Electric Chute Deflector

[Whiskey Mike]

My blower is a BX5455HD. Whoever wired the electric chute deflector did a questionable job IMHO. I am looking to see if there is a better way of routing the harness.

The electrical leads are encased in a lightweight plastic sleeve. The wire harness stretches from the deflector motor to the tractor battery.

However the harness is routed such that it enters the battery bay below the front of the hood. As a result, the harness gets pinched between the tractor frame and hood.

Anyone with a picture of their electric deflector wiring? Where does your harness enter the engine bay?

 

[DustyRusty]

The wiring is quite simple. Take a 14 gauge wire off of the battery and run it to the switch. I am going to assume for the purpose of ease someone drilled a hole in the front dash for the on/off/on toggle switch. Run that 4 gauge wire to the center terminal of the switch, and connect the 2 wires from the motor one to each end terminal of the switch. You can purchase an inline fuse holder to protect the circuit. You can also purchase a fuse holder that will install into the dash to make it easier to change the fuse should it blow. The motor is grounded to the blower case, which is grounded to the tractor through the quick hitch.
As for how to run the wire, that is entirely up to you. I suggest that you install a male / female terminal on each wire near the motor so it will be easier to remove when the winter snow-blowing season ends. You will probably spend more time sourcing the parts than you will with the actual installation.

 

[Whiskey Mike]

I missed your reply Dusty until now. Thank you for your reply.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: The motor is grounded to the blower case, which is grounded to the tractor through the quick hitch.

this is a really bad way to 'wire the motor'. Reminds me of trailers that rely on the ball coupling to be the ground or the ARGO way of how to ground the starting solenoid for a 23HP B&S engine.

 

[ctfjr]

. . . Run that 4 gauge wire to the center terminal of the switch, and connect the 2 wires from the motor one to each end terminal of the switch. You can purchase an inline fuse holder to protect the circuit. You can also purchase a fuse holder that will install into the dash to make it easier to change the fuse should it blow. The motor is grounded to the blower case, which is grounded to the tractor through the quick hitch.
. . .

I'm assuming you meant 14 gauge as you referred to it earlier but I'm not sure your wiring advice is correct.
Doesn't the deflector motor need its polarity changed to reverse direction? If so, you would need a dpdt center off switch. Neither of the motor leads would be 'grounded'.

The input here would be your 12v and the output to the 2 motor leads.

 

[DustyRusty]

I missed your reply Dusty until now. Thank you for your reply.

I made one mistake above. I wrote 4 gauge when it should have been 14 gauge. Also, forget to mention putting a fuse in the line from the battery. Without knowing the draw on the actuator, I would start with a 10 amp fuse, however, the 14 gauge wire is good up to a 15 amp fuse. I use these inline fuse holders from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NQ8F242?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 ) At a $1.00 each for the 10 pack, you can't beat the price.

 

[DustyRusty]

I'm assuming you meant 14 gauge as you referred to it earlier but I'm not sure your wiring advice is correct.
Doesn't the deflector motor need its polarity changed to reverse direction? If so, you would need a dpdt center off switch. Neither of the motor leads would be 'grounded'.
View attachment 95004
The input here would be your 12v and the output to the 2 motor leads.

If it uses the simple actuator with 2 wires coming out of the motor, a momentary On - Off - On switch is all that he will need. Feeding the center terminal of the switch with the positive wire, and 2 wires going out to the reversible motor.

I had a BX5455HD snowblower, and that is how mine was wired.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

There's 2 type of 'reversible' DC motors..

the most common(aka cheap to make) has the motor power 'floating' NOT 'grounded' and you use a DPDT center off, momentary switch to 'flip' or 'reverse' the power going to the motor.

the other method, requires that the motor have TWO separate windings ( 1 forward, other reverse ). This style is more complicated to make (aka EXPENSIVE ). It uses a slightly cheaper SPDT, momentary off switch to feed +12 to either of the two wires, with the motor ground being properly connected to the battery negative.

I'd have to see the actual installation / wiring diagram to see what is used though I find it hard to believe that the 'common' setup isn't being used, pictures will tell the story.