Jon Elson wrote:



Modat22 wrote:

On 7 Feb 2005 13:19:09 -0800, wrote:



Not sure about you generator head, but some have very husky bearings
and will work well belt driven. If you do that, I would look at the
multiple v belts used on cars and get the pulleys from the local scrap
yard. With a belt drive you can drive the generator at something other
than the engine speed.

Dan



The generator head I'm looking at is designed for 1800 rpm and
requires a minimum 50 shaft horsepower. A car engine with a modified
cruise control (use as governor) will fill that bill easily.

I don't trust belts much.


Good thinking! 50 shaft HP? I guess maybe that is to deal with the problem
of small, air cooled engines being rated on their peak HP. They will melt
down if run at rated HP for more than 5 minutes or so. 25 KW should
actually absorb 33.5 Hp plus the losses in the alternator. 37 Hp should
do it, but of course the engine has to be happy putting out 37 REAL shaft
HP continuously. Now that I think about it, the Escort engine may not
be happy under your full load. Some highway cruise power numbers I've seen
indicate small passenger cars can cruise on 12 - 15 Hp. Of course, there's
extra for air cond, power steering, electrical loads, radiator fan,
transmission
losses (a big one), etc. But, 37 Hp may be equivalent to driving that
poor Escort
at 100 MPH! Maybe without the accessories and transaxle it may be able to
do it, too.

Do you really need the full 25 KW?

Jon
I my limited generator experience, the generator sounds like it is
heavily loaded ( and in my case actually slows down well below 1800 rpm)
when you start a big motor, once the motor is running the generator has
no problem. The welder seems to draw more evenly.

stan