Trailer and Power Generator

Looks pretty good. Place some mothballs into the generator to keep critters out.

Tongue weight is a bit light if you plan to actually tow it on the highway. Rule of thumb for smaller trailers is tongue weight = 10% of gross trailer weight, more if the CG is high. The short tongue and light tongue weight will really wag badly. Move the unit about 2" forward and you should be good to go.

Thanks iggy, I was awake at 3am thinking about mice chewing on the wiring. Mike

I'll keep that rule of thumb in mind. I got lucky on the balance, I centered the welder with the engine to the rear and it came out as stated. The welder is 45-3/8" and the trailer is 48", no more room to move unit forward. If it had been negative weight on the tongue, I had thoughts about moving the axle/spring mounting location. Or rotating the welder 180*, I might still look into that as it would be slightly more convenient to have the controls and connections in the rear. Mike Mike

amdx schrieb:

Hello,

is the generator protected against water when standing outside in a hevy rainfall?

Bye

Also when you wake up at 3AM worrying about mice, consider doing a exercise run of the generator set. Run for about an hour or so (fully loaded) at least every 30 days, and at critical times, maybe every two weeks. Also don't forget to keep the battery charged! (and to have fuel, lots of fuel, on hand...)

Not yet, but as I said in my original post, "I'll be adding a drop on cover to keep the rain off. Cover design thoughts still churning." I wish I could find the metal from a discarded above ground swimming pool. I could use that to make a nice arching cover. Mike

Invest in a Battery Tender and mount it in the trailer errantly.

Vaughn

Just a couple of thoughts after looking at your pix:

2) For on-road travel, make sure that the generator is somehow fastened to the frame of the trailer, not just to the plywood.

Vaughn

Hi Vaugh,

Is this an air cooled generator ??

Can an air cooled gen run for 24/7 ??

I thought that they need to be shut down every few hours. ( I don't know any better )

Are there are water cooler gen's of this size ??

I am sure they would cost a lot more.

Thanks for any info.

hamilton

Yes, no reason why not. That said: there is a vague classification of generators called "Prime Power" generators that are truly made to run 24/7/365. This is a portable "standby" generator, so is not made to that standard (not even close!) but is fine for occasional duty that may run into weeks.

An air-cooled generator loaded and used within its specifications will get as hot as it is going to get in 15 or 20 minutes. perhaps sooner. There would be no reason to let it "rest" every few hours, except to give your ears a rest, save fuel, and check the oil.

Yes. They are bigger, heavier, quieter, & more expensive. There is a reason why most cars have water cooled engines!

Vaughn

Thanks, thats is what I wanted to know.

This also makes sense.

hamilton

How about refuel.

Of course I have done that without shutting off during amateur field day. I did like to check the oil.

You should have a shut offf valve after the fuel tank, and this is absolutely required for storage inside.

You can make sound baffles for noise.

Ground rods are nice.

Exactly how your going to connect to devices is always interesting.

Ground rods are MANDATORY for what the OP wants to do!!!! There should be a ground rod pounded in near where the unit will parked when running, a nice #8 copper wire going from the generator chassis to the rod. A ground strap from generator to trailer frame. This goes double if it is expected to running in semi flooded conditions or near salt water.

Yep. setups that are code legal for the 99.8% of the time you are on grid power and that are flexible for alternate power take some planning and $$$

Good comment about testing fully loaded. I just picked up a 20 kw electric furnace heating assembly. I'll derate it by running the elements on 120 rather than 240, makes for a nice switch selectable 5 kw load bank. The OP could make do with 2 or 3 stove burner elements.

Ya! The initial purpose is to keep 12 chest freezers running. Now that I have a 9,600 watt generator, there is some thought about getting a transfer switch installed, so I can have air conditioning during a hurricane power outage. Mike

One at a time start-up.!!!!

ng

=A0 Mike

If you are sure you will be around maybe you could wire a relay contact with a parallel indicator light in series with each compressor, and use an aux contact and a momentary pushbutton to close and latch the relay until the compresser turned itself off.

Each freezer would then light the indicator to request power when its thermostat tripped and you could start them one at a time. A switch across the relay contacts would let them run automatically.

Will they stay cold enough overnight?

I know, both the text and schematics of control circuits are like a foreign language even if you studied electronics.

jsw