Convert gas snow blower to electric

[Tkomeso3456]

Hi I just got a really nice 1984 Toro 8 HP 24" snow blower given to me today with a crappy Tecumseh engine actually the engine is good has great compression I just really hate Tecumseh.

It's a really mint machine normally I would just take the engine off it and replace it with something better by that I mean a cheap chinse knock off Honda because it's an improvement over the Tecumseh engine, I do a lot of small engine repair as a hobby but I'm slowly getting out of it I'm getting tried of dealing with bad gas even in my own machines, I tend to forget to start my snow blower over the summer months and let it run to let fresh gas go through it, same in return for my mower.

I also can't justify starting an engine up just to let it run for a few minutes and not use it just to shut it off again and if I run the machine out of gas as some people do that's just as bad as leaving gas in it because the float in the bowl gets stuck down which just makes a huge mess once fuel is added back into the carb.


What I'm thinking of doing is converting it to cordless and for a battery I was thinking of running it on a Ryobi 40V battery as I plan on going cordless at some point in the near future with my lawn mower as well.

Where I live I don't get much snow at least not like what I used to see when I was younger but I do have a fairly long driveway to clear.


Any help to point me in the right direction would be greatly apricated as I know nothing about EV stuff.

 

[calab]

You need to know some info, like how much capacity?
wh = ah x voltage

How much will your tool consume in power, is the Ryobi 40v have enough ah or wh to complete all the tasks your require.
I know the EGO brand came in a few different ah sizes up to 8ah. Plus you have to look at what the discharge rate is for the Ryobi 40v, is is 30a or 25a or 20a or 35a. Are those amps sufficient for your setup with new motor?

Lets say your controller is 40a but your battery bms is 30a, you'd have the bms kicking in all the time. Rather have the controller take the punishment.

 

[Tkomeso3456]

Sounds a lot more complicated then I was expecting it to be, I think I'm just going to put a brand new gas engine on it and call it done at least it's something I know and understand.

I would really like to convert it to electric but I would need someone that knows what there doing to help.

I personally don't think it's worth doing at least not in the short term but in the long run it is worth it but as far as my knowledge and understanding of it goes I don't think I could get it.

 

[fechter]

An electric motor that can do 8hp is going to be fairly expensive. The battery would also need to be quite large to have adequate run time.
I suspect a Ryobi battery won't make enough power or last long enough to be useful.

 

[Tkomeso3456]

I'm planning on just buying a new gas engine and call it done.

I don't really know enough to actually do the conversion, I thought it would be a fairly simple thing to do but I'm learning that it's way over my head.

 

[99t4]

I thought it would be a fairly simple thing to do but I'm learning that it's way over my head.

Depends on your skill set and tool facilities. You were starting to get some good feedback, why don't you wait a bit longer and see if you get more illuminating answers before you decide?

You may not need a full 8HP conversion. Possibly you could mimic an existing OTS product:

Electric Snow Blowers - Snow Blowers - The Home Depot

Get free shipping on qualified Electric Snow Blowers products or Buy Online Pick Up in Store today in the Outdoors Department.

www.homedepot.com

Or just sell the "really nice" gasser blower with the perfectly fine (Tecumseh brand you don't like) engine and buy an electric one if that's the direction you want to go?

 

[Tkomeso3456]

My knowledge of stuff is all based on gas engines I've spent 16 Years of my life working on them and fixing them just to keep older machines going, I'm not saying the feedback I was getting was bad it's just enough to let me know I'm getting in way over my head.

I know some people may argue that an older engine lets out more emissions which may be true but the way I see it is over the years a vintage machine has payed for the emissions that it took to make it while a newer machine never will before it's broken and no longer works so I say it balances it's self out but that's just me.

It doesn't change the fact that I myself have changed to a cordless mower it's just more convenient.

I was thinking about buying a new Toro cordless 2 stage but I really like the older machines they don't feel like they will break if you treat them rough and I've spent most of my adult life fixing them and keeping them going so I would really love to not only save one that's in really nice shape but also set it up for years to come.

Plus the older machines are heavier and built to last well as long as the availability of New or good used parts lasts and as long as someone looks after them but they both go hand and hand you can look after something all you want but with out parts they fall apart pretty damn quick.


I've been thinking it might be worth just to keep running gas in the winter months as I really have no idea how much snow we are going to get every winter it's not like grass where I cut it every 2 weeks or so and it grows a very predictable amount in the mean time.

I have a fairly long driveway to clear, sometimes the snow plow blocks the bottom of the drive way which makes it hard to clear it.

