Anyone use a 2.2 MB diesel motor for a generator?
 

Im interested in using a diesel generator for back up power at home ,the generator head Ill need to find used or at some construction supply house.

This has been talked about before.
Yet after the subject is talked about the ones who start the Threads never get back to use on what the actually did.
The Governor inside of the Fuel Injection Pump is not setup for the type of control that a Generator needs.
The Older Thermoking Gen sets used to use Mercedes Engines (OM636 I believe). If you found one it would already have a Generator and the type of Fuel Injection Pump and Governonr needed.

Are you asking or telling? Remark is difficult to understand!

Yes, I have thought about it. Either a MB or a VW. Good stuff.

Good point, When I think about it a reefer unit engine would have too have the same type of governing system as a gen set. there must be piles of those MB reefer engines sitting in a warehouse someplace.

How do people regulate the speed of those tractor-powered PTO generators? It seems to me that the tractor's engine speed would get pulled down as the load is increased. If you have a constant load, then of course the throttle can be adjusted to show the correct 60-hz on the generator.

But is there a system on a tractor PTO generator to account for varying loads?

So I guess the message here is that you will be OK with a standard MB engine if you are driving a generator that sees a relatively constant load. I don't know how you can do that with a house because the heavy loads (water heater, pump, AC, heat pump, etc.) cycle on and off.

Ken300D

Tractors have constant speed governors on them that maintain the chosen RPM regardless of the load, up to the HP limit of the engine.

I wonder if it's possible to dial down the RPM limiter on the stock MB injection pump and run it wide open all the time...

You are pretty much reinventing the wheel on this one.
 

In my humble opinion If the motor is free , the generator is near free and your spare time is free I can see maybe doing this. It is possible to buy a used diesel generator in good running condition for less than $1500 which will run better and be more practical than anything you can put together. I paid $1300 for my 15Kw Onan marine diesel. I have since seen good runners for little over half that which would do nicely. There are quite a few technical problems to resolve not the least of which is generator regulation. If you want this to work when your wife is home and you are not I would suggest sticking to a commercial product. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers Dan

This is not necessarily true, I have found 12 and none had that attached

They are in graveyards in Florida

OK.
It could be the price of scrap Copper has gone up so much that an old Generator (actually an Alternator) is worth more as Scrap than trying to sell it as a used Generator.

The governor could easily be solved by a belt driven governor. Mitsubishi uses them on many industrial engines, and they are very cheap. It is about the size and shape of a small alternator, and mounts the same way.
There is a linkage that attaches to the throttle, which can be adjusted to hold any rpm (usually 1800rpm for a generator). I have used them on several generator projects, and they work well.

Stamford/Newage probably makes a generator end that would bolt up to the mercedes flywheel. Another option is to use a cog belt drive, like the blowers on hotrods. I have a little generator with a cog belt setup, that has about 15,000 hours on the original belt! They are not very sensitive to tension as v-belts are.

I know Mercedes engines were used in alot of marine generators, back in the early 80's. I have worked on a number of them over the years, and they are very good generators, just expensive to repair. Like the cars, they are very long lived.

Trailer shops
 

The 2.2L engine was used in a lot of reefers during the 80s. Probably the best place to find the parts are in reefer/trailer junkyards, and if that doesn't work, pay top dollar through the trailer shops that you find off the freeways.

Also . . . you may want to look on eBay for a used APU from a truck. New, they are $10K, but when the truckers try to upgrade their trucks, and find they're not going to get anything from the dealership for their APU, they sell them on Ebay. Most of them now are outfitted with 110V power.

Thank you all ,good info ,I dont see them at the yard very much ,but when I do I start thinking of how much money I have at my disposal.