Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I would like to add a light ot my Sears snowblower, it is a two stage with the electric start that you use from an outlet, I was wondering if it can be done, how to do it, and what is the best light to use.

Thanks

It needs to have an alternator in order to run a light. Look underneath the fuel tank for a stray wire or unconnected female spade plug. If you find this wire, grab a voltmeter - put the "mystery wire" to (+) on the voltmeter, then GROUND the voltmeter (-) to any clean metal part on the snowblower. Set the voltmeter to "AC" scale. Start the engine & run full throttle. If you get 12+ volts AC, you can connect your light to this wire. Lets go from there...

You can also

1. Check the make of the engine, probably Tecumseh but maybe Briggs and Stratton, get the serial number and model;
2. Go to the engine manufacturer's web site and look for a parts manual for th size of engine;
3. Using the numbers from step 1, look at the exploded engine diagram and see if an alternator is listed;
4. If so find out what the leads are supposed to be supplying;
5. Then get a voltmeter and check the lead(s), starting with a 110V AC setting and going to a 12V setting only if the AC didn't show anything.

I have a B&S and the particular engine I have has two leads, one for AC and one for DC, despite going through the above I still messed up and connected a 110V lead to a 12V light, it was very bright ... for a while.

A bit of heat shrink tubing can be shrunk around the connection once you have it setup correctly. Either that or use spade lugs and wrap it with good quality electricians tape,

  nibbler  please explain how you can measure 110 volts from the alternator lead coming from engine.  these are snowblowers NOT generators.  all alternators are rated in watts.  the norm for snowblowers is an 18 watts ac alternator.  this will be a single yellow wire, possibly covered in insulation.  you will need to purchase an 18 watts light.  you can either go O.E.M  or go to a tractor store.  now that this is an a.c system your headlight will get brighter the faster the r.p.m's are.    

To answer your question to measure volts you use a voltmeter, if you want to measure watts you use a watt meter.

Here's a bit about electrical measurements

Volts is a measure of the difference in potential between two points. If it was water it would be the "head" or pressure, pouds per square inch.
Amperes ( Amps) measures how much electricity goes by. For water this is the same as gallons.
Watts measures power. In electrical terms this is the power disapated when 1 ampere flows at a potential of 1 volt. ( P = VI)

You 18W light could have 1.5Amps at 12Volts or .164Amps at 110V depending on what type of lamp it is.

I'd have to look at the manual for my B&S 11HP Intek Snow to be sure but I suspect that the alternator produces two sets of AC voltage, one is 110V while the other is around 18V. The 18V is then probably rectifiedand  put through a voltage regulator to give you a nominal 12VDC. What I do remember is that there were two leads, read and black. One was 12VDC the other was 110VAC. I connected up a 12V bulb and it worked for a minute then burned out so I figured I messed up on the wiring and haven't checked it out yet.

nibbler,  an alternator on a small engine does not produce 110v   period.    110v is houshold current.   with briggs or tecumseh. with briggs units  with one lead this would be a 1/2 amp dc for charging battery.  with 2 leads this would depend on color of wires, but you have an ac lead and a dc lead. ac being used to run headlights.  tecumseh runs  18 different alternatora and 7 different regulators, depending on units needs. once again with tecumseh all snowblowers, except 12volt start systems, use an 18 watt  ac alternaotr to run the headlights.    no where anywhere is the 110 volts on any system.    do not lead people here to go out and use voltmeter and be looking for 110 volts from there snowblower.

mech12 - You're right

I had a look at the B&S alternator replacement guide and it looks like I got things confused. According to the book my particular engine has a 3A DC unregulated battery charging lead and a 14V AC lighting circuit lead. Most of the diagrams just show DC and AC without specifyig what the voltages are so I got it confused. Either way, the point I was trying to make was that if you have two leads and one of them is supposed to be higher voltage AC you check the AC first. If you try to measure an AC source with a meter set for DC then you get the average voltage which is usually zero.

I also had a look at Wikipedia here and according to their definition an alternator is simply a generator that creates AC current. The term is normally used for units driven by automotive or other internal combustion engines but it can refer to larger units. They even have a picture of a large hydro driven unit.

1) Guys, I need your advice on the highest wattage light I can get that will work on my Tecumseh engine. Also, where can I get it from? Harbor freight?

Could I put two lights on it?

I tested it a while back, and that yellow wire with bullet connector puts out AC volts. It read about 5 volts, but it was idling. I then put it to full throttle and it jumped to about 15 volts, hehe. So, it looks like that's the wire to use :)

Let me know how you got the new tires on, they look like they should solve any traction problems.

As far as lamp size try finding out what amperage is put out by checking the engine manual, 15xAmp Rating = total wattage of lamp(s).

For example if we assume 3A then you have about 45W available. You could then have 3x15W bulbs, 2x 22W or 1x45W.

Both Marc and Jasonn,

Do what nibbler says and find out what size (probably in amps) alternator you have.
It's a nominal 12V system, so use 12 when doing your calculations:  Watts = 12 * Amps.

Depending on where you live, you may have to buy your lamps online, no big deal as they're pretty inexpensive and not really heavy to ship.
For example, there's a good selection at Tractor Supply:  http://tinyurl.com/244eq5
The larger 55W units will require a 5 Amp alternator (5A * 12V = 60W, so 5 to spare).
I didn't see a wattage rating on the round ones, but PAR36 bulbs can be purchased in multiple ratings.

Jason - Yes, you can put two, or 3, or 15 for that matter. Just watch to make sure that the sum of all the wattages doesn't exceed your rating.
If you do multiple lights, make sure they are wired in parallel! Do not series (daisy chain) them. It won't hurt anything but they won't be very bright.
Personally, I'd go with one, and mount it on the right hand side as high as you can to eliminate the shadow from the chute.
You might even want to wire it up temporarily (or just use a powerful flashlight) and hold it in different places until you see one you can live with.

So it my alternator is 18 watts, and when I measured gives out about 15 volts, AC, what would be the wattage bulb to use?