Generator

farmer on a bike

farmer on a bike

Member
We have now been off for 48 hours, 2 dairy units. Plenty of little hiccups especially with water supply, trip on one well pump, played up. On the other farm we have had to hire in a generator to get water form the bore hole in the village up to the farm, tank holds over 24hours water and has never been an issue before.

Having go to farm in middle of night to fire up generator to fill water troughs and wash milk tank after night collection is a complete PITA. Lucky we have big troughs with plastic bungs for cleaning and not fancy tip troughs with little capacity.
 
Fergieman

Fergieman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
We had 5 days after storm Arwen and 3 days after Barra. Generator ran from 4am till 11pm each day. You soon get to find out what the limits of the Generator are. Bigger one now on shopping list.
 
Fraserb

Fraserb

Member
Location
Scottish Borders
Fergieman said:
We had 5 days after storm Arwen and 3 days after Barra. Generator ran from 4am till 11pm each day. You soon get to find out what the limits of the Generator are. Bigger one now on shopping list.
Click to expand...

Ours just ran 24 hours a day through those storms, bigger one is here already, turns out were using a fair bit more power now.
 
Cows 'n grass

Cows 'n grass

Member
Location
Modbury, South Devon
I haven't needed it this time around but mine is a Bradley 80KVA through Halse. It will run the whole farm easily with a 120hp tractor barely above tickover.
IMG_20220220_144449.jpg
 
D

dairydurham

Member
Fergieman said:
We had 5 days after storm Arwen and 3 days after Barra. Generator ran from 4am till 11pm each day. You soon get to find out what the limits of the Generator are. Bigger one now on shopping list.
Click to expand...
Ours gave after 6 hrs in storm arwen,thankfully B in law brought his mobile tractor genny which ran non stop apart from tractor change overs for 3& half days
 
F

frederick

Member
Location
south west
dairydurham said:
Ours gave after 6 hrs in storm arwen,thankfully B in law brought his mobile tractor genny which ran non stop apart from tractor change overs for 3& half days
Click to expand...
Which one looks like cows and grasses the fried one or your brother in law's.

I have a generator dilemma ahead.currently single phase. New slurry system will need 3 phase. Was looking like an engine driven one but 3 phase is on the horizon but a railway crossing could hold us up.
I prefer the idea of a tractor one because thats one less engine to maintain and I have a choice. The engine is the more straightforward standby but going to be more money and if it won't start I'm still buggered.
 
Netherfield

Netherfield

Member
Location
West Yorkshire
S

Scots_Knight

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
Fergieman said:
I'm just part time compared to you though! :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Seriously though what did you buy and from who?

Split phase 480v here as well which is another issue.
Click to expand...
My mates on split phase but got a generator sorted to work properly no bother.

He dealt with a firm down South and the chap talked him through what his Sparky would need to do.

They used to dairy so had all the change over wiring already setup.

I'll see if he'll post on here or get the companies name if you want.

I think think the company has been mentioned on here before but apparently very helpful and everything delivered as promised.
 
Fergieman

Fergieman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
Bit of info here on questions to ask if anyone is looking to buy a genny, but Froment Magnate generators are no longer available to buy. I only searched this as its the make of my current machine.







  • The Magnate, a tractor-driven stand-by generator is continuously rated on full load. The term "stand-by" clearly means to be ready to act when the need arises. Part of the extra cost you pay goes to ensure the equipment will perform as intended, non-stop for days on end if necessary.

    When some manufacturers refer to "stand-by rating" their interpretation is completely the reverse to that of Froment. They consider the equipment will only be used infrequently and up-rate the equipment to a higher output, at the expense of reliability and a shortened working life. Many lower cost units are not continuously rated and would have a very high failure rate if operated under such conditions. Hardly a sensible economic investment. The Magnate does cost more, but it always offers a lot in return.​

  • The Magnate generator, as well as being continuously rated. does provide a very high surge power at the crucial moment of motor starting. With some other cheaper makes you would need to select a much higher capacity machine to achieve the same motor-starting capacity of the Magnate; particularly if it was only stand-by rated as mentioned earlier.

    The Magnate Generator also produces the power at a lower speed, 1500 rpm as opposed to the 3000 rpm of many cheaper units. To achieve the output at half speed does require a larger physical sized generator, with a much higher iron and copper content.

    This does cost more money, but in return offers increased reliability and greater life expectancy.​

  • The next link in the chain of reliability id the gearbox. The gearbox is there to increase the speed of the tractor PTO to the design speed of the generator. In the case of the Magnate 540 rpm pto speed to 1500 rpm generator speed. This is achieved using a ratio of 1:2.78 which is well within the designed limits of the helical, hardened and ground gears which offer a life expectancy of 10,000 hours. A cheaper unit with its 3000 rpm generator would require a ratio of 1:5.56 when driven at a 540 rpm pto speed. In Fact many such units have a designed input speed of 390rpm, which needs a ratio of 1:7.69. This does offer a very short life expectancy on full load.

    You might well ask, "Who needs a gearbox with a life expectancy of 10,000 hours?". The answer is very few, but the life expectancy is a result of the service factors built in to the design to cover the overload and failure to observe the correct starting procedures; such as sharp engagement of the pto or too high an idle speed on the tractor at the time of engaging the pto. With such abuse the magnate will, in most cases, survive, where as the cheaper equipment will undoubtedly fail.

    It does cost more to produce such a robust, reliable gearbox, but in that time of emergency, when mistakes are most likely to happen, it is nice to know the Magnate will be more forgiving and provide the power required.​
 

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