Generator 15KW PTO Generator Harbor Freight

[awkirch]

Never used a PTO generator, but COSTCO has a 12kw LP fired Generac with Transfer a switch for $1895 including the mounting base . Sounds like a deal to me

Allen

 

[Soundguy]

if i was gonna buy a big stand alone genny today.. it might have to have welding leads on it..

 

[Loadstar]

If people are worried about their tractor being tied up.... Just buy another tractor. That's what I would do at least.

 

[bjmsam]

What appears to be an updated model includes automatic voltage regulation and overload protection:

Shanghai Didian Industry Co., Ltd.
Changzhou Kafurter Machinery Co., Ltd.

I'm close to the port of Baltimore but have no experience with freight forwarding.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Fantastic price. No recourse if it doesnt work right. My experience with chinas electrical isnt good. They are; however, totally inconsistent. ... You could luck out.
larry

 

[bjmsam]

To the listed price one must add tariffs and fees, which can be substantial if not prohibitive when only a single unit is purchased and shipped. Harbor Freight offers only 90 days of recourse when they do the importing and have a similar lead time (their ad states: "Item made to order. Average time to ship is 3 weeks with a maximum of 13 weeks."). Chinese factories can and do manufacture high quality items when contracted to do so, but we can't determine whether that is the case with these units, so it would be valuable to hear from folks who have owned one for a while (input solicited by the OP five years ago).

I sure would rather buy American, but the premium is excessive.

 

[bjmsam]

Getting back to the OP (better late than never!):

Has anyone here purchased and used the 15KW PTO generator from Harbor Freight? I would like to hear your thoughts before I buy one. I have used the IMD brand during hurricane Gustav and was very pleased with it but would rather not pay $2500 for one. $1100 sounds much better if the quality is reasonable.

Below I have consolidated actual feedback on this model from multiple threads. As most of these posts are somewhat dated, it would be great to see more recent updates.

The Harbor PTO Generator works great. I now have electricity whenever i want it on the tree farm without having to maintain a small engine. Easy to move on the three point. I'm in it, including extended warranty, for $1063.28 (see my last post for the deal I got). The gear box for the generator sits pretty close to the tractor so the PTO shaft (comes included) is quite short. It takes a little jockeying to get it connected, since when leveled with the PTO there isn't enough clearance to get the female end of the shaft over the spline. Fortunately by putting it at full lift there is enough clearance. A bigger tractor with longer rocker arms would not have that problem. To use a smaller tractor one may have to cut the shaft down a little. It's a real solid unit. It's easy to adjust the the throttle since it has a cycle readout. It doesn't quite require the RPMs to produce 60 cycles that my tachometer rates as 540 out.. That is probably a good thing since less fuel and less wear and tear on the tractor.

I got the HF generator a couple of years ago. It was sitting in my local HF as an unused return item at half price. I used it during the ice storm we had last winter when power was out. What I like best about it is not having to maintain another small engine. Since it always rains here in the winter, I park the tractor halfway out of the shop and pull the overhead door down as far as it will go.The exhaust goes outside from the front of the tractor and the generator stays high and dry. Only issue I had was finding a cable that fit its plug on one end and my house plug on the other. I think I finally got a fifty footer from the local HOnda/Kubota dealer for about $100.
Mf

I bought the Harbor Freight over a year back now, not had a power outage long enough to put it on full load. I have run it on light load and worked fine.
It's one of the easiest implements to hook up to the tractor. Needs to be kept covered though, don't let it sit in the rain, it's not weatherproof.
I had a look at the windings, all copper!!
It does have a combined Liquid crystal display for hours/volts/amps and frequency, so you can set the drive speed to give you 60Hz. The output should be clean enough for home electronics, "brushless" design apart from the fields and 12 volt circuit output.

