High Idle? Extended Run Time

[RRees]

For those in the know, please help me out.



I've had my High Idle feature enabled (3rd gen/Auto).



How long can the truck idle at 1100-1400 rpm without harming the engine?



I was thinking about this for emergency power generation (using invertor).



I do have a good generator as the primary backup. But you never know.



Thanks.

 

[EKlem]

By enabling your high idle feature, you should be able to idle the truck as long as you want without putting abnormal wear on it.



One thing to think about is that you probably won't be able to generate all that much power. Your alternator probably won't put out more than 80-100 amps continuously if you are lucky so you would only have something like 1000 watts available. This may be enough to keep your furnace going or a few lights but at that point, it may make more sense to put on a sweater and use a flashlight.



In other threads, people have discussed trying to hook up larger generators to their trucks but I am not aware of anyone who has done it.

 

[Skydiver]

As far as using the alt. to supply an invertor I don,t think the alt will last as long under a high currant load. The regulator will get hot and go bad. The old generators back before 1964 would kick some nice currant but that was then.

Go to www.sportsmansguide.com and look at the little 2000 watt 4-stroke generator. Around $200. Life time warranty. Almost quite as they come. I enjoy my little 2k unit.

 

[WDixon27]

i]ve been tossing around the idea of building a detachable (so it's not getting beat up and wet the 99% of the time i don't need it) 7200 or 10k watt generator to run off one of the pto positions on the nv4500, northern has those size head's fairly cheep (harbor freight has a real cheep 10k head but i beleave it's fairly dirty power and could damage electronics without a line conditioner) they are advertised to supply clean power, a pto drive i've seen go for a hundred or less on ebay plus some steel and time invested, i think it could be done for a grand or less and you could take it with you and have plenty of power wherever you can get your truck. i've seen ready made kits like this but they are pricey and don't fit my truck on the net

 

[RRees]

I wouldn't use the truck as a generator for more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time max.



At home I do have a 7k watt generator that I would use first. Just in an emergency would I use my invertor. It's only 750watt continuous.



I keep my old optimas as backups also. I have 3 of those, they still show over 12 volts + even though they are at least 6 years old.



Thanks for the info on possibly overheating the regulator also.



Thanks for the replys.