[AT] belt dynamometer was OT: the inch is somewhat metric

[James Peck]

I can remember seeing a u tube or other video of tracked challengers being tested at Agco Jackson. They ran on a belt which turned the dynamometer.

[Spencer Yost] If my quick mental math is any good, that’s about 2 decent size houses running air conditioning for one month for every 24 hours worth of PTO tests on 100HP tractors.  Not sure how long they runs tests any more?  Has to still be a while to get valid fuel consumption numbers. If I’m right I’m glad they are dumping it back on the grid.   I’m sure they are getting paid at least wholesale for it too, helping to fund themselves.

Scrap hydro, coal, oil, nuclear, wind and solar. Power the grid with tractors (-;

[Jim Becker] Attempting to see if this thread can go so far off topic it ends up back on topic.
 
 The locomotive test resistor bank reminds me of the old test equipment at the Nebraska test lab.  In the old days, they did a belt horsepower test. The dynamometer inside the lab used an electrical generator to put the load on a tractor.  The power out of the generator was burned off in a resistor bank mounted on the roof of the building.
 
 The modern lab does a PTO horsepower test and the electricity generated by those dynamometers is pushed into the electric grid.