I bought one of these this past spring for backup power for the house. I've used it twice and it has worked very well. I had to move the unit back all the way on the stand and it was still to close to connect the pto shaft so I cut & weld some channel stock to move the pto attachment points 5" fwd. I think the Torq model has this already hence the extra $100 in cost. Now connecting the pto shaft is still tight but doable. My gearcase vent does leak a little oil when it heats up but only after a couple of hrs of use. So far I'm happy with it. My only other concern is that the unit is a pinch to big for my tractor (Kubota B2910). To keep from posible overloading the tractor I run it through 40 amp breaker.

I also have the same generator. I ran it for 6 days last fall during the Halloween snow storm, 16-18 hours a day. It ran great. The voltage stayed right in the band, the lights never dipped when the big loads (well pump, electric dryer, etc) kicked on. The only thing I will modify is to put some type of shield over the cooling air intake on the end of the generator. With all the blowing snow we had, I put a tarp over it while it was snowing. I was afraid that it would suck in snow (it moves a LOT of air). I think rain would also have the same problem.

I bought a 15kW PTO generator off Harbor Freight and it was easy to hookup and works fine. I will not get the full 15kW from the CT235 but close. The rear PTO is the way to go with the generator and pretty easy to change implements.

I have this Chicago Elrctric PTO generator. I bought it off of Ebay for $800 with 2.5 hours on the clock. The generator is compact and well built. I use a Kubota L4240 with 35HP at the PTO to run it. Just set the RPM's till the voltage gets to 240V and 60Hz and let it be. There is very little change in voltage when central AC kicks on and off. We have not had a long power outage since I got the unit so I have only used it a few hours for testing. The unit was underwater for a few days during a flood and it still works as it should. Let me know if you have any questions.

I have a 15KW pto generator and have only tested it with a few varying loads. I set the throttle to get 61hertz and let it run with different loads. The hertz would drop down to 60hz at the lowest and I did not have to touch the throttle. My generator is the Harbor Freight 15KW generator.

I hooked it up to the BX1500 and run it for about an hour. I did not hook up any power monitoring equipment yet. I ran about 2000 watts of lighting and also turned on the drill press, belt sander and grinder. It stayed rock solid on 60 HZ and didn't really load the BX1500. I tried to start the Shop compressor but that was really asking to much(240V 5HP 23A full load current). To truly evaluate what it will run I need to hook up a power meter and put measured loads on it. I have quick hitches on both the BX1500 and the L4400 and that leaves a PTO shaft issue. The shaft that came with the generator is just right for the BX but to short for the L4400. I have a PTO shaft on order from Agri supply.

I decided to run the PTO generator today while I cut the grass. I isolated the garage and turned the garage and upstairs lights, 1500 watt heater, drill press, fan, belt sander, and grinder. Totaling 3.45KW. I ran this for 4 hours exactly and the tractor used 4.1 gallons of diesel. The load was unbalanced with and here are the details:
Volts- L1-ground- 117V
Volts- L2-ground- 124V
Volts- L1-L2- 241V

Amps L1-27.5A
Amps L2-4A

Watts 3.45KW

I was surprised at how ineffiecient it was on fuel. It could have been because of the imbalance of the loads or that it was lightly loaded. I will likely do the same test with a larger load that is balanced.

After I finished I changed the gear box oil. I took the drain plug out and it was under great pressure for a gear box. I checked the breather and it has a spring loaded ball check. I pulled the spring and it was very stiff. I deemed it too stiff and replaced it with a much shorter and less stiif spring. I didnt see much in the break in oil except a few fines from the gears meshing. Voltage was stable and the frequency was rock solid.

I found no negative posts, which seems rare for an enthusiast forum like this one. That's a good sign!

 

[bjmsam]

 

[buickanddeere]

The 3600rpm machines tend to be noisier than the 1800rpm machines . Can sometimes be a consideration.

 

[Soundguy]

is that the new data plate ont he head? nice.

as to 3600 rpm louder than 1800.. sure.. if you can hear it over the tractor.