A Good Generator Setup

Here is the final setup. It works pretty well. I can make 120 volts with no problem and the unit is shown here running an 1800 watt hair dryer and a 100 watt light bulb. This is the maximum juice I can get out of this arrangment. Make sense since I'm probably only getting about 5 horsepower from the engine at this rpm.

A New Engine Generator Arrangement

I'm convinced from reading about power transmission that my belt length is too high. A formula I found is that the pulley centerlines shouldn't be more than sum of the diameters of the twopulleys. That would mean about a distance of about 12 inches in my case. I mounted the generator on the other side of the engine so I could get it closer. A picture of this arrangement is shown here.

Puzzle Continues

I rechecked the belt alignment and tried the engine - generator setup again. Once again, can't make more than 100 volts before the engine setup bucks like mad. This would be an engine rpm around 1500. Someone is not a happy camper. Back to the books.

Engine at 1800 rpm

I've installed the new 8 inch pulley on the flywheel of the engine. Setup the generator with a 4 inch pulley which I had from my Listeroid project. Fired up the engine and found that I couldn't make more than 100 volts before the engine started to vibrate and buck like mad. Now I'm really confused.