Electric log splitters

[GarethM]

Main thing is he was happy, personally I wouldn't be as that's a lot of Amps.

 

17A is around 4Kw which is quite a lot especially if it's on a 13A plug and no doubt gets hot enough to not be able to touch the plug.

 

17A is into big boy blue 32A plug territory as they're rated for 6 hours use.

Edited Thursday at 19:40 by GarethM

[Haironyourchest]

2 hours ago, GarethM said:

Main thing is he was happy, personally I wouldn't be as that's a lot of Amps.

 

17A is around 4Kw which is quite a lot especially if it's on a 13A plug and no doubt gets hot enough to not be able to touch the plug.

 

17A is into big boy blue 32A plug territory as they're rated for 6 hours use.

 

The 13 amp plug never gets warm, let alone hot. I was paranoid about this in the early days and still check it once in a while. It has blown the fuse a couple of times though.

 

According to my guy the amp spike was only momentary and only if the splitter encountered hard stop resistance (enough resistance to activate the hydraulic bypass valve).

 

I'm mindful of this and back off when a knot won't split, and approach it a different direction. At this stage I can tell by the sound when the machine is laboring.

 

My machine is 3kw (startup?)

 

I recall the new switch (and the old one) was rated for about 2.3kw or something, which thought a bit iffy. I can check, of anyone is interested.

 

The switch/cap blowout occurred during a hard pull, I think. 80% sure. Loud pop and burnt plastic smell. Forensic examination by a different (experienced but not certified) spark friend, suggested maybe the switch failed first, taking out the cap? Capacitor was well and truly popped. Replaced with a better quality cap of the same spec. 

 

don't know if any of this info is interesting to anyone, but there it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GarethM]

Having seen 40A three phase melt 6mm wiring, I'm usually cautious.

 

Even seen a 13A plug melt when pushed to 14A under heavy load from a tiny 2.2kw motor.

 

You're capacitor and switch failed due to the voltage drop of the old setup, as that switch will be a safety NVR (No Volt Relay).

 

As a general rule, Aldi special splitting is fine. Anything bigger just go petrol or diesel.

[Dan Maynard]

I can think of Oxdale, AMR, Posch, Thor who make electric splitters in Europe, don't know latest prices but somewhere around 2k. They do single and three phase versions.

 

Maybe the definition of domestic equipment is made in China, which is a bit sad. To me it's the equivalent of buying a pro Stihl for cutting the firewood rather than a B&Q McCulloch , decent machine is where I spent my money. But then I work in UK manufacturing and always find it ironic that people will moan jobs have gone to china one minute, and buy the crap made there the next.

[GarethM]

30 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

I can think of Oxdale, AMR, Posch, Thor who make electric splitters in Europe, don't know latest prices but somewhere around 2k. They do single and three phase versions.

And they all want you close to the big battery at the wall for good reason, not 50m away!.