Ryobi Cordless Leaf Blower

[desertgolddigger]

I thought I'd post my thoughts on the new Ryobi Whisper cordless leaf blowers.

I purchased the large version, and quite a few 4.0Ah battery packs. I wish I'd held off on the additional power packs.

The Whisper series is a very quiet leaf blower. Unfortunately the specifications foe cfm and speed are greatly exaggerated.
The blower I purchased said 730cfm and 190mph wind speed, but barely moved the drywasher counterweight/fan assembly, and couldn't even lift
the dirt/gravel material over the riffles without using the turbo button. Using the turbo button will expend a battery pack in minutes. As it is,
on high normal throttle, the pack drains in about 20 minutes.

Ryobi included two nozzle attachments that allow you to vary the wind speed between 160 and 190mph. This I consider a gimmick, and basically useless.

I own a Worx 800 corded electric blower that has 800cfm rating with a wind speed of 135mph. I run it in it's lowest setting, and it works fine with my generator.

I was hoping the Ryobi would allow me to get away from gas power, but the Ryobi cordless blower series seems to be too weak for anything larger than a mini drywasher.

For people with medium and large drywashers, I do not recommend the Ryobi Whisper series blowers. They are overrated on specifications. But they are probably just fine as a leaf blower.

For now I will stick with my Workx leaf blower/generator combo, or my 2 cycle gas blower, as they can run at low speed, and still power my mid sized drywasher.

Now all I have to do is sell off this Ryobi mistake at a garage sale, whenever the heat subsides to have one.

Anyone with experience with cordless leaf blowers, who've found one that will power a mid sized drywasher, I'd appreciate you posting to this thread. I doubt I'm the only
person who wants to get away from gas powered equipment.

 

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[Ohiogoldfever]

I thought I'd post my thoughts on the new Ryobi Whisper cordless leaf blowers.

I purchased the large version, and quite a few 4.0Ah battery packs. I wish I'd held off on the additional power packs.

The Whisper series is a very quiet leaf blower. Unfortunately the specifications foe cfm and speed are greatly exaggerated.
The blower I purchased said 730cfm and 190mph wind speed, but barely moved the drywasher counterweight/fan assembly, and couldn't even lift
the dirt/gravel material over the riffles without using the turbo button. Using the turbo button will expend a battery pack in minutes. As it is,
on high normal throttle, the pack drains in about 20 minutes.

Ryobi included two nozzle attachments that allow you to vary the wind speed between 160 and 190mph. This I consider a gimmick, and basically useless.

I own a Worx 800 corded electric blower that has 800cfm rating with a wind speed of 135mph. I run it in it's lowest setting, and it works fine with my generator.

I was hoping the Ryobi would allow me to get away from gas power, but the Ryobi cordless blower series seems to be too weak for anything larger than a mini drywasher.

For people with medium and large drywashers, I do not recommend the Ryobi Whisper series blowers. They are overrated on specifications. But they are probably just fine as a leaf blower.

For now I will stick with my Workx leaf blower/generator combo, or my 2 cycle gas blower, as they can run at low speed, and still power my mid sized drywasher.

Now all I have to do is sell off this Ryobi mistake at a garage sale, whenever the heat subsides to have one.

Anyone with experience with cordless leaf blowers, who've found one that will power a mid sized drywasher, I'd appreciate you posting to this thread. I doubt I'm the only
person who wants to get away from gas powered equipment.

Thanks for the info! I have been very unimpressed with the ryobi stuff I’ve come across. I picked up a small ryobi hand held grass / bush sheer last year. What a pile of worthless cheese bladed garbage. It went back within 24 hours.

I find it hard to believe you’ll find a batter powered blower that’s much good for very long.

You could check to see if a standard AC blower will work from a 12v lead acid battery. Many small tools and such use universal motors. In other words they can operate on Ac or DC power.

I have a 20.00 black and decker I use in my shop to blow out the mess. It’s an animal.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I don't have the expertise to rewire the blower I have (Workx). I'm afraid that if I tried, and it didn't work on 12 volts, it would be ruined. I get the feeling that the Worx is an odd voltage to get the maximum rpms on the motor. It's easier to build something to step down voltage, and mount it in a housing.

I watched one video of a guy who used a Harbor Freight blower, but had to use turbo to clear the larger stones from the riffles. I've got to imagine that doing that also moved the gold, and possibly lost it over the end of the riffle tray.

I know that if you want to recover very fine gold, or the flat gold, you've got to run the material slow, so you actually see the riffle tops. It's time consuming, but I've gotten 6 grams of god from old drywasher tailing piles that were blown off the riffle tray. Takes more time, but you get a lot more gold when being patient.

 

[1637]

what if you change the fan and weight to something that works better with your blower,even built a externel box and fan.

 

[desertgolddigger]

If someone has plans for such, and it doesn't require anything other than pliers, screwdriver, and similar tools, I would try it. I don't have things like welders, metal fabrication equipment and such

 

[desertgolddigger]

I just remembered that I purchased a replacement fan/counterweight assembly for my midsized Royal drywasher. It has a screw in the big part of the counterweight barrel that has 3 washers.

I'm wondering if I removed the screw and 3 washers if that little bit of weight might allow the assembly to spin faster, creating more air and vibration.

Any feelings on this possibility?

 

[russau]

Yes it will spin faster BUT you will lose the vibration that the offset of the bolt and washer provided ! I think you will NOT like the results !

