RedNeckRacin
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2008
- Messages
- 2,505
- Location
- Western PA
- Tractor
- John Deere 5083E MFWD, Kubota L3400 HST
I have a 2011 deere with power reverser and e-pto.
OP has a 2011, not sure what trans he has.
Your 83E 4cyl is a completely different animal than Not4hire's 55E 3cyl![]()
I have a 2011 deere with power reverser and e-pto.
I'm being very optimistic here, but I wondering if an economy PTO option could be added to My 2011 5055e?
What I'm looking to accomplish , is to run a PTO generator at lower engine speed.
A 10KW generator doesn't require 48 HP from the PTO to run it.
The other option would be gearing up the input shaft of the generator.
Bill
I'm sure you have your reasons, but I have never been able to crunch the numbers that say a PTO generator makes any sense to purchase, at least if new. They cost almost 2x more than a stand alone gas powered genset, use more fuel because you are spinning all the extra tractor accy's and gearing from engine speed, to 540, back to engine speed, and tend to have frequency drift because the tractors governor doesn't stay as close to pto speed as a gensets. Not to mention the extra hours racked up.
That being said, have you tried just running the genset slower and seeing how your loads respond to it? Depending on what you're running, the frequency may not matter if its 50hz or even less. Lights, switch mode power supplies (laptop chargers etc.), heaters, etc. don't need 60hz. AC motors will probably need 60hz though. The voltage controller should still keep you at 120vrms.
My vote is to sell the winco and buy a pair of $800 10kw gas powered gensets and be done with it.
Right now I all have is a Honda 5kw gas generator, original cost $2,000. I bought a Honda (not just Honda powered) because ( at that time compared to others), it produced very clean AC. Many things in my house even my furnace, has electronic/ expensive controls, so I felt it was a worthwhile investment over a $500 unit.
Years ago it wasn't uncommon for me to loose power. A few times we were out for around a week. Things have improved and I have only lost power a few times in as many years for maybe 2-3 hours each.
Every year I drain the fuel and replace it with fresh stabilized fuel, run the machine under load and change the oil. The bottom line is that the generator doesn't really require maintenance, the engine that drives it does. This year the engine failed to start. Cleaning the carb solved the problem. I didn't get 100% reliability, even maintaining things the way I do.
My theory is this. With a PTO unit, it can sit covered up in the barn, with almost zero maintenance and still be ready to go if I need it. Since I use the tractor all the time I'm very aware of it's condition. The additional wear and tear on the tractor only amounts to two or three hours a year if that. I only run my generator to maintain the water pressure, keep the refrigerator cold and the house warm. If the power is out eight hours, the generator is only running about three of the eight.
The unit I'm now considering is a 10 KW designed to run at 515 RPM.
I don't really know, but I suspect that a varying load of < 6KW would do little to change the engine speed of the tractor. Again, I don't really know how the tractor would react. PTO generators are new to me.