Generator PTO driven generator

[Racer71]

Does anyone make a PTO driven generator? How would the engine adjust for the varing load?

 

[Dmace]

Northern Tool has a PTO driven generator for about $1200. It requires 24 PTO HP runs and 12k watt continuous with a 13k surge. Looks like a rugged unit with some good reviews. That sure would be nice to have for those camp site jobs with no power.

I am sure the engine of the tractor will just bog a little with big power draws but with a diesel engine putting out 24 pto hp or more, I doubt it will put much of a load on the engine at all.

 

[sheepman]

Yes, you can get a PTO generator. When I bought my farm site this summer, the previous owner left one for us. He used it if/when electricity goes out for long periods. It runs the electricity for my barn and house. It's made to operate at PTO speed (540RPM). Mine is made by Winpower, Newton, IA. There are many companies that make them, and different sizes, depending on what you want to use it for. The way I understand it, as the load increases, it turns harder (works the tractor's engine harder).

 

[RonMar]

Diesel tractors typically have a governor in the injector pump. The foot and hand throttle is not really a throttle, it is a speed/RPM selector. You set the RPM to deliver 60HZ out of the coupled PTO generator and lock the throttle lever at that position. The governor in the injector pump controls fuel delivery to maintain that RPM and output frequency untill load exceeds available power. The only drawback is possibly oversize. To get PTO RPM out of the tractor, you are running the engine at nearly it's maximum RPM rateing(where the HP lives). A tractor with 24 PTO HP can sustain a 12KW output. That is a LOT of power. As I type this my evening electrical load is less than 2KW. It will jump to as high as 3 kw depending which appliances or well pump is running and will go over 7KW when the electric hot water heater element kicks in. Unless you need that much power, the engine spends a lot of time droneing away at full RPM with little load. A 2 speed PTO would add some economy if you don't need the full available output all the time as you can get 540 RPM on the PTO shaft with less engine RPM.

 

[sandman2234]

Volt meters and cycle meters are a good idea if your running anything that is sensitive to low voltage or variances in frequency. I bought one on fleabay delivered for less than $25 that does volts, amps, watts, hz, kwh. It is called a Kill a Watt and is made to determine just how much an item draws in power, but comes in handy for a generator for monitoring the outputs. A simple light bulb plugged in will tell you if your generator is putting out 120 volts and 60 cycles and if one circut is working right, most likely the other side is also, but you can buy two of them to figure out if the 220 is working right.
David from jax

 

[mrutkaus]

Just a Kill O Watt note, not sure of the details, check it out, but if you use the Kill O Watt to measure the output of some kinds of 12vdc to 120vac converters, it kills the Kill O Watt!

Mike

 

[jimmer2880]

I was looking for a bottom-line PTO generator. I was trying to get 6000 watts. The smallest I found was on Northern Tool's website at 7500. But, by the time I paid for shipping & the PTO driveshaft, I was at $1,000.00.

So, I ended up buying a new Gas powered generator. 5500 watts (6500 surge) for $500.00

 

[Dmace]

Honestly, I would much rather have a gas powered generator sitting there doing what it is made to do rather than have my $20k+ tractor sitting there idling for the same output power. The tractor could be doing many other useful things instead of running a generator.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Honestly, I would much rather have a gas powered generator sitting there doing what it is made to do rather than have my $20k+ tractor sitting there idling for the same output power. The tractor could be doing many other useful things instead of running a generator.

To run a power tool on a job site, you might be right. To power your home in an emergency, you need a heck of a lot more power than a portable generator will deliver. You can invest several thousand dollars in a stand alone back up generator, or a couple thousand for a PTO generator that will be ready to go when you are. Stand alones have to be maintained, too.

 

[Racer71]

Thanks for the feedback. These sound like a good value for the price. I live about 15 miles out of town and a winter storm can take the power out. My 5kw will keep us alive and the tv running but that is about it. We have to run the well, lights and coffee maker. The heat and hot water are on propane.

The coffee maker will take 1,500 of the 2,500 watts available. (Note that 5kw is for 220 and 110 only gets half way there.)

 

[rope1]

Not to get to far off subject, but has anyone ever tried to run a heat pump with a pto generator? I'm not electrically inclined by any means, but the furnace unit in our basement that runs the heat pump and electric back up heat has 2-60 amp breakers on it, any chance of a 13kw unit running that?

 

[zzvyb6]

Here's a 50kw unit. In Summer, its nice to have A/C and water for the horses, garage door openers, outdoor lights, battery chargers, spot lights, TV and a microwave. Once in a while, you need to run the welder out in the of the world.

No problem Got this at a farm auction. Two more recently were for sale in the paper 25kw pto powered ($1800 apiece as I remember).

