or 1 hour hard flying should be enough for almost everyone. no more dealing with 2 stroke engines, cleaning carbs, rebuilding, and most important... no engine siezing after a long descent and a panic power up.

[@mike_tango]

Those have been dangled in front of us for decades. They are like fusion, always just around the corner, never on the market.

[@Reed.dakota]

I wonder how the battery performs up high in the cold cold?

[@mr2gti]

3:01 Who's going to make a rave track from the 3 sounds 1st?

[@620ironwolf]

Everyone is forgetting the fact that 3 bladed props make more noise than 2 bladed props. So the electric should be even quieter on the same props as the gas motors. But regardless this test showed the sound difference between an electric and gas.

[@JuanAlvarez-lh3vy]

Its actually the other way around… speaking of the same thrust of course