Winco 15 kW PTO Generator (Farmer Veteran Coalition Grant)

[@daviddaniken7248]

Congrats on getting the FVC grant. I'm a member as well. Former Marine here. Found your channel the other day and slowly watching your whole story a few videos at a time. I grow corn, soybeans, pumpkins, and Christmas Trees near Greenville, IL. Trees are my biggest venture by far. I dig your older equipment. That's how I found your channel. You might check out Marcoot Jersey Creamery. They are the 7th generation to dairy Jersey's on their farm. The sisters came back and transformed it from a small dairy selling bulk milk to a creamery that uses all the milk they can produce to make cheese, ice cream and other dairy products. They are a real success story. They also have fantastic cheese!

[@vnthomas16]

David Daniken I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “former” Marine! HaHa! Thank you for your service! I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos. We have planted some trees, and want to plant some more, but never for a crop. I don’t have the patience for that! I checked out that creamery. Pretty cool what they are doing, and I’m glad they’re keeping the farm in the family.

[@BillTheTractorMan]

A great unit to have! Here in the upper midwest we get hit with extreme cold and our fair share of bad weather. I'm looking into adding a PTO generator.

[@vnthomas16]

Bill The Tractor Man our electricity is pretty reliable, but we are literally at the end of the line. We’ll have short power outages a few times over the winter, but if we have an ice storm, it could be weeks! Thanks for watching!

[@BillTheTractorMan]

@@vnthomas16 ours is reliable too, and we are on the town circuit. Unfortunately our winter cold and wind will stop linemen from being able to work outdoors. Last winter we seen 60 below wind chills and our power failed. Thankfully it was only a breaker that had to be reset and we were back in under 3 hours. Our house is solely on electric for heat. Worst thing for us is the cost to be able to run on a generator we would have to spend about $2,000 to get the manual switch installed and the state inspector to approve it.

[@ratrodbubba]

A pto generator is a handy thing to have i love my 12 kw pto generator we have on our small farm i even went as far as to mount a stick welder and a air compressor on the side of the generators trailer makes remote welding easy and also pumping up flat tires around the farm the bonus is the generator gets worked regularly so you know it will work when the power goes out

[@vnthomas16]

amp farmer yeah, we definitely plan to pair this with a welder! Thanks for watching!

[@DennysCountryLife]

That's a very handy tool to have around! What a blessing!

[@vnthomas16]

Denny's Country Life Thanks! We’re very happy to have it! I see you just got yourself a spiffy new generator too!

[@brianfletcher7942]

Congrats on the FVC grant. And the third reason is the fuel tank on the tractor is large enough to run the generator overnight to get a comfortable nights sleep.

[@vnthomas16]

The tractor holds plenty of fuel, but I could never sleep with it running. Years of making hourly rounds on running equipment in the military made me the way I am. Typically, when we have used it, we only need to run it for a few hours at a time. Our house holds the heat well, so I can get plenty of sleep while it’s shut down! Thanks for watching!

[@twoeyedjack879]

I put mine on a three point mount and then put casters on that so I can roll it around the barn for storage.

[@vnthomas16]

The casters on a three point generator is a great idea! I really like the trailer style though. In the area between the generator and the right-hand wheel I mounted a large ammo box, and use it to store my cord. Works great! Thanks for watching!

[@JONNYGEEKMANG]

You can run your heatpump etc if you have one. Lots of power there.

[@jerrylambert8794]

Are the trailer tires non inflatable ? .

[@smitty2721]

I don't get this 540 RPM stuff. On my Kubota RPM dial / meter or what ever you want to call it, at PTO 540 the tractor motor is running about 2,200 RPM's. So what does this 540 RPM mean?

[@vnthomas16]

The 540 is the rpm of the actual PTO shaft, whereas the 2,200 is the rpm of the engine

[@smitty2721]

@@vnthomas16 Thank you for the explanation.

[@gnomelandacres2184]

Pretty informative video! Thanks bud!

[@vnthomas16]

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@JeffGmi]

Have any updates on this? Have you been using it? If so, how is it working for you? Any lessons learned or regrets?

[@vnthomas16]

Works great! Usually use it a few times a year for power outages or remote welding projects. No regrets.

[@charleshilbun7971]

Thanks for sharing this video! How many rpm do you have to turn at the tractor to stay in the green on the generator? If you start loading up power robbing equipment on the load do you have to go adjust the tractor throttle or does it not pull the tractor down? Thanks!

[@vnthomas16]

I’m not sure of the exact PTO RPMs, but for engine RPMs, I run the tractor approximately 70 RPMs less than I would need for 540 RPMs on the PTO. If we start loading up, like when milking (vacuum pump, milk cooler, hot water, etc) we find the governor on the tractor compensates just fine. We usually just check the tractor every hour or two for safety. Thanks for watching!

[@kenberscheit948]

friend and classmate used to build the trailers for the ones he sold , used them to run an entire 100 cow farm in the midwest . looks like the new generation has figured out what your parents have not taught you in decades????? leroy made 20 plus units and sold them to other farmers . never an unhappy cow due to not getting milked!!!! they tied into the farm at the power pole with a simple single throw switch so you were either on line or on standby power , no chance to back charge the grid and kill workers

[@brandonyoder6646]

How do you hook it up To your main Breaker box

[@vnthomas16]

There is just a plug we plug into, and then we have a transfer switch so electricity can’t be back fed into the main.

