</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You cannot expose a generator to foul weather such as rain. You would have to run the tractor inside a ventilated barn or other shelter. )</font>
Very easy workarounds.. Farmers have been doing this since pto gensets existed.
First.. my ptogen is mounted on a pallet, and the pallet is on a 3pt carrier. A 'medium' siged dog house fits perfectly over my 12kw pto gen when you turn the opening side toward the tractor for the pto shaft to enter.
Also.. I've seen setups with the gen inside mounted next to a wall, and a small opening in the wall for you to just open a small hatch and slide in the pto shaft for hookup while the tractor stays outside.
Another option is to have your connection point outside, or have a hookup cable long enough to make it fron the gen to the hookup point. I made a 20' cable to use with my gen so I can use it other places on the farm.. even in some areas where the tractor can't get super close to.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Power always goes out at a bad time. It might not always be convenient to hook the gen up to the tractor )</font>
No different than dragging your dedicated genny out and then pulling the fridge/freezer away from the wall, and running a few extension cords around the house for a light or TV... a pto gen hookup can be as simple as 4 points if on a carrier with an attatched pto shaft.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You might wan to use the gen where your tractor isn't )</font>
So far that is about the best argument, and one of the major trade offs.. portability. Course you usually have a wattage trade off that goes with that. One that is small enough to be easilly portable, is lower wattage. My pto gen is obviously married to the tractor.. but has lots of capacity...
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I think the portable has more pros than cons )</font>
That's a subjective decision. There is one more engine to maintain.. and your tractor engine is probably a more reliable engine.. or hopefully is. Your tractor engine is also well suited for long run times, and has a higher fuel capacity than a standalone unit. More oil capacity.. and an oil filter. I've only seen a few small engines with oil filters. All this adds up to longer engine life. Another thing.. a pto gen runs the tractor at a rated rpm.. like pto rpm. A small gass engine is more or less running full out to get the rpm needed for the genny.. that usually means decreased life due to stress. Not to mention that your tractor may have extra 'reserve' hp for heavy load situations. For instance.. a 25 hp lawnmower engine is just not the same as a 25 hp tractor engine.
Soundguy
