I had an M1031 Contact Maintenance truck with that old 208 3 phase PTO driven generator and it delivered electricity with a bad sine wave. Burnt up a few good power tools. Not sure how all that sine wave works but I was told after the 3rd saw to get a Honda generator and that is what I did. Not to argue the old 208 worked but it damaged electrical motors on Milwaukee and Dewalt chop saws and a few radial arm saws. I have since sold the M1031 to a local farmer and he said the same thing about running power equipment. The Honda stayed with the truck mounted in back and was less expensive to run then the V 8 diesel at full throttle. I think it paid for itself in a year with the fuel savings alone. Made for a lot more room in the back also. Took up less space then the control panel of the original generator. Have a great day. Thanks for the offer. I will bring the wood someone else cam figure out how to cut it.
The NP205 pto driven generators work great for their intended purpose. Completely overkill if you're just using it to run a 120v power drill. Where it shines is when you need 3 phase power for running big things like a welder or the air compressor. Running small things is no problem as long as the hertz on the output side of the generator is within specs. If those numbers deviate from the safe range, well that's what hertz those power tools. Bad hertz won't really bother a heating element or 3 phase motor. But single phase things like a saw or drill usually have a secondary startup winding activated by a centrifigal switch.
These old analog generator control setups are usually plagued with accurate running issues. just because the generator spins, doesn't mean it's working properly and putting out the right hertz. If the hertz is wrong, the switch and winding inside the motor won't function properly and will burn out the motor, regardless of a square wave or pure sinewave. The square and sine stuff matters with electronics. Square waves (dirty power), as most consumer grade generators go as well as this pto generator, will burn out electronics. Pure sinewave (clean power) like that of utility house power and those nice fancy Honda inverter generators, make electronics very happy. Don't run your computer or smart tv off that $300 generator you thought you got a deal on from Harbor Frieght. Sorry for the rant, it's just a bi-product of being an electrician...
Gonna be a great weekend, can't wait!
