Smoked a 120VAC electric leaf blower motor. Wanna retrofit 12 or 24vdc motor

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First off, this was an old Toro leaf blower, not mine, and I am replacing it with new for the owner.

It still works, but today slowed down, and when I turned it off and gave it sniff test, knew something was not right.

I opened it up. At least 50$ of brush life left.
Commutator had two sections slightly raised compared to other sections, and burnt looking. Tell tale smell of it being done.
I figure shorted windings in the motor.

I cleaned it and tried again and same issue.
I bypassed the two speed switch and still same issue.

I had most recently been running it Via router speed controller, slowed way down to limit noise, and dust, and thrown projectiles.

Seems it was unhappy with the Pulsed AC.
The motor has a 2004 date on it.
Blower was in Mexico.
Bearings have been making whirring noises on slowdown for a few years. Perhaps failure was not related to the PWM speed controller. I was not using it when it slowed down and smelled funny.

Anyway, I would not mind retrofitting a 12v or perhaps 24v dc motor into it even if I lose some velocity/power
.
The failed unit does not state an amperage, but the newest version by Toro that looks similar, says 7 amps, which would be ~ 800 watts.
Not sure of RPM though. Direct drive of impeller.


I'd love to keep the failed unit out of the landfill, and install a 12v or 24v DC motor for use off grid on battery power, and use a PWM motor speed controller to dial in power needed for specific task, meaning workshop dust, rather than leaves. short durations, 10 AWG cable with 45 amp Anderson powerpole connectors

Failed AC motor is about 3 inches Diameter, and 5 inches from bearing to bearing.
Output shaft is flat. 3/16" across flats and 5/16" across round. 1 5/16" long.

Can use larger diameter motor modifying housing to accommodate.

Anybody tried something similar?
I get that it might be more economical to just run an new 120vac leaf blower off an Inverter for off grid use.
But if I could get a highspeed 24v DC motor for less than a new Toro (~ 40$), and waste some time tinkering, I'd be happy.

I'd also be happy, if possible, to save money just replacing the AC motor rather than buying new to replace what I broke.

Really liked using the blower on the router speed controller for certain tasks, Shame it seemed to kill it.
 

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I'd like a DC blower for myself.

The ryobi at 40$ is the likely replacement option.


A powerful 12 or 24 v dc motor did not jump out at me. Best option I found would be 15$ and 15$ shipping, so regretfully, off to the landfill it goes.

The best option appeared similar to a hvac blower motor. 3 amps with no load, 5k rpm. Likely pitiful performance in the Toro's body..but ill never know.
 
If you run any electric motor on a really long cord,problems arise.This may have been the issue.I'm just guessing, don't ask me how I know.
 
How so? The cord is built into the blower so nothing you can change.
Really which leaf blowers come with a 100ft cord? I had to use 150ft with my old one but at least it was Chinesium grade 12gauge.
 
I'd like a DC blower for myself.

The ryobi at 40$ is the likely replacement option.


A powerful 12 or 24 v dc motor did not jump out at me. Best option I found would be 15$ and 15$ shipping, so regretfully, off to the landfill it goes.

The best option appeared similar to a hvac blower motor. 3 amps with no load, 5k rpm. Likely pitiful performance in the Toro's body..but ill never know.
DC power alot more efficient too, even more power.
 
How so? The cord is built into the blower so nothing you can change.
Ask any electrician, how voltage drops on a long cord.I'm just trying to help.Thats why a cordless sometimes makes more sense,depending on each own situation.
 
Best I can think of is a junkyard blower motor from something? Maybe the ones for busses are bigger? But not sure how much they would be worth if you didn’t already own one…
 
This Potential project is tabled. Likely dead.
Wish i took rpm and actual amp draw data of the ac motor before its failure...but still too much work to modify and if 800.watts is required to be a 155mph ac blower...well im not.running 6 awg to.the theorietical 800 watt dc motor i cant find anyway.
10 awg max.
30 amps.max @12 volts

360 watts.
Nevermind.
 
I bought the 40$ Ryobi with 8 amp motor.

Quieter, and more flow than the 7 amp failed Toro.

I like the design, and the Axial fan.
I want to take some RPM readings with my optical tach, but it might exceed its range. I suspect it is 10k rpm+ and not sure the range of my tach.

I did briefly power the Ryobi through the router speed controller.

The motor did not seem to whine like the toro's motor did, but when running slow, it has the same behavior as the Toro. the two speed switch runs the motor faster on the lower speed setting when running it on the RSC at below 5 on the 1 to 10 speed dial.

I am not sure that the extended use of RSC was the ultimate cause of the Toro's failure. The motor windings could have been abraded over the years until they shorted. The unit pulls unfiltered air through the motor to cool it, so blowing/ ingesting small rocks and gravel and dust, which it did a lot of over the years, could be the cause of failure.

I'd still enjoy a 12vDC blower motor.
I'd be OK spending 20$ or so, and an hour of labor, to achieve 60% of the power of the two 120vAC units, but not anything less than that.
 
I like the 8 amp Ryobi.

I can power it Via my 800 watt MSW inverter on low speed, but not high.

it presents an ~38 amp load to the ~3 year old 18 amp hour Ub12180 AGM battery, which falls to 11.27v quickly under that load, but can maintain 10.5v plus for several minutes. The inverter starts an audible alarm at 10.49vDC input.

I had issues with my extension cord, so put battery and inverter in a backpack allowing inverter fan to breathe, and several minutes of battery power saved the job.

I have a failed 115vac 5 or 6 amp makita hammer drill. it sounds like it is in hammer mode, when it is not. Pinion Gears are shot.

The electric motor is still good. I could perhaps install this into the failed toro blower, and while not a direct DC blower as desired, its lesser amp draw/power could make it an acceptable adjustable speed workshop table blower.

But I got plenty of other projects which come first.
However, repurposing both failed tools, would give me some warm and fuzzies.
 
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