PTO Generator question

[Smokeydog]

10kW , 515rpm, trash can enclosure. Help keeps it clean stored in the tractor shed. Need way to monitor when running. Have gauges both at the generator and by the TV inside the house. With PTO generators hertz as important as voltage to monitor power.

 

[dfkrug]

10kW , 515rpm, trash can enclosure. Help keeps it clean stored in the tractor shed. Need way to monitor when running. Have gauges both at the generator and by the TV inside the house. With PTO generators hertz as important as voltage to monitor power.

Looks good, and vermin-resistant, too (4-legged kind anyway).

Frequency is very important, yes. I added this cheap gauge to my Onan RV genny that I refurbished. You could install it anywhere. This one is only 4000W, but 1800RPM 2-cyl. 44yo. About 1/2-3/4 gal per hour, gasoline.

 

[Bansil]

I'm so glad I posted this, these are the answers I was searching

 

[RjCorazza]

Looks good, and vermin-resistant, too (4-legged kind anyway).

Frequency is very important, yes. I added this cheap gauge to my Onan RV genny that I refurbished. You could install it anywhere. This one is only 4000W, but 1800RPM 2-cyl. 44yo. About 1/2-3/4 gal per hour, gasoline.

Those old Onans are great generators, and seem to last forever. I had an 1800 rpm 4kw Onan in my previous small motorhome.

 

[grsthegreat]

I had an older onan 1800 rpm also, but sold it as getting real parts, not Chinese copies, was getting very hard.

 

[ning]

Just unplugging them all but one, and wait 5 min, between plugging next one in would solve that problem

We had an extended power outage during a wildfire. I mostly ran 2 refrigerators + 1 standing freezer, and occasionally a 3/4hp well pump -- off of a 3000W generac ("3500W starting!!!").

Sometimes - but not always - when the well pump kicked on, the generator's circuit breaker would pop - I had to unplug the coolers and let the well run a couple minutes, then plug the coolers back in one at a time. Good thing is that the well pump only runs when you deliberately run water, so we went on low-water-usage mode and only flushed when we really needed to.

Nice thing about that 3kw generator is that it really just sipped fuel.

 

[grsthegreat]

Small generators are a well companies best friend. No better way to destroy a well pump. One of my customers owns a large well company here in idaho, and he told me his best year of business was during our last ice storm. Lots of burnt out well pumps needing replacement.

 

[dfkrug]

I had an older onan 1800 rpm also, but sold it as getting real parts, not Chinese copies, was getting very hard.

All I had to buy was a new air filter. Everything else was rebuildable without buying any parts, including the carb and points. Yeah, breaker points.

Conversely, I bought a Generac 2200W inverter generator, and the control board failed when trying to start my refer. It should have handled it, and had overload protection, allegedly. Not repairable, since Generac wanted 2x the cost of a new genny for the control board.

 

[grsthegreat]

I was told that when onan sold its generator unit to Cummins, they dropped parts for older lines. I was told this by onan dealership up here. Mine was starting to have issues, so i sold it to another customer that had same unit. He wanted it for parts.

 

[newbury]

Small generators are a well companies best friend. No better way to destroy a well pump. One of my customers owns a large well company here in idaho, and he told me his best year of business was during our last ice storm. Lots of burnt out well pumps needing replacement.

Why would a small generator (and what is small?) destroy a well pump?

 

[LouNY]

Low voltage and low frequency, much like a brownout. A generator without enough capacity can not carry the surge load and the governors in those engines can't respond fast enough. Not having adequate mass to carry through a surge load.

 

[grsthegreat]

Yup. High tech frequency drive units are especially vulnerable to junky power. A generator capable of producing fairly clean power that can handle clean inrush power draw is very important.

By the way, weve been running on my 22 kw genny for over an hour now. Utility website states 8,100 customers without power.

 

[Bansil]

You folks are killing me, I have researched and it is honestly 50/50 on go smaller or larger....(pull out hair, take a shot emoticon)

 

[5030]

The ONE important thing that most people fail to do is, ISOLATE the utility power from your power source simply because if you are providing standby power with no isolation from the utility, you are back feeding the utility and putting repair crews in great danger of electrocution.

Why I always recommend a full breakout vacuum operated switch that will automatically 'break out' utility power from standby power. You don't want to be held liable for any injuries to utility people due to your ignorance, I would presume.

 

[DarkBlack]

But my tractor is 19.5 hp,

At the PTO, or at the engine?

 

[5030]

All rated flywheel far as I know of so subtract about 5 horses for the PTO.

 

[grsthegreat]

At the PTO, or at the engine?

His tractor has 26 hp engine, 19.5 at pto

 

[Sawyer Rob]

IF it has a hydro, you better subtract a lot more than 5hp from engine to pto, most loose nearly double that.

Then there's the fact that for EXTENDED periods of time, you shouldn't pull more than 80% rated power out of your pto.

Buy the bigger pto generator, you will thank me later!

SR

 

[5030]

Not something I'm ever concerned about here as I have 2 standby gen sets. Both Generac btw. One is out next to the shop and it's a diesel fired (John Deere turbo diesel) that makes 27 KW at 230 volts 3 phase to run the shop and the barns and feeds off my 500 gallon bulk diesel tank and the other is a 17 KW propane fired Generac standby unit that runs the house and both have vacuum operated transfer switches that break out utility power automatically and initiate their start up sequence immediately upon utility fail and assume the entire load after a 45 second warm up. Both are around 20 years old and I've had zero issues with either one. I even have a 30 amp weatherproof breakout next to the house so my 'less than fortunate' neighbors can access power if they want to. We are on 2 seperate meters here. One for the shop and barns which is 220/3 and the house which is 220/1.

All basically no touch too. I would dread hooking up a tractor powered genny when it's storming outside anyway.

My diesel unit out next to the shop is capable of 408/3 but it's wired for 220/3 instead and I had a certified electrician do all the electrical work.

I don't play with electricity at all. Good way to get dead.

 

[DarkBlack]

My outages usually happen during snow storms. I set out my 5kw gasoline generator to keep the house powered, while using my tractor to clear the driveway, move snow, etc…
I wouldn’t want to have my expensive tractor tied up to a generator function during storms.
To each, their own choice