Toro 824 - electric

After seeing all kinds of small electric snow blowers I felt like making a more powerful one. The result is a Toro 824 with a 5,5kW three-phase induction motor.

Project still under development - guess I should try a smaller pulley to make the traction (and impeller) speed more "normal". Second I wish to mount an ammeter on the machine to show the engine load. In heavy snow I suppose it can be necessary to hold back a little even though it's a powerful engine.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• snø
• snøfres
• elektrisk
• asynkronmotor
• snow
• snowthrower
• snowblower
• electric
• modification
• three-phase
• induction
• motor
• Toro
• 824
• Norway

[ev22336]

cool snowblower, hate that it's electric though

[jensaplasset]

@ev22336 After my opinion, it's the fact that it's electric that makes it a cool snowblower :) Otherwise it would be nothing but a ordinary snowblower. The base for this project is neither the biggest nor coolest snowblower.

Second I can admit that it's probably one of the least practical snowblowers since I need to move the cord around when turning and alike, to prevent it from being wind up VERY fast :S

[wayfairing3]

Great Job,really has the power to get rid of the snow too 5*****

[jensaplasset]

@wayfairing3 It's worth mentioning that I have calculated the impeller speed to be about 30% higher than original, while the traction speed is 40% higher because of limited availability on smaller pulleys. I have found a smaller one now, which will give only 10-20% overspeed which I suppose is more sensible.

Second I really look forward to mount the planned ammeter on the snowblower. After doing a test with this I will be able to tell how much spare capacity I have under different conditions!

[AdamGurno]

Very very cool. You're building this?

[jensaplasset]

@AdamGurno Well, the essential core behind the "project" is a Toro 824 originally equipped with a 8hp Tecumseh engine. When I got the snowblower, there were some openings in the engine that should not be there :p Beyond repair in my eyes, so I decided to go electric!

But believe me - one tends to get some disbelieving comments from people when working on mounting an electric engine on a snowblower like this :p

[The88drunkredneak]

awesome what kind of electric engine did you use

[EETechs]

@ev22336 That is unfortunately the downside of electric. They got tons of torque, but portability has still not become possible. I look at it with this analogy: The electric motor is big Brutus that can crush a skinny person and lift 1200 lbs laughing where as the gas engine is the skinny guy, but he is lighter and can out run the big heavy guy since he is lighter and has more stamina to maintain his speed longer (batteries die faster than running out of gas).

[ev22336]

@EETechs Dude im not saying that it doesnt have enoght power, just cause of the power cord. i own a snowblowing buisness, i wouldn't want to plug in my blower every time and what if you don't have an outside power outlet?

[EETechs]

@ev22336 I wouldn't say that since this guy has 3-phase and that the motor is 7 HP. Probably overkill. It would take a 15 HP gas engine to perform the same since the torque and HP of gas engines cannot increase to 2 to 3 times the nominal rating under severe loading. This is not a typical weak universal motor found in power tools, blenders, and vacuum cleaners (the loud screaming motor). This is an AC induction motor and on top of that its 3-phase! So it is insanely powerful.

[bayou250s]

you pluged the cord in the electric start and said it was electric im not stupid

[wayfairing3]

Ya you are doing a great job,runs a lot more quiet than a gasoline powered one too.keep me updated on your progress.

~John