Generator Pto generator for BX

Anonymous Poster · Jan 25, 2002

Does anyone know of a company that makes a small pto driven generator that can be powered by a subcompact tractor such as a Kubota BX2200? All and any advice would be appreciated.....

RPM · Jan 26, 2002

Dan in Green Bay,

If you do a search on "PTO Generator" you will find a number of lengthy discussion on the subject - and also the merits of a PTO Gen vs a stand-alone.

Hope this helps!

Patrick

Steve_in_Ont · Jan 26, 2002

There was a discussion on PTO - driven generators last year that brought up a good point the I had never really thought of... For times that you need the generator running, your tractor will be dedicated to doing only that... However, many times that you have the generator running you might want to be able to use your tractor for other things (ie snow removal). Additionally, it seems that with the large number of smaller complete (engine and generator) generator sets available, that competition has driven the price of these complete units down (relative to the PTO sets)...

As a result... well you know where this is leading...

John_Mc · Jan 26, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

A bit off topic here, but I've got a question on stand-alone generators:

Why is it that two seemingly identical generators (same HP, same continuous and surge ratings, etc) can have such a HUGE price difference? I'm looking for something in the 4 - 5 KW range. I've seen prices from around $600 to as much as $1700. Why the big swing in prices? Are there specific things I should be looking for?

Main uses are for the occasional jobs away from the house & barn, and emergency backup in event of power failure ('fridge and furnace).

Egon · Jan 26, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

Just some guesses here on the pricing differences.
Quality of Motor, Type of generator and quality, ie bearings, brushless, windings.
Accuracy of voltage control and a no load idle feature.

I have a Homelite LR4300 for which I paid $450.00 Canadian. It does what I need it for but many times I think better voltage control and and a idle feature would be nice. The manual also states that after 1000 hours of use the motor requires replacement. It does not impress me as a quality unit but the price was right.

Egon

GlueGuy · Jan 26, 2002

I've thought about that too.

In our particular case, the amount that we use te genny is very small. We have power outages here maybe 2, 3 or 4 times per year. Sometimes the outages are relatively short (a few minutes to an couple of hours). We don't break out the genny unless it looks like a several hour or more outage.

The amount of time that we use the tractor is not small, but it's also not large (as much fun as the tractor is, there are other things happening)...

The maintenance of a single-use engine (one that's dedicated to the genny), seems out of line with the usage profile. It would be much more economical to use the tractor to power the genny on those few occasions when it's needed. I can easily justify that. Especially when I know it reduces the number of engines to maintain.

JonSpinosa · Jan 26, 2002

Dan, I just sold my new Kubota ARX6500 watt generator and purchased a new 12KW Tiger Power PTO generator to use with my BX2200. I had the generator for 2 years and used it only once for a power outage of 1 hour.

I could not see maintaining the generator for the useage it received. It only made sense to utilize the BX2200 to provide emergency standby power. Also, it is much safer to keep some extra diesel fuel for emergencies than gasoline.

I did alot of research on various PTO generators and found the best two choices to be either the Tiger Power or the Windpower generator. I hope this helps!

Jon

Anonymous Poster · Jan 26, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

I've heard that voltage regulation is a big concern, especially if you are
putting well pump motors and other expensive appliances at risk.

Honda generators are much more expensive than the prices mentioned
above -- the 6500 watt/6000 continuous load commercial generator
(EB6500 ?) costs around $3,000 -- but Honda claims that they produce
better current than what you get from the pole.

As a matter of fact I'd be interested in any tales people might have of
a generator ruining an electric motor.

TWINKLE_TOES · Jan 26, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

Don,

Harmonic content is the figure of merit with respect to generators driving electric motors. Odd harmonics that are divisible by 3, the 3rd, 9th, 15th, 21st (called triplens), produce counter rotating torques in rotating machinery. Total harmonic content is usually expressed as a %. I have not seen any of the small generators quantify the harmonic content of the output. My generator (Generac) output voltage looks more like a triangular wave than a sine wave, but it runs everything I hook to it just fine.
Al

MChalkley · Jan 26, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

Al,

My generator, also a Generac, puts out an almost triangular wave, too, and everything works fine except one UPS which immediately barfs and goes into backup mode. I had to relegate it to conditioning for my shortwave receivers, because I couldn't use the computer longer than an hour or so when we had a power outage, even though I'd fired the generator up. Why that's the only thing that doesn't like it, I don't know. I've got two other UPS systems and neither of them complains at all.