I'm afraid cordless might struggle with it or may not be able to clear it at all before the battery dies at least with gas when it dies it's no big deal a couple seconds later it's filled up and ready to go again.

 

[j bjork]

I am pretty sure I have seen a build like this on the forum before. It might be interesting to see what that builder found when it comes to power demands etc.

Edit, it is probably this one: Electric snowblower conversion: Gas powered Yamaha to 5kW electric

 

[Comrade]

I am pretty sure I have seen a build like this on the forum before.

This is much more apt, from what it sounds like.

Low-cost Snowmobile Electric Conversion

Hi all, I'm converting a 2003 Ski-Doo 380f snowmobile to electric. First off, the motivation: I have a house in Bear Valley, CA, which is a small ski resort village where the neighborhood roads are groomed but not plowed in the winter. As such, to get around you need to snowmobile, or ski, or...

endless-sphere.com

 

[CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING]

I'm planning on just buying a new gas engine and call it done.

I don't really know enough to actually do the conversion, I thought it would be a fairly simple thing to do but I'm learning that it's way over my head.

Why do you not like the Tecumseh? You're completely right about using old engines is better for the environment, the only thing better was if you added a catalytic converter.

Replacing 8HP can be quickly figured- Watts of power are found via multiplying volts of the battery times amps, and there's 746 watts in a single horsepower. That's ~10.7KW, so to use a 52 Volt nominal EGO battery (for instance) you'd need about 206 amps (10,700 watts / 52 volts = 205.7 or so) of discharge to power it. The biggest EGO battery is 10 Amp-hours, so it's possible that if one can discharge 100 amps safely you could run two in parallel. Here's an idea of a 10Kw motor.

Of course, that's just a horsepower replacement- the torque curve will be very different, I think most snowblower engines run high RPM and fast with more aggressive cam profiles.

 

[Stealth_Chopper]

How could you contemplate attacking a wall of frozen ice in sub zero weather with an under powered machine that will not finish the job?
This is just wild: I'm dressed in 3 layers of wool orange outer for safety, goggles , 2 hoods, 2 mittens , sorrells,
My TECUMSEH blower has VP high test, Berryman B-12 [toluene xylene } + 104 Octane booster ( kerosene )
I WANT TO WIN .
Ed;{ combustion of this mix in cold weather is very efficient btw and the exhaust helps keeps me warm when I'm down wind }

 

[Stealth_Chopper]

Hi I just got a really nice 1984 Toro 8 HP 24" snow blower given to me today with a crappy Tecumseh engine actually the engine is good has great compression I just really hate Tecumseh.

It's a really mint machine normally I would just take the engine off it and replace it with something better by that I mean a cheap chinse knock off Honda because it's an improvement over the Tecumseh engine, I do a lot of small engine repair as a hobby but I'm slowly getting out of it I'm getting tried of dealing with bad gas even in my own machines, I tend to forget to start my snow blower over the summer months and let it run to let fresh gas go through it, same in return for my mower.

I also can't justify starting an engine up just to let it run for a few minutes and not use it just to shut it off again and if I run the machine out of gas as some people do that's just as bad as leaving gas in it because the float in the bowl gets stuck down which just makes a huge mess once fuel is added back into the carb.


What I'm thinking of doing is converting it to cordless and for a battery I was thinking of running it on a Ryobi 40V battery as I plan on going cordless at some point in the near future with my lawn mower as well.

Where I live I don't get much snow at least not like what I used to see when I was younger but I do have a fairly long driveway to clear.


Any help to point me in the right direction would be greatly apricated as I know nothing about EV stuff.

BUY A SHOVEL

 

[Comrade]

and the exhaust helps keeps me warm when I'm down wind

Well, that explains it.

 

[CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING]

the exhaust helps keeps me warm when I'm down wind }

Route the Exhaust through the frame pipes and handle as a hand warmer.
Sometimes my genius is, almost frightening.

 

[batteryroot]

Route the Exhaust through the frame pipes and handle as a hand warmer.
Sometimes my genius is, almost frightening.

That's actually a great idea..

 

[pwd]

Every winter I think about converting my snowblower to electric. As I gain more knowledge and parts; it becomes easier to do but the cost will be quite substantial compared to a simple old gas/petrol motor. I still want to do it some day. When I do I will most likely use salvaged EV cells to keep the cost down. Motor selection is fairly good (something like the QS138 etc.. or similar) and doesn't need to be oversized since it would be in use in cold temps. The only thing holding me back is the cost, it's hard to justify $1200 (rough guess for my setup) build on a machine I only use maybe 15-25 times a year.