A while ago we saw on Hugh Piggot's wind website an all electric Toro Workman. Although I felt it was over priced my wife wanted one so our family got bigger by the all electric Toro. It is a nice vehicle of doing work around our place (when I am allowed to use it). It has an FLA trojan T-125 48V battery bank -11.5 KwHr @ the 20 hr rate. Supposedly it will tow 1500 Lbs and I have installed a trailer hitch on it to tow our utility trailer.
I use a 16 tonne electric wood splitter which gives me great pleasure to use as I like the idea of splitting wood using the suns energy so directly. Plus it is easier than swinging a maul.
So I was thinking - I have a 48V 4 KW Apollo inverter which went surplus when we installed the new system in our house. Why not mount it in the Toro somehow ( removable mounting board?) and using the electric chainsaw use the Toro energy to fetch firewood? I installed the Apollo and it's switch gear so I am familiar with it. I like the idea of using the sun to cut wood, bring it home and then split it plus I have a lot of the apparatus I need to put the system in.
What I do not know - How to ground the inverter in a vehicle? I don't have circuit diagram for the Toro and don't understand, once I start thinking about it, how it is grounded. I have not taken the time yet to follow out the wiring to find out what Toro did. I am reluctant to crispy critter the Toro motor, have fire or otherwise have an unpleasant event. I appreciate that people may be reluctant to offer advice on equipment they have not seen. So if someone could point me to a suitable website or offer advice I would be grateful.
Thanks for any replies.
Sante.
Will
I would think that like most vehicles these days the batteries are grounded to the frame . Couldn't you just test that with a multmeter from positive to the frame and see if you get voltage ? Or just follow the negative cable and see if it is bonded to the frame somewhere .
I would think you could just hook up your inverter directly to the positive and negative of the batteries.
Seems like there was a discussion on here about grounding inverters for RV's . Maybe look that up - forgot who was the forum resident expert on that topic ! Not me though.
Larry
found this - maybe it will help you
https://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/350524/to-ground-or-not-to-ground-to-chassis
Larry
Hi Larry,
Thank you for the help with my question.I will have to reread the information from the link you sent me and ponder it. The parallel between RV inverters and the Toro is accurate and I will be able to make this work. Thanks again.
Will