TWINKLE_TOES · Jan 27, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

Mark,

They sell power factor correction filters for switchmode devices (UPS) if your interested I can dig up a link. Or do a search and "triplen".
Al

MChalkley · Jan 27, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

Al - Why am I not surprised you had a solution? (Thanks!) /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

JJT · Jan 27, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

I've used my cheapo Generac/Coleman dozens of times in the past 5 years without a problem. Yes it does surge, and was louder than heck until I put a Cub Cadet muffler on it, but no issues with the well pump, furnace, oil fired hot water, refrig or TV. I have it setup to run the whole house, but wouldn't attempt the oven, range or dryer.

Buck · Jan 27, 2002

I agree with GlueGuy. I have a generator and I have never used it.

Paying twice for a Honda, ain't what I'd do either.

Buck

GlueGuy · Jan 27, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

Why would a generator produce a sawtooth wave? Seems that a generator would have difficulty generating anything worse than a distorted sine wave. I can sure understand why an inverted would do wacky waves, but I wouldn't expect a generator to do anything worse than dirty-up the natural sine wave...

TWINKLE_TOES · Jan 27, 2002

Re: Genreator pricing

Glueguy,

The output is triangular (not sawtooth) because it is rich in 3rd harmonic. Triangular waves like square waves contain only odd harmonics. The fundamental is sinusoidial, the distoration is added by the 3rd harmonic.

The fundamental and third harmonic are dominate. For visualization <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.laser.sk/~prascak/mirrors/DifRovnice/Media/JavaTools/srfourtr.html> click here </A>. Click on the sum of two terms (fundamental and 3rd) and thats about what the output looks like.
Al

Rch · Jan 27, 2002

http://www.electadv.com/winco/agri.html
http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=15428&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.friesen.com/catalogs/index.html>http://www.friesen.com/catalogs/index.html</A>
Here are some links

kevincook · Jan 27, 2002

I have a cheap Coleman generator and would never buy one again. It is a 5000W unit and it failed within a couple of hours of first using it because a bearing in the generator housing failed. I run a deep well pump off of it without any trouble along with the refridgerator, lights, etc. The only thing I have trouble running is the furnace. Actually the furnace runs fine off the generator but it will not start up off of the generator. The furnace checks the power before it will attempt to start and it doesn't like what it sees so it just flashes an error code to me. I put a big Solas power conditioner in front of the generator and it smooths the signal out perfectly and the furnace is happy with that.

I tried a couple of other generators that where more expensive and they start my furnace with no problem.

If I was going to do it again I would buy a portable welder/generator like this

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.asp?p=2567>http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.asp?p=2567</A>

I know a few people that bought these 8000W generators for about $2500 plus you get the benefit of having a welder. I have always wanted a welder.....think of all the stuff I could build for the Kubota.

cedarranch · Jan 28, 2002

When we first bought our land we lost power several times a week. Sometimes for hours. Started pricing generators and options. But decided to hold off until the next year (money). It has been 3 years now and we rarely have a power failure. Guess the coop got their act together? Sure glad I waited or I would have a three year old gen with less than an hour of use.

Anonymous Poster · Jan 29, 2002

i have seen the smaller pto generator sets on northern tools site, i have had several different types of generators over the past 15 years, since i moved to the country. the pros and cons of the self powered versus the pto generators have been discussed i have a 25kw pto generator to run everything in the house. i have also used a coleman 4000 watt unit. also a winco 9000 trifuel, all have worked well. when i first moved to the country we had a fair number of power outages, now we have 2-3 a year, most last only a few hours. i have set up the house with a gentran panel so that switchover is easy, and that my wife or kids can do it if i am not home. i think that that is an important feature no matter how you go. you need to make it easy for your family to hook up the generator and get it up and running if you are unavailable.
one of the draw backs of the pto generator is can your wife or kids get it connected to the tractor? if not then you may consider another solution. i have availability of both as i bought one and then another deal came my way i couldent pass up on the pto generator, who could pass up buying another attachment?

if you want to know more about running a pto generator let me know.

alex