[@samdaniel5703]

​@vnthomas16 do you have a video explaining your set up I would enjoy learning from your set up

[@andylamm5571]

Hello. I ended up at your site from Messick's KUBOTA Company. I just bought a New "MX5400" KUBOTA Tractor here in NC for our new 10 Acre Farm. I saw this Generator being demonstrated on KZbin. I wasn't aware I could get a Generator to power my home while being connected to my Tractor. 1 - I saw that you were able to get a Grant to purchase your Generator. Do you think I could get one and could you supply the information? 2- If you didn't get a Grant, how much $$$ would a Generator the size of yours cost? Thank you very much for your time and I did Subscribe to your Channel.

[@vnthomas16]

Our grant was through the Farmer-Veteran Coalition. If you’re a farmer and a veteran, they’re a great organization to be a part of. They do a fellowship fund annually, and that’s the program we got the generator through. The generator cost $2,800, and then we had probably another $1,500 out of pocket to be able to hook it into our farm electrical system.

[@andylamm5571]

@@vnthomas16 Thank you very much for the information and your time. I am a Farmer and Bee Keeper but not a Veteran. Thank you for your service! Good Farming!

[@wingwhacker7500]

I can see that Clover Mt. replied but I cant see what they said. So, this may help or may not. I live in the same area as Clover Mt. and work in the conservation field. I believe Stevens County Conservation District in Washington State works with this veteran organization. You may try their website. But, I recommend going to your local USDA- Farm Service Agency to inquire about low interest farm loans. They are all around the country.

[@samg545]

Thanks for sharing. What have you come up with for connecting the generator to your equipment or panel? I have the same unit and I can't find much for an inlet box or anything simple to attach it to my panel.

[@vnthomas16]

When we initially installed our main breaker panel, we bought one that was specifically designed for a future generator interlock. (This was our electrician's forethought, not ours) Once we did get a generator, we just had to add a breaker and the interlock kit which was a simple contraption of just a pivoting piece of "L" shaped metal that won't allow both the main breaker and the generator breaker to be on at the same time. From the panel, we ran wires to a weatherproof receptacle box. It has a different style plug then whats on the generator. It's a twist-lock. But, since our generator didn't come with a cable, it wasn't a big deal since we had to build our own. Hope that helps! Thanks for watching!

[@samg545]

@@vnthomas16 I'm familiar with the interlock system and plan to do the same. I could only find a 50amp plug and I've been told it has to be 60amps on both ends. I'll have to check with an electrician. Thanks for posting the video.

[@jacobiceps9452]

I’m looking into getting a generator head to run off of a tractor. I have neither yet, but I have a question that’s pretty generic that hopefully someone can answer. Take a regular generator you buy at the store for example. When you start the engine, it runs at a constant 3600rpm usually. Until a big load hits it. When a big power demand hits it, it throttles up for a second to keep up with the demand. How would this work on an independent tractor/generator setup? Do you just need a high enough horsepower tractor to where it just lugs for a second then catches up?

[@vnthomas16]

The generator does need to be matched to the tractor. You need about 2HP (at the PTO) for every KW of generator. On our tractor at least, we’ve never had issues with loads hitting it. The governor on the tractor responds fast enough. A big electrical load may be relative though, since with a bigger generator, there is more cushion, vs. a small gas powered portable generator. Thanks for watching!

[@wingwhacker7500]

I see that Clover Mt. replied but I can't see what they said. So, maybe this will help and maybe not. My tractors and newer tractors, probably like theirs, have a feature that can be used called load match or another way of saying it is RPM match.

[@brianglidden3971]

Seems expensive to run tractor at that speed for that output

[@vnthomas16]

It’s not bad. Less than a gallon an hour for fuel. I’ll take that if it means I don’t have another engine to maintain! The benefit of a PTO generator is that since a tractor is apt to be run more often, it’s more likely to start when you need it, versus a generator with its own engine that is used perhaps only a couple times a year. Thanks for watching!

[@brianglidden3971]

@@vnthomas16 So true. Some tractors have 1000rpm pto also. That could help on fuel also. But when you need power, you need power. Thanks for the reply

[@dilligafhellno2828]

that size genny requires a certain amount of h.p. to run. If you are using a tractor or an old 504 blown rat motor, the tractor is by far more efficient than a Briggs or kOEHLER OF SUFFICIENT SIZE. lOOK AT THOSE GENERATORS AS WELL, YOU NEVER SEE A HEAVY DUTY GENNY ON A BIG BOX UNIT. I hit the cap button by mistake....sorry

[@Akhazmat907]

I have the same one. I am very unhappy with it. No way it's 15,000 watts. Can't run my water heater at the same time I run my fridge, freezer, sump and my LED lights. Yet my cheap little champion 10,000 watt generator can.

[@vnthomas16]

What HP tractor do you run yours with? We’ve been very happy with ours. Can run the house and barn including refrigeration compressors and vacuum pumps for milking with no problem.

[@curtis6554]

sounds like you have a Hp problem . what size is your tractor ?

[@benpena2832]

Is it for sale?

[@devendraparashar5035]

The Seller in India .