PTO gen

[Billdog350]

85Hokie, they have the inverter generators now at Harbor freight and Honda/Yamaha have some too. Those are the cats ass.....they are a DC generator that converts to a square sine wave AC...so they are CLEAN power for all electronics...and can idle down with a low load (lower DC voltage and amperage but the AC stays at 120v)....and then throttle up to meet demand. A perfect situation for varying loads. The gas consumption will match the usage for those...which is perfect. Most are 2000-3000watts...but use closer to my 700 watt unit when they're not fully loaded.
http://www.harborfreight.com/http-w...c-portable-inverter-generator-61169-html.html

For now, my $89 Harbor Freight special is my go-to unit for long outages, and I use my 10kw Hobart to run the furnace, well, etc for showers and stuff. By having two generators, I have paid for the little guy in the first outage alone...I would have gone through 24-30gal per day vs 2-3......at $3.70/gal here in CT...that's over $80/day savings!

I heard about this trick from a friend years ago, and have told everyone about it since. Its worth it to buy the generator and throw it on a shelf in your garage or basement and just wait till you lose power. For $90.....it will save a fridge worth of food and pay for itself the first time you use it. Not to mention keeping laptops and cellphones charged is becoming an "essential" thing for most people.

 

[tjd7869]

well i am all for the DC generators to charge up a bank of batteries that then runs thought quite big inverters. no need to worry about rpms to achieve the right voltage, hertz, wave, magical fairies. and as it is DC for power creation charging can be done by many sources, engines, solar, wind, water, horse on a treadmill. the down side to this route is the massive amount of batteries it takes to make it stable and the wiring nightmare to connect everything. this system in standby requires keeping the batteries maintained and charged, rather simple as solar power can handle that aspect with ease. once the stored energy starts being used it will need replaced and that is when you need something with a good deal of ass to cover the use (dont take long to kill a car battery when lights get left on and the car is off) that is where the DC generator running off an engine shines as it only has to keep the charge on the batteries above the minimum need of the inverters. the inverters will continuously put out 120/240 volt at 60hrtz with the correct sign wave so long as the batteries voltage is within the range of the inverters. the other nice thing about this route of off-grid power, it can be pieced together over time lessening the blow of its cost. it can also be added onto with out having to undue everything. heck even your Orange friend can help charge the batteries with a set of jumper cables.