
| ccjersey - 4/1/2026 14:27 Sounds like the generator is belt driven while the well is direct drive. Hopefully your generated voltage gets to 480 right around 60 Hz. That’s turning a 4 pole generator 1800 rpm. This is important since motors turn rpm related to their number of poles at 60 Hz. 2 pole motors turn about 3500 rpm, 4 pole motors turn 1750 etc. The motors are designed to run coolest when supplied with volts per Hz in a narrow range depending on how they’re wired. When you run the generator rpm too high (Hz) to bring the voltage up to nominal (480 in your case) the motor suffers from excess heating. Most general purpose motors are rated to operate on 460 volts AT THE MOTOR. So you might not have to actually run it as fast as you have been unless the length of the feeders to the motors drops the voltage too low if you don’t start out at 480. If your generator is running at the correct frequency when you have the engine at 2300, but you don’t need to run the well that fast, either change the pulley ratio to speed up the generator rpm or change the gear ratio driving the well. I think that’s normally done by changing the gear ratio in the well head gearbox. Adding a transmission between engine and well head may change direction of rotation.
explain to me as a 5 yr old, how Hz and voltage output isn't directly tied together.. I've always assumed a gen's speed so if it's output was 60hz, the voltage was going to be exactly where it needs to be.. and vice versa. All my power units are set- throttled according to the voltmeter at the pivot, most are 1750-1800 rpm (depending on the v-belt conditions that day, lol) and I've never once considered if the Hz was even close!! All my gens are belt driven off the front crank snout.
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