Running Generators in Parallel?

[buickanddeere]

Two generators in parallel would have to be very closely matched in voltage, not just frequency. Also they could probably get into an oscillation mode where one throttle opens which closes the throttle on the other one, and then back and forth. It would be interesting to try if a person had 2 identical generators.

Depends on how much gain there is on a simple proportional governor . A PID rpm control will smooth out the hunting . Depends also if set up for droop or not .

 

[buickanddeere]

I had a neighbor with a 20 KW or so High Quality Name Brand PTO Generator running off a Ford 5610. His lights flickered in an annoying manner. The shaft was straight. I never did find out what was wrong.

In general, A PTO rig should give better power than a 3600 RPM screamer on account of more inertia to handle startups. My 15KW Onan on a JD 770 never gave a lick of trouble.

. Shaft could be straight but if the yokes are out of phase , the generator will run rough and flicker .

 

[BeezFun]

The lady down the street had a dedicated standby generator installed and it cost her $15,000.

We had a 22kW Generac installed a few years ago, installed price was $5K. The differential cost between 16kW, 20kW and 22kW was not that significant, so we went with the biggest so we could run our central air conditioning in the summer. Ours is natural gas, but you could run it off LP. I have a 12kW PTO generator that I use for my welder in the field, but I didn't want to have to be home to hook things up because if our heat goes off when I'm not home in the winter, the plumbing will freeze. It's not very loud, ours is next to the attached garage so the walls give some sound insulation, but even in the summer with the windows open it's hard to tell if it's on. The first year we had ours it ran 40 hours, sometimes I feel like we're living in a third world country the power goes off so often.