 

[RonMar]

Not to get to far off subject, but has anyone ever tried to run a heat pump with a pto generator? I'm not electrically inclined by any means, but the furnace unit in our basement that runs the heat pump and electric back up heat has 2-60 amp breakers on it, any chance of a 13kw unit running that?

Power(P) in watts = current(I) in amps X voltage(E) P over I X E So 13000W divided by 240V = about 54 Amps. That is for purely resistive loads such as a electric heating element. Inductive loads such as the compressor motor on the heat pump consume more power due to their power factor. They also draw more startup current, sometimes as much as twice their normal running load for that brief initial surge.

You have two 60A breakers? I would guess one is for the heat pump unit and the other is for an electric heating element for supplementary heat... 13KW might run at least one of them at a time. Not knowing the actual currents involved, it could be right at the limits of a 13KW generator to feed, particularly at startup load for the heat pump compressor. The running load of the heat pump compressor migh be substantually less than the 60 amp maximum set by the breaker. I doubt 13KW would be able top feed both, but It might be close. You really need to measure the ammount of current actually being used by the devices to know if a 13KW generator would keep them fed.

 

[Shimon]

You may want to read through some of the old posts on this subject since it has been discussed numerous times. There has been a lot of good info presented in these forums so here is a link to all the PTO Generator threads:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/search.php?searchid=931961

 

[Rara Avis]

Stand-alone...

12 kW Diesel Generator

Remember you need to operate your well pump and furnace as well as continue to do work around the farm...so commiting your tractor to the generator is a poor return on the engine hours...

 

[jeffinsgf]

Stand-alone...

12 kW Diesel Generator

Remember you need to operate your well pump and furnace as well as continue to do work around the farm...so commiting your tractor to the generator is a poor return on the engine hours...

Unless, of course you have two tractors.

 

[John_Mc]

To run a power tool on a job site, you might be right. To power your home in an emergency, you need a heck of a lot more power than a portable generator will deliver. You can invest several thousand dollars in a stand alone back up generator, or a couple thousand for a PTO generator that will be ready to go when you are. Stand alones have to be maintained, too.

I guess that would depend on your home. I have a 4000 watt continuous (6000 surge) generator that has handled my needs just fine during a number of power outages. I do have to do some load management (i.e. make sure my well pump isn't kicking in at the same time my fridge and freezer are, shut a couple things down before firing up the microwave, minimize non-essential electrical usage), but I've managed through long power outages in both summer and winter. We heat with a propane-fired boiler so all we need for power for heating is enough to run the pumps and controls (or we can just fire up the wood stove, which can heat the whole house).

We don't have or need air conditioning, so that's a big load some of you in the south may have to deal with that I don't have to. I do occasionally wish I had a generator rated at 5500 watts continuous or so, but I can't say that's a necessity for us.

I did add a conversion kit to the generator to let it run on either gasoline or propane, so I don't have to worry about keeping fresh gas around... we have a 500 gallon propane tank.

John Mc

 

['Bota Fan]

I did add a conversion kit to the generator to let it run on either gasoline or propane, so I don't have to worry about keeping fresh gas around... we have a 500 gallon propane tank.

John Mc

I have an older generator with a small Briggs and Stratton. We have natural gas, not propane, so a conversion kit would let me run the thing indefinitely since the gas comes from a pipe next to the street. Was it expensive? Where do you find one?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[John_Mc]

[QUOTE='Bota Fan]I have an older generator with a small Briggs and Stratton. We have natural gas, not propane, so a conversion kit would let me run the thing indefinitely since the gas comes from a pipe next to the street. Was it expensive? Where do you find one?[/QUOTE]

Here's the link to where I bought mine.

Generator Conversion Kits to Propane and Natural Gas.

You can do propane or Natural Gas. You can preserve the ability to run on gasoline (which I did), or make it a dedicated propane or natural gas generator, depending on what kit you order. (Dedicated propane or NAtural Gas requires drilling of Carb. keeping the gas ability does not require drilling). You do need to find a place to mount a regulator on your generator, which can be a challenge on some installations. I suppose it would be possible to mount the regulator to your house, if that's the only place you would be using it, but they like to keep the run short from the regulator to the generator (may be less of an issue with a smaller generator, where the flow rate is not so large?)

I think mine ran about $160, but that was a couple of years ago.

If you don't see something specially made to fit your engine, give them a call. They are very helpful. I've been happy with mine. Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

John Mc

 

[CamshaftLF]

I purchased a 10kw tigerpower pto gen for 1200.00 have it mounted in the corner of my garage pull the panel off hook up the shaft and i have power, have a well pump to doesn't even grunt when the water pump kicks on, and it has led lights for the right speed. but it has electronic voltage regulator so I can run the tractor at full rpm speed and it only puts out what its calling for, stay away from the diode voltage regulator they will make your lights flicker at times. I run the tractor at 2100 rpm and it runs everything. Im very well pleased. Tigerpower has a 5 yr warranty too.