On 9/22/2011 3:15 AM, bud-- wrote:
On 9/21/2011 5:15 AM, HeyBub wrote:
[email to a blog (Instapundit) ]

If you live in a rural area, you can go with a propane or a diesel
unit, or
if you have a tractor, a pto-driven genset.

For almost all tractor owners, I recommend a pto-driven genset. If you
buy a
Winco, Onan, or similar high-quality pto-driven genset, you can pass
it on
to your grandchildren. It will never wear out.


The beauty of a pto-driven genset is that many tractor owners are already
adept at maintaining their tractors. Also, you can always find someone to
repair a tractor, or, if you really need to, you can buy another tractor,
new or used, almost any time.


I know these generators exist. How do you regulate the frequency - just
tractor RPM? Would think that wouldn't be very accurate or stable. They
could generate DC and invert it - seems excessively complicated.


I think that the PTO on the tractors maintain a steady 540 RPM. If you
needed 50 hz, you'd probably use a different generator. I don't know how
quickly the tractor can make adjustments to the changing loads, as
compared to the regulators on self-contained engine/generators