I outdid myself today when it comes to making stupid mistakes.
Power has been out around here now for three days. No problem at my own home since I've got solar electric, battery banks, etc. But, my neighbor up the road asked for some help via my PTO generator. Well, I hadn't used it in years. And, all my wheel tractors are already hooked to something and I didn't feel like taking stuff off. So, I pulled out my little Cletrac HG dozer and hooked the Generac 17 KW PTO generator to it. I've used it this way before and it ran it just fine (many years ago).
Drove it up to my neighbors as-the-crow-flies though our fields. Hooked to his house, engaged the PTO - and nothing. Voltmeter read just about zero. I'm sittting there scratching my head, trying to think what could be wrong. Then got thinking the generator might have mechancial regulators that got stuck - so I started kicking it. That did not work. Then my neihbor asks if my PTO is turning slow. I looked closely and it seemed to be turn maybe 2 revs per second - i.e. 120 RPMs? Then, it dawned on me. I installed a 3 speed aux. trans in the Cletrac years ago, and kind of forgot about it. It works so nice in low range - it never gets shifted into anything else.
Well, I really felt like an idiot - especailly since I'm the one that built the swap-deal in the first place. So, put the aux. into third gear (1 to 1 ratio) and the generator worked perfect.
I have to admit, that even the stuff I've built myself confuses me when I haven't used it in awhile. Sun was just going down when we got things going.
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Power has been out around here now for three days. No problem at my own home since I've got solar electric, battery banks, etc. But, my neighbor up the road asked for some help via my PTO generator. Well, I hadn't used it in years. And, all my wheel tractors are already hooked to something and I didn't feel like taking stuff off. So, I pulled out my little Cletrac HG dozer and hooked the Generac 17 KW PTO generator to it. I've used it this way before and it ran it just fine (many years ago).
Drove it up to my neighbors as-the-crow-flies though our fields. Hooked to his house, engaged the PTO - and nothing. Voltmeter read just about zero. I'm sittting there scratching my head, trying to think what could be wrong. Then got thinking the generator might have mechancial regulators that got stuck - so I started kicking it. That did not work. Then my neihbor asks if my PTO is turning slow. I looked closely and it seemed to be turn maybe 2 revs per second - i.e. 120 RPMs? Then, it dawned on me. I installed a 3 speed aux. trans in the Cletrac years ago, and kind of forgot about it. It works so nice in low range - it never gets shifted into anything else.
Well, I really felt like an idiot - especailly since I'm the one that built the swap-deal in the first place. So, put the aux. into third gear (1 to 1 ratio) and the generator worked perfect.
I have to admit, that even the stuff I've built myself confuses me when I haven't used it in awhile. Sun was just going down when we got things going.
<a href="http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/jdemaris/?action=view¤t=100_3393.jpg" target="_blank">
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