Saturday, November 24, 2012

Adding Alternator to Snowblower with Tecumseh Engine

I've got a 24" Yard Machines snow blower (31AS6LCE700) with what I believe to be the largest engine (at least that I've ever seen) on a blower that width. It's a Tecumseh 10.0 HP that is 358cc (LH358SA-159517Z). The engine is an older style "flat head" which is no longer made by the now defunct Tecumseh. The engine is great, but it lacks an alternator to run a light for the snow blower. So I've researched various other MTD model snow blowers as well as similar LH358SA aka HMSK80 engines. There are several alternators to choose from:
-1 Amp (18 Watt), P/N 611111, Readily available and probably most common. It has only two coils and takes up 120 degees if the flywheel (a third of the pie!)
-3 Amp (~36 Watt @12V), P/N 611095 or P/N 611113 or P/N 611116
-3 Amp D.C., 5 Amp A.C. ( ), P/N 611104. This is for a system that uses an A.C. light, but has a battery that needs to be charged.
-7 Amp (~84 Watt @ 12V), P/N 611097 or P/N 611290



However, you need more than just an alternator to make power. The flywheel must be replaced with a flywheel which has magnets on inside ring. Flywheels:
-Flywheel matched to 1 Amp, P/N 611093?
-Flywheel matched to 3Amp, P/N 611083, or P/N611093
-Flywheel matched to 3Amp D.C./5Amp A.C., P/N 611309.
-Flywheel matched to 7Amp, P/N 611094 (5 magnets) 

*There may be errors in this list of part numbers. Fitment is not guaranteed. This is just the best I could do by spending a few hours searching on the internet. There may be more compatible part numbers for coils & flywheels too.*

He is the matched set I purchased:
Note that there are 5 magnets on this flywheel. Also, there are 9 coils on the alternator. This is the highest output I have run accross at 7 Amps, or ~84 Watts. Part numbers are 611094 for the flywheel and
611097 (or  611290) for the coil. It comes off of a Tecumseh model #HMSK80-155497S

I will do a follow up after the installation which a performance evaluation.