Manual engine governor?
 

How hard is it to manually govern a diesel engine? I can pick up a 220D engine very cheaply, and am thinking I might connect it to a generator head for backup power. I would need to keep the engine running at 1800rpm, +/- 50 or so. I'm sure I'm not the first, so your pointers would be much appreciated!

Also, what kind of output will a 220D engine make at 1800rpm? 50hp?

Cheers, John

Do a search for Governors America Corporation. They may have something you can use. Also try Woodward Governor.

Thanks. I also wised up and used the search function, and I see this has been discussed before around here. Research continues. :)

Cheers, John

I believe that the governor on this engine is a "maximum speed" governor. If it was me doing it, I'd look at simply installing different springs in the governor (weaker?). This should lower the regulated top speed of the engine. I would try to find the BSFC of the engine, govern it to the speed where it's most efficient and then run a belt or gear drive to run the generator at it's rated speed.

I agree with gear reduction or belt drive. A 615 probably makes all of about 20 hp at 1800 rpm, so using some gearing to allow it to run a higher speed would make a lot more power available.

You could just adjust the fuel cutoff lower and then use preset linkage settings.