Treadmill too fast

IA Roy · Oct 7, 2012

Son and DIL have a treadmill that is too fast for her to keep up with. It has a single speed motor with a variable speed pulley on the motor actuated by a lever to change the tension. There is not room to put a larger pulley on the driven end of the belt as there are structural components in the way. Is there a way to vary the speed of the motor that wouldn't cost more than the treadmill is worth? I know a variable frequency drive is too expensive. My son asked if a dimmer switch would do it. I think it probably draws too much current for one of those.
Thanks in advance. Roy

David G · Oct 7, 2012

It would probably be cheaper to buy a used treadmill that does what she wants.

pete black · Oct 7, 2012

May need to check the voltage of drive motor as it may be a dc motor.

pete black · Oct 7, 2012

May need to check the voltage of drive motor as it may be a dc motor.

S.Crum · Oct 7, 2012

I had a legitimate stress test back in July. After Doc analysed the results he told me that even though I'm in better shape than most 25 year olds, a fast mile a day wouldn't hurt me at all. Well ok I have a fancy (and expensive) treadmill that ex-wife just couldn't live without and it is very low mileage like most equipment of this nature. Doc told me that with the condition my knees and hips are in at this age, an elliptical is a much better option as this is very low impact. Maybe your son could swap the treadmill for an elliptical. I would suggest not mentioning hooking the treadmill to the TV in front of DIL. Bad decision! BTDT

Janicholson · Oct 7, 2012

AC motors running on 115 volts directly are in general not able to be regulated for speed because they spin related to the 60 cycle current. (a variable frequency constant voltage power supply works, but not economically.)
Most treadmills operate very slowly on the lowest speed. see if the control lever/tensioner is moving it to the maximum position for slow speed. If not modifying it may be easiest.
A narrower belt might drop into the drive pulley farther allowing slower operation. Jim

donjr · Oct 7, 2012

Why not look on greigslist and see if someone might not be getting rid of one for free? SWMBO got one that works great- all I had to do was go pick it up......

Traditional Farmer · Oct 7, 2012

Maybe he can get a cattle prod(LOL)

Dick2 · Oct 7, 2012

That reminds me; I re-wound a 4-pole electric motor and made it an 8-pole motor. That ran nice and slow with good torque. That was about 40-45 years ago; never found a practical use for it so it may still be in the old machine shed at the farm with a few other motors that I left behind for my brother to use.

Now you could do that if you know how to re-wind motors; that would slow down the tread mill. Other than that, spend more money and get a mill that has variable speed.

Dblair · Oct 7, 2012

buy a cycle control on ebay so you can vary the hertz of the motor and therefore control the speed .

wisbaker · Oct 7, 2012

Usually treadmill motors aren't that big, seems Grainger sells fractional horsepower AC freq drives reasonable. 1/2 HP schneider (their #5wjj8) is $237 The 1/4 HP $228. You can usually do better than Grainger on price, if you shop a bit you should be able to get one for $200.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 7, 2012

You might try a Router speed control switch, but It might catch the whole thing on fire! Would motivate more speed, on the part of the runner, LOL! The doc's tried to get me to run on one of them things, in PT, for ACL replacement. They wasn't too pleased with my progress, said I lacked motivation! I said, you wanna see me run motivated, set the room on fire!

Treadmill too fast

IA Roy

Well-known Member

David G

Well-known Member

pete black

Well-known Member

pete black

Well-known Member

S.Crum

Well-known Member

Janicholson

Well-known Member

donjr

Well-known Member

Traditional Farmer

Well-known Member

Dick2

Well-known Member

Dblair

Well-known Member

wisbaker

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Similar threads