 

[desertgolddigger]

Yeah russau, you're probably right. I will experiment by taking just one washer off.

I will seed some material with a few pieces of gold in various sizes, then run the material.

I will then pan out the drywasher concentrates, and see if I got everything.

If so, and the blower isn't turning fast enough, I will remove one more washer, and repeat.

I do have some washers that are smaller that I could make adjustments with. I can only try.

Wish I knew how this anemic Ryobi blower was wired. I'd love to bypass the turbo, and just have a switch that goes from low to high. Hopefully this blower isn't regulated by a computer chip. If it isn't, a modification might work, if I can figure things out. I'll look on YouTube and Google how to change a rheostat o n a blower, or some such thing. Will take me time to figure out how to ask the correct question to get results.

 

[desertgolddigger]

It seems that changing the electronics in this leaf blower isn't something easily done.

I'm wondering if the length of my 3 inch blower tube to my drywasher might be too long, I doubled the length to keep the dust from the drywasher from blowing back into the blowers. The tube is 20 feet long. I'm wondering if a much shorter tube would make a difference on how the air travels to the drywasher counterweight/fan.

I'm thinking that a narrower tube would increase the pressure on the fan/counterweight assembly, making it spin faster.

 

[desertgolddigger]

GOOD NEWS! Ryobi Blower problem solved

That doesn't mean this blower's rating changes.

I first tried a narrower hose, but that killed what little the fan/counterweight moved.

I then tried a shorter hose, and that almost doubled the force at the fan. The blower is now useable.

I'm just guessing the extra 10 feet of ribbed hose must have slowed the air down. Maybe the ribs in the hose act like tiny baffles, and the more you have, the more the air is affected, lowering the force of the blower at the drywasher end.

I am not an engineer or scientist. I'm only speculating on why the blower wouldn't work with the 20 foot hose.
Anyway, this blower should be OK with most small to mid sized drywashers that use a 3 inch diameter hose.

 

[Reed Lukens]

I'm glad that you solved the problem. The shorter, the better. 8' should be more then enough.

 

[1637]

on my vacuum i changed the hose to a smooth bore hose and really liked it, glad you are willing to try things and that this one worked out

 

[Hamfist]

Good info. I've been using a 10 foot section of 3" hard PVC pipe lately and only using flexible hose as couplings. It has allowed me to decrease throttle (noise). I imagine that will be important when we are forced to use battery packs.

 

[russau]

On my DW that I built I only had a 1/4 inch bolt and a nut and I had plenty of vibration. I had tried several combos before I settled on 1 bolt and nut for my combination of stuff ! and depending on where you install that counter weight on the fan blade determines the amount of vibration you'll get.

 

[desertgolddigger]

On my DW that I built I only had a 1/4 inch bolt and a nut and I had plenty of vibration. I had tried several combos before I settled on 1 bolt and nut for my combination of stuff ! and depending on where you install that counter weight on the fan blade determines the amount of vibration you'll get.

I got the problem mostly solved with the cordless leaf blower. I shortened the hose from 20 feet to 10 feet, but I might halve that if I can find something 3 inches in diameter that's smooth, and flexible. Seems there's no such thing, at least when I ask the question (Google). Of course, I really don't know what things are called, so asking the right question can be difficult.

Anyone know a source of smooth walled, flexible tubing 3 inches ID.

 

[pulltaboo]

I don't think any cordless electric blower on the market will do, as the energy requirements are way too high… In theory, you could macgyver a solution with high amp LiPo power station and Worx corded blower, but that'll be rather cost prohibitive and won't last very long.
In short, it's pretty much like an electric car: sound good in theory, but there's a big "but".

 

[desertgolddigger]

I don't think any cordless electric blower on the market will do, as the energy requirements are way too high… In theory, you could macgyver a solution with high amp LiPo power station and Worx corded blower, but that'll be rather cost prohibitive and won't last very long.
In short, it's pretty much like an electric car: sound good in theory, but there's a big "but".

The Ryobi does work now, once I shortened the hose. Yes, it is energy intensive. I can run about five 5 gallon buckets of material with one 4Ah battery pack. But I am not able to gig more than about 15 buckets in a session. So the five battery packs I have are sufficient.

And I have two 12Ah battery banks I can recharge from. Power isn't a problem.

 

[southfork]

Have you tried lay-flat? hose amazon has a selection for swimming pool application. Old piece of fire hose?

 

[desertgolddigger]

Have you tried lay-flat? hose amazon has a selection for swimming pool application. Old piece of fire hose?

southfork, Thanks. I'd seen those, but was hesitant to use one because I was worried it wouldn't hold up. I've put a woven polyester with solid inside layer on my wish list. It definitely will save space in my mining kit box.

 

[russau]

I got the problem mostly solved with the cordless leaf blower. I shortened the hose from 20 feet to 10 feet, but I might halve that if I can find something 3 inches in diameter that's smooth, and flexible. Seems there's no such thing, at least when I ask the question (Google). Of course, I really don't know what things are called, so asking the right question can be difficult.

Anyone know a source of smooth walled, flexible tubing 3 inches ID.

Try aluminum dryer vent hose and spray paint it black . It is in the 3 inch you asked . It is light and WILL transfer sunlight into heat to help dry your cons and create some static to help attract the small particles of gold . Its fairly cheap and EZ to change out if you get any big rips in it.